Riot, I know you've decided not to do any more "Class Updates", but there's one group that needs one

Bârd··1 votes·761 views

Minionmancers

League of Legends has an absolutely terrible system for controlling summoned units.

Champions with one, large summon: Either press their "summon" key again to control them or use Alt-M2. No means to implement active abilities onto them.

Notably bad champions: Ivern because of a mechanic I'll refer to as a "soft leash range", Daisy's command will be overruled with "walk at Ivern" if she either steps past a certain threshold or is commanded to do so. This is the only example of this mechanic in the game and, if summons ever get looked at, this should be removed immediately. Also, imagine if he could command Daisy's ground slam on demand, instead of waiting for a third hit (which will often miss due to AI's not predicting the target running out of range). Mordekaiser he steals enemy champions. If he could actually use their abilities in some capacity, he'd be incredible, but as things stand the only ghosts that are innately useful are ADC's. Also, it's annoying that you can't simultaneously have a Dragon and a Champion ghost, but because LOL has no system for actually controlling multiple summons at once you'd have to command them as if you were using a "control all units" command, causing them to just bunch up and hit things. Kindred Not a micro champion, you say? Yeah, that's the problem. Wolf should absolutely be a fully controllable, second unit. Kindred should have their 4 abilities spread across Lamb and Wolf, and the ones that are active for one unit are passives for the other. IMO, this is the only way to do the concept of this champion justice without a transformation move (which is a cop-out).

Champions with multiple, smaller summons: There is no system in place to directly control these units. They have to be fully AI controlled, though their champions typically have some way of controlling them indirectly. There exist no means to command these units individually, much less to give them active abilities.

The only exception to this is Azir, who can directly command his soldiers to attack, but even he suffers from the other issues.

Notably bad champions: Illaoi imagine if she could command her tentacles instead of relying on AI aim and target priority. She would immediately have her skill ceiling rise through the roof, and the potential of this champion would become incredible. Malzahar he's summoning void creatures. Are you seriously telling me the most creative thing you could think of was "bugs that run at you and scratch"? Come on now, we've seen your PvE mobs. Azir just because he can command their attacks manually doesn't mean he's a good design. Sand Soldiers with vastly more control would make him a lot harder to play to peak potential, and if you made them vulnerable alongside that you'd create several new levers to balance Azir around. Ivern I know I already mentioned him. I know he only has one summoned unit. That said, he is the friend of the forest, yet the forest denizens helping him out alongside Daisy never once struck you as a fun idea?

Champions who do not currently have summoned units that should have summoned units, but can't have them because of the current system limitations

Quinn Valor Kindred Wolf Fiddlesticks Crows (possibly) Janna Zephyr

2 Comments

chipndip14 votes

"Minionmancers" isn't a class in the first place...

Hotarµ1 votes

'Minionmancers' isn't really a class and the majority of champions that would fit into it are either fine or don't have problems relating to the minions themselves.

Mordekaiser Sure, Mordekaiser is super buggy, but for the most part his problem lies in his Q/W/E and his inability to compare to the other juggernauts.

Ivern Ivern's strengths rely in his passive and supportive playstyle, his ultimate isn't mean to be super impactful like Annie's.

Kindred Not a micro champion, you say? Yeah, that's the problem. Wolf should absolutely be a fully controllable, second unit. Kindred should have their 4 abilities spread across Lamb and Wolf, and the ones that are active for one unit are passives for the other.

Why? Why would they have to be separated? They interact with each other just fine. The problems surrounding Kindred generally revolve around her Q and Passive.

Notable bad champions: Illaoi imagine if she could command her tentacles instead of relying on AI aim and target priority. She would immediately have her skill ceiling rise through the roof, and the potential of this champion would become incredible.

Are you kidding me? Illaoi is a monster. She's terrifying to fight and her ultimate can single handedly win a teamfight if she places it well enough. She already has huge potential.

Malzahar I honestly haven't played Malzahar too much or have much experience fighting him so someone else can feel free to jump in for this one. In my experience Malzahar is either too oppressive in lane (because of Q/E) or relies too much on his ultimate. His voidlings are weak IMO and probably the worst summon-related spell in the game, if anything this is the one champion that needs a rework, at least on that ability.

Azir just because he can command their attacks manually doesn't mean he's a good design. Sand Soldiers with vastly more control would make him a lot harder to play to peak potential, and if you made them vulnerable alongside that you'd create several new levers to balance Azir around.

He's a monster when strong. High ELO players literally change the entire dynamic of the game when Azir is relevant, much like Kalista, Ryze, etc. Azir needs a rework, his current state is just too good when he's got anything going for him. Also adding more control to the soldiers wouldn't make him harder to play, it would make him harder to fight especially when your opponent has a naturally high skill level.

The other champions you listed at the bottom don't really need any more touching up for their abilities.

Fiddlesticks He uses crows in his E and all throughout his ultimate. Quinn uses Valor in her passive, Q, W, and Ultimate. Kindred W, E, and to a certain extent their passive/ult. Janna It's only on one ability, but Zephyr isn't mentioned in any other ability or lore anywhere else in League. Why does she need to be paired with Zephyr? Doesn't make any sense to me

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