They have the exact same kit as before, but spectral assistant only works if both of them are in the same match and it is reworked to instantly swap their locations (can be blocked with well-timed counterspell, or having unstoppable or indomitable active).
You joke but that would be a pretty unique idea for a "character." Two characters that have the same or at least very similar stats/weapons/abilities that essentially lets 2 of the same kit exist in 1 match. It would have to be balanced VERY carefully to not be broken but it would be really interesting.
Maybe they could have a conditional ult that changes based on if/which side the other is on? Like if they're on the same team they get a combo one like you suggested, if they're opposing they get one that lets them directly target each other and if they're alone they get a normal one.
IMO just Sylas it: base CD of like 30-40 seconds but a per-Hero lockout equal to the targets CD. So it's less about "I'm stealing Rat Ult every 20 seconds" and more about flexing around across the enemy team.
Yea this is definitely what im hoping for - cause playing sinclair just to steal one ult over and over again is so boring, like ur playing a quarter of an enemy's character when im tryna play SINCLAIR yknow?
Basically after copying dynamo ult you’re ult goes on cooldown for 40 seconds. Once its back up you can click on anybody else and use their ult but if you click on dynamo it says “ult steal not ready”
I mean the conditions for Sinclair to cast an ult are not very difficult to fulfill? He can use his assistant to teleport twice so he's at 0 real risk when stealing an ult.
The swap has a couple second cooldown, and that’s easily enough to die in deadlock. A single slowing hex and he’s dead also.
I don’t think it makes it deserve a 60% reducing in CD but it’s still worse than just having the copied ultimate as base kit. The only upside if it didn’t have a shorter cooldown is that you get to pick one of 6 random ults each game
I want to see this and in exchange you can also steal teammate ults. Could it be broken? Yeah probably. Getting quadruple dynamo ulted with 2 refreshers could be insane, but also it could be sick as fuck so who knows?
50% is reasonable. You need to spend some time playing the character to understand why. You dont get to steal whatever ult you want as soon as you want it, you have to steal it from the correct enemy by getting close to them and then you have like 8 seconds to position into a spot to actually use it effectively
yeah but you should have a 100%, maybe even 110% internal cooldown on the character you stole from, you shouldnt be able to spam X character's ult more then they can.
Why not? You don't get the rest of their kit to synergize with it - no fixation on Haze ult, no dash on Infernus ult, no grapple or slam on Lash ult, et cetera. And you don't get to use their ult as fast as your ult's cooldown theoretically allows because you can only use it while standing next to them.
Yea I feel like it's best to just copy leagues homework here. Sylas' system works pretty much perfectly. He gets a short cooldown for ult stealing but each enemy gets their own cooldown in which he can't steal that ult again. It encourages variety and planning and roaming
I think this is the most reasonable nerf. I cannot for the life of me imagine in what world 40% cooldown on big ults like Rat King, Lash and Dynamo would be balanced.
It would also help his gameplay as a whole. Now you'll have to decide if the smaller ults are worth it in a given situation.
Now you just don't want to ever steal big ults at all because basically half your usefulness late game comes from copying enemy playmaking ults, because any damage he could be doing falls off hard.
Right, so the other option is to let Sinclair have a permanent cooldown reduction on very strong ultimates. I guess they can just bump it to 80% or 90% the cooldown, but then you beg the question on having it in the first place.
It doesn't matter how you slice it, Sinclair is the same situation as kidnap Doorman. The sooner they just completely get rid of the problem, the sooner the character can just be balanced like a normal character, and not have to rely on copying big ults.
The other option is to give Sinclair an entirely new ultimate, which he probably will by release, but that's another conversation.
If vexing bolt did melee and had no other changes it'd probably be better since melee and weapon resists suck compared to spirit resists, most notably spellbreaker.
It would fit the Yoshi mindset of nerfing the fuck out of a character while simultaneously giving them an inexplicable melee-damage ability that is actually kind of good but that no one asked for. We've gone through this very specific scenario like 3 times
I was thinking specifically of Shiv and Drifter, with slice and dice going from doing spirit to melee damage in the 06/30/26 update and Drifter's rend changes from spirit to melee on 07/28/26 which were pretty similar. I think Calico had something similar where a playstyle got nerfed and her melee damage got buffed but I don't know her kit very well.
Yeah, her changes have been slower but they have generally moved her more towards melee over time.
Somewhat recently, they changed her bombs to reduce melee resists instead of dealing more damage to barriers, and over time they’ve also increased her melee scaling on leaping slash and done other changes to lean her more in that direction (eg nerfing damage on ult). She was always melee adjacent though. Way back she received nerfs moving her away from it so this is kind of just a return to form
Hopefully it means they finally do something about Sinclair's ult being obnoxious in general. Power needs to move to the rest of the kit instead of him being an ult merchant.
There is no misery quite like having Sinclair use your ult 3 times in the time that you use it once as Dynamo.
You just cannot show yourself the entire game or you lose your team the game. People think that draft will improve Sinclair, but in reality you either won't pick Dynamo if he's still on the table, or he will be banned all the time if your team wants Dynamo. That's just not fun design.
I’m fully a believer that the reason Sinclair wasnt touched this update is because they’re a complicated character thats probably gonna get a bunch of shit at once
What Sinclair needs right now (yall probably know already but im excited for them to be elaborated on:
A model for Henry and Savannah
Have the code for the model swap activated upon each death (theres a code in the files for the models to swap from Henry to Savannah and vice versa for both the main model and spectral assistant, but it has yet to be implemented)
100s of dialogue lines for both Henry and Savannah
Beyond pings, I’m currently of the theory that the Sinclairs can only hear each other, so I’m unsure if conversations will ever be a thing. Maybe they’ll have conversations with each other based on who theyre laning with? Either way I’m excited for their future more than any other character, I think lore wise they are one of the most interesting. A little disappointed they were barely touched this update, but the addition of the theater and their poster gives me so much hope
Henry and Savannah having different models would be awful game design and doesn’t make sense for the lore.
It would signify it’s a stance swap character but Sinclair isn’t, the only way I’d ever get behind this is if Sinclair was changed to a stance swap character (which I wouldn’t mind, each one having different aspects of what a magician is would be fun, Henry can be more focused on tricks and heavy damage bolts, while Savannah could be more focused on spectacle, movement, and escape).
My suggestion would be that the mannequin swaps between the moustache and lipstick Henry/Savannah, with a different Spectral Assistant model, and few other changes
Sinclair has the Rubik problem, if anything is going to break the game code it's spell steal. So makes sense you wouldn't adjust Sinclair when every time you change another heroes ultimate you've gotta think of Sinclair.
They should really just do to Sinclair what they did to Sylas in league, another ult stealer.
Sylas' copy ult has a really low cooldown but puts its targets on a long lockout, so you can't steal from the same person twice. E.g. Sylas' ult has maybe a 50 second CD, but stealing a big 2 min cd ult from an enemy would lock that ult out from being stolen for 3 mins. It's one of those beautiful tweaks that simultaneously makes the character more fun to play as and against.
Without the per-target lockout, optimal Sylas/Sinclair gameplay basically boils down to repeatedly stealing the one best ult from the enemy and spamming it, which leads to really unfun matchups and repetitive gameplay, plus you have to balance them against all these edge cases (e.g. current Rat King ult vs Sinclair).
But with the lockout, you now have freedom to lower the ult's innate cooldown cause edge abuse cases are lessened, and now the optimal gameplay focuses on being this versatile high IQ player who steals multiple ults based on what's best available at the moment, and slinging them in all kinds of unique ways. Instead of hammering on the Dynamo ult every fight, maybe you'll do that once, then use an Abrams ult next fight, then a Wraith ult, etc.
Have you recommended this in the forums? Because I completely agree and would love to see it on Sinclair tbh. Maybe the "tradeoff" being that Sinclair gets a better copy range.
My bets are on some small changes to their ult. Make it so that it has a per target cooldown so you don't just copy the dynamo/rat king every game. Maybe also spirit scaling so they can actually copy Haze, Venator or Silver
Having every single ultimate be good on this hero would be insanely bad for the game. If you can't pick targets or get counterswapped and you're stuck with Haze ult you should be ineffective.
Makes no sense that he can pick one person and cast their ult 3 times before they can cast it twice. Feels like every other game understands this.
The ability has its own cooldown and a cooldown applies to each enemy character separately. He still can cast ult at a faster rate in general, but he's prevented from fuckin bebop ult every two seconds.
Also, no flair checks out. Coward. Flair up if you're gonna talk smack.
Sinclair is also just a weird ass character, they can be insanely powerful some games and super weak in others (duh it’s a moba but Sinclair is just especially comp dependent and freaky)
Yeah, he’s been a problem in comp for a while. Issue is that he’s so dependent on enemy comp. He autowins against like 5-6 characters, and mostly just sucks against the rest of the roster
He’s got really high presence in comp because Lash and Dynamo are really good
im hoping that what they do is each ult will have its own internal cooldown on sinclair. so you cant steal and use the same one over and over and over.
if Sinclair is allowed to exist as is, EVERY future character has to have their ult balanced by considering “Would this ult ruin the game state if it could be used with just base stats and upgrades, but 2.5x more often” which more often than not means that character’s ult has to be changed to accommodate that.
I think Yoshi seeing the Rat King problem in standard and ranked finally fully grasped that and is hopefully changing Sinclair to make the job of ult balance easier on himself and the team.
Good. Not to be a hater, especially since I actually like Sinclair, but like... them having such a short cooldown for them ult is not fair in the slightest. It'll never be fair, given tye randomness of good ult choices, but at the very least it shouldnt be as short as it is.
If you’ve ever played Silver or Dynamo into a good sinclair you know how miserable they feel to play against. Sinclair legit just uses me as a heal pack and gets ult back in under 20 seconds with superior
It's been real, but if they go overboard on the (admittedly, partially deserved) Sinclair nerfs, it might finally be the end for the magic divorced couple.
Im just sitting here as a Sinclair main, hoping he doesn't have his ult hyper nerfed. At least half the rosters ults I do not want to steal. I have had so many games where its a comp of people who's ults I absolutely do not want take. Infernus? No dash to run people down. Venator? It scales off of weapon damage. Victor? Its funny, but they know what you are doing half the time. Viscous? Viscous barely gets use out of his own ult.
I think lot of people who talk about Sinclair don't understand how much limited time you have to place a good stolen ult before it expires. Even when you place, let's say a Dynamo ult, if you don't have some tankiness, you get MELTED in less than 2 seconds. If you build some tankiness, you can not kill a single M1 character.
In practice, there are very few ults that are useful. The skill floor isn't low. The numbers don't lie, he has an awful low win rate. It is not easy to win solo q as Sinclair.
The biggest problem right now which I agree with is the CD on his ult, and the Rat King ult. Both deserve a nerf.
What is Sinclair doing that needs a nerf? Only thing I can see is something to do with his ult cooldown, but it’s honestly one of the best counters to fight changing ults like rat king, lash, and dynamo. But you obviously have to get the ult first which is so much harder done than said.
That's kinda the problem, Sinclair makes these characters very bad and we see it in pro play. Rat king ult is just overturned, but audience participation is going to keep being problematic imo
It’s really not. It’s an instant cast steal with decent range plus assistant let him get out of dangerous situations pretty easily.
If they are changing anything, I assume it’s going to be the ulti cd stuff. They may tweak his rabbit hex, as that thing is one of the strongest cc’s in the game.
that character has been “sleeper” busted since forever between being a giga lane bully, mr worldwide bunny and using all big team fight ultis better than the original owner
Edit: truth be told tho, I do feel like big ultimates get a bit cheap as the game goes on especially, when you start throwing CDR on top of perk related reductions. It’s not really Sinclairs fault he’s the best recipient of this gameplay: maybe I’ll lose people here but I’d like if ults weren’t affected by item CDR and had their CD scalings readjusted in their perk investments.
I know in LoL ultimates have a separate cooldown reduction stat. So you have regular ability haste, and ultimate ability haste. Could be something that would work.
He is copying Rat ult on an Even lower cooldown. Thats it, he is just abusing the most broken ult in the game better with a near 100% success rate of having said ult in game.
This is why Sinclair will basically never be balanced with the way his ult is. His kit has to suck because his ult is just whatever the enemy team has but better.
tbf his kit doesn’t really suck, magic bolt is a solid damage item (provided you can aim), assistant gives him an insane level of lane-poke and escape tool and rabbit hex is one of the best CC’s in the game. A good sinclair player just straight up refuses to die and he’ll make it your problem
So their falloff range is really high (do not underestimate this). Assistant is both poke and an escape tool to allow more aggressive plays. And I mean, Rabbit, don’t need to say much. Ppl overvalue the bolts tbh, like you need to be a beast with them and hit 90% of them to win lane, not the case.
But the problem is no one wants to play them. I personally would play them but everything about them just looks like shit to me. The cosmetic aspect of them just kills my vibe, it makes them more boring than they already are. They aren’t the most easy hero either, but the higher you go, the more talented players you see and you can see how oppressive their lane is. And then there’s mid boss contest with bunny and the ult copying on shorter CDs. With Rat King ult which is the best ult in the game, they are more polarizing than ever.
Does anyone have the context for this? I assume someone asking if we will get changes so Rat King is less dominant? I'm just curious if it's referencing anything else we might be looking forward to soon.
I got matched against a Sinclair on RKing last night and swapped lanes three (3!!!) times to escape, he followed me each time… I even bought MAJESTIC LEAP to kite dude in every fight and he still fkn had me within range to grab. Kind of funny but it’s really just so damn stupid. Thankfully they were terrible but I’ve played against better Sinclairs that have made games insanely unfun
Nerf grab range + make ult CD equal to the ult you clone and I really wouldn’t care. Being able to ult triple the amount the actual character can, at the same power level and across an entire lane, is just genuinely bad design. No other ult cloner in any game ever has it this easy
Edit: Balance patch was exactly what I was hoping for, never stop believing in Yoshi ❤️🩹
triple the amount the actual character can, at the same power level and across an entire lane, is just genuinely bad design
The range is decent but getting in range of someone as Sinclair can actually be kind of hard depending on the character (Celeste, Lash, Pocket, etc.). It can also be very frustrating to use if you're just barely out of range or it auto-targets someone else that's nearby.
Sinclair ult CD isn't fast enough for using it 3x as much as the original character either unless the character doesn't buy CD reduction, which isn't very common for characters with good ultimates.
If Sinclair gets tweaked I hope it's balanced and not some stupid shit like the ultimate CD being 1:1. Sinclair is one of the hardest characters in the game but is very rewarding if you can pull off stuff like paradox ulting someone into your spawn with the assistant or stealing/securing rejuvs with rabbit hex. Not only does he need to steal an ultimate, but he needs to not mess it up or die in the process.
If he gets tweaked it should maybe be to have a 5 second delay after he steals the ult before he can actually activate the ultimate.
But guuuuys, rubick does the same thing in dota 2, the guy who gets a 30% cooldown reduction at max rank instead of 60% for absolutely no investment and the guy who can only steal the last cast ability, it's like the same thing if you really think about it
Rubick is a lot stronger than sinclair lmao. He also gets increased debuff duration as well as a passive increased cast range and 26% spell amp. If you guys don't like Sinclair doing your ult but better, don't invoke rubick.
nope we arenot gunna do this. Infinite escape on his clone, half your health bar in lane with 1 cast of bolt and can cast dynamo ult like 3 times before dynamo gets cooldown back.
Playing graves into sinclair is straight cock and ball torture, he can have more than permenant uptime on the tombstone
If rat king ult gets a cooldown increase that just means Sinclair gets to laugh all the way to the bank as he gets to make rat king’s ult a problem while rat king himself has to play smart
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u/RedstoneTF Sinclair 12d ago
Syncronize your death watches Sinclair mains, we’re gonna be sent to a farm next patch.