The latest hero in update 1.13, Reim, has an ability called Chill Winds that introduces a completely new mechanic to Vainglory: root. At the most basic level, it prevents you from moving. But, wait, there’s more!
Rooted
Once you are rooted, you cannot move. However, you can still basic attack (if your target is within range) and use some abilities. Here’s the catch: you can only use abilities that are not considered “mobility” abilities. Any ability that causes your hero to move, will be silenced. Below is a table of abilities that are considered “mobility” abilities. We tested some of these, but if you find something different, please let us know!
| Hero | Affected Abilities |
| Adagio | Unaffected |
| Ardan | Vanguard, Blood for blood, Gauntlet |
| Blackfeather | Feint of Heart, Rose Offensive |
| Catherine | Unaffected |
| Celeste | Unaffected |
| Fortress | Truth of THE tooth |
| Glaive | Afterburn |
| Joule | Rocket Leap (Big Red Button is oddly unaffected) |
| Kestrel | Unaffected |
| Koshka | unaffected (Pouncy fun and Yummy Catnip Frenzy break root) |
| Krul | Dead Man’s Rush |
| Petal | Trampoline |
| Phinn | Unaffected |
| Reim | Unaffected |
| Ringo | Unaffected |
| Rona | Into the Fray, Foe Splitter |
| SAW | Unaffected (Roadie Run rollback breaks root) |
| Skaarf | Unaffected |
| Skye | Suri Strike |
| Taka | Kaiten, X-Retsu |
| Vox | Sonic Zoom |
It is interesting to see that Truth of the Tooth is silenced, even though it isn’t directly a mobile ability (you can cast the Mark without the lunge). Also shocking was that Big Red Button is NOT silenced, even though it “technically” moves your hero (the knock back). Also, Vanguard gets silenced, even though you don’t move when using it on yourself. Lastly, I believe Koshka’s A and C abilities being unaffected may be a bug, as all other gap closers get silenced.
Stutter Stepping
This just in! You can infact, still stutter step while rooted, as long as your target is in range.
7 Comments
Samuel
Jan 13, 2016 8:24 pmI assume that phinn can’t be rooted, since his heroic perk turns any movement impairing abilities into weak slows. Right?
Jellio
Feb 09, 2016 2:30 pmRight. But he can probably make it work for himself even if he is rooted because of his abilities.
Thommy8
Jan 13, 2016 3:07 pmSo Catherine can Merciless Pursuit? But I’m assuming it doesn’t break the root and you can only stun an enemy that is right next to you?
keldegar
Jan 13, 2016 3:11 pmCorrect! We just tested this, actually.
Thommy8
Jan 13, 2016 3:14 pmThanks! I forgot to mention, this is a really fantastic resource that you’ve put together (as usual for Broken Myth of course). Thanks for taking the time to test everything. It will be interesting to see whether/how Reim (and the handful of balance changes) shake up the meta.
Thommy8
Jan 13, 2016 3:17 pmAnother question, how long does the root last? In the videos that I’ve seen on YouTube so far it seems to be really, really short.
Does the duration of the root scale with ability points and/or with crystal power? Is the duration shortened by a percentage for minions (which would explain why it seems so quick in the Commander Alex and BenTimm videos)?
keldegar
Jan 13, 2016 3:22 pmThe root scales with ability points starting at 0.6 seconds to 1.4 seconds at overdrive.