So what does everyone think of Vayne at the moment?

Astral Duck·7/9/2014, 1:05:04 PM·2 votes·1,217 views

Is she strong with the current adc meta or is she just a niche pick? Because some Vayne's I see are amazingly talented but they just kind of get out ranged and kited, if she gets the jump on you though, gods help you! So what's daunting about Vayne and what's just "Meh" on Vayne, Rioter's feel free to jump in on this discussion! Maybe there are some changes in the works for Vayne? I love her kit but it is a bit strong so increasing her range would be silly unless you toned back her kit a bit.

27 Comments

CaptainWednesday7/9/2014, 2:03:31 PM4 votes

Hmm... I do not main ADC or anything close to that (I hate the ADC role), but I play Support often. I suppose I could get in on this conversation.

I think Vayne is a fairly balanced ADC. She is played at nearly all levels of play, from Bronze to Pros, has a nice solid kit, good theme and skins, high skill cap but easy enough to pick up and play, pairs well with most supports, and fits in nearly every meta.

She can be difficult to pin down at times with her low cooldown tumble and stealth, but hard CC and reveals can typically do the trick. She also falls vicitm to ADC's that out range her (Caitlyn #1 counter) and those champions with blinds (Quinn & Teemo #2 counter), reveals help as well (Support Karma). Short story short, Vayne is easily countered while at the same time, she does not hard counter as many champions.

I feel as though Vayne is in a good spot right now that does not need nerfs (Lucian) or buffs (Urgot). As of this post, Vayne is around a ~46% win rate. Maybe she could use a little "modernization", but if Riot did not want to change her anytime soon, I wouldn't mind.

Sir ArmaMalum7/9/2014, 3:58:11 PM3 votes

While I'm no game designer, I do personally feel Vayne is one of the best designed champions. All of her abilities fit her night hunter theme very well and they tie with each other very well while leaving a bit of room for user creativity (stealth jukes, dodging, great condemns, etc.). She has a higher than average skill ceiling but as CapWed said she also has a decent amount of 'pick up and play' to her. Largely I'll attribute that to Tumble. Most of the time new Vayne players will just use it for the aa buff, maybe a bit for dodging, then later as they get better they'll use it to set up condemns, do some awesome bush-play, and use the tumble ability itself to better use (when one realizes the CD doesn't start until an aa happens). Honestly, I feel she is both the best example and best introduction to a hyper-carry.

As for her place in the current meta, to me she doesn't feel as good as she used to but only because the same bit is for adc's in general. (Which, for the record I am fine with, while adc's should be able to 'carry' they shouldn't be able to single handedly win the game) She can still hold her own and still has that 'time-bomb' feel of a hyper-carry, but with all of the strong cc and damage supports going around (Braum, Thresh, Leona) she's not having the best of times in bot lane right now. She does better, imho, against squishier caster supports who aren't as readily able to shut down her early game. So the bot lane meta's working a bit against her but not horribly. (You can try Vayne top is you feel risky XD)

The only real complaint I can think of, and don't even mind it that much at that, is her passive. Love the effect and all, but it can get a little bit unintuitive when you think about what defines "going towards". If I recall correctly her passive is actually a 180 degree angle with a huge range for the enemy champion check. That, and it's one the last things I find new Vayne players noticing and using effectively as it's somewhat subtle until you ult. But, again, I don't mind it that much because even if you don't notice it you still use it whether you want to or not.

All in all, Vayne is one of my favorite adc, a major factor also being she was the one I got my very first Penta with (SR Penta, not murderbridge penta).

MrBuffington7/9/2014, 6:03:20 PM1 votes

I think Vayne suffers from Lee Sin Syndrome (at least that's what I'm going to call it). She's fairly easy to pick up once you have a grasp of the game/her kit, but she has an unbelievably high skill ceiling. She's very fun to play and can pull off some amazing highlight-reel plays. She can be incredibly powerful in experienced hands (a la Doublelift), but rather lackluster in the hands of players with lower EQ (something I learned from lastshadow9, basically the emotional equivalent of IQ, boils down to being able to keep your cool, not take silly risks, etc.).

Basically the same with Lee Sin; Vayne is good if you're good with Vayne. One of the reason she seems to suffer is that a lot of people (that I see, at least) who play Vayne overestimate their ability on the champion (hence the Lee Sin syndrome). The difference between her and Lee Sin is that she is a hyper-carry, weak early but incredibly strong late game, where Lee Sin is strongest early and tends to taper off as the game gets longer. Basically, so long as you understand your champions strengths and weaknesses (and this goes for all champions), you can learn to play around your weaknesses and emphasize your strengths (it gets harder at higher levels of play since better players are better able to capitalize on your weaknesses).

As for specifics, Vayne's weaknesses are that she has short range and needs time to deal damage (she's AA based), as well as being rather squishy through the game and weak early game. Since there's a lot of focus on damage and CC in supports now (ie. Zyra, Annie, Thresh, Leona, Braum), she has a difficult time early and throughout the game, being as squishy as she is, if you get caught you're basically dead. There's huge outplay potential with Vayne's kit, which makes her pretty vulnerable to compensate; she's a pretty high-risk high-reward champion. Just my 2 cents.

King Cervantes7/9/2014, 9:07:20 PM1 votes

i run gp so im not scared of a vayne q wait for stun orange then q again then she has to fight me or run away then i just ult her and run her down

Khodexus7/9/2014, 10:34:54 PM1 votes

I don't play Vayne much (mostly just try her again every time she's free and remind myself why I don't own her), but one thing confuses me a little. Everyone says that Vayne is weak early game and strong late game. But in my experience, when I play against Vayne, she always seems to do great early game, but I always manage to overtake her and stomp her late game, especially when I'm playing Caitlyn.

Am I the only one? Can anyone offer an explanation for this?

Remlap12237/10/2014, 5:53:33 AM1 votes

I think Vayne's in a good spot. I personally don't like playing her because her early game is too rough, but she can carry hard and has a pretty solid kit. She fits nicely in this meta because she's a tank melter, although I feel that her true damage can utilized better than the "three strikes your'e out" rule.

blackmagic11157/10/2014, 4:46:07 PM1 votes

I play most of my ranked games with vayne and I've noticed that she's pretty weak early game against most of the adc's that get picked in my tier (Bronze IV) such as Caitlyn , Tristana and Varus . It's just that she gets so much stronger after her first couple of items and they don't realize that and proceed to feed me.

Apart from when facing those guys, and one or two that I can't think of now, vayne pretty much handles most adc's that she comes across. Of course, once you add in the supports, that changes things a little but overall. I'm definitely cool with the place that she's in.

The one problem is the same as AlucardsFamiliar mentioned. The combo of high mana cost and high CD on condemn is sometimes annoying. That being said, it definitely made me much better with her. I started using tumble to position myself and I waste condemn much less than I do.

TL;DR: Vayne's cool, except her condemn cost and CD is too damn high.

Nyhver7/13/2014, 5:56:57 PM1 votes

I like that she's kept in check by her short AA range, all of her steroids mean less when she has a weak lane phase and such a short AA range- compared to say, Tristana.

Skellaflex7/14/2014, 10:21:44 PM1 votes

The only reason iv'e refused to play Vayne is because iI feel she is clunky, but iv'e seen many peoeple become powerful as her, but not as good as she could be. I feel she is well rounded, but not in a good way. She could be much sharper, and i don't ever feel threatened when i'm against her. Just my opinion.

Noam Braumsky7/9/2014, 2:53:06 PM1 votes

It seems that whenever I have a Vayne on my tam they're either really terrible and fed or really good and carry the game.