The game has just started but my tower is already like this... Ben frowned as he examihe Turret’s remaining HP. From just one push, the tower dropped down to 88%.

  And, this was only the beginning of the game, the very first wave. Things will get only tougher from here on out as minions will grow stronger with each wave.

  In this first push, the Orc’s strong basic attacks were responsible for most of the damage. However, over time, all the minions together will be delivering just as much damage as Appretnece, if not more. At that point, Ben’s tower will lose about 20% HP per wave.

  N-No, I ’t let that happeeeled himself. This isn’t the first time I’m fag an aggressive Orc. I defend against it, even if Druid isly the best css for the job.

  Defending was the ohing Ben knew how to do best. It was the only skill he believed he excelled at. Therefore, no matter what kind of pro-level prodigy Appretnece was - Ben should be able to stall the guy; he had to!

  “Ben, are you alright?” Kai asked. “You’re looking kinda pale over there.”

  “Y-Yes, I’m fine! I do this! Everything is alright. Yes.”

  “Very ving.” Kai made a face. “Looks like that Korean guy gave you quite the beating, huh.”

  “I-It’s okay, I hahis,” Ben insisted. “With a Lv.2 shield, I’ll be able to tank the minions properly. I won’t let him push like this again.”

  “Are you fident you do it?” Yuel asked. “I was thinking of having Nia patrol Top Juo disce further pushes.”

  "It's okay, I hahis,” Ben insisted. “I don't think there's ao waste her time on something like this, really."

  "Are you sure? Your tower took quite the beating."

  "S-Sorry about that..."

  "I'm not bming you,” Yuel expined. “I'm just stating the facts as they are. This isn't a fortable matchup for you, and your oppo is a high-level pyer. It’d be stranger if you didn’t struggle."

  "I-It'll be okay!" Ben insisted. "I was just a little startled st round, that's all. I'll defend properly this time."

  "Are you pletely sure?"

  "Yes, I know what to do in the few waves." Ben shared his pns for the uping battles. Defending against hyper-aggressive oppos was something he practiced a ton, so it was one of the few topics he was rather fident about.

  "With a Lv. 2 shield, this should be easy enough to achieve," Ben cluded his expnation on that note.

  The HP of Gaia’s Prote increased substantially by a ft amount with each level. As such, there was quite a big leap between Lv. 1 and Lv. 2 in the early-game.

  I wish that building HP or Defense also made the shield buffer. Ben thought. But, it just doesn't scale that way, unfortunately.

  Out of all things, the HP of Druid's shield scaled with Magical Power. It was a rather odd decision for a css that was clearly desigo be a defeank. There was actually some history behind it.

  On release, the Druid's shield did scale with HP as expected. And, like today, the shield also beed from a ft HP increase per level.

  I wish I pyed Mancers during that time. Ben always sighed whenever he thought about this topic. It sounds like Druid was such a strong css back then.

  It was ireated as top-tier back then, even arguably broken. With the shield sg based on HP, Druid pyers simply built tons and tons of it. This way, the Druid pyer became an unkilble tank, and the shield he provided to allies was equally durable. During these times, Druid was the epitome of defensive support.

  This resulted in an uhy meta, so CssSoft nerfed Druid. They cluded that having access to a strong shield from the early-game was too much, therefore they nerfed Gaia Shield’s base HP, as well as the ft HP increase per level. In other words, now the shield’s entire worth was decided by HP sg.

  To further reinforce that design dire, CssSoft also he Ents’ base HP. Now, in the early-game, these giant trees were barely capable of tanking any tower shots at all.

  However, as pensation, the Ents’ HP now scaled that much harder with the Druid’s HP. This turhem into incredible tanks for the te-game.

  As a result of all these ges, Druid was borderline useless during the early-game. Its shield aper thin and his Ents couldn’t help much with pushes. The Druid pyer had to build tons of HP in order to e online.

  O did e online, Druid was even more oppressive than before. Its shield was s it effectively doubled the HP of its allies, and its Ents could tank tower shots for days.

  heless, the css’s usage rate dropped sharply as a result of this ge. Druid became a niche pick, which was a far cry from its fod-tier status.

  The main reason for the dee in popurity was that Druid now cked any value for the early-game. It had a squishy shield that couldn't protect allies and squishy Ents that couldn’t tank towers.

  Though, I think people just overreacted to the nerf. That was Ben's take on the subject, though it urely specutive one as he couldn’t try that version of Druid for himself.

  Pyers probably got too used to having a strong shield the entire game, so they felt like Druid lost its purpose without it. Beed. Though, I definitely uand the appeal of a strong early-game shield…

  With all said and done, Ben was also heavily relying on Druid’s strong early-game shield right now. So, there was no saying for sure how he would’ve felt about the ges if he pyed Cssmancers during that era.

  Apparently, there was a lot of heated discussion at the time regarding Druid's viability ia. Especially, on the DruidMains server, people shed at each other nonstop.

  One fa cimed that Druid was a great pick for hyper-defeeams, while others cimed that a strong te-game defense was useless when the Druid tributed “absolutely nothing” during the earlier stages of the game.

  For example, Hyper Carry csses like Seraph worked because they were sidered "win ditions". Ohe Seraph went online ie-game, it was expected to push for victory.

  But, what about Druid? Did it also ensure victory for the team o got online? Debatable. Druid was very strong at keeping its allies alive and at tanking towers, but it was ultimately still the role of the offensive csses to seal the deal.

  Ultimately, the tier list discussion came down to a petitioween simir options. There were other csses, like Vanguard, that taowers and protected allies well enough. But, unlike Druid, these csses had tools that worked throughout the entire game, not only the te-game.

  Regardless, some extremists cimed that Druid was now a “top-tier pick” for some “specific team ps”. Namely, the team ps with a fanatic focus oe-game.

  "Druid is the best-in-slot Support for a Seraph team!" These were the kinds uments these madmen made. And, there was some truth to it, at least on paper.

  The Seraph + Druid bo was uable ie-game. Seraph excelled in split pushing, and Druid’s powerful shield as only made Seraph’s job that much easier.

  However, there was one big caveat: the two csses first had to survive the early-game in order to reach the te-game in good shape. Until then, both of them were like baggage for the team.

  Carrying one baggage was still affordable, but two? How was the team even supposed to reach the te-game like this? It was unreal.

  And so, despite how hyped up this “powerful duo” was, it didn’t actually see much py in practice. A few pro teams attempted this strategy, but most such attempts failed spectacurly.

  The only specific sario in which the “Druid + Hyper Carry” setup was highly valued was in a matchup between two extremely defeeams. For example, in the Leopards vs. StormBlitz kind of matchup, there’d be a strong argument for that kind of team p.

  However, both teams would be aware of the fact, so they’d simply ban Druid to seal that option. Thus, in the very few games in which Druid could potentially show its true strength, it didn’t evehe e on stage.

  It was a really sad state for the css. Ben thought so back wheched a video doting the css’s history. Druid wasn’t really that bad, it’s just that the petition was better.

  Such was the unfortunate reality of many “low tier” csses. They weren't necessarily "bad" in a vacuum, they just existed in a petitive envirohat didn't plement their strengths.

  Acc to the dotary, Druid remained in that sorry state for quite a while. Perhaps CssSoft was waiting for somebody to figure out a way to utilize Druid better, or maybe they hoped that future item ges will shake up the meta enough to make Druid relevant.

  As, time went on and none of that seemed likely to happen. Druid remained an impractical orick pony and people kept pining.

  An HP build was the only viable build because everything about Druid scaled with HP. As a result, there wasn’t mu for experimentation. No amount of theorycrafting could save a css that was so restricted in its build options.

  In light of the situation, people posted many redesign ideas, trying to vince CssSoft to fix the css. However, it didn't feel like CssSoft aying much attention to Druid's situation. After all, there were tless csses in the game and it was impossible to bance all of them.

  On top of that, with Cssmancers being official esports that was even practiced in schools, the process of getting approvals for redesigns became far more plicated than for a regur game. So, it was only natural for CssSoft to take their time with this matter.

  It was the same as how it took them a long time to push through the bance ges that nerfed Shadow Walker. Their response had been slow like that over the years because of bureaucracy.

  But, eventually, the ges had finally e. CssSoft redesigned Druid’s properties once again based on the criticism.

  The new Druid became something of a mix of the two previous versions. CssSoft aimed to create a more banced version that was better suited for the meta enviro.

  After this ge, Druid lost the big HP sg across the board. Instead, its skills had good base value again, as well as a det ft increase per level. This made Druid's shield as fairly durable during the early-game.

  However, without any further adjustments, this would’ve caused the opposite issue: Druid would’ve bee det in the early-game, but very weak ie-game. The skills that lost their HP sg needed some alternate form of sg, or else they'd fall off too hard ie-game.

  So, CssSoft did give some sg to Gaia's Prote, but it was a very different kind of sg. Many criticized this design decision for being "uic", even though meically most agreed that it was a good, refreshing ge.

  And so, today, Druid's shield scaled with Magical Power. This type of sg didn't quite match Druid's pacifistic image, but it practically solved all the issues Druid had had in the previous two iterations.

  The new power sg was just as strong as the older HP sg, so in theory, the Druid could reach the same power ceiling as before. However, by building power, Druid had to give up on building HP and defense, leaving itself far too squishy to serve as the team's frontline.

  Essentially, the Druid pyer was given a choice. He could build full HP and bee a sturdy tank at the expense of giving teammates a weaker shield, or alternatively, he could build more power to provide a better shield, but that would make him a weaker tank. Essentially, this was an iing dilemma of tank vs. bruiser.

  This ge sparked a lot of theorycrafting, guides, and discussions. Druid's state became more lively than ever as people analyzed the o end.

  Of course, there were always a few extremists in the bunch. Some cimed that the css reverted to its OP state, while others cimed that the new sg made no sense and that the css was still too weak.

  Regardless at rge, the unity was happy with the ges. The Druid skin that came out alongside the bance ge sold very well, whie used as proof that the unity approved of the ges.

  In time, the hype settled down. People reached the clusion that the new Druid was "good but not broken", so the css found its p the meta alongside other popur picks.

  All's well that ends well. Ben thought. Though, I really wish I had the ce to py that hyper te-game Druid just to see how it feels. Still, I imagihe current Druid is overall more stable.

  It was thanks to the properties of Druid’s current iteration that Ben was fident he'd be able to tank most ining attacks in the uping wave. He definitely won't let Appre arong push…!

  DarkestCymore