A possible revamp to Shadow Assassin Kayn

Table of contents- 1.Why SA(shadow assassin) is a less viable pick then Rhaast and what is holding him back 2.What can be changed for SA to feel a lot less like a clone with different effects 3.Conclusion and overall things that can be changed for kayn in general (Feel free to skip to number 2 if you want to peep the ideas)

1. What makes SA a unsafe pick from Rhaast and what is holding him back as a assassin:

So after playing kayn for a while and seeing the new odyssey skin in the new game mode i thought of some cool ideas to make shadow assassin a more viable/more distinct pick from Rhaast. We all know that Rhaast is overall the safer pick in almost all situations including versus squishy champs because of how much healing he gets and how bulky he is (he actually feels like a darkin which stays true to their lore). On the other hand we have a ZED taught student who has the ability to control shadows and turn them into a weapons or images. Zed himself shows the capabilities of the shadow technique in his gameplay. His w allows him to send a shadow in the direction he chooses and can control it by using his other abilities like q or e. And his ult stands out the most as it gives him invincibility (i think) and he leaves a death mark on and enemy that is effected by how much damage zed has done to the opponent after the ability ends. Now there are things that stand out for zed that truly makes him a assassin which is his ability to put out massive damage in a short period of time, the ability to escape or retreat after he has executed an enemy, and his q which is some what of a poke ability in lane which could get an enemy low enough for a kill. Shadow assassin kayn is so mediocre compared to his master as it looks like he only took little advice from him. All the shadow assassin has is his w and e which seems to be the only thing he learned from master zed. SA strives at bursting down enemies but really only if he hits his w as it is his main damage ability before he gets to pulls off the combo w-q-r to finish a target off if they haven't already died from his initial w and auto attack damage. There is a problem with these abilities for shadow assassin. First off e is his main engage tool as that's the primary way he can catch some one off guard from terrain and the way he gets most of his kills. But the problem with his e is that although it is a great engage tool, its really his only escape ability so you only use it for one or the other. If there is one thing we know about SA it is how squishy he can be. Even if you learn positioning it is still dangerous for him to ever go in as even though he can kill someone in a second the same thing can happen for him. Now on to his most mediocre ability which is his ult. Now even though his R gives him intangibility or makes him untargetable (not invincibility) he is still damaged from things like ignite or any other damage over time ability, which makes the ult a whole lot more suicidal than anything. To make matters worse it doesn't even do that much damage at short duration and max duration which is pitiful if SA is supposed to be a assassin. The ult doesn't even have the ability to execute people below a certain amount of health which makes the engage kinda worthless if you use all your abilities and the enemy is left with a sliver of health. Overall I feel like SA's ult should be revamped and made into something new which i will get to next. (Also it would be nice to get feedback on any points i made in that passage)

2.What can be changed about the Shadow Assassin: His ability to get in and get out- Most Assassins are able to do this why shouldn't kayn? First look at his engage tool his e. -It gives SA a movement speed for a set amount of time in terrain and cc immunity -it doesn't have to many uses on the ground as it last only for a very short duration on ground -Its intended purposes are to surprise some one or escape Now one thing that already can be changed for SA is the uses for his e on the ground. Instead of just being a little speed boost it should be something like rammus's power ball except not as ridiculous. It would function like it but won't have a stun effect, it would only be used for a speed boost. It could gradually build speed or it could be a burst of movement speed that slowly decays like pykes w. Now how can this be both a escape and a engage tool? Well this is were it could receive a passive. If kayn kills an enemy after shadow step has ended it completely refreshes the cool down and cost more Mp every time its refreshed to balance it. The other option is to cut the cool down in half or by a significant amount if he gets a kill. This will give SA the actual feeling of being a assassin as when he kills someone and escapes he can have the feeling of getting away with murder instead of going on a kamikaze attack.

His q ability: -Mainly used as extra damage to finish people off or a escape over a small wall New Name: Death Wave or Death Sickle(depending on what it would look like) The problem with the original ability is that it seems like it coulda been a lot more than just a kayn spin with his scythe. It should feel more Shadow Assassin like. Something that caught my interest was the odyssey kayn boss's attack. There was one attack that he could use where there would be a circle of blue sickles or mini circles that would gradually close in on the player and deal a good bit of damage if they were touched. Why not take inspiration from that and give SA a new ability on his q. He would throw a shadow sickle or wave from his scythe that deals physical damage to an enemy champion. It could function as SA's ranged ability in team fights or can be good in lane so he wont just be getting poked down himself the whole time and he can do small trades with it. Basically it just helps overall as he can either use it to get some one low enough before he goes in or use it as a harass tool in lane. Also it would be like zeds q to make it not over powered so it deals less damage the more enemies it hits.

SA's ultimate: -Is supposed to be used for.......killing?????Doesn't work to well sometimes unless the opposing champion is literally 1 hp -Gives some type of invulnerability(still is damaged by things like ignite or red buff burn) -Overall not a good choice over its counter parts ultimate Full revamp to SA's ultimate: Number 1 idea New Name: The Unwilling Cutter- Oh boy if you thought SA was already edgy this ultimate idea brings the edge to a whole other level. Now I have a couple of different ideas for a new ultimate but by far this is my favorite. The idea is SA actually throwing his scythe like a boomerang in a straight direction executing enemies below a certain amount of health. Now i bet your like no that's sounds op taking out multiple people with execute damage but please hear me out there is a way to balance this. While kayn's scythe is thrown and not in his hands he is unable to use a basic auto attack and neither can he use his q until it has returned to him but his e would still be available to use as a disengage. This ult would do a very good amount of base damage and have a execute passive to it. Its a cool sounding ability as kayn can use both his q and w first to get the enemy low then execute them to finish the kill escaping with e. But this combo only works if he is able to hit both his q and w 1st to get the enemies low enough. But overall this fits the shadow assassin's quote "MY PATH CUTS THROUGH THE BODIES OF THE UNWILLING" Also the scythe could do damage upon being thrown and returning. Lets just say the throw is its initial damage and it returning is the execute damage.

Number 2 idea Name: Shadow Clone- My second idea was kayn summoning a shadow clone behind or on side of him to mimic everything he does. This could double the damaged output he does. it would be very helpful in team fights as it will do massive damage to a crowd if he hits his w. Also the shadow would function like zeds shadow images, like if zed throws his q at a enemy in front of him and his shadow image is behind the person instead of the image throwing a q in the same direction as zed it goes to where zed was aiming at increasing his damage output. This would be the same with kayn except the clone would be moving and running at the same pace as kayn. The only problem with this ult is that it can prove to be OP if the damage for the shadow clone is the exact same as kayn. Just imagine we thought the burst meta was bad enough the shadow clone would just be even worse since SA all ready does a massive amount of damage if he hits his abilities. The only way to balance this would be to make the clone do half or a 3rd of kayn's total attack damage.

Number 3 last idea Name: Shadow barrage- Third and final idea was to take reference from zeds tactics in the cinematic created by the riot staff animators. In the cinematic where zed fought against Xayah in what looked like a ancient ruin covered in zeds pupils/henchmen. During the fight zed did something very cool which was he split him self into multiple shadows in unison that all used one attack to try and finish Xayah off. This could work as a ult for kayn. It could be a targeted ability just like zed that gives him invincibility I guess but instead of leaving a mark that deals more damage the more damage zed has done to the target it would execute enemies below a certain amount of health .It would be fairly balanced as the damage would be fully percent missing health damage but it would be my last option for a ult because I don't see kayn doing this in game really but an idea is a idea. I really love my 1st idea tho it fits SA so well. Link to what inspired this idea : https://youtu.be/EWdTLLQlkkI (skip to 1:49)

3 Last comments and quality of life changes to kayn in general Shadow Assassin like I said is most often if not always the worse choice out of the two that are given. SA just isn't as viable as his counter part especially in jungle where sustain is a big help with clearly camps. These ideas will hopefully shed some light on what the shadow assassin can be if riot actually takes advice from there players and supporters( I support them a lot with how much money I spend on this game lol).It still can keep SA balanced as he will still be squishy. But yeah lets try and get this noticed and hopefully viewed by a riot employee. Lastly some quality of life changes to kayn's game play could be a big help. Like if instead of a certain type of champion giving you a certain color orb why not just make everyone give the same orb and let the player choose who they really want to play without being punished for hitting the only champion they could possibly get their hands on. This will make kayn progress a lot faster without having to constantly gank a lane where he wants a certain orb. it would let him be able to gank a losing lane without someone complaining they aren't being helped. Also to make up for the change on SA's q make Rhaast's e be able to give him bonus armor and magic resist or something while on ground kinda like a charge but only when used on the ground it fits what the picture looks like anyway.

Thanks if you read the whole thing I would like to see your responses to this topic. Also it would help if you could spread this topic to others so it can be noticed for its greatness. Everythings up for discussion.