Diversity in the Mid Lane (Changes) . Part 1
This is my first discussion post here but I'd like to talk about how diverse the midlane is, and trust me, it's not. I'm not necessarily talking about the Professional Scene or the Challenger / Master tiers but rather in the lower and more general population of the game. Silver - Plat, Bronze should be in this but I've seen that anything does in the Midlane and is probably the most diverse in Bronze with Ziggs, Heimer, anything no matter how bad or hard it is to play is used in Bronze.
I'd like to propose a few changes to some mid laners and share my ideas on why I think this. People give your insight on this as well but hopefully not too harsh and critical about things as I am a bystander in most of these things but would like things to change, in particular the mid lane and who is played. What I'm trying to do is bring back forgotten / weak mid laners and in theory give them hard counters, bringing more diversity into the mid lane by making others pick counters to the certain champ which probably isn't in today's current meta.
Ahri: > Fox Fire: Base damage reverted back to to 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 from 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140. Orb of Deception: AP Ratio increased from .35 to .375 & base damage increased to 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 from 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140.
These aren't large changes but they'd definitely help with Ahri's damage output and early game farming. If Ahri doesn't constantly back to keep up with the upgrading minions, then she'll have to attack the ranged minions once and then Q to actually kill them. This little buff should solve the problem in most cases and allow Ahri to farm in lane while 1 hitting the backline minions with Morellonomicon.
Depsite most mid laners needing to use at least 2 of their spells or 1 spell twice to finish off the ranged minions, Ahri only has 1 main source of damage, her W is quite weak and her charm is mainly for crowd control purposes. If she uses her Q, which is also the main way she escapes from ganks thanks to the movement speed buff, it leaves her extremely open without her ult. This is why her Q is so strong and if it doesn't do what it's meant to (be strong) then it becomes extremely problematic for the player. Also keep in mind in terms of damage the buff isn't that huge unless the player is actually able to hit both the start and return.
Anivia: >Attack Speed increased to .647 from .625 and Attack Damage increased from 51 ~ 106 to 54 ~ 112 Flash Frost: AP Ratio increased from 1.0 to 1.2, base damage reduced from 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 to 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150. Frostbite:
- AP Ratio increased from .5 to .6, Chilled AP Ratio increased from 1.0 to 1.2.
- Ignores 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% of MR if target is Chilled by Flash Frost.
>Glacial Storm:
- Damage reduced to 60 / 90 / 120 and AP Ratio reduced from .25 to .20
- Now applies a Frost Mark, causing Chill(ed) damage (Q / E) to be increased by 15 / 20 / 25% for the next 3 seconds, enemies can only be affected by Frost Mark once every 18 / 15 / 12 seconds.
These are quite a lot of changes and mainly buffs to Anivia but these are actually needed mainly the attack speed and attack damage buffs on her. This allows her to farm more efficiently and much easier early game, her missile speed was increased in previous patches but due to how long it takes her to ramp up her actual attack animation, many, including me an Anivia main, have trouble last hitting with just her auto attacks because of how long it takes. The attack speed buff should help along with the minor attack damage buff for people who are learning Anivia to last hit more easily.
Now the changes to her abilities, Anivia is renowned for her ability to burst someone down with just her Flash Frost and Frostbite combo aka her huge single targeted damage. I personally took full advantage of it and added Frost Mark, an ability that increases her Flash Frost and Frostbite damage by 25%, now now, I know this is extremely strong with the buffed AP Ratios but hear me out. Anivia has quite long cooldowns and usually her ultimate is the only thing that is keeping enemies at bay due to its amazing sustained damage and ability to wave clear. After taking away A LOT of its power, I've made it so Anivia is forced to wave clear mainly with her Q and auto attacks or else she'd be forced to waste a good amount of mana for just 1 wave.
Anivia's place is usually in the backline where all she does is pop her ultimate down and help her Marksman like a support or most backline mid laners do (Orianna, etc), these changes won't make her any different from she is now. Thanks the MR Penetration from her E if she hits an enemy with her Q, though unreliable, in teamfights it is almost a guarantee to hit someone, and if they're in the backline attacking yous, then it's extremely hard to miss the ability making it so getting the 25% MR Penetration almost inevitable.
Her weaknesses will still be the same as they are now but with a little less flaws, the only one being that she is more single-targeted damage oriented and can no longer sufficiently deal AoE damage nor can she clear waves efficiently.
tl;dr - Changes to make her farm better and have more single targeted damage and helps shred tanks early game without her Void Staff because RoA (+ Tear) + 1 Item is extremely expensive and Void Staff isn't available for her until late mid game or early late game.
Azir: >Conquering Sands: Cast ranged increased from 875 to 950, slow increased from 25% to 33% capping at 2 soldiers from no cap. Arise!: Soldier ranged increased from 325 to 350 (+50 pierce range btw = 400). Shifting Sands:
- AP Ratio increased from .40 to .60
- Base damage increased from 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 to 50 / 90 / 130 / 170 / 210.
These changes aren't actually that much and may be considered a nerf (Q) to some but I think these changes are really helpful to Azir. The slow changes on his Q are a bit of a love & hate type of thing. Most of the time I only ever see 2 soldiers actually flying at an enemy, by increasing the slow but putting a cap on it, I've made it so in small amounts the slow is actually much stronger but in numbers of 3 and 4 (which are less common) to be weaker. Along with the increased range, Conquering Sands is much more reliable in both allowing Azir to stay away from the fight but also in terms of chasing or running away where he usually only has 1 ~ 2 soldier(s) to poke and slow them.
I've increased Shifting Sands which is worth quite nothing if I'm being frank. The base damage is a bit lower and only the AP Ratio is increased which means nothing in the Early - Mid Game where your E is still only Level 1. Until Late Game where you start leveling Shifting Sands, the buff isn't really noticeable but I'd like to increase the damage so that players don't just have to rely on his Arise! auto attacks but also a mobility spell which can deal quite a nice chunk and don't forget the bonus shield!
Ekko: I haven't played Ekko enough to actually evaluate on how he'll go with my changes. But in theory I'm taking a lot of his passive damage and putting it into his Q and E, leaving it so his passive is just a form of crowd control. I find that the biggest thing players hate about Ekko is that his passive does just way too much damage and I agree. The passive itself is an Ultimate Level passive (Jax's R).
The thing about putting the damage into his Timewinder and Phase Dive is that players must learn to maneuver themselves around the champion they're aiming to kill to get off both return and start of Timewinder instead of simply using it as an ability to get 2 stacks of Z-Drive Resonance (Passive) and E to instantly kill them. Though this may seem like a nerf and 'how is this going to bring diversity into the mid laner when no one is going to play Ekko', in my head the numbers for his Q and E are CRAZY and would make him a lot stronger than he is right now if you're able to get both hits of Timewinder that is.
Galio: > Runic Skin: REMOVED
- Bulwark: Every 15 / 13 / 11 seconds, upon being attacked, Bulwark is triggered. Bulwark causes the auto attacks he receives to instead heal him (the auto attacks still deal damage) for 100% of his total MR, each consecutive attack causes the healing to be reduced by 30 / 20 / 10% (Levels 1, 6 ,11). If he isn't attacked for 3 seconds, Bulwark's duration ends and is put on cooldown.
>Cascade: NEW
- Passive: Galio increases the MR of his nearby allies equal to 10% of his Total MR.
- Active: (Can only be used while Righteous Gust's trail is up) Galio 'rides' the gust (same as Azir's Shifting Sands where he dashes to the nearest soldier) and slams the ground with his wings when he reaches the end of his destination, slowing all enemies and dealing 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300% of his MR as True Damage that are caught in the shockwave.
>Idol of Durand: NEW
- Passive: Galio gains 40 / 50 / 60% of his MR as bonus AP.
I haven't put any necessary numbers like radius and all of that yet like I usually do with my Champion Concepts but I might do them if you guys want, the future posts will be extremely long though so be warned xD
What these changes do to Galio is that it allows Galio to not just flash into a group of enemies and press ult, but allows him to use his Righteous Gust and 'ride' in while boosting his allies behind him. It also grants a lot of counterplay by dodging or preparing traps whether it be actual traps like a Caitlyn trap, regardless, it gives Galio a newfound way to engage a fight without needing his ult or any setups like an Orianna ult or hard crowd control for him to just walk in.
Some counters to the new Galio would be Anivia, allowing her to cut his ride off with her W if placed in the middle of the gust, or in front of it, it can also stop his ult as it nudges him, stopping the ult, she can also stop his ultimate with her Flash Frost. But it's not just about the ways of stopping his ultimate, her Flash Frost is really easy to land against a Galio thanks to him being melee, allowing her to get the magic penetration off more easily and deal tons of damage against him despite him building full MR most of the times.
tl;dr - Galio is now the real anti-mage unlike Kassadin and has new ways of making his own plays, whether it be riding Righteous Glory into a team AND then flashing if they ran away.