Common misconception about the Rocket buffs
Hello everyone, Lwitch here. Main Rocket, and numbers enthusiast. Have some studies in data analysis, computers engineering, and mathematics.
Recently I went over the Rocket changes with some friends, included high Elo Rockets and lower rank Rockets. We went over the real impact regarding Rocket's changes and we have found interesting things especially about perception of power and actual meaningful power and kill thresholds.
I want to talk about these things mainly:
Rocket's damage change is inconsequential against squishy characters and only significant against ulting supports and high health targets.
Rocket's ult economy is much better, getting first support ult against most of the cast.
His healing per minute increased slightly but mostly to feed his better ult generation efficiency.
Lets start with the damage numbers:
Rocket went from 16 damage per bullet to 17 damage per bullet.
Rocket shoots 12.05 bullets per second which means Rocket used to have 192.8 dps, now with the current value his dps increased to 204.85. This represents a 6.25% increase in dps. Of course, all these values are DOUBLED when landing all head shots (this will be important later).
But here is the kicker, against squishy characters, the buff largely doesn't matter.
Bear with me here, while it is nice and we did have an increase in dps, Rocket's breakpoints and kill thresholds remain basically the same.
Here are some calculations:
Let's do examples with 250, 275, 300, 600 and 850 hp characters. For the sake of these calculations and number consistency let's assume none of these characters have any kind of mitigation passive and they are at optimal range from Rocket, meaning no fall off damage.
250hp character:
Before: 16 bullets to the body. 16 * 16 = 256 dmg
After: 15 bullets to the body. 17 * 15 = 255 dmg
-Headshots
Before: 8 bullets to the head. 32 * 8 = 256 dmg
After: 8 bullets to the head. 34 * 8 = 272 dmg
Results: headshots ttk is the same, body shots need one less bullet which is 0.08 seconds faster (less time that it takes the human body to blink).
275hp character:
Before: 18 bullets to the body. 16 * 18 = 288 dmg
After: 17 bullets to the body. 17 * 17 = 289 dmg
-Headshots
Before: 9 bullets to the head. 32 * 9 = 288 dmg
After: 9 bullets to the head. 34 * 9 = 306 dmg
Results: once again, headshots ttk is the same, body shots need one less bullet which is 0.08 seconds faster (less time that it takes the human body to blink).
300hp character:
Before: 19 bullets to the body. 16 * 19 = 304 dmg
After: 18 bullets to the body. 17 * 18 = 306 dmg
-Headshots
Before: 10 bullets to the head. 32 * 9 = 320 dmg
After: 9 bullets to the head. 34 * 9 = 306 dmg
Results: this is where we start to see a difference we now need one less bullet for BOTH which is still arguably insignificant at 0.08 seconds faster yet again, but the difference is starting to be felt. Now let's jump to higher hp pools to better appreciate the difference.
600hp character:
Before: 38 bullets to the body. 16 * 38 = 608 dmg
After: 36 bullets to the body. 17 * 36 = 612 dmg
-Headshots
Before: 19 bullets to the head. 32 * 19 = 608 dmg
After: 18 bullets to the head. 34 * 18 = 612 dmg
Results: bodyshots are now 0.16 faster against a 600 hp tank. Headshots still need one less bullet which is 0.08 seconds faster.
850hp character:
Before: 54 bullets to the body. 16 * 54 = 864 dmg
After: 50 bullets to the body. 17 * 50 = 850 dmg
-Headshots
Before: 27 bullets to the head. 32 * 27 = 864 dmg
After: 25 bullets to the head. 34 * 25 = 850 dmg
Results: as you can see the more health some has the more of a difference it makes, particularly in the body shot department where it now has a four bullet difference. However do take notice that that these body shot values are donde with higher magazine than what Rocket currently has at 45 bullets.
Tldr: unless you are fighting a tank or someone getting hard healed (like a support ult) where the damage per second makes a difference, you won't really kill faster in a meaningful way.
Having said that, his healing has gone quite crazy.
People are making a huge fuzz about Starlord's 25% ammo increase, and how that's effectively a 25% damage increase if you land all your shots... Well they did the same for Rocket's healing balls. He went from 8 to 10, which is a 25% increase too. This coupled with the ult charge reduction Rocket is moftenly the first support to ult. Now you can reliably ult before the enemy Phoenix has her ult, and before most supports other supports too.
You are effectively increasing your healing per minute by 25% if you are using your whole magazine.
Before:
Ammo: 8
One orb: 55hp
Orbs per second: 2
Time to empty the magazine: 4 seconds
Reload time: ~1 second (there is no official data for the reload time)
Healing per minute, taking into account the reload time: 5280 hp per a continuous minute of direct heals. This isn't taking into account the healing re-bounce and the aura that gives 50hp/s when near an orb.
After:
Ammo: 10
One orb: 55hp
Orbs per second: 2
Time to empty the magazine: 5 seconds
Reload time: ~1 second (there is no official data for the reload time)
Healing per minute, taking into account the reload time: 5500 hp per a continuous minute of direct heals. Without taking into account the healing re-bounce and the aura that gives 50hp/s when near an orb.
This a net gain of 220hp/min feeds into your ult and that's whats most noticeable about Rocket right now. Because even though it's a 25% ammo increase the increase to per minute value is only a 4.17%. However his ult generates much faster.
How so?
Ult generation in marvel rivals is iffy, but the gist of it is that supports convert 75% of dmg and healing dealt into ult charge meaning if you heal or deal 100 dmg you get 75 points towards your ult charge.
Taking this into account:
Before:
Healing per minute of direct hits: 5280
Ult gained per minute from heals: 3960
Points needed to ult: 4300
Thus I would need 1 minute and 5 seconds to get my ultimate on continuous direct hits (once again it could be faster with he healing aura and rebound mechanism), or 65.15 seconds to be precise.
After:
Healing per minute of direct hits: 5500
Ult gained per minute from heals: 4125
Points needed to ult: 4000
This means I would only need 58.2 seconds to gain my ult (actually would be faster considering rebound and heal aura once again) this roughly shaves off 7 seconds off of your ult cool down this is huge.
This change could mean winning a fight or not, or saving a fight or not. Also consider how much time you fighting and healing you are doing and the passive ult generation. Rocket is getting so many more ults on average per match.
Tldr to everything: Rocket dmg buff is mostly insignificant unless in very, VERY specific scenarios, his raw healing buff isn't also so much but paired with the uptime and ult charge buff it makes a significant difference to how many ults Rocket gets during a match.
Do feel free to correct me or give me your opinion on the matter.