Mods are one of my favorite aspects of the game, and many players would agree. They’re the most flexible way to customize heroes, with three different stats to boost and nine potential upgrades, for each of four slots. Skill Level mods in particular are terrific. When I look at a new hero’s skills, I like to figure out which skill would benefit most from extra levels, if any. Even if nine out of ten times, the hero is going onto my pile of untouched whites when I unlock them. It may sound a little silly, but it’s one of the ways I entertain myself.
HP and Basic Damage mods, on the other hand, aren’t exciting. There may be the occasional exception, like putting armor/reality mods on Maximus to take advantage of his large HP pool, or crit mods on Amelia to trigger her red, but those cases are few and far between. And there hasn’t been a single time I’ve ever thought “boy, this hero could use a start-of-combat shield”.
To make mods more interesting, I’d like to suggest combining Normal and Fantastic Crit upgrades into a single Crit upgrade that grants both stats, as this really won’t change anything and it’ll make more room. For the new effect, every Basic Attack heals HP equal to 2% of the hero’s Basic Damage stat (2% * 4 = 8% per slot, or 32% total). This adds the option of self-sufficiency to the mix.
The start-of-combat shield should be changed to having increased Max HP for the first 15 seconds of combat, keeping the percentages. The shield is barely helpful, and with Dash the way he is you could even call it a liability.
