What was the point of the Vel'koz rework again?

Slamurai Jack·5/24/2016, 6:37:19 AM·79 votes·14,581 views

On the PBE today:

**Life Form Disintegration Ray (R) ** Base damage lowered to 450/625/800 from 500/725/950 Now applies passive - Added to tooltip "Enemies that stay in the beam will periodically gain Organic Deconstruction stacks."

Because it looks to me like you guys have no idea what the hell you're doing. The Vel'koz rework significantly changed how he needed to be played since you needed to proc his passive for his ult to do the most damage. But now you don't? I'm not saying this is a bad change, it's actually a very good one. But it's one that makes literally no sense considering every other change you've made to Vel'koz before this point. Is this change basically an admission that the Vel'koz rework was a failure? Because if this change goes through, he goes back to playing exactly how he did pre-rework.

165 Comments

SIayton5/24/2016, 11:33:05 AM37 votes

They're changing it because his ult feels awful without stacking his passive. Amazing change IMO, glad they're bringing back a big part of his kit. Now you aren't FORCED to set up ult with a combo. I feel like that made him a little too stiff / inflexible.

Big thing this opens up is still having the option of ult after landing like... a Q and 1 hit of a W or something without it feeling completely wasted. He shouldn't have to land E > W to do his ult. Made him feel too much like Veigar where the gameplay was basically LOL I LANDED MY COMBO, DELETE or... "aww I missed my shit... guess I'll wait for 10 seconds and try again".

RiotMeddler5/26/2016, 4:11:27 AM26 votes

We concluded the changes weren't, overall, delivering a better kit as hoped. We're looking at putting some degree of passive stacking contribution back on the ult as a result to try and address that.

As a side note trying to have a conversation about possible reversions like this can feel pretty unproductive if the dialogue starts off with phrases like "looks to me like you guys have no idea what the hell you're doing". We'll definitely be wrong sometimes and certainly think it's extremely appropriate for you folks to call us out on that if you think that's the case, whether or not we agree. Being able to talk about what issues there are/aren't, why we might or might not revert changes/do other follow up work etc, is, I think, really valuable. Conversations that feel like they're trying to call out failure for the sake of calling people bad, rather than talking about actual problems with changes or the process behind them, can be pretty off putting by contrast.

Goosetard5/24/2016, 7:15:53 AM20 votes

I think it's admitting that what they did sounded good on paper but translated into gameplay that felt much different/worse.

I think they want to keep the fantasy of "true damage machine" as a "strategic niche*. It's a shame I don't really think that's viable. Nobody stacks MR w/out HP anyway. Maybe Galio is sleeper OP and needed a hard counter?.

At least they're trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube on this one, not like what happened to Mordekaiser

Sohleks5/24/2016, 6:57:35 AM17 votes

Yaaaayyy

http://sohleks.deviantart.com/art/Baby-Vel-koz-463567566

Igotlazy5/24/2016, 6:52:26 AM12 votes

They didn't like how boring and binary his laning was. As I Vel'Koz main I sort of agree. Was pretty much just W...W...W...W. Sure you poked and occasionally killed the guy or died, but most of the time it was just that. They lowered the damage on the W and introduced a new "get your mana back" thing on the Q. I still don't think he really needed a rework, but hey at least we get a thematic thing with the whole "ok I've collected data on you by hitting other abilities, time to die now (insert true damage lazer)".

The Queen Viper5/24/2016, 8:00:08 AM11 votes

OH DARN

dEAdbUs5/24/2016, 3:39:22 PM10 votes

It's old VelKoz, but buffed with true damage.

Biff Manly5/24/2016, 4:21:46 PM9 votes

Well, it's still a step up from the "Purple Xerath" we had before.

Darf Rakki5/24/2016, 10:44:46 PM5 votes

Meanwhile Skarner is still waiting for them to admit they messed up his rework also.

When will Riot learn they should at least CONSIDER what the community has to say. Every Velkoz main said not to touch him.

Only Play Darius5/24/2016, 12:02:50 PM4 votes

Hey be grafetul they reverted the change so quickly.

General Esdeath 5/24/2016, 5:24:06 PM3 votes

I think he was fine before

Br4ndon5/24/2016, 5:29:56 PM2 votes

I like how they didnt like his wave clearing in laning phase and nerfed it accordingly. A siege champion with sub-par wave clear doesnt make sense. Why wasnt lux E damage nerfed or Xerath Q or W nerfed? Because they need their wave clear to be siege champions. Now Riot is slowly reverting his kit.

I would prefer his ult just apply 1 stack at the upon being struck. That way his ult can do all its true damage when you E>W>R or Q>W>R. the delay usually ends up making his ult do 30% magic 70% true damage.

Of course you can get around that by not ulting instantly but youre gonna miss more than a few kills waiting to ult...