It’s Crunch Time In ‘Paragon’

Epic Games just released the newest hero to join the roster for their third-person MOBA, Paragon. Crunch is big, mean and something you might expect to see in the movie Real Steel. Crunch is a melee fighter with a unique combo system that can chain abilities together for devastating attacks. This new Paragon character is a continuation of Epic’s promise to announce a new hero every three weeks.

A Not-So-Subtle Tease

This teaser image was a better than usual hint at the new hero’s name and look. It was rather obvious that it was mechanical. We also see the name “Crunch” scrawled on the chest.

In this teaser trailer, we see another Paragon hero, Steel, taking in the massive size of this new hero. Steel — himself a force to be reckoned with — appears to be a bit concerned as we see the shadow of Crunch envelop him.

The Full Crunch Reveal

The full Crunch reveal trailer teaches us right away of the type of hero Crunch will be. The first thing we hear is Crunch’s robot voice proclaiming “I am Crunch. I like to punch,” which implies that Crunch is a Fighter.  The video starts out in a mock version of a “Tekken” or “Street Fighter” battle driving the assumption even further home. It continues by showing off Crunch’s epic combo system.

Playstyle and Abilities

Forward Crunch

Crunch leaps forward, stomping on the first enemy he encounters. If the ability is empowered, he also drags the enemy forward for the full distance of the charge.

Left Crunch

Crunch delivers a left punch that delivers increased cleave damage. When empowered, Left Crunch deals 100% basic attack damage to all enemies in cleave range.

Right Crunch

Crunch slows enemies on hit. When empowered, Right Crunch knocks up enemies.

Recrunch

Recrunch repeats the last ability used, creating an opening for more combos. It also comes with two passive abilities. The first shaves time off of Crunch’s cooldowns when he uses basic attacks, allowing for more combos in less time. The second passive empowers every third ability used.

Counters and Synergies

It’s not really clear if Recrunch is an Ultimate or if Crunch even has one. This is especially true given the passives attached to it. Those would need to apply more often than not. While his abilities are completely different, Crunch shares the same primary role and affinities as Greystone and Feng Mao. Similarly, Crunch would be best utilized in the heat of battle slowing down or stopping enemies dead in their tracks. Poor Gideon just can’t seem to catch a break these days.

So how do you stop Crunch? Interrupting his powerful empowered attacks or stopping them from occurring in the first place would be a good place to start. Crush is the only hero in Paragon thus far that relies on consistently chained abilities to increase damage output. Beyond that, we may have just wait and see how tough Crush really is.

Crush will be available to play on Nov. 15. Paragon is in open beta and is free to play on both PC and Playstation 4.