An elegant improvement for Lee Sin's kit.
The biggest flaws in Lee Sin's kit, that these changes attempts to fix, are these two:
- Wardhopping is an inelegant mechanic, but the inSec kick it enables is now Lee Sin's signature feature. Therefore one should try to retain the inSec kick if Wardhopping was to be removed.
- W and E being split doesn't really add to the kit other than allowing to proc the passive. The problem is, it dilutes the power budget of his abilities and bloats the kit unnecessarily.
The elegant way to solve these things are the following changes:
- Remove Wardhopping, Iron Will and Tempest/Cripple.
- NEW E: Shojin Gong Lee Sin places a Gong at target location for a short time. Lee Sin can use Safeguard on the Gong. If he attacks the Gong (or enemies near it?) it reverberates, dealing damage in a radius around it.
(Depending on what he needs beyond this, attacking the Gong could have additional effects, such as AoE lifesteal (for jungling), activating his passive or slowing enemies. The gong could be made to proc for one, two or several attacks.)
The Gong fits thematically, gives him all the tools he needs to do his signature maneuvers as well as streamlining his kit. By simplifying things it also opens up the possibility to buff abilities, such as Flurry's numbers or Safeguard's range, as the inSec kick is now gated by E's range.