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 | 1.75 |
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.
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.