First, a quick welcome to all the new members!
Following Chadski’s video showcasing the SMA Tool, our supporter base grew quite significantly. A big thank you to Chad for showcasing the tool, and to everyone who decided to support what I’m doing here, whether recently or for a while now.
Rather than making a simple welcome post, I thought the best introduction would be to give you some of what you came here for: nerding.
This article will stay available to members first, before going public in a few days.
And with another infantry generation coming in about a month, there is one question I’ve been thinking about:
Could Liu Che survive another year?
Whenever a new infantry commander arrives, the immediate question is always the same:
Who gets replaced?
Sun Tzu seems like the obvious commander who isn’t going anywhere. His mechanics allow him to work extremely well with basically every relevant Smite commander.
So the real question might be: who becomes the solid base of our second infantry march?
And despite his age, Liu Che may still have an argument.
His biggest strength happens early
Our battle data has repeatedly shown how short many current field engagements are.
That makes early damage particularly valuable, and Liu Che doesn’t need to wait for an active skill to start producing it.
His instant-proc Smite can happen before reaching any rage requirement, while his expertise can also generate an additional combo attack and contribute to his rage engine.
There’s also Charge, the Rare Instrument inscription with a chance to grant rage when dealing Smite damage.
For a second infantry march, this is particularly relevant. Most players probably don’t have two Special Instrument inscriptions available for infantry, and Charge gives Liu’s early Smite another opportunity to help accelerate that first skill cycle.
What if the next commander rewards that?
This is where things could get interesting.
What if a future infantry commander actually benefits from Smite happening before the first active skill?
It could activate an effect, apply a normal-damage debuff, or provide a temporary normal-damage or Smite bonus that lasts long enough to influence the first active skill.
Suddenly, Liu’s instant Smite isn’t valuable only for its already-known benefits.
It becomes a trigger.
And that’s probably Liu Che’s best opportunity to survive another infantry generation: not because his numbers can’t be power-crept, but because a new commander could make his existing mechanics even more valuable.
The question is sustainability
Liu Che does have one obvious weakness: he isn’t naturally a sustainable commander.
Lilith has mentioned potentially increasing sustainability through future Crystal Tech changes. It could benefit him — or, quite the opposite, if fights become longer, his weakness could become more important.
For this hypothetical synergy to really work, the new commander would probably need to compensate with enough health, defense or damage mitigation.
If that happens while also rewarding early Smite, Liu Che could become even more difficult to remove.
So when the next infantry generation arrives, if Lilith gives us a strong new commander for the open field, we’ll have to look very closely at the kit. And that kit could actually tell us pretty quickly which commander is the most likely to be replaced.
Maybe it will be Liu Che, finally failing to keep up with the power creep… Or maybe Liu Che will benefit from this new addition and survive another year.
What do you think? Is it time to say goodbye to him?