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Evelynn's State

roseagius·11/12/2015, 11:27:20 AM·4 votes·1,987 views

I’m here to remind everyone that this champion still exists!

Evelynn is a champion that seems to be “middle of the pack” status every season. Her last rework was June 18th, 2012 and has yet to have a visual update since her release (correct me if I’m wrong)

In terms of patch 5.22: With the introduction of the new jungle it’s extremely hard for Evelynn to do much of anything. She’s portrayed as an “early game ganker” yet her early clear is so terrible she can’t gank until after her first back. The starting jungle items are useless on her as if she builds Hunter’s Machete she has no mana by her third camp yet if she builds Hunter’s Talisman she has no HP by her second. Her mid-game power spike is honestly through the roof with Thunderlord’s Decree but she ends up falling off harder than most. The question is posed: why pick Evelynn jungle when you could pick someone with a stronger early game (Lee Sin, Elise, Rek’Sai, etc.), or a stronger late game (Sated Junglers, Tank Junglers)?

Taking a look at her kit:

(Passive) Shadow Walk - Iconic ability. Some may argue that her stealth is “broken” but the better players know how to ward against an Eve in lane; it’s a lot easier than you’d think. Eve has always been that champion that has incredible ganks with sub-par damage and cc (to balance out her gank potential). If Eve were to get a rework, I’d hope her passive would remain the same/be improved on; it’s an incredibly balanced yet effective passive with clear strengths and weaknesses that lead to strategic plays and counter play. Honestly Eve’s entire identity revolves around invisibility (the fear of not knowing where she is/her being everywhere at once. It’s use is mainly for that psychological effect of the laner).

(Q) Hate Spike - Evelynn’s spammable aoe dps spell. It’s unclear whether you’re to be focusing on this spell (for max aoe damage) or her E (for max burst damage as she IS an assassin). This spell is definitely more aoe teamfight-y than assassin-y.

(W) Dark Frenzy - Great tool for ganking. Has been nerfed and nerfed and nerfed but gives Eve a ton of movement speed that fits her assassin-y playstyle. It’s also great for dodging abilities and allowing her to be a mobile/slippery champ.

(E) Ravage - INSANE SCALING. The ability itself [assuming you get both procs off (which should be on everyone except pantheon)] has an 100% AP + 100% Bonus AD ratio. This is the bread and butter to her assassin-like kit and allows for some HUGE burst. The attack speed it gives is good for the jungle but not much else (as you Q 10x more often that you auto your opponent in a chase).

(R) Agony’s Embrace - Nice teamfighting ult that makes Eve surprisingly tanky. It’s meant to be used to initiate a fight (as it only does damage based on current health) as has a similar concept to Jarvan’s/Illaoi’s ults (hit as many people as you can to win team fight). It gives her a nice tool to be able to dive the backline but it just feels out of place. It’s very anti-climactic for an ult. (It’s also Eve’s only form of crowd control)

In general, as you can probably tell, Evelynn is lacking a clear identity: She’s assumed to be played as an assassin yet has an aeo teamfight oriented kit with a “meh” gank potential aside from her invisibility. Her build path is extremely unclear as she’s played as a tank, ap assassin, ad bruiser, aura support, and anything in between as literally any item works for her chameleon kit. She’s labeled as an “early game ganker” but doesn’t have a good enough clear to be able to gank early and scales worse into the late game than most meta junglers.

Solutions: When brainstorming some solutions I’m genuinely confused on what her identity is: all we know is that she’s a “widow maker”. Her lore literally perpetuates the fact that her identity is a mystery. Ever since the release of SafeCracker Evelynn I’ve looked at her identity extremely differently: I saw her as a bounty hunter/criminal mastermind type champion. When I think of Eve’s identity I think of a champion that uses stealth and damage to assassinate her foes. Someone who can possibly walk through terrain and create unique pathways to sneak into the backline and try to CC/blow up the prime targets. Waiting for that prime moment when the Tristana’s Braum walks one inch too far before going in and blowing her up/chain ccing her for her team. That’s what I’d love to see. A champion that has a kit revolving around her sneaky-ness.

I may be the only one, but I absolutely love Miss Evelynn and I really hope she gets the treatment she deserves; I hope she’s oneday known as Runeterra’s signature assassin.

EDIT: Brainstorming different possible identities, I thought of some unique abilities that can make Evelynn the stealthy assassin she's meant to be:

  1. Moderate ranged blink followed by a brief aoe fear? (Similar to Greninja in Smash Bros)

  2. Shape Shifting? Possibly turning into a minion/scuttle/champion??

  3. Move through certain terrain to set up unique gank paths?

8 Comments

Chicken4dinner11/12/2015, 11:43:05 AM1 votes

I stopped reading at your scaling's for ravage, it is actually 100% and then 40% because it is a double strike

Widder8811/13/2015, 12:07:24 AM1 votes

{quoted}

Evelynn is a champion that seems to be “middle of the pack” status every season. Her last rework was June 18th, 2012 and has yet to have a visual update since her release (correct me if I’m wrong)

She had a visual update in 2011.

In terms of patch 5.22: With the introduction of the new jungle it’s extremely hard for Evelynn to do much of anything. She’s portrayed as an “early game ganker”

That portrait is wrong. It's because only early game ganker are viable in LCS, so pro players play everything as early game ganker. So if they play Evelynn they play her as early game ganker, then they buy tank items on her and make her useless. But this playstyle, which is the only one which exist in LCS, is not really good for Evelynn. In fact she is a strong mid/late game assassin.

yet her early clear is so terrible she can’t gank until after her first back. The starting jungle items are useless on her as if she builds Hunter’s Machete she has no mana by her third camp yet if she builds Hunter’s Talisman she has no HP by her second.

Yes the first clear is terrible (talisman is must have), but afterwards it is ok.

Her mid-game power spike is honestly through the roof with Thunderlord’s Decree but she ends up falling off harder than most.

All depends on the build, because you can build everything on her. I like going Nashors tooth -> Lich bane -> Rabadons this season. The late game scaling is great. Don't give a shit about overnerfed Runeglaive.

The question is posed: why pick Evelynn jungle when you could pick someone with a stronger early game (Lee Sin, Elise, Rek’Sai, etc.), or a stronger late game (Sated Junglers, Tank Junglers)?

Evelynn is not a champion that every noob can play like Lee Sin. If you have high experience with her, there is no question, why to play her.

  1. Moderate ranged blink followed by a brief aoe fear? (Similar to Greninja in Smash Bros)

So boring. Every noob could use this overpowered bullshit.

2 Shape Shifting? Possibly turning into a minion/scuttle/champion??

Nice idea. But for a new champion, not for Evelynn.

Red Ryu11/13/2015, 12:41:26 AM1 votes

Evelynn's first clear is her only issue.

It is incredibly rough.

She can do it but man is it hard.

19348180DEL111/28/2015, 1:53:41 PM1 votes

The problem is, Evelynn has so many hidden paths and styles to choose from, yet people often don't think of her as such a broadly diversified champion.

If you want amazing clear speeds, you have to rune and mastery for it, but lose tanking potential.

If you want to be hard to kill, you have to rune and mastery for it, but lose clear speed potential.

If you want to be good at assassinating, you have to rune and mastery for it, but lose Team Fighting potential (with the exception of % current health on using the ultimate which has deceptively powerful play potential to it).

You can't have it all, you have to choose one. But there -are- choices, and only one seems to be dominant right now. I play her multiple ways, AD Caster, AD Bruiser, AP Mage, and Hybrid Tank, Attack Speed AP Assassin, and as Support Jungler 2.0. Those styles all excel in 1 or 2 areas, but never all. Once Eve's build starts to go in a different direction, her potential in another direction stalls, which is natural. Currently, with enough practice, you can go through all your camps with just the standard 3 potions, or gank with good health, or counter jungle. It all depends on how you build her pre-game.

Where she does not excel, however, your own skill and experience with her base kit must take over. Kite, poke, deceive, steal. Adjust, to the game you're in.

That is how it should be with any build on a character with different build paths...

tl;dr The Key Point is it takes "Experience" to understand what your desired build is best at doing and maximizing that build's particular potential in lieu of caveats for building that particular way. She has no identity. This is her lore. She is a variable in the equation of team-compositions (which I feel League of Legends needs more of).

She doesn't care who kills them. She just wants to hear them scream.

EDIT: Expanding on the play potential for Agony's Embrace. It has the power to deal damage without dealing the killing blow. This can give you a reset without stealing power from a carry. This reset can help you flee a fight, restore missing hp, or close a gap with an otherwise unreachable target. This can lead to unexpected snowballing.

I wish her lore still read this way, but Jax (JAX OF ALL PEOPLE) claims she is the ultimate predator.