Wukong's Kit is Fundamentally Flawed. Save the Monkey.

I'm going to be perfectly honest here, I love the champ, I think he is amazing lore, thematics wise.

But when I play him I feel like shit. I go into lane expecting to lose 95% of all match ups, be it stronger pokes, stronger disengage/turn, stronger all in, strongly bullying, stronger burst, everything beats him.

I want to analyze what makes him so unrewarding to play.

His passive, Stone skin: Raises his armor and MR the more champions around him(4/6/8 per nearby enemy champs at lvls 1/7/13), which is good synergy with his ultimate when generally there are a lot of people around, but generally it's an incredibly lack luster passive in that it only makes him slightly more durable, and can only be effective when he has the HP to back it up, meaning it's not really good unless you build tankier.

His Q, Crushing blow: AA reset, extra range, damage and armor reduction. SIngle target. Good for trading and getting a little extra burst. It actually has a pretty lengthy cool down for an AA reset skill, 9-5 seconds, meaning if you don't go full tank you can only use this maybe 1--2 a fight.

His W, Decoy: Leaves a clone, becomes invisible, and for some reason when the clone expires it does damage, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. it's a pretty cool skill, being the only trickster skill in his kit, however its duration is so damn short and cool down so damn long that it often again, feels lackluster as its a pretty shitty escape tool as in its predictable, and even if you manage to juke the enemy, they probably have more mobility being how it is and will come after you anyhow. 18-10 seconds and you max last. It actually has pretty good scaling for an AP Ability, at max its 250(+60% AP), however I could go without that damage and barely notice. Also, W when standing still slightly jumps backwards for some reason which is a HUGE INDICATOR that you used it.(or at least, last time I checked)

His E, Nimbus Strike: Point and click gap closer, can hit 2 other targets around initial, increases his attack speed for a short duration. This is probably one of the better spells of his IN MY OPINION. It gives him more trading potential with the attack speed and its point and click, meaning if your ahead its really good, and if your behind... well you shouldn't be using this unless you are going to die and are going out in a blaze of glory, that or catching out enemies. Combos well with his ultimate.

His R, Cyclone: Wukong spins, knocking up enemies hit for a second and deals damage over 4 seconds, max ticks is 8 even though tool tip says 1 per second. Its wrong. He gains a barely noticeable movement speed bonus. This skill triggers me, it's woefully out done by Garen now that his E has been buffed(ticks scale with level, notw4 ticks breaks armor, on a shorter cooldown). People can pass right though it sometimes without getting knocked up, like for example taking a Thresh lantern if they get lucky, which is really dumb. This skill, again in my opinion, messes up the whole idea of what role Wukong is supposed to fill. Its damage is high as all hell, but it makes him completely vulnerable as he cant cast spells unless he cancels it, which limits his burst after the initial engagement and makes him vulnerable, plus the damage on the tool tip is PER SECOND meaning every 2 ticks it does the damage it says on the tool tip, which is why it often feels like its not doing enough damage, cause it ticks 8 times, not 4. ALSO, it randomly displaces knocked up enemies, it's not very noticeable, but its kind of stupid because there is no set pattern that I can see. Try it in practice tool, its weird.

Kit wise this seems pretty okay. It's a diver one big skill, has some battle trickery and AA resets. however to get to that diver point, he really struggles to reach that point because he has pathetic sustain, pathetic escape tools, he is extremely universality for trickster, being his W is the only real trick I see, which is cool when you manage to fake it, but honestly something like Kha'zix ult is more effective for repositioning as it gives move speed and completely erases him. Wukongs W has all sorts of indicators which are highly predictable once people adjust. It faces the way you were going, meaning you can double back or just keep moving, you also only get 1.5 seconds which is very little time to actually create a distance IF you can juke them. Its also not a lot because you don't get move speed to do things. It's a good surprising tool to engage team fights, but often you'll have to flash to actually really surprise them because again, you cover very little distance, WQ can barely get you past enemies sight radius.

It's almost a feast of famine skill set, linear, mana heavy, built for engage and quick trades but not a whole ton of space to get out. No sustain, not a reliable damage mitigator(W has a long CD and only blocks skill shots at you BACK, plus using it defensively makes it unusable for any other purposes.) Sure, it's devastating for engages, I agree and it feels really good to do so, however it's very hard to win lane as you have zero ranged poke, zero sustain, no cc Pre-six, no versatile mobility and no Zoning tools. Watch this:

(Sustain is anything from direct damage mitigation to healing) (Wave clearing, Split pushing, Engaging Potential have been eluded, as they do not pertain to lane survivability all that much)

Q-Versatile Mobility, W-Sustain, E-CC/Poke P-Sustain Q-Poke W-Versatile Mobility/CC W-Sustain/CC E-Versatile Mobilty/CC P-Sustain Q-CC/Poke W-CC/Poke Q-Sustain W-CC E-CC Q-Poke W-Sustain E-CC P-Sustain Q-Poke/CC Q-Poke/CC W-Sustain/CC/Zoning E-Versatile Mobility P-Sustain Q-Versatile Mobility W-Sustain E-CC E-Sustain/Versatile Mobility/CC Q-Poke W-Sustain/CC E-Versatile Mobility/CC Q-Poke W-Sustain E-Poke/CC/Zoning P-Sustain Q-CC/Versatile Mobility W-Sustain Q-Poke/CC W-CC/Versatile Mobility E-CC/Versatile Mobility P-Sustain Q-Poke/CC/Zoning W-Sustain E-CC/Versatile Mobility Q-Poke W-CC E-Versatile mobility W-Sustain E-Versatile Mobility P-Sustain Q-Zoning W-Poke E-CC P-Sustain/Zoning Q-Poke E-CC/Poke W-Sustain E-CC Q-Poke/Versatile Mobility(with E) W-Sustain/CC E-Poke/Zoning Q-Versatile Mobility E-Sustain/CC Q-Poke/CC E-Versatile Mobility/CC Q-Poke/CC W-Sustain/Versatile Mobility E-Poke P-CC Q-Poke W-Poke E-Versatile Mobility/Sustain P-Sustain Q-CC/Poke E-Versatile Mobility Q-Poke W-Sustain/Versatile Mobility E-CC Q-CC/Poke W-CC E-CC/Versatile Mobility/Poke Q-Poke W-Versatile Mobility/CC E-Poke/Sustain P-Sustain Q-Poke/CC E-CC P-Sustain Q-CC W-CC E-Poke/CC W-Sustain P-Sustain W-Sustain E-Poke P-Sustain W-CC E-Poke P-CC Q-CC/Versatile Mobility W-Sustain E-CC Q-Poke W-Zoning/Versatile Mobility E-Sustain P-Sustain Q-Poke/Versatile Mobility W-Sustain E-CC Q-Sustain W-Versatile Mobility E-Poke/CC Q-Poke/CC W-Sustain P-Sustain Q-Poke W-CC P-Sustain Q-CC W-Versatile Mobility/CC E-CC Q-Poke W-Vision E-CC Q-Sustain W-CC E-Versatile Mobility W-Sustain E-Poke/CC Q-Versatile Mobility W-CC E-Sustain/Versatile Mobility Q-Zoning W-Sustain E-Poke/CC Q-Poke/Sustain(Shield) W-CC Q-Versatile mobility W-CC/Zoning E-CC/Poke P-Sustain Q-CC W-sustain E-Versatile mobility/CC W-Versatile Mobility E-Poke (Shyvana in a similar boat.) Q-Zoning W-CC E-CC Q-CC/Zoning W-Sustain E-Poke/CC W-Sustain/Versatile Mobility E-Poke/CC Q-CC/Poke W-CC Q-Poke/CC W-CC E-Sustain W-CC/Poke E-Versatile Mobility Q-Poke/CC W-Versatile Mobility E-Poke P-Sustain Q-CC W-Versatile Mobility E-CC Q-Sustain W-CC E-Versatile Mobility P-Versatile Mobility W-Sustain E-CC/Versatile Mobility P-SustainQ-Poke W-Sustain E-Poke/CC Q-Versatile Mobility E-CC P- Sustain Q-Versatile Mobility/CC Q-Sustain/Poke W-Sustain/CC E-CC P-Sustain Q-Versatile Mobility/CC E-CC P-Sustain Q-Sustain W-Sustain/CC P-Sustain? W-Sustain? Q-CC W-Sustain E-CC P-Sustain W-Sustain E-Versatile Mobility Q-Sustain W-Zoning E-Poke/CC

This list Includes most of what I would consider even playing top, and every single one even no matter how little is bigger than Wukong's chance to block with his W or his passive that gives him 4 MR/Armor early. Now some are questionable, notably , However most of them have a short CD ultimate, high kill potential early to snowball, or in Singed and Swains case, just don't die. Add-on, every ranged champion listed innately has Poke from autos.

Hopefully this proves my point that Wukong is in a bad spot, his feast or famine kit makes him super unrewarding to play especially because his early game is actually not that strong in comparison to other top laners.

Now that I'm done trying to prove that Wukong is basically in the dumpster as of now, I want to throw out some things that may make him more healthy.

But first, recognize what needs to be addressed:

Pros:

Killer engage power High damage(with items) Powerful ultimate. Auto attack reset

Cons: No CC pre six No Sustain No Versatile mobility No zoning tools Vulnerable when in ult Very mana hungry early if you use combo to trade Building Tank waste good damage multipliers Building Damage makes you die 3 seconds after you engage. Poor wave clear without a tiamat item

He is basically a kamikaze monkey. Not a trickster.

So here are my Ideas, feel free to critique.

Switch Passive from bonus MR and AR to flat damage reduction per enemy(Like 5% per enemy?), which should make AD more viable and not confuse his build path to much between assassin and tank.

Remove Armor reduction from Q, make it like Xayah Feather passive and hit everything along its path. When cast from invisibility it gets a bonus effect, like a stun, or it hits multiple times with reduced damage, or a larger hit effective hit box, or maybe he vaults over them after smashing them. Wave clear is pretty important, while Wukong has next to none currently, This change is aiming at managing the lane easier.

Remove damage from W, Change it to and AMMO system, 2 max while rank reduces cool down, probably should be a bit longer than live as it is an ammo system.

E I'm actually pretty okay with, It would be neat to make it a targeted ability instead of a point and click, but I don't really think so as he just rides a cloud heroically into battle. IT would be cool if it lowered the cool down of W, as his W is like the cloud decoy, and he rides clouds into battle... Also an Idea, if used from stealth the amount of clones shooting out increases so he can hit multiple units and be even more confusing.

R. Oh my. I think this is a fine ability, it's perfectly devastating, its neat, but it fits a tanky champion more than the burst type kit Wukong has. One Idea that would be cool is similar to Fizz E, but on an ultimate scale. Wukong jumps straight up into the air becoming untargetable, he gains increased vision radius(Like Quinn W), He can then jump and smash the ground violently with his pole. I'm pretty attached to the whole pole vault idea too...

Another Idea is Giant net or summon clouds, which are related to other mythical monkey kings. TBH the net sounds more tricksterish, but I cant think of how to integrate it if I'm trying to make him play more off his W and into a more fighter/skirmisher type champion rather than bruiser.

If you actually read everything(I forgive you if you skipped the examples of champions), I love you forever.