Why Urgot is a great example of a modern Juggernaut concept

Ah yes, Juggernauts. A subclass of Melee fighters this board likes to talk about, usually in relation to their power levels being rather low and how much they struggle in the current ecosystem of Summoner's Rift.

And of course they would. Back in 2015 when the Juggernaut rework was released and with Illaoi being underway, they were still able to do their job as a class. Keystone masteries weren't a thing and they were able to shine in a milieu where their damage and durability were truly their redeeming qualities.

But time has changed this, with Divers and even Tanks fulfilling their intended power fantasy better than any currently existing Juggernaut. Even strong Juggernauts like Yorick still fall short when it comes to their intended role as a secondary Carry-class champion, with a lot of them lacking strong late game power.

But there's one (or two, if you count Mordekaiser) that really delivers on the Juggernaut creed. A champion who provides his team with a semi-frontliner who loves to duke it out in the midst of the enemy team and brings everything you'd expect from a Juggernaut to the table in form of strong damage throughout the game as well as the survivability and team utility you need as a top laner.

I'm of course talking about our lord and savior; But why does this crab-legged abomination seem to be a nigh-perfect example of Juggernaut design?

Well, it's mostly because of 3 design factors that really make him stand out from the competition.

1. Reliable late game Damage on a DPS basis Juggernauts are supposed to be damage threats, yet most of them just spike in the mid game and fall off a cliff late game because their damage is mostly bound to their abilities and thus usually comes in small, burst-like form. Urgot on the other hand, through his passive, has access to strong scaling damage that allows him to remain a threat through all stages of the game. Late game he gets a 2.5 second CD on his passive that deals strong base damage+ a heavy chunk of max hp AOE damage on a short cooldown. Unlike other Juggernauts not named Mordekaiser, he thus can function well in late game due to the target agnostic nature of his damage output, which is what Juggernauts should have in the first place.

Their access to the backline is limited and thus they're intended to just cleave their way through a team if left unchecked, which is hard for them to achieve due to the excessive amounts of CC and ranged damage that just shreds them. Urgot can circumvent this by being a huge frontline threat as well.

2. His counterplay isn't just "stay out of range" Illaoi gets the perfect setup with her R, ready to destroy those foolish enough to challenge her...And everyone just walks out. Other Juggernauts don't have a lot of counterplay and ways to be outplayed other than keeping them at an arm's length. Urgot's counterplay is more intuitive than that, with him having moderate range (like Mordekaiser) and thus having a new layer for his enemies to play around. Delayed damage of his Q, the telegraphed E, his passive basically giving you the option to dance around him to avoid some of his damage and his R basically telling you to not let the target it's latched on fall below a quarter of their hp.

Him having range thus comes with more nuanced counterplay that's not as archaic in the success and failure scenarios like other Juggernaurs like Darius, Garen and Illaoi.

And 3) His effective range is more than just melee Juggernauts having limited range used to be one of their weaknesses, but in this state of League of Legends it's really just gimping their ability to be proactive and have agency over their own success scenarios. Juggernauts should retain their Immobile nature and lack of backline access as they're basically hulking colossi of the battlefield but restricting them to just a minor 200ish range really just makes them a threat to immobile melees than anything else. Mordekaiser and Urgot thus perform better simply because their effective range is around 400-500ish range, giving them more ways to actually apply their kit's value other than just brute forcing their way into melee range and desperately trying to make use of their abilities.

All in all I'd say for Juggernauts to succeed as a class design they should follow these 3 basic design principles:

1. A scaling damage curve that keeps them relevant throughout the game and not just be early game bullies that foll off
2. Have their damage output be bound to other factors than simply staying out of range, as this, once again, just makes them bullies without actual late game teamfight potential and 3. Give them more range rather than purely melee focused abilities as they already suffer from being immobile Melee champions.

Lowering their opressive nature of simply out statting other melees but giving them more intuitive ways to how they approach a situation is what they desperately need or else they'll stay the low elo stompers they are currently. And yes, this wouldn't be a MM thread if I wouldn't stress that this should be kept in mind when they rework Mordekaiser. Yes, sue me.

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