Some final thoughts on Sejuani’s rework
I’ve been a Sejuani main since I started playing in early 2016, and I still enjoy playing her today (despite it being a while since I last played jg). I’m by no means a good player, but I want to talk about what I think of the true queen of the freljord (yea screw you ashe). This is a long post so get ready.
Passive: I do like the passive change. Her old passive was cool because you got more armor over the course of the game which made waemogs so great on her. Her new one is easier to understand, and you get a large amount of armor and mr at once. You also get cc resist which is nice to have. I still think rushing warmogs is core on her, but that might just be me. I did like the old one better because if you get poked before a fight begins, you might lose all that armor. The old one is a permanent buff to her. It’s not that good in the beginning, but by level 13 with some items she was a pretty good bullet sponge. The new passive isn’t a bad idea, but it could have been done better.
Q: literally no change, but that’s what makes it great. It’s a knock up (yasuo mains rejoice), a good opener, a good disengagement, and a good get away. Very versatile.
W: this to me was the best part of her rework. Her old W was cool, but it wasn’t always that useful unless you were clearing camps or when the enemy was very close to you while in a chase. This new one kinda does the same thing, but a bit better. You have more range, it’s still great in a chase, and you can clear minions better if you play Sej in a lane.
E: this was the only ability I have very mixed feelings with. When it works, it’s great. You can clear camps faster, you get scuttlecrab every single time it spawns, and you stun someone by Q aa aa followed by a burst of damage. However, I don’t like that it’s a braum passive that’s harder to use for allies. Sej is very team reliant due to her lack of damage. But sometimes this ability doesn’t work out. If mid is a mage or an assassin, they probably won’t aa to stun them. And if you gank bot, who knows who can trigger the passive? If it’s not the adc, then I’m most likely gunna have to stun them myself. Sometimes they have no idea that aa can stun them, and it’s hard to see who can get the ability to proc it. Team fights are also difficult for the same reasons. Most of the time I don’t care who gets the proc and try to just do it myself because that’s the most reliable way to get it. But Sej is a very team reliant character, due to her lack of damage outside of the E burst. I like the idea of this passive, but her old one was easier to use because you get a free slow just by doing some damage. I think the old one would work just as well with her new W, so I would accept that trade. Just make some new effects.
Ult: what was a “press R to win teamfight ability” has now been turned into “screw that guy in particular” or “you missed, so now you get a no zone”. I completely understand the ultimate rework as the old one was way to strong, but I still feel like it’s on the weak side. I like that’s it’s a bit more forgiving if you miss it (especially since I always had trouble aiming the darn thing) but I rarely use the no zone to it’s full effectiveness. When it happens, it doesn’t seem that useful, but that might just be me. The single target stun is nice, but I think it’s underwhelming for an ultimate. Ornn needs a setup to get his stuns, or he can slow and/or knock up the entire team from the back line. Irelia can stun a good portion of the team with 2 well placed Qs. Just by autoing someone, nautilus get a free stun. Sej has a slightly awkward to use single target skill shot stun. It’s also on the same cd as your E so once they unfreeze i have to wait to freeze them again. I mostly use this post E because of that, but sometimes They are almost back at tower by the time I get to use it, or all my abilities are on cd so I don’t have anything to follow up on besides autos. I also use it more often to disengage enemies chasing me, or to save teammates without doing a full gank.
I know not being able to move is really not fun, but due to the nature of Sej, that’s how she pulls her weight. She’s not a great 1v1 carry like rengar or kha’zix, she makes sure they can’t move so the team can clean up. She also eats mama for breakfast outside of the jungle, so lane Sej also isn’t that great besides maybe support. If anything, she does have a lot of cc, she can do pretty well as a tank in team fights once she gets some items, and her E burst and passive armor mr and cc resist make her very good for the first clear, and contesting river objectives.
I still think before she was nerfed into the ground, she still had issues that made playing her a bit more frustrating. Mainly her E and ult. While I’d rather have the old E, I’d like the current one more if it had some quality of life changes. I like the idea of choosing who gets the E so there could be some planing to it (like a kindred ult for allies). Like say “hey I’m heading bot, here’s my E (adc here) get ready for me”. Or make it a full braum copy so everyone can auto them for a free stun. I’d also increase her resistances without her passive so she can still be a good tank without it, and then she might not be so weak to early fights pre 6 and before getting boots. As for her ult, I like the old one, but it probably wasn’t heathy for the game. I have no idea what I’d do with the new one besides let it freeze 2 people at a time instead of 1, or let you detonate it so the no zone could be used sooner if the situation calls for it.
But that’s my thoughts on the Sej rework. While I like half the things that came out of it, the other half made her a little less fun to play Imo. Like I said, I ain’t a master Sej player, so take this with a grain of salt. Thanks for reading.
