Discussion - How to make Mollok worthy recruiting

[Julio229]

I think we should discuss thoughts on how to improve Mollok. I think he is too fragile, he dies so easily. Pikemen are his biggest weakness, and I think he's not worth his expensive price. What do you think? Should Mollok be improved?

[VectorMaximus]

I personally don't even recruit Mollok to be honest; he's barely canon at best, and Mordor has enough good heroes I don't really feel the deficit from not summoning him. I barely even remember his abilities, so sorry if I mess something up. However, maybe to increase his utility, give him a leadership that increases the durability of trolls (including himself?). That could both increase his survivability and make the trolls stronger, which I think would be worth his price.

[Odysseus]

It is a little problematic that he is classified as a Mass Slayer, since I think it would be wiser to classify him as a Troll supporter with a building destroyer aspect. Mollok can be quite strong, but only if he levels up. Since he is so expensive and his obvious weakness to pikes adds another layer of challenge, levelling him can be quite difficult.
Mollok is mostly excellent against spamtastic AI, but that's about it. I rarely, barely see him. I think it would make more sense to have him be some kind of Troll Supporter.

[The_Necromancer0]

This is what I put on another thread about Mollok, I'll just post it here too.

It has come to my attention that Mollock is quite a problem for any Mordor player as he seems unable to do anything without the player being constantly zoomed on him. I had an extended playtime yesterday with him and became quite acquainted with several of the issues that make him this weak. I believe that Mollock weakness comes not from his stats but mostly how he handles enemy troops and how they handle him.

Once you set Mollock on an attack path towards a unit or hero he will charge straight at them, sword raised in the air and rush in. Upon contact he will trample the enemy for an instant, stop and then begin the attack. I believe that the team was aiming at Mollock creating small bumps in the enemy formations, pushing all the troops back in a small radius, but the truth is that Mollock simply jumps in the middle of fray. He knocks over a couple units but does not create a brief empty space around him. Because of this, once he has finished with the trampling he is surrounded by enemies on all sides and because he is treated like cavalry taking him out of the battle is very slow. So suggestion number one: No more trample capabilities. Instead Mollock should come up to the front of the enemy line and start attacking like any other hero. Other people have suggested a much higher resistance to trample revenge but I think that will unbalance the game if Mollock is able to trample through masses of pikemen without taking damage.

The second issue I have encountered was with his sword attack, many time I noticed that he would interrupt his attack once the unit he was attacking was killed, this might seem logical but the problem is that his attack is slow enough that he will constantly be interrupted if he is attacking the same units as other heroes. He should finish his attacks no matter what, like this he will hit the other units around him and it won't affect him if there are not units around him. Second suggestion: Non-discontinue-able attack.

I think that both the suggestions above fix how he handles enemy troops and will allow him to be better equipped to fight other units. There is still an issue on how units  handle him. Because of his size he is easily spotted among the masses of orcs and even among trolls, whereas other heroes have a certain degree of camouflage among units of the same class.

I don't have any ideas for a solid proposal on how we can change that but I imagine that it relies on how fast he can get away from the fight. In the battle of the Black Gate it is clear that Mollock is an agile warrior which can smell danger and run away quickly. Even before the tower of Sauron falls he smells the danger and makes his escape, probably surviving in the wild until his final days.

Other minor issues include his little quarrel with other trolls, although he is much more  skilled he is easily taken to the glimpse of an HP, I think the answer lies in passive abilities. This can either mean a slight buff against trolls or a attack speed/ attack strength/ armor debuff that lowers their power simply against Mollok

I believe that this will a better solution then buffing him, and this won't upset the balance simply re-equalize it.

Sincerely,
The Necromancer

You can check out the rest of the thread here: https://modding-union.com/index.php/topic,32656.msg429001.html#msg429001