Give me one good reason why Neeko ADC would NOT be busted.
Neeko ADC is currently at 7% play rate (for Nekko players, that is), with a comfortable 54% win rate. And why wouldn't it be?
- The base damage on her Q is 480. Which is plain ridiculous for just BASE damage.
- If she builds on-hit, her W's on-hit effect can give her tuns of movement speed during fights, plus a lot of extra damage.
- Her E base damage is 220, and can root up to 2 targets for 1.5 (or 3 full seconds, I think for the second target).
- The base damage on her R is 650, and shields her for a BASE amount (no AP) of up to 510, and stuns all nearby enemies for 1.5 seconds.
So just her BASE damage and effects, include:
- A total of 1480 damage, and that's with zero AP, that's just BASE damage of a full combo from her.
- A 3 second root, which can be cast at 1000 range.
- A 1.5 second AoE stun (her R).
- Up to a 510 damage self shield (depends on how many enemies are around when she ults)
- Perma 40% MS if she has sufficient attack speed (especially if she gets rageblade).
- Activatable clone, which grants half a second of invisibility, and also gives her 3 full seconds of 40% move speed.
Now, I'm not suggesting that other ADC's can't match her damage. But can they also root for 3 seconds? Plus stun for another 1.5 seconds? Do they also get 40% move speed? Can they turn invisible for half a second? Can they disguise themselves as a different champ? And can they do 1480 burst damage just from base damage on their abilities?
With an on-hit build, a top lane Neeko was rooting my Warwick and easily shredding me dead before her root even wore off. I couldn't even get a single auto attack off on her, basically the whole game. It felt like fighting against a Morgana Q that can't be dodged by standing behind minions, all the while having something like Lucian unloading a full ult on me as I stood there rooted and helpless.
Lucian or Miss Fortune can dish out more damage with their ults, but can they also root you, through a minion wave, for 3 full seconds?
I mean, Morgana also is ranged, so I'm not suggesting it's wrong to have a ranged champion with a powerful root. But Morgana's root can't hit you through minions. And Morgana just can't burst you down like a neeko can with just base damage.
Think about her kit. Neeko has 550 range so there's no particular reason why should couldn't build AD and be an ADC. But the problem is, her kit is far more powerful than a typical ADC's kit. Not sure how Riot could even fix this. Honestly I don't know how Riot even balances this game, it's such a big game. But I predict that Neeko adc is going to become a problem they're gonna have to deal with.