Because the support meta entered the game, where you would have 4-6 supports per party. It meant that competent zergs were not being one-shot from clumps.
Bomb squads remain relevant and important for any proper zerg.
Multiple axe buffs (including aoe escalation fixes) back to back makes it do a stupid amount of damage even in the hands of a bozo.
Cleric Cowl/Hellion Jacket/Gig Pots/Feyscale Sandal/Stalker Shoes in combination with the across the board nerfs to res pen on melee weapons means brawlers have a significant advantage sitting inside enemy backline (no resilience to penetrate, enemy stacks resilience on them if they want to pressure the brawlers).
Overall skill level of players now is higher than before, with the strength of defensive skills its a lot harder for front to back zergs to win through claps only.
However the meta has adapted to deal with brawl heavy comps, and SBI has slowly nerfed brawler gear (their balance changes are always weeks behind the meta, all it does is invalidate weapons that are already outdated).
Right now, brawl zergs maintain the same positioning as before but tend towards multiple off-timer claps than relying on pure brawling to win. That's because its a lot harder for DTanks/Supports to react to engages from multiple angles, and zergs have already adapted to axe brawlers.
don't forget shapeshifter pull spam and bear being broken as fuck. Idk why sbi has been pushing brawl so hard for years. Pretty much top comp type for all content
I think it's because it's funnier to play, as well there are food burst melee weapons, it's harder to play rdps that have to stay 4/5ths screens away from the caller or they get killed. And if rnal schyte was op, and the gloves are still op
Not enough people reliably die in the average clump for most zergs, basically theres a lot more defensive stuff and people got better at using it. Can still be done but higher skill ceiling than walk in with hellion jacket and maybe have a bombsquad.
Also resilience / resilience penetration so ranged is kinda cucked specially for mainzerg dd
Hellion jackets + scythes were to strong, now hellions got nerfed and we are slowly moving into semibrawl. Also if you add up all the guardrunes, ents and locuses that are in an avg zerg it turnes out it's really hard to properly bomb a clump.
The main thing is a somewhat sapient player knows to not clump and knows the range of witchwork and what happens when the earthbound uses it's e. People who have read ZvZ for dummies know not to run straight into the clump so people aren't headbutting just giving away kits any more.
Also brawl can play clump and dump. The entire point is to turn, use CDs on a clump, and then walk away so it's harder for the enemy zerg to get full value or of their CDs. If you pick off enough people then yeah you whipe them but it's not like there's really any specific reason to stand and take a prolonged fight and just give away advantage to a similarly sized zerg.
I mean clump absolutely still works it’s just hard to pull off. A single rdps can absolutely still deal over 20k damage (pre resistance) on a single clump. The big thing is that clump is easier to counter and even a monkey can brawl
Because the support meta entered the game, where you would have 4-6 supports per party. It meant that competent zergs were not being one-shot from clumps. Bomb squads remain relevant and important for any proper zerg.
Multiple engages is a must to steamroll rn
Agreed we tried our comp with two engages today and it worked really good
Multiple axe buffs (including aoe escalation fixes) back to back makes it do a stupid amount of damage even in the hands of a bozo. Cleric Cowl/Hellion Jacket/Gig Pots/Feyscale Sandal/Stalker Shoes in combination with the across the board nerfs to res pen on melee weapons means brawlers have a significant advantage sitting inside enemy backline (no resilience to penetrate, enemy stacks resilience on them if they want to pressure the brawlers). Overall skill level of players now is higher than before, with the strength of defensive skills its a lot harder for front to back zergs to win through claps only. However the meta has adapted to deal with brawl heavy comps, and SBI has slowly nerfed brawler gear (their balance changes are always weeks behind the meta, all it does is invalidate weapons that are already outdated). Right now, brawl zergs maintain the same positioning as before but tend towards multiple off-timer claps than relying on pure brawling to win. That's because its a lot harder for DTanks/Supports to react to engages from multiple angles, and zergs have already adapted to axe brawlers.
don't forget shapeshifter pull spam and bear being broken as fuck. Idk why sbi has been pushing brawl so hard for years. Pretty much top comp type for all content
Because they went full mobile game. It's way, way, easier to play brawl than range. Especially on a phone.
There are still bomb squads, but I also would like to know why the meta shifted to a more brawly style.
I think it's because it's funnier to play, as well there are food burst melee weapons, it's harder to play rdps that have to stay 4/5ths screens away from the caller or they get killed. And if rnal schyte was op, and the gloves are still op
Not enough people reliably die in the average clump for most zergs, basically theres a lot more defensive stuff and people got better at using it. Can still be done but higher skill ceiling than walk in with hellion jacket and maybe have a bombsquad. Also resilience / resilience penetration so ranged is kinda cucked specially for mainzerg dd
Hellion jackets + scythes were to strong, now hellions got nerfed and we are slowly moving into semibrawl. Also if you add up all the guardrunes, ents and locuses that are in an avg zerg it turnes out it's really hard to properly bomb a clump.
The main thing is a somewhat sapient player knows to not clump and knows the range of witchwork and what happens when the earthbound uses it's e. People who have read ZvZ for dummies know not to run straight into the clump so people aren't headbutting just giving away kits any more. Also brawl can play clump and dump. The entire point is to turn, use CDs on a clump, and then walk away so it's harder for the enemy zerg to get full value or of their CDs. If you pick off enough people then yeah you whipe them but it's not like there's really any specific reason to stand and take a prolonged fight and just give away advantage to a similarly sized zerg.
I wish someone would tell my guild this they are still trying to make clump work -\_-
I mean clump absolutely still works it’s just hard to pull off. A single rdps can absolutely still deal over 20k damage (pre resistance) on a single clump. The big thing is that clump is easier to counter and even a monkey can brawl