athena review

[iYosh]

athena is my least used god by far. she's good at what she does but deflect is situational.

#1 exposed is situational.
i basically only notice it when it triggers privileged. it should probably be redesigned. maybe hitting enemies cursed with it could convey some kind of defensive benefit to zagreus.
let's say the base version gave zagreus super armour for one attack after he hits the cursed target and the upgraded version also added temporary hp per attack. this temporary hp would deplete over a short period of time and when taking damage.

#2 athena needs two boons to apply a curse.
privileged status is too important. every god should have a reliable curse on all of their active and revenge boons.

#3 she is not very flashy
i'm sure brilliant riposte and blinding flash do something. maybe the game just needs to do a better job telling me when it does.
i know what they are supposed to do but i don't notice the effects at all, other than the privileged status of course.

#4 divine protection
it probably needs a redesign. i don't see how it's either not under or overpowered, no matter how you tweak it. it was incredibly strong with pre patch broken spear tip, if i saw it right the few times i've had it.

#5 cast ammo location finders
it's needlessly difficult to find your cast ammo after electric shots and lightning phalanx. please add arrow pointers for cast ammo.

[lifetake]

So I'm here to give my feedback on your review because this one has the most points I disagree with here.

First off I think you need to stop seeing every god as your front line combo. So we have gods like artemis who major focus is to bring you damage. But other gods like Athena or Hermes(this guy for sure) are support gods. Athenas deflect and damage mitigation are great ways to fill out your build with defense. Especially deflect with its ability to make the The satyrs in Styx and Hades phase 1 fight an easy cake walk. Not every god needs to have the ability to be a front line runner and I think you lose a lot to the game if you try to apply that as it just becomes a what random thing does the game give me that will be my source of damage instead of the game gave me this how can I use this god versus this god to support the build set before me(pretending we are at a 2 or 3 option path with god boons).

Next along these lines in a lot of your reviews you state that gods need a certain thing like needing a base 1 curse(like here with in #2) or a revenge mechanic like in your Poseidon review. Yet again I don't think you need to give these things to these gods just to match this set up you desire. And it goes along with what I said before. If you make every god have the same tree of abilities with just a bit different effects we yet again fall under the same problem that you're just grabbing or going for what the game gives you and you're no longer filling yourself out. Like yea you could pick between trying to get Athena or Poseidon new curse boon(if you got what you wanted) and their effect if that's what you're going for, but you're still just picking for a revenge boon. You're not taking the game and looking to fill your build in.

But these are my major complaints. Take with it what you will.

[iYosh]

i'm not quite sure what you are trying to say, especially this part: "First off I think you need to stop seeing every god as your front line combo."

hermes shouldn't be compared to the rest, since he's 100% support.

some gods are objectively stronger than others. i believe they should all be competitive.
aphrodite and dionysus are by far the best gods in the game, this is mostly, because you can get privileged status with just two boons.


as far as just grabbing what the game gives you is concerned. i'm pretty sure the game is made like that. you can't choose what you get afaik. instead you choose from what is given to you.

let me give you an example: do a few runs with chiron's bow. try to get poseidon's special and zeus' attack for a sea storm build.
if the game decides that you won't get poseidon's special, you will not get it. it doesn't matter how many times you choose poseidon. he will never offer it.

[-=MM=-Savage]

Your whole review is only valid for one playstyle. Maybe step back and try some perspective?

[lifetake]

Originally posted by iYosh:

i'm not quite sure what you are trying to say, especially this part: "First off I think you need to stop seeing every god as your front line combo."

hermes shouldn't be compared to the rest, since he's 100% support.

some gods are objectively stronger than others. i believe they should all be competitive.
aphrodite and dionysus are by far the best gods in the game, this is mostly, because you can get privileged status with just two boons.


as far as just grabbing what the game gives you is concerned. i'm pretty sure the game is made like that. you can't choose what you get afaik. instead you choose from what is given to you.

let me give you an example: do a few runs with chiron's bow. try to get poseidon's special and zeus' attack for a sea storm build.
if the game decides that you won't get poseidon's special, you will not get it. it doesn't matter how many times you choose poseidon. he will never offer it.

What I'm trying to say is not every god needs to have a frontline damage dealing archetype like athena. She doesn't need to apply curse with 1 boon she doesn't need to be flashy and she just needs to be her own archetype. She has very defensive set boons because of this you can go for her to pick those up if you want it to fit into your archetype.

And I agree all gods should be competitive but what if I told you most really are. Except ares which man all he has is blade rift builds.
You already think aphro and dio are strong
-But Zues pops off on the rail and aspect of zues shield
-Posiedon has powerful synergy with the aspect of chaos shield and has one of the stronger dots in the game beat by obviously dio, but pos also buffs your literal dmg
-Athena is a defensive queen and easily fills out any archetype you want with some defense.
-Artemis is easily one of the best casts you can get in the game and with rail special makes your rail a absolute monster. For this reason is why its the boon chosen by speedrunners.
- Demeter is yet again another big support archetype, but also has the ability to carry if you go into her. Fill her in for those 8 seconds chills which you gotta love for privileged or go deep into her archetype for big artic blast damage and duo potential
- Hermes as we all love him for and you agree is a support

They all have very specifc strengths and not every god needs to be strong in every aspect and in the same exact way. That is what makes runs fun is the diversity in what you can do. And deciding between gods to go for different strengths is what is needed in the game. Not which synergy is gonna be better, but what strength do I want and what synergy will win me the game.

[WGarrison]

I, in general, agree with most of the OP's points about Athena. She is one of the weakest gods along with Poseidon.

Athena really only has one thing going for her and that is the Deflect Dash, that is where she shines and the one place its common to say lets take Athena for the Dash.

Other than the Dash, Athena is not really that defensive. Dionysus, Aphrodite, and Demeter are far more defensive than Athena. She is supposed to be defensive but gets sorely outclassed by 3 other gods. Her death defiance boons would have to add a defiance to be the premier defensive god. By the time restoring death defiance matters, you are not really working with Athena.

Athena is also not offensive, which is more clearly by design. The status effect she provides as status is both a second boon and very situational, too unreliable for high heat. She even gets outclassed in offense by the other gods that provide better defense.

Deflect on anything but Dash is really risky. It's too risky once you get out of the early heat levels. Its better to just take Aphrodite or Demeter on attack/special or Artemis on cast.

Athena's aid is alright. Just like most calls, it doesn't make or break a run, its just fine as a thing to put in the call slot.

Athena does have some really good duo boons, but they take a while to develop and its generally too risky to build up an Athena run just for late game duos.

Athena and Poseidon are the two gods I generally find myself rolling into something else, even if its hearts or poms. I have run several different builds with them, some with a lot of success (like Nemesis sword with deflect attack, Artemis dash, and frost special), but most builds are just bad versions of something you can do better with other god combinations.

[lifetake]

Originally posted by Doomtrain:

I, in general, agree with most of the OP's points about Athena. She is one of the weakest gods along with Poseidon.

Athena really only has one thing going for her and that is the Deflect Dash, that is where she shines and the one place its common to say lets take Athena for the Dash.

Other than the Dash, Athena is not really that defensive. Dionysus, Aphrodite, and Demeter are far more defensive than Athena. She is supposed to be defensive but gets sorely outclassed by 3 other gods. Her death defiance boons would have to add a defiance to be the premier defensive god. By the time restoring death defiance matters, you are not really working with Athena.

Athena is also not offensive, which is more clearly by design. The status effect she provides as status is both a second boon and very situational, too unreliable for high heat. She even gets outclassed in offense by the other gods that provide better defense.

Deflect on anything but Dash is really risky. It's too risky once you get out of the early heat levels. Its better to just take Aphrodite or Demeter on attack/special or Artemis on cast.

Athena's aid is alright. Just like most calls, it doesn't make or break a run, its just fine as a thing to put in the call slot.

Athena does have some really good duo boons, but they take a while to develop and its generally too risky to build up an Athena run just for late game duos.

Athena and Poseidon are the two gods I generally find myself rolling into something else, even if its hearts or poms. I have run several different builds with them, some with a lot of success (like Nemesis sword with deflect attack, Artemis dash, and frost special), but most builds are just bad versions of something you can do better with other god combinations.

Deflect is seen as one of the best abilities in the game. And while on the dash is good it is good on so many things.

Athenas aid is seen as one of the best aids in the game for any attack focused build. And without its still good. You deal more free damage at max gauge than any other and it scales better than any other aid.

And as I said she doesn't need to be a frontline god boon. She is great at filling out a run with defensive boons to push your run forward. She is definently a support class

[Jacobella]

Originally posted by Doomtrain:

I, in general, agree with most of the OP's points about Athena. She is one of the weakest gods along with Poseidon.

Nope, and nopest.

Requiring a second boon to apply the status curse was an intentional design choice to keep you from overpowering enemies early on with a somewhat powerful status curse (+75% backstab damage @ Epic rarity), not to mention her deflect ability is super effective when paired with very rapid/instantaneous attacks, such as flurry with the spear, special with the Bow (not Chiron aspect, risky if you tagged an enemy) or the Adamant Rail. Even the dash is arguably useful when combined with Exposed as a means of reliably applying a status curse.

If you want offensive power, I recommend her cast with Zeus Duo Boon. Or her Ares Duo. Or her Artemis Duo with something fast.

As for Poseidon, the only things I would fault him for is: of his four Duo Boons, two aren't very good (Sweet Nectar and Blizzard Shot) and one is OK (Exclusive Access), but Sea Storm is pretty sweet; his resource-related boons can be annoying when you don't care about resources (and even then they overlap with better Chaos boons). His dash can be difficult to get the hang of.

[lifetake]

Originally posted by Jacobella:

Originally posted by Doomtrain:

I, in general, agree with most of the OP's points about Athena. She is one of the weakest gods along with Poseidon.

Nope, and nopest.

Requiring a second boon to apply the status curse was an intentional design choice to keep you from overpowering enemies early on with a somewhat powerful status curse (+75% backstab damage @ Epic rarity), not to mention her deflect ability is super effective when paired with very rapid/instantaneous attacks, such as flurry with the spear, special with the Bow (not Chiron aspect, risky if you tagged an enemy) or the Adamant Rail. Even the dash is arguably useful when combined with Exposed as a means of reliably applying a status curse.

If you want offensive power, I recommend her cast with Zeus Duo Boon. Or her Ares Duo. Or her Artemis Duo with something fast.

As for Poseidon, the only things I would fault him for is: of his four Duo Boons, two aren't very good (Sweet Nectar and Blizzard Shot) and one is OK (Exclusive Access), but Sea Storm is pretty sweet; his resource-related boons can be annoying when you don't care about resources (and even then they overlap with better Chaos boons). His dash can be difficult to get the hang of.

what blizzard shot is great. no top tier but great.

[Jacobella]

Originally posted by lifetake:

what blizzard shot is great. no top tier but great.

I'll admit I haven't gotten around to understanding its mechanics D:

[lifetake]

Originally posted by Jacobella:

Originally posted by lifetake:

what blizzard shot is great. no top tier but great.

I'll admit I haven't gotten around to understanding its mechanics D:

Yea you were right for the most part and I agree. I will say deflect on an attack can be sketchy but still good.

Poseidon is very good with the shield especially the chaos aspect. And his cast is one of the better cast in the game so taking it early isn't bad and if you fall into demeter blizzard shot takes the dps of flood shot and sends it up dramatically.

[Jacobella]

Originally posted by lifetake:

Originally posted by Jacobella:

I'll admit I haven't gotten around to understanding its mechanics D:

Yea you were right for the most part and I agree. I will say deflect on an attack can be sketchy but still good.

Poseidon is very good with the shield especially the chaos aspect. And his cast is one of the better cast in the game so taking it early isn't bad and if you fall into demeter blizzard shot takes the dps of flood shot and sends it up dramatically.

You're right about Blizzard Shot, it's crazy good. I didn't take into account its pushback effects. Might be really nice with the Bow's Hera aspect.

On top of it I have the Zeus/Poseidon Duo and it's crazy and inflicts three status curses at once, Chill, Jolted, and Rupture, at the same time

[Whatever100500]

Athena has powerful synergies, but it's hard to get them going.
Best use is imo Divine Attack + Exposed Debuff + Ares special + Ares Doom Duo Debuff + Artemis dash + Artemis crit Duo.
It's awfully specific in terms of required boons (Ares has just refused to give me special attack so many times... Or sometimes Athena gives me every boon except Exposed debuff)