A free knock-up or shield is absolutely ridiculous. Riot stated themselves that Azir was a champion who would rather sit on the sidelines and let his soldiers do the dirty work for him.
So why is he rewarded for bashing his face into his opponents?
I mean, it's a little too much power in the first place, but it also goes against their design philosophy for him but he's been able to keep it anyway.
TheRakkun5 votesSo, What? It becomes the worst dash in the game?
ChickenWrap1 votesSo, What? It becomes the worst dash in the game?
Good, he doesn't deserve anything more than that, but no, because it still has a huge range. There were way better ways they could have made that spell work that followed the design philosophy.
Shroom Junkie1 votesSo, What? It becomes the worst dash in the game?
Well, to be fair, almost no mages have mobility(much, anyway). I mean, its basically Ezreal, Ahri and Azir. The rest just have minor speed boosts.
But aside from that, there's
(as a mage) 
And the ones with speed boosts are
(if counting her as a mage)
And the ones with dashes/blinks are only 
And in the fact that of all the mages they gave no mobility, the only one out of three they gave a dash to is one that literally sits behind everyone while he sends out his untargettable soldiers to do their thing. He also gets to bash anyone who gets on him away with his ult.
TheRakkun1 votesWell, to be fair, almost no mages have mobility(much, anyway). I mean, its basically Ezreal, Ahri and Azir. The rest just have minor speed boosts.
But aside from that, there's
And the ones with speed boosts are
And the ones with dashes/blinks are only
And in the fact that of all the mages they gave no mobility, the only one out of three they gave a dash to is one that literally sits behind everyone while he sends out his untargettable soldiers to do their thing. He also gets to bash anyone who gets on him away with his ult.
Thing is unless they give Azir a new ultimate he will always need that dash with a knockup, no other mage has a solely defensive ult (Unless they're a support mage (Kayle Lulu, Zilean) Azir's ult if you want to use it as anything BUT defensive you need a way to move close to the enemy and hold them in place.
And anyway I've always though of Azir as more of an ADC/Assassin that scales with AP Which both have LOTS of mobile champs.
Shroom Junkie1 votesThing is unless they give Azir a new ultimate he will always need that dash with a knockup, no other mage has a solely defensive ult (Unless they're a support mage (Kayle Lulu, Zilean) Azir's ult if you want to use it as anything BUT defensive you need a way to move close to the enemy and hold them in place.
And anyway I've always though of Azir as more of an ADC/Assassin that scales with AP Which both have LOTS of mobile champs.
Nah, I don't think it really matters what his ult is. Especially considering the type of champ he is; he uses his soldiers, and without them he's nothing. Its his thing, he sits on the sidelines and dishes out consistant damage, like an ADC but multi-target and AP.
Even though most mage's ults do things offensively, there are still defensive ults on mages. As you said, Kayle, Lulu, and Zilean, then there's Ahri's that can be used both ways, Cho'gath's for his health - heck, sometimes playing Cho'gath in a dire situation where I can't win I'll eat a minion to get that extra health - Heimerdinger's for the multi-target E stun, Even Malzahar's can be used to suppress his target until say, his jungler gets there.
Now you could argue that most of those ults are used offensively, but Azir's can as well. He can use it to push targets into his turret, or his team, or heck, just isolate a target or two from their team in the jungle and pick them off for a win.
ChickenWrap1 votesWell, to be fair, almost no mages have mobility(much, anyway). I mean, its basically Ezreal, Ahri and Azir. The rest just have minor speed boosts.
But aside from that, there's
And the ones with speed boosts are
And the ones with dashes/blinks are only
And in the fact that of all the mages they gave no mobility, the only one out of three they gave a dash to is one that literally sits behind everyone while he sends out his untargettable soldiers to do their thing. He also gets to bash anyone who gets on him away with his ult.
You know Kassadin needs changes when someone goes through the entire mage list and doesn't write Kass down as a mage with a blink.
Shroom Junkie1 votesYou know Kassadin needs changes when someone goes through the entire mage list and doesn't write Kass down as a mage with a blink.
Generally Kassadin isn't considered a mage. The only reason he has it as a second role is because he's AP and "Marksman" doesn't exactly sit well.
insaiyanbacca1 votesori has a speed boost fyi same with ryze
Shroom Junkie1 votesori has a speed boost fyi same with ryze
Ah, yes, I forgot about her W speeding up allies as well.
But, where is Ryze's speed boost? I can't seem to find it if it is there.
Sorry, nevermind, I found it(his ult, as you know).
JustMyBassCannon5 votesRiot stated themselves that Azir was a champion who would rather sit on the sidelines and let his soldiers do the dirty work for him.
So why is he rewarded for bashing his face into his opponents?
For the same reason that Lux, despite being a long-range mage, is rewarded for going in and proccing her passive. For the same reason that Xerath, despite being a long-range mage, is rewarded for going in and proccing his passive. For the same reason that Orianna, despite being a range control mage, is rewarded for going in and proccing her passive.
Because they are forgoing the safety of long range. Their one core defense mechanism is their long range, and they're giving it up for a different benefit. That's how it works for long-range champions. Otherwise, they'd be boring as hell.
ChickenWrap1 votesFor the same reason that Lux, despite being a long-range mage, is rewarded for going in and proccing her passive. For the same reason that Xerath, despite being a long-range mage, is rewarded for going in and proccing his passive. For the same reason that Orianna, despite being a range control mage, is rewarded for going in and proccing her passive.
Because they are forgoing the safety of long range. Their one core defense mechanism is their long range, and they're giving it up for a different benefit. That's how it works for long-range champions. Otherwise, they'd be boring as hell.
"I, Azir, am giving up my core defense mechanism for my other core defense mechanism, and if I'm in trouble, I'll use my third core defense mechanism. Also, if someone looks at me funny, you bet I'll forego my core defense mechanism to use my core defense mechanism!"
There is no different benefit. he skullbashes his opponent and gains defensive bonuses and then presses his ult and makes people fly away, giving him all of his range back (if he wants, usually he just presses Q to deal tons of damage, then E, to get tons of defense, then auto-attacks).
JustMyBassCannon1 votesIf you really think that his shield is the core of his defense, you're out of your fucking mind, and it's not worth trying to continue a conversation.
ChickenWrap1 votesIf you really think that his shield is the core of his defense, you're out of your fucking mind, and it's not worth trying to continue a conversation.
"I'm going to pretend I'm right but I'm not going to say how or why because I'm not even sure myself, I just know that other people are disagreeing so I should too."
Azir gives up long range to... CC an enemy (although not anymore come next patch) and give himself a shield. From there, he puts himself in range to use his R offensively or defensively and deal damage with it.
Yeah man, his E is totally not the core of his defence. Not at all. This wasn't even the main point of the post either. The main point of the post is that Azir directly conflicts with his own basic design philosophy.
If you're going to post just to insult someone you disagree with and then run away right afterward citing "Lol not worth my time kthxbai<3", you shouldn't post at all in the first place.
JustMyBassCannon1 votes"I'm going to make lame false quotes to play troll bait with this guy, because I literally have nothing better to do than antagonize someone who made a good point and doesn't want to further explain why my arguments are bigger straw men than scarecrows."
Have a good night.
ChickenWrap1 votes"I'm going to make lame false quotes to play troll bait with this guy, because I literally have nothing better to do than antagonize someone who made a good point and doesn't want to further explain why my arguments are bigger straw men than scarecrows."
Have a good night.
It's almost like nobody on G&B actually understands the thing this board is supposed to be used for.
I don't like low ELO circlejerks that involve people not reading the entirety of a post and pretending like they know what's going on.
We're talking about design philosophy and why that makes Azir's E a problem in his kit.
Do you know what design philosophy is?
JustMyBassCannon1 votesWell, obviously, I could answer, "Yes, I know what design philosophy is," but you wouldn't believe me. Even if I went and described it, you'd probably tell me I went and looked it up first.
So, instead of chewing on more bait, I'll ask you a question.
What actually makes his E a problem in his kit?
The mobility? It's not strange for a mage to have mobility, and it's pretty awkward to use it as a direct escape from combat.
The damage? It's minuscule.
The CC? Also minuscule.
The positioning for his ultimate? Worth it if you don't get hit by any CC at all during the engagement. And if your targets don't have blinks/flashes/dashes that are allowed to bypass the wall.
Vistha Kai1 votesTrue, but nor Lux nor Xerath get two defensive measures for doing so. They expose themselves to deal more damage(Lux) or restore mana(Xerath).
Azir knocks people up, possibly dodges enemy spell and on top of that gets a shield.
TheRakkun2 votes[{quoted}](name=Vistha Kai,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=0rml4EG8,comment-id=00020001,timestamp=2015-07-20T19:33:52.477+0000)
True, but nor Lux nor Xerath get two defensive measures for doing so. They expose themselves to deal more damage(Lux) or restore mana(Xerath).
Azir knocks people up, possibly dodges enemy spell and on top of that gets a shield.
Thing is they're removing his engage when the real problem was how much disengage he has with his Ult, His Q slow , his E ect. Removing his E knockup makes his E just a really really bad escape and makes his entire playstyle basically playing passively and poking WHICH WAS THE WHOLE PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE, Atleast with his E being used as an engage you can likely avoid it and catch Azir off guard or force him to use his ult poorly, now you can bet that you're NEVER going to catch an Azir OR be able to jump him.
Vistha Kai2 votesThe problem with Azir is how much damage his Q does at all stages of the game.
Halve its damage, lower the cooldown and here you have balanced Azir with intended identity.
But then, it's Riot balance team we are talking about. They prefer to nerf everything BUT the problem.
Boulderox2 votes[{quoted}](name=Vistha Kai,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=0rml4EG8,comment-id=0002000100000000,timestamp=2015-07-20T19:41:27.543+0000)
The problem with Azir is how much damage his Q does at all stages of the game.
Halve its damage, lower the cooldown and here you have balanced Azir with intended identity.
his q has lost 50 damage already, and they were pressing more nerfs to it when they prenerfed him on pbe, gave up his shield AND KNOCKUP, and changed his passive around to his w. his q is one of the only ways he can punish enemies, as soldiers cannot move on there own and can be easily kited around, but the q makes him dynamic so you cannot kite them forever. And i feel if halving damage and lowering cooldown, people with complain he permaslows, cus rank 5 q is 6 sec CD so 3 second, with 40% cdr thats 1.8 second q dealing a 25% slow... that seems worse to me
Back to the post
his e was the only way he could use his ult offensively, the ult has a very defined origin from himself that it takes for it to do his dash in and trap you behind him. But without that knockup he is going to be a lot harder.
They are turning him into a defensive mage, which to me just means he is supposed to be a 
now, freezing the lane so you can't take there tower, making midlane a farm lane. Making the lane a living hell for the opponent because they cannot do anything now.
the change to the shield now gives him more shield if i am correct based on bonus hp, so they are changing him from squishy with lots of dps, to a mage that builds hp and things that gimp enemies, like 
so he can get his shield to actually do something. Not to mention him losing lots of damage now that his cdr>AS is gone and you have to invest points into his w now, which means you have to give up damage for AS, which was needed to do sustained damage.
JustMyBassCannon1 votesFancy that, Riot didn't copy/paste the benefits of going in close-range as long-range mages. It's almost like they're trying to have some unique mechanics between similar playstyles or something.
Vistha Kai1 votesBecause not having weaknesses is an unique mechanic everybody would like to have.
JustMyBassCannon1 votesNo weaknesses? Really? You mean like being CC'd, flashes/blinks, and a real burst mage wrecking his shit mid-setup?
Because I haven't seen this hyperbolic, undefeatable Azir. Maybe it's because I don't agonize over what he has, and I figure out what he doesn't have.
Meep Man1 votesThey are removing the knock up on his E. Still gets a shield.
ChickenWrap1 votes[{quoted}](name=Inept Maverick,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=0rml4EG8,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-07-20T18:17:48.632+0000)
They are removing the knock up on his E. Still gets a shield.
Shouldn't be rewarded for smashing his face into his enemies. There's no reason to it via the design philosophy.
TheRakkun1 votesShouldn't be rewarded for smashing his face into his enemies. There's no reason to it via the design philosophy.
I'm pretty fucking sure that's how risk reward works. He honestly shouldn't have the shield if anything.
ChickenWrap1 votesI'm pretty fucking sure that's how risk reward works. He honestly shouldn't have the shield if anything.
Pretty sure that there are way better ways to do it that stay within his design philosophy. I mean, the dash itself is good enough, it's not like he needs anything attached to it.
Enosetc1 votesitt: people want siege mages to have good mobility skills
yeah, no. the fact that he has a dash at all is more than enough