Buff for Leona? Nerf for Naut support?
I've noticed that Leona is outclassed by Nautilus in nearly every way as a support with a few minor advantages to pick sun lady over diver man. Both in the role of tanky cc support, they should have their own niches that separate them apart from one another and give them a clear reason to pick Leona over Nautilus, or vice versa, in a situation.
Staggering Blow (Passive) vs Shield of daybreak (Q)
Staggering Blow just seems better then Shield of Daybreak with few downsides like not being able to choose when you want to root (Or stun, in Leona's case.), the base damages aren't that far apart (108 at level 18 for Naut, 160 for Leona at level 9) but Staggering Blow gets an extra .25 seconds and a lower cd at every tier of progression without having to put a single point into it.
Dredge Line (Q) vs Zenith blade (E)
I'd say this is the only ability that might be equal solely for the fact that it goes through minions and terrain. The fact that Naut and his target get pulled half way between the two of them is a huge advantage, as well as the ability acting as an escape AND having longer range, (1100 for Dredge Line, 875 for Zenith Blade according to the wiki)
Titan's Wrath (W) vs Eclipse (W)
Both defensive steroids, but once again Leona's seems to fall flat compared to Nautilus's. 60 plus 20% of bonus resistances is powerful, and the damage is nothing to scoff at early game, but Nautilus has a shield for 85 plus 17% of his max health as well as an aoe dot on his auto's. Some math indicates that Naut would have to get in four auto attacks with the full duration to out damage Leona's eclipse. What really pushes it in Naut's favor however are two things.
- Duration
Nautilus's shield lasts for 10 seconds guaranteed (Assuming it doesn't break, but if it does then it has served it's purpose.) For Leona, it lasts for six seconds if she hits something. Otherwise that steroid lasts for half it's time at 3 seconds.
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Type of Shield
Nautilus has a shield while Leona has a resistance steroid, and with the way resistances work it's usefulness tends to drop off later on due to diminishing returns. With Naut, that shield is always pretty solid as shields take resistances into the damage calculation.
Depth Charge (r) vs Solar Flare (r)
This one can be argued for quite a long time, but the point and click reliability and the fact that knock ups cannot be cleansed push it once more in Nauts favor. The CC for Naut's target is also .5 seconds longer while with Syndra if you somehow managed to land on more then one person within a 100 unit stun, with the other 150 units going into a (albeit heavy) slow.
It's really disappointing to see the rise of Naut with Leona being sorta forgotten. I haven't seen her in game in quite awhile and I can't remember the last time I saw her in professional play. (She might have been picked recently,I don't follow professional play closely and in that case this point is easily moot.)
Sunlight (Leona's passive)
A big part of why she was once the queen of cc supports, the damage is extremely powerful, but the fact that it can only be activated by an ally and it's likely you'll lose 1 or 2 procs puts it at quite a disadvantage.
Assuming I've made my point the logical progression from here is how exactly does one bring up Leona to Nautilus's level?
- Well, you could give her a selfish proc of her passive or another part that gives her a presence in some other role then support. While Leona top and Leona jungle are pretty fun, they don't have any real strength comparatively.
- A buff to her E range might also be in order, after all it's not exactly correct that Naut gets a pull that doesn't make him go as deep with a bonus 225 range.
- Buffing her Q's stun duration by .25 would probably make it feel better, 1.25 feels a little short for an ability that's meant to be a stun.
tl;dr Naut and Leona are too similar with Naut outshining Leona as a support without even having a support tag. Should we nerf Nautilus support or buff Leona? I for one would enjoy seeing her outside of bot lane.
