u/Zypten1

Captain America had a best in slot agenda pushed for half a season, and because of that, received a survivability nerf when everyone else got buffed in season 9. The damage output is so high that Cap is borderline unplayable, and other dive tanks just do his job better.

I think some buffs that could aid Cap in the current meta to make him a more viable and fun character again would be to:

Revert his shield nerfs, giving back his shield from season 0. It's a paper plate right now, but giving it more health and faster regeneration could be a very useful buff for him.

His team-ups need some work, they're some of the weakest in the game. I think having Voltaic Union from season 0 would also be great, better than this piercing one by bringing back the ricochet (but keeping the enhanced explosions). Stars Aligned has a few problems which could be fixed, such as failing to apply bonus health to the targeted ally, being easily interrupted by terrain as minimal as a small staircase or slanted ground, and being significantly slower when used in the air.

Alternatively, the dev team could nerf damage output, but I think this is unlikely.

Captain America went from BIS for half a season to B tier on a good day in a single patch. He received a survivability nerf when the entire games damage got buffed up, and it left him feeling abysmal. He has the lowest pick rate out of all tanks and still has a <50% win rate in every single rank, even the top ones.

I believe Cap needs some buffs to be worth playing without having Hulk, Venom, and Angela be banned first since they just do his job better. Captain America's shield received significant nerfs since the game released, but this was back when damage wasn't even half as high as it is now. In the games current state, I think reverting these shield nerfs and possibly even removing the cooldown on raising his shield (though this may cause issues as raising his shield could be used to animation cancel most of his kit and grant him absurd attack speed) would be a great boost to his survivability and ability to defend his teammates.

For his team-ups, I think that Voltaic Union should receive some buffs or be reworked to be like its season 0 design. The Stars Aligned team-up is better, but it has a lot of jankiness that causes it to feel awkward to use. I believe that it should be more consistent in leaping towards teammates (as it easily gets caught and interrupted by terrain as minimal as a staircase) be more consistent in applying bonus health to the targeted teammate, and should leap at the same speed both grounded and in the air.

Way back when, the developers decided Captain America's skill expression was too high, which isn't good when you want to cater to casuals. Because of this, they removed his animation cancel. When they removed it, they stated that he would be able to throw shields while sprinting (which he can't)

I believe that Cap should be able to throw shields without it stopping his sprint, this would be a great change to the fluidity of the character and allow him to better make plays and make him feel a lot smoother than he does now.

https://preview.redd.it/a1juy6dwztgh1.png?width=890&format=png&auto=webp&s=8942fad9cb43251c06c794df32c1a40ab0910eae

A lot of dive mains I see do a whole lot of complaining about supports.

"They have too much self sustain!" this and "They're too hard to kill!" that, but the hypocrisy is that dive ALSO has stupid amounts of self sustain; when realistically, a role built around getting in, instantly bursting down a healer, then getting out shouldn't have any.

I think that support self sustain should receive a nerf, but dive self sustain should be removed entirely. It's ridiculous that some dive characters can get away with jumping into a 1v6, getting a pick or 2, and STILL getting out alive purely because they're getting bonus health from half their kit for ZERO reason. The only archetype/role getting bonus health should be brawlers and tanks.

Voltaic union lets you animation cancel melee attacks with shield throws, allowing you to essentially hit twice in the time of one attack

Am I the only one who feels like Voltaic Union is kind of bad now? It feels nothing like its former glory, and without Thor, it actively LOWERS your DPS output. The Stars Aligned teamup seems significantly better, considering it improves Caps ability to peel, grants extra sustain when diving with a duo, has separate cooldowns with Bucky's clash and diving to an ally, and gives him an additional escape option when diving.