A big problem with nerfing the LEFH is that it is easily killed by anyone with a recon + call-in artillery. It's a static piece with no brace and huge scatter in Fog of War. In many situations you won't even keep a vet I+ LEFH for long.
While several LEFHs can counter SPGs, the reverse is usually true instead. Eg: Hamburg several Priests/Sextons focus firing a CB LEFH (out of 2-3) and it's gone before the firing cycle's over.
I personally think the ability's fine taking the above into account.
EDIT: Speaking of fixed arty guns - the ML-20's a pretty poor arty piece overall, though I suppose the base dmg is higher(?) if I read the stats correctly.
Re-edited.
Edit:
| LEFH | ML20 |
Base dmg | 160 | 200 |
AOE radius | 8 | 8 |
AOE distance (close,mid,far) | 2,4,6 | 2,4,6, |
AOE dmg (close,mid,far) | 1,0.35,0.05 | 0.9,0.28,0.05 |
|
total aoe dmg | 160,56,8 | 180,56,10 |
Angle scatter | 9.25 | 5 |
Fow angle/distance multiplier | 1.75 | 1.25 |
Number of shells | 10 | 8+1 with vet 1 |
Reload | 2.25-2.75sec | 3sec |
Range | 250-vet 3 around 305 | 250-vet 3 around 305 |
Lefh counter barrage is 200 dmg and dosnt change the aoe dmg (making aoe mid a whopping 70 dmg). Im going to make an assumption here but because the scatter dosnt get changed, this means counter barrage shots rain everywhere which is could be a problem for larger more dense team game maps. To be frank, its a absolute overkill of aoe dmg towards anything that's not a vehicle or motor pit.
looking into counter barrage again, the fow multiplier matches the ML20s.
The priest is almost the same as the ml20 (even dmg wise) except with lower range and a mid dmg multiplier of 0.28 making sure its mid aoe dmg stays at 56 but with 7 shots per salvo in total. It has a aoe radius of 7 and a range of 180, at vet 3 240.
The sexton is just weird. More deadly against infantry (160 dmg with a mid aeo dmg of 80 but only in a radius of 2.5 and with a far aoe dmg of 32 with a aoe distance of 6 also being its total aoe radius) but less range than the priest with 160 range and at vet 3 around 210. It has 8 shots per salvo.
Obviously the biggest advantage of the priest and sexton is not being stationary artillery.
Its giving me too much of a head ache to do all of them. This is considering OP is only taking about counter barrage on the LEFH. Hope this gives a better picture.