Thoughts of an Orianna main

Ok when I casually entered the forums couple of days ago I was stunned when I found out that people are complaining about my lovely main, my perfectly balanced main who was never called broken or toxic (at least by anyone who understands the game). For the first time in 7 years of maining her I see this, so naturally I go fucking full salt mode raging at everyone who dares talk shit about my lovely robot girl. But to be frank, I havent played much of Orianna recently, I spent so many years practicing her and learning every trick you can pull out, I got to high elo but all my friends already quit and nobody gave a fuck any more, so when my best friend finally got into league I decided to chill with him and play some new cool stuff.

Anyway I digress, so I havent played much Ori lately and I decided to see what the problem seems to be, is this just a bunch of bronzies complaining or is it a ciclejerk becuase Faker played her or is she really that good. Was my perfectly designed champion really toxic now?

And my conclusion is honestly no. She isnt inherently broken, she still fits the game perfectly, she has lots of counterplay and I dont see any single part of her kit as problematic. Then is she really as strong as people say she is? Maybe too strong? I am afraid I have to actually say yes. I was amazed when I walked into lane casually and tried to poke with my Q-W-auto , the damage was high (maybe a bit higher than I remember it being) but what really surprised me is my fucking mana. It was full in a blink of an eye. Uhmmm what the fuck? I proceeded to spam Q-W brainlessly as soon as it came of cooldown BEFORE EVEN GETTING LAST CHAPTER OR CATALYST and I NEVER WENT OOM. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS ?!?!?!?!?! Late game is even bigger of a joke, I literally felt like playing with 6 Seraphs. I am pretty fucking sure that in season 2 a couple of rotations of my spells would drain my mana pretty easily, let alone early game when going for Q-W harass was a huge risk you had to take because missing it means you are now at half mana and did no damage to the enemy. Now with me being able to spam it off cooldown I can see why people complain about her zoning, hell I zoned off champions like Lux or Syndra simply because the game allowed me to. All this nonsence about shockwave's low cooldown and huge utility imo comes from the fact that you can abuse the items to always have 40% cdr and always have mana to do whatever the hell you want.

So is Orianna op broken lul RITO pls nerf?
No, she is still perfectly designed and has extremely clear and obvious counterplay.

Is she abusing the absurd amount of CDR and mana regen that other mages just cant utilize nearly as hard as well as her counters being shit-tier?
Yes, yes and yes again. Its not even funny how easy it is for me to carry games as a person who invested 4-5000 games in this champion, but I imagine that now even a person who has low experience on her (not first time players, you cant play Ori properly before at least 50-100 games on her which is why her win rate is never above 50%) would do pretty well.

Proposed nerfs?
Revert the Q buff that lowered its mana cost, its pathetic and feels like a Karthus Q spam. Its not how Ori is designed to be played. Maybe add 10-20 seconds on shockwave early game if people really have that much problem dodging it now (again due to the constant Q spam which was enabled). Nerf her early game if it is a must, some base damage on her W and R could be cut off. AND FINALLY NERF MANA REGEN ON ITEMS, THIS ISNT URF, I DONT WANT TO PLAY YASUO AND SPAM AROUND BECAUSE IF I DID I WOULD PLAY FUCKING YASUO AND DO THAT !!! Bring back the need to think before you just spam all your shit as a mage because hurrr durrr why not.

Nope.jpg nerfs? Do not , I REPEAT DO NOT push her into support with stupid damage nerfs and utility buffs, I wont lose yet another of my favorite champs to the support role (rip Morgana, Brand, old Karma) . It would seriously make me quit the game... Do not remove parts of her kit, her kit is not the problem, its the best kit you ever made in my honest opinion and with the amount of true damage, free mobility and other shit you stack on champs today, she is the best you will ever make (doe props to gems like aurelion or taliyah, I even like jhin and ivern). Do not nerf her late game, its when she is supposed to shine, not in the lane, but in the late game. Do not remove her safety in lane, she gets fucked by assassins as soon as they are meta, maybe not as hard as most other mages but she still does and she is supposed to be like Gangplank in the mid. Turtle it early, still possible to get a lead but only with hard outplays and outtrades. Monster late game with huge ulti that wins games, some nice utility and good DPS.

Also please do not pretend like she is that safe of a pick, she is easily gankable, she can be killed without much effort, dont make her into a Yasuo or Lee Sin or something that is actually a design problem just because you have a frustration and could never before say bad things about Ori's design because you (rightfully so) got flamed and downvoted to hell.

TLDR - I have a strong opinion that the main problem is the infinite mana pool in the current meta which Orianna benefits from greatly (maybe even more than any other champ) at all stages of the game and combined with the fact that all her hard counters are weak right now, she is pushed a bit over the edge. Nerf her mana early game, maybe even damage, dont touch the late game or utility since that is her identity, she wasnt a problem ever before in 7 years and she wont be now, soft nerfs or natural meta change will put her back in perfect position.