Boards›Dev Corner

Blitzcrank Changes Heading to PBE

RiotRiot Maxw3ll·3/15/2019, 4:25:42 PM·1 votes·195,728 views

Heyo party people! Riot Maxw3ll here with my first Red Post of all time. I joined the Champions team about six months ago after seven-ish years’ experience in the industry. I’ve worked at a couple places, most recently being Blizzard, and had a background focusing on Collectible Card Games.

So, as a show of good faith, I figured my first act as a Champion Designer should be that of removing some old RNG from the game. I’ve got some Blitzcrank changes I’ve been working on that I’d love to get some feedback from y’all on. These should be pushed to PBE later today. Just a disclaimer up front: I’m not planning on shipping these changes to live with 9.7. I want to get a temperature read on these changes in PBE to make sure we’re heading in the right direction with Blitz before we pull any triggers.

Goals:

  1. Make the Passive more consistent and not discouraging you to cast spells.
  2. Reduce frustration around Blitz’s ult passive and widen its uses in team fights.

Passive: Mana Barrier Shield Strength: 50% of current mana -> 30% of Max Mana

Ultimate: Static Field Passive: When Static Field is active while in combat, Blitzcrank randomly shocks a nearby enemy every 2.5 seconds (removed) New Passive: While Static Field is active, lightning charges Blitzcrank’s fists, marking enemies he attacks. After 1 second, marked enemies take 50/100/150 + 30%AP magic damage.

Just to clarify, a second auto attack will not refresh the mark, nor interrupt it. If you attack again during the mark, nothing extra happens, and if you attack after the mark, you’ll apply a new one. Blitz can mark any number of targets, limited by his access to them and his attack speed.

Again, just as fair warning, I don’t expect to ship these changes this patch, but I will be listening and responding to feedback where I can.

202 Comments

Spideraxe3/15/2019, 4:35:12 PM56 votes

Very good changes Dan, his static field RNG was super outdated

Boltonator3/15/2019, 4:27:41 PM17 votes

Oh wow!

Just expressing my sudden interest in Blitzcrank now and I get downvoted for it, lol.

Crazy community I tell ya...

papi carlo3/15/2019, 8:00:10 PM11 votes

Hello, OTP Blitzcrank here since years (atm master, struggling against meta): I have made a recent bug report concerning Blitzcrank, im just going to comment it, hoping you could adapt your changes.

  1. I believe the rune 'Unflinching' should work for his overheat on W (not sure if tenacity/slow-resistance in general do not work for self-applied slows, but i think they should)
  2. There is one bug that makes you listen to the Blitzcrank Mana Barrier passive after death for the entire game, which can be a very big slightly annoying :)
  3. Grabbing Ezreal in his E-animation sometimes hinders Blitzcrank from moving and pulls him towards Ezreal, which provides me with joy, especially under the opposing turret

Also I had some recommendations for Blitzcrank changes:

  1. His mana cost on W of 75 seems pretty high especially in early level, would prefer a scaling 50/55/60/65/70 to make it viable
  2. His base mana is very low
  3. Since Blitzcrank might be the easiest champion to counter in the league and is put into an obnoxious matchup every single game, i would have liked to see a small mana refund of maybe 20-50 mana on his grab on hit; As not hitting your skillshot should make you cry for your loss of resource, hitting should at least give you some sort of reward. Some match-ups turn high-risk/high-reward into 'go roam there is nothing to get' on botlane.
  4. A silence of 0.5 seconds on his ultimate active is quite short, i would also like to see it scale maybe even up to 1 second just to make sure that it is not possible to flash before getting knocked up after a grab through tenacity
  5. Also his overdrive (W) seems to be decaying too quickly after the duration has been decreased somewhen in the past. This could also be changed slightly.

Most of the changes were recommended due to his Mana Barrier being almost completely irrelevant in early laning phase. I dont think any of these would overbuff the champion in lower ranking but would make him more viable in higher ranking.

My comments on your changes:

  • Make the Passive more consistent and not discouraging you to cast spells. I agree Most of my recommendations are mana related and address this issue.

  • Reduce frustration around Blitz’s ult passive and widen its uses in team fights. I disagree This idea just seems to be removing some kind of mechanic. Knowing your passive could hit minions should just make you avoid fighting inside of minions (moving wisely). I dont agree with making the champion easier than it is. I would rather like to see changes to the champion, that make him more viable in higher elo. Also this seems to be buffing his damage, while i think his damage is fine if we are not comparing with Tahm Kench :) To widen its uses in team fights, i simply recommend increasing the silence.

Rathar Dashing3/15/2019, 4:35:05 PM10 votes

Seems pretty great, would have loved to see something done with his current W though, or just his mana costs in general.

LordRedStone Nr13/15/2019, 4:58:50 PM7 votes

Those changes sound really promising, I look forward to trying them out on the PBE! This integrates his W more in his basic rotation (more AS for more marks) and makes his ult hits less random while preserving the core functionality. Reducing the hit damage is fine imo, as you get to proc it more reliable and possibly more often. I like the increased AP Ratio though ;)

[katarina-love]

Switching the passive to max Mana is definitely the right call, but is it possible that we can also get the cooldown reduced with level? Maybe 105/90/75/60 on levels 1/6/11/16 or something along these lines?

Finally, for future red posts, I encourage you to look at this Boards Markup Guide. This way you can use New and Removed to enhance your posts and make them look more like the patchnotes! Wuks and the other developers have done such a great job with the colors but I almost never see them in use, so I encourage everyone to use it!

Scrandor3/15/2019, 9:26:05 PM7 votes

hey! i'm Scrandor, i've been challenger for 3 seasons now and for the first two of the seasons i was a blitz otp. i'm usually (also currently) the highest elo blitz player (in NA at least)

for the shield changes, i think it's a good change because i think the majority of the time it pops i'm under 60% mana (although i'm not sure). While I'm not sure on the numbers, I agree with the philosophy here, trading off survivability just for using skills does feel rather odd.

the ult changes are of concern to me though. in a comment you mentioned you were thinking of being able to 'queue' an extra charge which i think is almost necessary to keep his strength similar to live. currently the bread+butter combo is hook+auto(unless you can one-shot)+e+(get as many procs of r off while running beside them (you only auto during this time if, after autoing, you would still be in range to E them) waiting for e cd to come back)+r when they're as low as possible without killing (to get max procs without taking kills) tying his ult passive to his autos is a little worrying as it doesn't seem to mesh well with the playstyle (usually it's much better to use your time pathing while waiting for E CD rather than autoing) i do think it really does have the potential to be good though, it just seems awkward in its current iteration. the queuing charges is a REALLY good idea and is probably one of two suggestions i would make. the other concern i have is surrounding the numbers. i don't exactly understand the ap ratio increase. i think blitz is well-defined as a support character who has main functions in utility and tankiness. almost every game i finish with 0 ap (other than baron and the adaptive force rune (which might even go to AD, though i'm unsure) so i would make a bid for the base numbers to be slightly higher with a lower (or even non-existent) ap ratio. the only AP support item that is even slightly good for Blitz is shurelya's, but I would never want that over the other support items (zekes, knights, locket, etc.) this take, however, obviously comes from my personal ideal that Blitz should not be built AP (in accordance with the support role, generally)

all of this said, it's important to address that i have vested interest in blitzcrank being strong and therefore am speaking from some place of bias. as well, my personal opinion is that blitz is in a great spot right now, so i'm also speaking from a place of fear that he will become worse. thanks! overall really happy that blitz is getting focus and i think the changes have strong potential :D i'm really open to having conversation about my thoughts as they aren't perfectly fleshed out atm, as well as clarifying anything i've said that might need expansion!

ModThe Djinn3/15/2019, 6:01:20 PM6 votes

Awesome stuff, and very straightforward (in a good way). That said, a bit of feedback on areas where I'm seeing potential concerns.

One concern here is that there was always been a gimmick of AP-burst Blitzcrank, and I worry about this increasing that by adding another reliable damage proc in laning, since you can now be sure that burst lands where you want it to -- and keep it up once per second.

It also synergizes oddly with Blitzcrank's unusual attack speed boost, as attacking faster is meaningless to the effect unless you happen to be within easy melee range of multiple targets (which is strong for farming, but Blitzcrank is traditionally not a solo laner or farmer), especially since he already has an auto-attack reset if he needs it. At any point did you consider whether or not power could be cut from Blitzcrank's attack speed boost to give him something that fits a bit more into this pattern? My suspicion is the niche case for being able to hit multiple targets within a 1 second timer is not sufficient to pull the AS boost away from its use mostly as a positioning tool that often ignores the AS boost entirely, unless the proc automatically refreshes itself in some way to give you meaningful time to move and attack multiple targets while still keeping damage on your primary target.

I assume you already hit most of these points internally, but I'd love to hear a bit of your thoughts on the matter. Thanks so much for the open communication!

ShadowParker3/15/2019, 4:36:04 PM6 votes

This is pretty cool actually. Couple questions though!

Currently, when the ult is used the passive you’re removing goes away as well until it’s back on cooldown. Is that still the case?

As well, is there a cooldown on the lightnight strikes? For instance, he can’t waveclear super fast with infinite strikes can he?

Is there a range after marking someone? I.e if they dash away from Blitzcrank will the mark still hit? Do go along with that, can it be dodged?

Super cool change actually!

RiotRiot Maxw3ll3/15/2019, 8:24:40 PM5 votes

Went ahead and added a two stack limit to the ult passive after reading some feedback here. For clarifications on how this'll work:

The first auto will apply the countdown mark. The second auto during the countdown will 'queue up' a second mark that will begin after the first one finishes. If you somehow get a third attack in there, it will not apply anything extra.

Let me know what you think!

Ashkan3/16/2019, 2:27:17 PM4 votes

Here are my thoughts as a blitz main since season 3, and always around master/chall elo since season 4 on EUW.

The passive Mana Barier changes seem overall like a fine idea, this is generally a slight buff for the most part and only would be a nerf if you stack mana items, which apart from getting zekes and righteous glory doesnt happen as a support, there are some blitz players for example Prim0 on euw that play him on toplane and build stuff like manamune iceborn gauntlet, and for building him as a toplane bruiser this would be a significant nerf to that style since your overall mana pool is much higher later on into the game and a 30% shield would almost always be less then the current itteration of 50% of current mana for that style. but generally speaking i think this change is fine overall given the thought process behind it.

As for the static field passive changes, i think its silly to think it causes frustration because for the laning phase there is obviously a clear range for when it does and doesnt proc on minions so that just takes a small learning curve, you can even position yourself in a way so you know which minion it will proc on with just staying in range of the minion u want to proc on and out of range of the other minions, i do think if it would prioritize the closest champion would take away that RNG feeling of the static field in a teamfight since you would know how it would procc and could more so play around having that knowledge, i think would the current path your taking it will dumbify the champion since the frustration aspect comes from lack of understanding of the mechanic of itself and it would also just be a flat out nerf in terms of damage since a good portion of your damage comes currently from your passive in the midgame with just being able to have the reliable dps of it when there is a fight in the river for the drake for example, but the changes your looking to do it would basically take away the mindfullness of applying your cc since you are a melee champion and getting consistently in range to get auto's of to be able to proc it would cause you to potentionally not be in range for the key targets u want to cc with ur E. Furthermore the AP ratio just doesnt make sense since he just isnt played as a mage at all and would take a lot more for people realistically to buy AP items on him. I truely think you could make the static field passive less frustrating if you just would take the current itteration of the passive and focus on prioritization of the ability.

Some personal thoughts to what i think that could benefit blitzcrank are:

Changing the mana cost of his hook to 75 at all levels, in comparison to other champions with hooks it just feels really bad starting the game with 263 mana and a hook costing 100 at all levels, a different itteration of this change would be to keep it 100 and refund 50% of the mana if it actually hits a target, in that way your atleast rewarding being skillfull at the champion and giving the enemies room to capitalize if he does fail it.

His W also costs 75 at all levels with just feels quite high if ur trying to go for a W into Q it costs currently 175 mana, and in the early game that is litterally about half your mana pool. The numbers overall just feel outdated in comparison to other champions that go for their hook combo it is far less punishing in terms of their mana pool and mana costs. i think making his W cost 50 and scale it to 75 at lvl 5 would be fine.

Also his current mana pool seems quite low for a champion that has a passive that relies on his mana for it to be usefull and all his spells apart from his E have really high mana costs.

I hope you look into some of these options and more so will look into giving blitzcrank some quality of life changes rather then completely changing certain mechanics.

AIQ3/15/2019, 4:37:35 PM4 votes

So it's an on hit thing with a 1 second gate? Does this apply to abilities too? So a Q/E applies 2 procs (granted you waited one second) OR does the E only apply it?

When the R detonates does it too apply that damage?
Is it possible to add any effects to his ult? A slow, longer silence? Or maybe slap a single on hit passive of the Blitz ult passive to allies that got hit in ult range?

Also how will this impact his rework? Is he a candidate for most a VU rather than a VGU?

I wanted to throw some unrelated Shyvana stuff because... I'm desperate? lol Since you are a designer I would think you talk to Meddler, he said two different times a few months ago that he'd have Shyvana scale with elder, but that never came trough. Can you remind him or tell us why ti didn't go? Is it possible to remove the decay on her W, also since AP Shyvana took the W ratio can AD Shyvana gain total AD on it's ratio? Can we please have her ult cool down work while dead?

Miss Ally3/15/2019, 7:19:29 PM4 votes

The there Riot Maxw3ll! I am Miss Ally head of r/Blitzcrankmains and I thought I would give you feed back on a champion I am so very passionate about and so is my community.

Passive: Mana Barrier Shield Strength: 50% of current Mana -> 30% of Max Mana

This Change is a huge nono from me. This Buffs what is already one of the strongest early game champion's early game. If find that mana management is rather crucial and to take away ability to play around his mana barrier at all. This would only hurt late game blitz who already struggles and it would cripple the few top lane blitz mains since they are the ones to build a lot of mana items. I feel like this change misses the mark to the point even if it was a buff from 50% > 50% I would still be heavily opposed.

Ultimate: Static Field Passive: When Static Field is active while in combat, Blitzcrank randomly shocks a nearby enemy every 2.5 seconds (removed) New Passive: While Static Field is active, lightning charges Blitzcrank’s fists, marking enemies he attacks. After 1 second, marked enemies take 50/100/150 + 30%AP magic damage.

  • As you effectively gutting the damage by half. I would have to play test it to see how it feels but over all I dont have a big issue with this at this moment, if the targeting procs off of any ability such as q. If not this again would hurt an already struggling mid game, where you typically have to ult right after the Q so you can prevent the target from flashing and setting up the knock up. Q > R > E

  • Since we are already touching the ultimate can we please have a change put in that has been done for other champions like Alistar. Currently you can R > F with blitzcrank and the animation follows, but the damage area stays where you originally flashed from. I would love to have the ability to R > F and have the damage actually show where the animation is.

Secondly there is a bug centered around iBlitzcrank skin. Currently when you get insta killed through Mana Barrier when you re-spawn the passive visuals and sounds are still playing. This has been an annoyance for several years and has pushed me from even playing one of the most iconic skins because of the bug.

Alzon3/15/2019, 4:39:07 PM4 votes

As a guy who loves playing Blitzcrank in roles other than Support, I am VERY happy to see these changes. Triforce bruiser Blitz will actually have a passive, and his ultimate will become much more effective as a dueling tool when near a minion wave.

Extreme mana-stacking is no longer quite as efficient, but that’s OK. Blitzcrank’s burst is more reliable with any build, since the Static Field passive is guaranteed to hit someone who he lands his full combo on.

LAP Maxwell3/15/2019, 9:40:35 PM3 votes

Nice name.

Blitz3/16/2019, 12:08:52 AM3 votes

Does the ult have to be up to mark the target? Also instead of completely changing his passive on ult, wouldn't it have made more sense to just have his ult passive prioritize other champions? By changing it you now actually do less damage in lane and in team fights. Blitzcrank isn't able to go up to multiple targets to mark them. Also none of his core items really allow him to build ap unless you want to sack his survivability (this may change with the change to his passive). I don't agree with the changes the passive is a buff but the change to his ultimate honestly seems like a nerf to the champion. You honestly needed to make it so his ult prioritizes champs and if u want it to actually be good in team fights you wouldn't require players to not use the spell to mark targets, it would make much more sense. You're now forcing players to either hold the ultimate to mark targets or use it for the initial burst (you're acting like blitzcrank can run around and instantly mark each target) and the silence which should be buffed to one second instead of .5 because it's completely useless if the player has mercs. This change overall seems more like a nerf to blitzcrank as a support than a buff.

GRIMThousandEyes3/15/2019, 5:05:02 PM3 votes

So if I grab someone and E them to knock them up and mark them, THEN use my ultimate before the passive hits the marked target, will the mark just not be proc'd, or will it still hit them since the mark was applied before the ult was used?

Aavarce3/15/2019, 11:03:15 PM3 votes

I have a question, and I don’t know if it’s intentional or old design.

When Blitzcrank lands a q, the hooked enemy gets pull to where blitzcrank is standing when it lands, not directly to blitzcrank. It’s not a huge difference, but there is time for blitz to be knocked away during the pull part, or have the hook pull halfway along if blitz gets knocked away while the hook is flying (like poppy ult)

Is this intentional, or is this old coding or design?

lJayFromTheBayl3/16/2019, 6:09:34 PM2 votes

Yet still no fiddlesticks buff. update and change the same champs over and over and over.

ZT Xperimentor3/15/2019, 8:03:37 PM2 votes

Can't say I'm impressed nor looking forward to these changes.

Since blitzcrank is a front-liner for the team it makes sense for his shield to be based on current mana, as the enemy team will likely retaliate upon grabbing someone, and gives him a lifeline at the start of a fight as he probably will be focused; while rewarding enemies for stalling him out so his shield will get weaker the more he fails to succeed. Changing it to scale off maximum mana removes this strategic dynamic between playmaking in teamfights.

Having an uncontrollable but longer ranged sunfire cape is part of his identity (seriously has anyone tried to build one a tezla coil from scratch?). It assists his farming for toplane, and also uses procs from the relic shield when played support, something that most supports tend to struggle with between taking more damaging poke and their carry killing minions first. Turning it into yet another auto-attack on-hit effect feels lazy, and contradictory given what was stated about why the shield is getting changed, now encouraging players to never use his ultimate so he can rotate between marking multiple champions.

If anything was to be changed, I'd do it like this; I'd rather his rocket grab be altered to be thrown from and at an angle to match his animation, this would spread his skill floor and ceiling as nearly everyone is used to skillshots being just a straight line projected from their champion. Can't be that difficult to implement given diana & victor have existed for years. And lower the movement speed penalty of underdrive on his W, this would give him plenty more reliability without outright adding more gimmicky damage. And increase the cooldown of his ultimate a bit at max rank, I liked the scaling up usefulness buff he got some time back, but with 45% cooldown reduction it's basically on a 10 second cooldown late game, rather strong for an instant AOE. I'd thinks fair to nerf if the overdrive buff I previously suggested was in place.

If your post's changes are going to be forced live anyway (I'm cynical since kogmaw was the only reverted rework when others were rebuked worse). Then at least keep the old lightning strike animation from the passive for when the mark detonates, xerath's rework was so disappointing and I don't want a repeat for another old main.

The23rdGamer3/15/2019, 5:00:52 PM2 votes

For your first post around the block I feel like you did a pretty good job. :)

I kind of wish we could have up to two stacks on a target for Blitzcrank's R Passive but I completely understand why that isn't the case.

Thank you for being open with us and for keeping the character of Blitzcrank intact! [sg-lux]

Kei1433/15/2019, 4:39:44 PM1 votes

How oftenly can the target be marked?

Currently, in a 1v1 scenario, it is more beneficial to not use blitz's ult as it does more dmg over time.