Zyra changes (Patch 6.9) => huge nerf (Why?)
I play Zyra a lot and know her and her kit very well. Most of the mage updates were supposed to help them stay relevant, while keeping them unique and interesting. However, Zyra was hit hard in the other direction:
-True damage skill-shot on death removed -Range of vision from newly placed seeds reduced by about a third -Plant damage noticeably reduced -Plant lifetime reduced (plants die faster over time once spawned) -Plant health reduced (plants die nigh on instantaneously in team fights, rendering them next to useless) -Plant range clarity removed -Random spawning of plants prior to bush entry can still give away your position (even though they do not spawn while in the bush) and ruin stealth attack attempts -Q damage noticeably reduced -Though Q is wider, it is apparently narrower and, as such, generally harder to hit (particularly when running away from or chasing enemies -W cooldown reduction removed
Also, there seems to be a bug introduced with these changes related to her E snare skillshots not snaring champions they collide with (collision detection issues): http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/bug-report/Pron02zl-zyra-changes-broke-snare-consistency
The only thing given to her in exchange for this was randomly spawning seeds (which is can be a disadvantage when considering blown surprise attacks as noted above, due to the loss of bushwhacking play-making potential) and wider Q hitbox (which is next to worthless considering the reduction in Q damage and the apparent reduction in the perpendicular dimension.
Why was Zyra hit so hard, when this patch was supposed to make her feel new and good?
Edit: Added the reduced plant lifetime bullet, which I had forgotten to add in earlier. Overall, she's much less reliable in multiple ways (damage reduced, sneak attack potential hit hard, vision utility hit).
Perhaps a solution to the element of surprise issue is to provide a way to toggle the passive spawning of plants. Also, the rate of passive spawning could increase with W. *
Additional comments which might be addressed: -The passive feels too much like Illaoi's now. -Her W is weeker than Malzahar's, which actually spawns a minion which lasts longer than her plants. -Her plants don't last as long as Heimer turrets, nor do they even deal comparable damage. -Any advantages gained by randomly spawning seeds in lane is lost by how easy it is for the enemy to step on them (for example, playing as support, two seeds spawned randomly, one very close to the enemy adc, one very close to the enemy support; they each step on their corresponding seeds and nullify advantage of zyra passive--too easy to play against)
This last set of comments edges on becoming a rant, but the points are all valid regardless; try for yourself and see.
Removed old comments after playing a few more games and reviewing the 6.9 patch notes again: -Removed any vision from seeds after spawning vision runs out (unless directly stepped on and killed) (there used to be a small area of vision around the plant left over sort of like a Teemo shroom) Manually placed seeds retain the Teemo shroom-esqe mini-ward vision. -Removed the ability to make stealthy plays from bushes (due to randomly spawning visible seeds outside of bushes) Plants do not randomly spawn while in bush, but will continue to do so while approaching the bush, and since the spawn location is randomized. this can still reveal your location.
Thanks for the helpful comments you've contributed with suggested changes. I will also revise this post further with suggested changes soon. *
