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@Riot @Meddler Would like some red opinions/discussion on Kha'zix

Thearabbomber··7 votes·4,522 views

Kha'zix has been an incredibly tough bug to balance over the last few seasons. During this pre-season he was still deemed too strong and nerfed slightly on the cooldown of his W. After that, he fell off as a mediocre jungler and still a horrible laner. Now with the recent tank meta buffs, he is incredibly weak in comparison to the rest of the junglers. The cinderhulk and buffs to kha'zix took him from a mediocre/weaker jungler to one of the lowest tier junglers now.

Kha'zix needs some focus shifted to what he does best, assassinating. Right now in comparison to other assassins he has too much trouble/blockage to his assassination potential. Being an avid bug lover since I started with league, here is how I feel his skills are right now:

Passive- Good thematically and good damage, though I feel is a bit lackluster with the damage/slow considering it can only be used a few times per fight. Since lane Kha'zix does not exist really anymore it cannot be abused by walking into brush every time in lane. A damage increase lategame I feel would be an appropriate buff for his teamfighting/assassination potential.

Q - His bread and butter, everything is fine about it except the isolation range. Yes having almost no isolation range can cause him to become overpowered quickly, but what I propose is to have the isolation range drastically reduced when he is stealthed. This would encourage more use/upgrading of his lackluster ultimate and provide more interesting gameplay for our bug assassin. This also prevents him from hopping around and cleaning up as well as he used to, now he really has to focus on his windows of opportunity rather than aimless executions.

W - The skill has its uses, though I feel it is the least interesting part of his kit. A bug shooting toxic spikes at you should feel threatening, but the damage and slow are both lackluster, considering the long cooldown. The upgrade definitely is lackluster and causes him to run OOM quickly if used too much to poke. I would potentially shift the slow or damage more into an armor shred, in order to increase his assassination potential and make him more of a threat lategame. If the armor shred were to be placed on his upgrade, that would give great reason to evolve it and make it a more viable option.

E - No comments, always been what makes Kha'zix so fun, evolution will always be relevant. Do not change.

R- The only complaint I have on his R is the awkward delay between casts. I feel that should be reduced to make him feel slightly less clunky. Now that he has lost his % damage reduction with it I see no reason why it couldn't be reduced. Since tank Kha'zix is not a thing anymore, the 2 second delay between casts often leads to his death before he can even finish an assassination.

I want to know what you all/reds/rioters think on Kha'zix right now. Like elise he has been hard to balance, but they are at least looking at Elise. Has our bug been left in the dust or hopefully will he be receiving some attention soon?

TL:DR- Kha'zix is very weak in this meta and is in need of some buffs, of course not all of the buffs listed above but some changes to help his assassination potential. Compared to nidalee, why would anyone ever pick Kha as an assassination jungle right now? And his lane potential does not even really exist anymore.

11 Comments

RiotMeddler6 votes

We think he's a bit weak and from memory he's on the list of champions the balance team are planning to look at, see if there are some appropriate buffs we can give him. Not sure where he is priority wise though, so can't give you an ETA off the top of the head.

ArcticSirius2 votes

Like I agree he was way to powerful to begin with, but you might have to pull a Rengar to shift him back into place. Definitely feeling the hurt on the Evolved Q. With the isolation range so high, it's really hard to try to even get that bonus damage in the early game when you go to gank

Lynbro Senpai1 votes

I'm not particularly enthralled by the idea of buffs as I feel he's not THAT bad right now, and although there's been considerable dissatisfaction with his isolation range, I do feel he was pushed into the "assassin that searches for opportunities to go in rather than starting fights by one shotting"-role which I feel more assassins should be like... ...I am curious which role would benefit the most from his possible buffs. Is he now officially a jungler? Or does lane bug also get some love?

Carbon Steel1 votes

I am definitely of the opinion Kha'Zix needs buffs, and in all honestly I think he needs to be made into a laner once again rather than a jungler. Back in patch 3.8 (the buffs to Q and removal of the passive application with his W) people didn't even realise he was OP until he became a popular jungler. With the way the jungle is now as well I think making him a laner is definitely the way to go.

Shinjusuke1 votes

See, here's the thing, he didn't "become" a popular jungler.

He is and always was a jungler. People just realized Bruiser Kha'zix and W max evolution were OP as shit, and abused that. THAT is what made him OP, not "him becoming a popular jungler". He was a jungler first, people abusing his OP W in lane pushed him to lane, and then he got popular. Not the other way around.

His core design, as in literally every singe aspect of his lore, kit, character, and intended playstyle is directed at being a jungler. People keep asking for "Lane Kha'zix" back without understanding 1) He's not supposed to be a laner in the first place, and 2) being a powerful laner is what keeps him from being good, because his kit is overbearing if he can build Bruiser or be a strong laner.

Lane Kha'zix should be a niche pick, at absolute best. It's bad for the champion, it's bad for the character, and it's bad for the game.

RoakOriginal1 votes

khazix = handicap... and he is like this for months already...

he iant bit weak... he has 3rd lowest winrate out of all champs that go jungle (even laners)... others statistics suck as well... he was bad and is getting worse patch-by-patch...

Zenmetsu Saseru1 votes

Does that mean you plan to buff Rengar to match him as well?

Shinjusuke1 votes

I'm assuming you're being facetious, but in the event that you're serious, Rengar does not need buffs. At all. For a very long time.

Zenmetsu Saseru1 votes

Let us assume for a moment that I'm serious, and roll back on the concept that Rengar and Kha'Zix are rivals and meant to be fairly equal. Kha'Zix is far better and anyone you ask will always declare Kha'Zix to be superior, tending to be victorious a bit too frequently. Is it bizarre to suggest this?

Shinjusuke1 votes

Okay, firstly, you're incredibly wrong in claiming "anyone you ask will declare Kha'zix to be superior". Please don't pass your opinion off as being the "majority opinion", particularly when you're so very misinformed. Second, Kha'zix isn't better. Numerically or in kit design, current Rengar is miles above current Kha'zix. Sheer kit numbers-wise, win-rate wise, success rate as an assassin, flexibility in build options, alternate playstyles options... Rengar outright without a doubt outclasses Kha'zix. If you're wanna argue otherwise, fine, but you're in denial. The numbers, the "community" you claim to represent, and Rioter opinions all support Rengar being stronger. Believe what you want.

Kouga6 votes

I really feel that Kha'Zix, from release, was a miss on what could have been a great opportunity.

The entire point behind his lore/fantasy/feel was the idea of an evolving and adapting Champion. So when I heard about him, I hoped that he'd actually be just that - a Champion that could choose how to react to his opponents. In some ways this is somewhat communicated, but only in levels 6-16. You get a little bit of decision making in what to evolve first, and there are some clear paths - Damage, mobility, utility, harass.

However in the end there will always be one evolution that is either underpowered or overwhelming. This may change with various buffs and nerfs but I have never felt that W's Evolution was worth it. One target can't be hit by more than one spike, and you don't get any additional healing. You get some AoE damage out of it, but if you're looking at any kind of 1v1 situation - which Khaz always prefers to be in - it just makes it a little easier to hit. But if you are either 1) any good with a skill shot or 2) using it at close range to get the heal, you don't actually get any real benefit from it.

What I would much rather have seen is let Kha'Zix evolve any ability 1-3 times. And give them increasing benefit. Make his evolutions deeper, and let the player actually decide how to use them. This would make Kha'Zix actually fulfill the role of an "evolving and adapting predator", where you feel like he can be drastically different from one game to the next.

As it is, late-game Kha'Zix always feels the same. But what if you could put all 3 Evolution points into his Q to focus his Assassin traits? It would deal increasing damage. Maybe if you put all 3 ranks, the third rank gives a Big bonus, like removing the Isolation requirement, or just giving it massive damage. However he wouldn't get any of his other evolutions. His W could get more and more spikes, and could stack damage and maybe at 3 ranks it increases the heal & gives resistances to let him feel tankier at the cost of damage. His E would grant increasing range, let it reset, and maybe at level 3 it gets 2 "charges". R could grant more uses and longer stealth times, and at rank 3 he gets his 50% damage back.

A smart player could choose if they want to put their points all into one basket or spread them out - but this would make him really feel unique. And since they have to make these clear choices, the kit wouldn't actually be overloaded, because you could only access some of it at a time.

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