Mercy
I’m here to talk about one of my favorite champions Talon. Recently nerfed and not the hottest pick at the moment, but he’s seeing some play in mid. I really like his all-in nuke kit, but I there is one thing I find out of place. I’m not so sure of Talon’s passive, Mercy, which grants bonus physical damage on auto attack (10% of his total AD) if his enemy is slowed or affected by certain crowd control is some way. I want to convince players that Talon’s passive needs some work or possibly a change in hopes sometime this year Talon can receive a small rework.
Here’s the definition of Mercy: Talon's basic attacks deal 10% additional damage to any target that is slowed, stunned, immobilized or suppressed.
Now here’s how it works. Mercy doesn’t scale/increase from on-hit effects. That means the passive damage from Blade of the Ruined King, Sheen or critical strikes would not increase, but remain the same if Talon triggered his passive. As an example, if Talon auto attacked a slowed champion that would normally deal 100 physical damage, he would be doing ~106 physical damage instead because of his passive. Say that auto attack was a critical strike and dealt 200 physical damage, his passive would still increase the attack by about 6-10 damage for ~206. It’s not bonus damage based off of the damage of the auto attack, it’s literally bonus damage based off of total attack damage.
For this section I performed teh maths to show the difference in damage between two different combo’s Talon is able to perform top pick single target damage in lane, or an assassination. The total damage displayed is the base damage calculated before armor and armor penetration for simplicity; all that is needed to understand the effectiveness of each combo. abilities are shown by the single letter corresponding to the key in-game and auto attacks are represented by AA.
Level 3 - 83 AD - 23 bonus AD
Combo 1 - Without passive
E AA - 83 * 1.03 * 1.03 = 88.05 Q - (83 + 40 + (29.9)) * 1.03 * 1.03 = 162.21 W - (60 + (27.6)) * 1.03 * 1.03 = 92.93 Total = 342.59
Combo 2 - With passive
W - (60 + (27.6)) * 1.03 = 90.22 E AA - 83 * 1.1 * 1.03 * 1.03 = 96.86 Q - (83 * 1.1 + 40 + (29.9)) * 1.03 * 1.03 = 171.01 Total = 358.09
In early laning phase it shows that usage of Talon’s passive is most efficient, but the passive damage is very insignificant, but damage none-the-less, and should be taken whenever possible.
Level 6 - 118 AD - 51 bonus AD
Combo 1 - Without passive
E AA - 118 * 1.03 * 1.03 = 125.18 Q - (118 + 40 + (66.3)) * 1.03 * 1.03 = 237.95 W - (80 + (61.2)) * 1.03 * 1.03 = 149.79 R - (240 + (76.5)) * 1.03 * 1.03 = 335.77 Total = 848.69
Combo 2 - With passive
W - (80 + (61.2)) * 1.03 = 145.43 E AA - 118 * 1.1 * 1.03 * 1.03 = 137.7 Q - (118 * 1.1 + 40 + (66.3)) * 1.03 * 1.03 = 250.47 R - (240 + (76.5)) * 1.03 * 1.03 = 335.77 Total = 869.37
Here, still during laning phase at level 6, Talon benefits the most by using his passive for a kill, and the difference between the damage dealt by two combos increases in favor of the passive usage combo because it scales much better.
Level 18 - 373 AD - 265 bonus AD
Combo 1 - Without passive
E AA - 373 * 1.15 * 1.03 = 441.81 Q - (373 + 200 + (344.5)) * 1.15 * 1.03 = 1086.77 W - (260 + (318)) * 1.15 * 1.03 = 684.64 R - (440 + (397.5)) * 1.15 * 1.03 = 992.01 Total = 3205.23
Combo 2 - With passive
W - (260 + (318)) * 1.03 = 595.34 E AA - 373 * 1.1 * 1.15 * 1.03 = 486 Q - (373 * 1.1 + 200 + (344.5)) * 1.15 * 1.03 = 1101.02 R - (440 + (397.5)) * 1.15 * 1.03 = 992.01 Total = 3174.37
This is the part of the game where things begin to get technical. Before Talon maxes Cutthroat, his ability to amplify his damage by a percentage to a single target, he maxes first his ultimate, Rake (w) for his base damage and slow, and then Noxian Diplomacy (q) for having the second most base damage. Placing levels into Cutthroat increases Talon’s amplification to a single target from 3% at minimum rank to 15% at max rank. Why is this important to know? In order for Talon to use Mercy, he must first cast Rake (assuming he is ready to jump onto a target) before diving with Cutthroat, therefore not receiving the amplified damage from Rake, and since Rake has a decent base damage and a 1.3 total bonus attack damage ratio, this cuts damage from his combo that Mercy isn’t able to make up. It doesn’t leave Mercy useless, it just leaves Talon’s passive less than ideal, not to mention the fact that it’s not doing much extra damage at all throughout the game.
I hope this was an adequate explanation as to why I think Talon’s passive needs tuning. I am in no favor of Talon having more damage nor do I think this passive needs buffed (since, to be honest, I don’t like it one bit), but I would like one day to see redesigning. The Ashe rework soon to hit the PBE (http://www.surrenderat20.net/2015/04/red-post-collection-ashe-champion.html) really inspired me to post this, so please give some feedback! Thanks!
Hope to see you on the Rift!
