Graves revert when?

TTYgCVZuNm·5/16/2019, 1:24:15 PM·4 votes·1,225 views

So this isn't really about graves, although he's a big part of it.

Ever since the legendary season 6 marksman rework, marksman haven't felt the same at all. Tier lists for AD carry used to just kinda be meh, it doesn't matter, play what you should into the team comps you are working with. Certain ones are a little stronger than others but its so minimal because in the end, you are autoattacking and doing damage.

I loved this change and it did really make the game fun and more intuitive for AD carries, but it also put a divide between all the marksman champions, AD carry being the role with the least playable carries in anyway. Now there are always one or two champions that just put the rest to shame. Vayne for the past 2 years with her rageblade build has been out of this world on dps and has literally allowed for 3 tanks items to be build and still out out solid late game dps. Lucian has been up and down with being a good AD carry because he is ability based, and a bad one because he is ability based. Corki has been completely mitigated to the mid lane, twitch to the jungle since the funnelling issues began, and graves completely reworked out of the not lane. Even Quinn who was already not a highly picked AD was relegated to top only. Same goes for urgot, who was easily one of my favorite AD carries, especially since people at certain elos (plat) think they all need to play hyper carries, and the team doesn't need any tankiness to it. Kalista has barely even been a viable pick since the runaans changes. Another issue is the whole "non traditional" AD carry. Jhin, Kaisa, etc will never be able to be balanced due to the fact that their kits funtion differently with the same items as other AD carries. Case in point is Jhin EFFECIENTLY (being the key word here) being able to build FOUR Infinity Edges and still being able to put out solid dps due to his level based attack speed and AD/crit scaling.

I feel like the pool of ADs I can pick competitively is now so abysmally small, and changes with patch, while mid/top/etc has 30+ viable champions.

It's ridiculous to try and match that amount with AD carries, so why not return to a more simple dps system to allow better comp picks or an attempt to buff AD carries who are weaker to the point where they are equal? Instead of trying to nerf what is good, buff what is bad.

Honestly I just want old graves back he was my bread and butter and absolute favorite AD of all time, and now he's just super lame and either OP or unplayable.

1 Comments

Akolade5/30/2019, 6:34:51 PM2 votes

Graves is pretty binary, and personally I would like to see him reverted.

I didn't ask for this change, but I've tried to make it work.

When should I pick Graves? He went from being a staple pick to incredibly niche.

I don't need a jungle marksmen that is primarily good against heavy ad comps that are weak to burst,_ in a ganking jungle meta_. He brings unreliable AoE damage that is incredibly avoidable, with 1 dash and 3 skill shots. And due to the nature of his dash and mana pool rarely manages to make use of the innate "Tankiness" if he's even remotely behind. Even when he isn't, he often places himself at huge risk to really make use of the ability, because it is a "win more" button.

I would only dash towards you if the risk outweighed the reward and I get less of a bonus for dashes away from you, which makes me less survivable when I would actually want it. Because of the E changes MR if I were going to pick him bot lane as a low range AoE skirmisher Marksmen, I'd only be able to play him in his "niche" if the assassin threats weren't AP. Due to the nature of his e passive duration, his ammo gimmick, the length of the cooldown and his mana pool, the only way to use his armor advantage in bot lane is to push mindlessly or force trades. It can't help you farm. How is he supposed to survive lane phase down there if you incentivize poor play to employ his survivability.

Why would I do that?

He's way too conditional to be considered healthy.

I really like this post because instead of just complaining about the changes you breakdown why you believe the specialization of the Marksmen class has actually created a huge gaps in playability. While I do think that it's frustrating to see certain champs be far and away better than others as items change, I do think that the general marksman population moved in the right direction. In other lanes, with the same itemization, any mage still accomplishes their job as mage. The marksmen however, due to the gimmicky nature of their specializations, run into a problem where lethality wasn't explicitly designed to fit a markmen's needs for doing their job as the game progresses and crit is an expensive investment they might not see returns on before the game ends.

It's one of the reasons I have a hard time playing ADC these days. Games are not designed to go long enough to achieve the marksmen fantasy, and marksmen diversity is minimal so if I want to be optimal in my choices I don't even get to pick what I want.

Excuse me while I go main Ez.