Garen is the only one of the Juggernaut update to have his "Steroid" removed
Now, way back when in Season 5, we had the first of the many "Class Updates", the one, the only, Juggernaut Update.
Darius got his "Bloodrage", which later had it's name changed to "Noxian Might" to be more fitting with his theme. How to proc it? Just apply all 5 stacks of Hemorrhage. Darius has full agency, or control, and responsibility over his Juggernaut Steroid. HE has to apply all 5 stacks of his passive, someone else can't do it for him.
Skarner got his "Crystal Spires" which created a WHOLE bunch of messes for him and for his players, but that's not the focus of this post. How to proc it? Simply had the Spire active and be within the area on the map. If it gets deactivated by an enemy, simply reactivate it yourself or have a teammate do it. In a sense, Skarner has more agency than Darius or Mordekaiser do, as TEAMMATES can activate his Juggernaut Steroid, though they don't reap the benefits, only HE does.
Mordekaiser got his "Dragonforce" passive. How to proc it? Simply attack the Dragon with an AA or an Ability, and make sure the DoT stays on it until the Dragon dies. Mordekaiser had roughly the same level of control/agency over his Juggernaut Steroid as Darius, as HE had to be the one to activate it by attacking the Dragon.
And as for Garen? He got "Villainy". How to proc it? An enemy team member has to get a kill. Unlike the other 3, Garen has NO CONTROL OR AGENCY of his own over his Juggernaut Steroid. It is completely dependent on the enemy team getting kills. If a Garen is in a low-kill game, the "Villainy" passive is pretty-well useless.
Now, with this proposed mini-rework that is on the PBE, the "Villainy" passive is getting removed. Let me get this out of the way first; I am not defending NOR deriding the "Villainy" passive. It HAS quite a few problems, such as the wonky assignment algorithm, and how it takes up SO much of his power budget that he can't be allotted much else, and more.
The thing I AM trying to say is that with this removal, Riot is admitting that Garen's Juggernaut Update was a failure; BUT at the same time, he is the ONLY ONE that is getting his removed. Darius still has his Noxian Might. Skarner still has his Crystal Spires (And yes, I KNOW that they are a massive headache for you Skarner players and the reason they haven't been removed is probably because Riot doesn't know what to DO with him, but the fact that he still has it is the point I'm trying to get across). Mordekaiser kept his "Dragonforce" passive all the way up to his VGU. But, just like when he first GOT his Juggernaut Update and got the short end of the stick, with NO AGENCY of his own over his Steroid, Garen is ONCE AGAIN getting shafted with HIS Juggernaut Update Steroid getting removed.
And I'm sure that CatchAxes has nothing but the best of intentions (Or at least I would hope so, considering that Scruffy called him a "Garen Enthusiast", though I must admit that the name/nickname makes him come across more as a Draven Enthusiast. I mean, "CatchAxes"?) with his mini-rework, and if I could test it on the PBE, my opinion of it might change (I currently am not all that in favor of it, but at the same time Garen DOES need SOMETHING done).
Look, Garen, I love ya. You're one of my most favorite champs; one of the first I got L7 Mastery on and I've been playing you since long before you even got your Visual Update back in 2013. But I almost feel like, in order for you to get the love and changes I feel you really deserve, I think you need a VGU. (I know fellow Garen players, you'll probably want to lynch me for saying it, but oh well.)
GL and HF in your games.
I'M VIAAAABLEEEE! FINALLY VIABLE!
No you're not. You're really not, dude.
are your power-clearing core. That's a lot of gold to invest in a small amount of defenses if you're set behind.
