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Re: Miss Fortune update; my thoughts, suggestions

Pyrobob4·6/2/2015, 5:57:01 AM·3 votes·665 views

I've been a big fan of MF ever since I started playing League in S2. She was one of my first mains, and the reason I main ADC to this day (well, her and Quinn). I didn't get a chance to offer input the last time she was reworked, so I wanted to make sure I got my two cents in this time around. I have some fairly grand ideas for a mid size rework for her that I would love to share, but I understand the small scope of the planned update, so I will try to stick to quality of life improvements more than redesign kind of suggestions. Step to.

I'm going to start with Make it Rain, since that sounds like the key focus of this little rework.

The problem with MiR is that it feels pretty awful in almost all respects. Why is this? I believe the problem is caused primarily by two factors: Cast animation stopping MF in her tracks, and the spell effect delay. This combination almost completely nullifies the minimal utility it does provide, and often times even causes the spell to do more harm than good. It provides enemies far too great an opportunity to catch up. This allows them to either catch her with CC, secure the killing blow, or even just break her passive (which slows her as much or more than them, indefinitely). Versus if she had not bothered to cast MiR, she might have been able to just run away.

Basically, there are very few situations in which MiR is actually the catalyst for her escape or safety. And that is what it should be. MiR should be her kite/escape tool first and foremost; it's damage is, and should remain, insignificant.

Alleviating either of the two factors I mentioned would go a long way in improving the feel of the ability. Personally I feel the cast animation is more problematic, and lends to the spells poor feel more than anything. I think allowing her to continue moving while casting would be nice. [I have a kind of crazy idea about making the size of the AoE larger based on how far she moves while casting it, but thats for another rework.] Removing the delay is a toss up, but if there is enough power budget for it, it would certainly be a welcome change. If we want to get a bit more complicated with it, the cast time or delay could scale down with level, or even with levels of Impure Shots or her attack speed stat (extra attack speed means she can shoot more bullets to rain down faster). Or the cast time/delay could be removed while Impure Shots is activated.

Another way to support it's use as a kite/escape tool could be to punish enemies for staying in it for extended periods of time. For example, have the slow start out weak, and let it build with each proc. The strength of the slow, as well as the proc rate could be used as balance levers. This is less important than fixing the feel/identity of the spell, however. Again, if there is power to be budgeted, this is something to consider.

While were on the subject of escape tools, lets talk a bit about Strut. Currently, it is severely underwhelming, and offers her almost no advantages that are beneficial to an ADC. The few advantages it does offer are minimal in their impact. Strut is more of an escape tool, than anything. Only, it's pretty unreliable in that sense considering how easy it is to lose. I never used to have a problem with it, but the more I think about it, the more I think it needs a complete redesign. For now, just tweaking it to be more effective for escape is a good start.

Again there are two important factors here: Time since taking damage, and the starting strength of the speed buff. I don't believe the time it takes for the buff to scale up, or the max movement speed are particularly important here, so those can be left as is, or even nerfed, if need be.

Rather than flat buffs, I feel it should scale with level. For example, at level 1 she gains 25-70 speed after not taking damage for 5 seconds (live values), at level 6 she gains 38-70 speed after not taking damage for 4 seconds, at level 11 she gains 53-70 speed after 3 seconds, at level 16, 70 movement speed after 2 seconds. Probably a bit OP with those numbers, but it's just to get an idea of how it could scale.

This would keep her passive relevant throughout the game. It is even less reliable as an escape mid-late game, as enemies acquire more and more ways to reach her (more spammable abilities, item effects, ect). It can be helpful for dodging skill shots during teamfight standoffs, but even the best players cant avoid every bit of damage, and once it's down, there is little chance it will come back up during the same standoff.

If scaling isn't in the cards, some other changes that would be nice are: Decay rather than instant drop off, and minion damage not breaking it. Pretty simple things that would make a decent impact in both usefulness and feel.

Okay, lets move on to the rest of her spells. I won't say much about them, as they are generally in a good place, and probably not on the radar AtM.

Double-up needs almost no changes anyway. It feels as good as a luck based spell should. I wouldn't dare suggest the second shot deal execute damage. Even though securing a kill with that second hit is one of the coolest and most satisfying things about Miss Fortune, and making this change would support that gameplay fantasy. So long as you don't turn it into a skillshot, I'll be happy. And if you do turn it into a skillshot, you're dead to me.

Impure Shots and Bullet Time are both accomplices in a larger problem with Miss Fortune. Which is that her ratios and damage types are a complete mess, and considerably confusing. Magic damage that scales with AD? Physical damage that scales with AP? Some of the damage of her ult comes from Impure Shots? Not only is it quite hard to understand (if you ult some people and deal no damage, you would be excused for not knowing what you did wrong with your build), but even when you do figure it out, it makes no sense why it all works the way it does. Riot loves to talk about clarity, but they wont be caught dead using that word in a discussion about Miss Fortune.

I'm sure this problem is beyond the scope of this rework, so there isn't much point talking about it any more, but I definitely feel it should be addressed someday. I have plenty more to say on the subject if anyone wants me to elaborate (i.e. ramble rant).

For now, I'll wrap things up. I'm sure I've already talked about way more things than fit within the scope of this rework. Hopefully I've at least given you guys some things to think about, and even if none of my suggested changes get implemented, maybe you will come up with other ways to address the concerns I've mentioned.

In any event, I'm excited to see her update.

3 Comments

AyRe CoNteMpT6/2/2015, 6:37:01 AM1 votes

hey, i like most of your changes and a good friend of mine mains miss fortune adc aswell, so im quite into the topic.

since every champion nowadays has like ten jumps and fifty utility spells without influencing the rest of their power, i would go ahead and blindly assume that her power budget isnt entirely drained yet.

so lets just do those changes:

MiR: remove the cast animation, increase the cast range. (the delay is needed so you have to actually use skill to hit it good, but the cast range is so low that if you hit it, they can basically jump on you anyways, so whats the point)

Strut: your scaling idea is great. plus, minion damage doesnt break it. both changes are very nice for her to have and there is no reason for it to not be this way.

Double-Up: all good

impure shots: this is a nice ability but it has three major downsides.

  1. its cooldown is absurd, especially for a steroid. even tristana got a nice katarina treatment, giving her short cooldowns on her Q and even a way to reduce the cooldown further. 16 seconds at all ranks for impure shots means, you will use this once a fight, no matter what. so its either much too weak for the cooldown it has, or the cooldown is too long for the small powerspike it gives.
  2. also, its damage doesnt scale per level so leveling it up is really a wasted skillpoint, since all you get is +10% attackspeed, nothing else. oh, and you have to pay more mana too!
  3. since its magic damage, it doesnt benefit from any penetration MF would regularly build. since she is somewhat of a low ranged adc, her primary strength with this ability would be to kill frontliners, aka big tanks, since they can take enough punishment for impure shots to stack up. tho since they probably have some MR and she has no magicpen, it deals basically no damage.

what should be done to this ability: it now scales with its levels better, even tho only slightly. starting at 6%, going up to 7%/8%/9%/10% over the course of leveling this ability up. also, when a unit afflicted with impure shots dies, the cooldown of the ability is reduced by the amount of stacks on on that unit by the time it dies. this isnt as strong as it sounds but it fits her style of gambling and is really a good teamfight utility buff.

bullet time: a sweet and iconic ability. tho right now its mixed damage is a real pain. with the fix to impure shots, this now is fixed aswell. only one more change: if you use this with impure shots activated, it also applies grievous wounds to all enemies hit. this sounds strong at first, but you effectively trade your impure-shots active time for this against heavy heal teams.

final words: i know this is alot of flat out buffing her, but only in ways that increase quality of life and power that she is meant to have in the first place. i didnt increase her flat out damage, only her scaling with multiple hits on the same target, solidifying her role as tank killer and giving her more utility against certain team compositions and champions. i must say even with those changes, i doubt it would push her back into the meta, but it would definitely give a very rewarding feel to playing her over other adcs. and people wouldnt exactly laugh at you anymore.

qetzel6/2/2015, 3:38:08 PM1 votes

I take issue with the suggestion that MF should be able to cast MiR while moving. It fixes he defensive problems, which is a good thing, but it may make her too strong when she goes aggressive. Your suggestion of a ramping slow could be quite nice though. Increase the duration slightly and give her more zone control. She seems to excel in the small corridors of the jungle (provided no-one jumps on her), so this would increase that strength.