[FOLLOWUP] Garen Juggernaut Update

Hi everyone,

It's been awhile since Juggernauts have released, but we did want to publicize our current opinions on Garen following his update in the Juggernaut patch last year. In this, I'll go over what our original goals were, what we think is currently working, problems that may be worth addressing (as well as ones we accept as costs of the update), and future steps we might take on the champion (if any).

• Original Goals
• Solidify Garen as a Juggernaut:
  • Make him a meaningful damage threat throughout the game.
  • Improve his kitability for opponents.
• Reduce presence and reputation as strictly a situational lane bully.
• Make games with Garen in them feel different or "uniquely Garen."
• Keep Garen accessible to newer players.
• What's Working:
• Increasing E spin speed with champion level makes his damage scale into the later parts of the game.
• Villainy succeeds in making games with Garen in them feel unique/different.
• The changes to Garen haven't compromised his accessibility to lesser skilled players.
• Problems to Address:
• Villainy sometimes feels like it ends up on odd targets.
• Tactical counterplay (especially for melee opponents), is still quite poor against Garen.
• Known Tradeoffs:
• Villainy passive can feel tacked on, though not the worst offender of this.
• Villainy system punishes an opponent for doing well.
• W is even more boring of a button now than before.
• Next Steps:
• The next time we are in a position to do balance/cleanup work on Garen (which isn't something we're actively looking into):
  • Investigate ways to improve clarity on Villainy target selection for opponents. In an ideal world, a target would never become the Villain and not understand why.
  • Investigate better tactical counterplay mechanisms for Judgment (E).

I hope this helps to let everyone know where our heads are at on Garen, and again, sorry for taking sooooooo long to get this out there.

Cheers, Repertoir