Wukong Tweaks for Better Monkeying

Hi all, I've been playing Wukong since he was released, and though I am not a great player, I try to read up on Wukong and on what people say is going on with him. About a year ago we were told that he was a candidate for a rework, but with the Diver rework being lost to the abyss, nothing more has been said on Wukong.

I think he still needs some tweaking in order to decide what his role is really meant to be, and this may involve stat changes (more base damage and less scaling) or changes to his skills to hone in on his expected role in the game.

Personally, a trickster / skirmisher role would be my preferred route, so I've put together some ideas on what things could be tweak in order to modernize the monkey and hone in on that particular gameplay fantasy.

Without further ado:

R - Cyclone: Wukong´s ultimate should tick more quickly than every second in order to make it more consistent and its static damage should be better distributed by level, since the jump from 20 to 110 is ridiculous. The possibility of adding defenses while spinning could be considered.

Q - Crushing Blow: The added range from Q could bear to be extended just a little further, perhaps mana cost slightly reduced, partially because the lore of an extending staff is aready there, partially because it would give him some in-lane pressure other than the predictable and dangeorus "Jump on them and W away". Jarvan, Panth, GP, Kha, Zed, Talon, Rengar all have ranged abilities that can help them do this and these types of abilities can also make farming a little safer in dangerous lanes.

W - Decoy: As one of Wukong's most defining abilities, this skill is the one that I believe would be the most crucial change that could have the greatest benefits.

First off, I would suggest the animations to be cleaned up so that S stop and Decoy are completely indistinguishable, which is just a quality of life change.

At the moment, Decoy allows you to walk in from stealth, avoid minion aggro, block some skills, and possibly get some jukes if opponent isn't skilled enough to notice difference between S stop and Decoy. However, the only thing enemies need to do about W is realise it is a clone and then guess which way you´re moving. However, attacking the clone instead of Wukong has no inherent penalty aside from possibly wasting a cooldown. Further, the clone's spin attack is negligible.

I would propose that there be some changes to the clone, whether by punishing champs for getting hit by it / attacking it, or by giving benefits to Wukong if enemies hit it / get hit by it. This would be an interesting way to provide skill expression (champs reading you on whether you cloned or not or dodging the clone attack / you being smart about S fakes or true clones and clone positioning) and help Wukong in areas where he may be weak. Here are some possible ideas for how to do this:

• Cooldowns "Every enemy champion that is hit by the clone's attack, reduces Decoy's cooldown by 2 (or however many) seconds." This could give Wukong some added tricksteriness and survivability in teamfights by letting him use it again soon after and reposition / avoid damage. "Every auto attack against the clone reduces the cooldown of Decoy by 1s" This also allows Wu to use it more often and punishes enemies for falling for decoy, but focuses on strengthening him vs Auto-attackers.

• Damage "Wukong's decoy deals damage on his spin attack based on damage received." This would make Decoy more interesting because enemies would need to guess / figure out if you are S-faking or Decoying and then either move away or continue attacking. "Enemies hit by the clone take extra damage or empower Wukong's next Crushing Blow" This gives some synergies within the kit, more skill expression, and could make awesome plays happen depending on just how much damage we are talking about. It would keep enemies on their toes regarding whether Wukong has cloned or not.

• Healing "Wukong's decoy heals Wukong based on damage received or number of enemies (champions only?) struck by the spin, or number of auto-attacks received, scaling with max health or AD." This would give Wukong some much needed sustain and not allow enemies to mindlessly attack clone just in case it is Wukong for fear of healing him. If based on Max health it would make bruiser wu more viable, if based on AD, assassin would be more viable.

• CC/Movement "If hit by Decoy spin, enemies are knocked up / slowed." When Wukong spins his staff around in his ult, you get knocked up. To maintain character fantasy, if his clone spins it.... you should also get knocked up. Slow is another option, but either way it gives Wukong options in order to fool around in 1v1s or escape by slowing / knocking up if being chased. "If the Decoy hits an enemy champion, Wukong gains a speed boost for 1.5s" Similar to above, allows Wukong to escape, reposition, chase (depending on circumstances) which he very much could use if he is meant to be a Diver or Assassin.

E - Nimbus Strike: Wu's Nimbus Strike is also somewhat characteristic of him, but I don´t think it particularly needs to be changed. If it were though, perhaps allowing it to gain full ability lifesteal instead of AOE lifesteal (given that its not a true AOE) would be nice, or having it play along with clone. For example, If Wukong Nimbus Strikes towards his clone, it causes the clone to do his spin immediately, knocking enemies up and dealing bonus damage. This would be cool as it would allow Wukong to be scary in duels or teamfights, but isnt overpowered as it requires him to have both skills off cooldown and enemies to stay near the clone. Further, after this combo you have no W to escape / avoid damage or E to chase.

Passive - Stone Skin: This passive is... confusing and boring. It makes you want to be in the midst of the fight but... Wukong doesnt quite work as a bruiser due to his low defenses and low base damage on skills. Without damage items you do nothing. So, first and foremost a choice must be made on whether Wu is an Assassin / Trickster or if he's a Brusier / Diver:

If Wukong is to be a bruiser, his passive would need to give him more meaningful, interesting ways to sustain in a fight without him needing to completely gut the Damage items he builds.

If Wukong is to be an assassin, his passive would need to give him ways to maneuver in and out of fights, mitigate damage, or avoid CC.

Personally, a trickster / damage avoidance approach is more appealing to me, given his lore, so I would suggest things in this vein:

• Reduce the remaining cooldown on his clone every time he receives an auto-attack (not to be mixed with clone changes which reduce cooldown)

• Give him an increasing speed boost as his health gets lower, or when he takes a certain amount of damage or when he deals a certain amount of damage like old Storm Raider's

• Grant him a Grey Health Shield (its his Stone Skin) for damage dealt.

• My favorite idea, though, would be: The View from the Top "When Wukong stands still for 1 second within brush, he jumps up onto his pole to get a better view of the battleground. This grants him extra sight range as well as vision over walls and obstacles, but not into brush he normally wouldnt have vision of. Additionally, he is granted a free cast of Decoy for 1s after he jumps off of the stick."

In any case, these are some of my ideas, and though I expect that if all of them were applied simultaneously he'd be OP, I would love to receive some input from you guys.