After the latest update, there’s been a lot of chatter on Ludia’s forums and our Discord about the new state of the meta.

What surprises me is how much the new reshuffle has caused some players headaches. For instance, nothing about Stegoceratops has really changed. It got a slight buff, but the kit (moveset) is the same. I have more trouble in the upper tier arena with things like Tryostronix, Baronyx, Indoraptor and occasionally Stegodeus. But some things that are commonplace in the upper tier arena cause headaches elsewhere.

So let’s talk about the dreaded Stegoceratops and how to beat him.

Greater Stunning Strike Deal 1x damage. 75% chance to stun 1 turn. Cooldown: 3 turn Delay: 1 turn Minimal Stunning Strike Deal 1x damage. 10% Chance to stun for 1 turn. Slowing Impact Deal 1.5x damage. Decrease speed 50% for 3 turns. Cooldown: 4 turn Stunning Impact Deal 1.5x damage. 33% Chance to stun opponent for 1 turn. Cooldown: 2 turn Delay: 1 turn

Anyone who has faced the Stegoceratops knows the biggest strength it has is in it’s powerful stunlocking combo. Let’s take a look at the moveset.

As you can see, there’s a lot of stunning in that kit. First Stegoceratops slows you down, then stuns the crap out of you with a high 75% chance strike and then a hard hitting 33% stun-chance strike that hurts bad, regardless of whether it works. Unfortunately for Stegoceratops, if anything survives this 1-2-3 punch, it’s gotta sit there for two more moves hitting you with a basic strike (albeit with a 10% chance to stun) before it can really get going again.

What this usually means is that Stegoceratops will often take down a Dino with a weaker kit or without the right counters, and leave you in the lurch. And surviving three hits from this beast is a tall order for many dinosaurs.

But a closer look at Stegoceratops shows us that she is lacking in a few notable areas.

Weaknesses

For one, Dinosaurs with Immunity like Dimetrodon, Secodontosaurus, Indominus Rex, Postimetrodon, Ankylocodon, and Tryostronix prove extremely difficult for Stegoceratops. The slowing move doesn’t slow. The stunning moves can’t stun. Add in the fact that five of these beastly counters ignore armor and you’ve got a recipe for disaster for any Stegoceratops.

You’ll also notice that Stegoceratops has no cleansing moves. It can’t get rid of a good Thagomizer or other slowing move. It can’t do anything if it’s been severely debuffed with the likes of a Distracting Strike or an Instant Cripple or a Pounce. It’s prone to being stunned itself in a mirror matchup against another Stegoceratops. And it also can’t do anything about damage over time effects. They just slowly take Stegoceratops down.

Even some common hybrids that hit hard like Einiasuchus and the newly buffed Suchotator can put a real hurting on Stegoceratops. In fact, at a few levels above Stegoceratops, these more common rivals can kill Stegoceratops before she kills them.

And finally, anything with more armor that can outlast Stegoceratops, like Tragodistis or Stegodeus, or Gigaspikasaurus, will take down Stegoceratops no problem.

So What’s The Problem?

The real problem is, in my opinion, most teams during the speed meta were built with Raptor counters in mind. And Stegoceratops is great at dropping a lot of the classic Raptor counters (including raptors themselves). Additionally, people get unlucky rolls. Every stun that a Stegoceratops pulls off is exponentially more frustrating. And anything that gets stun-locked (stunned more than once in a row) is going to have a tough time beating Stegoceratops. Unlikely perhaps, but it does happen from time to time.

Plus, I would put Stegoceratops in the category of “difference maker” in the meta. There’s a significant difference between people who own one and people who do not as you move up arena tiers, similar to how at a certain point you almost need an Indoraptor or an Indominus Rex to survive the upper tier arena.

It may just be that people need to consider the Stegoceratops as a stalwart on most teams, and ensure they have the proper counters on their own team to handle her — similar to how we dealt with Raptors in the previous meta.

Parting Words

Personally, I don’t think the Stegoceratops is too overpowered in the current Meta. She is easily dispatched in upper tier arena, is still a great counter for more powerful Dinos like Indoraptor in a pinch (when you don’t have something that nullifies Indoraptors cloaking), and honestly I see more and more teams replacing Stegoceratops for Monostegotops in the best arena teams because of her Nullifying moves.

Stegoceratops can be a hard one to kill if you happen to get stun-locked on 2 or three consecutive moves, but the chances of this are slim. And if it keeps happening to you, add a healthy helping of immune armor busters to your team and you’ll be just fine.

If you have any questions or wish to join the discussion, let us know in the comments or join MetaHub’s Discord server!