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Positive Syndra Changes!

ARURFbuhbuhbuhhh··1 votes·815 views
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I know this news is old potatoes. I myself heard about it from a friend and quite nearly pissed myself when I read that she would have a proposed 15% extra true damage on her Q.

These proposed changes have been canned until Riot can come up with something else that fills out her kit without beefing it up against more durable targets.

Regarding specifically the direction that Syndra Syndra should be going in, I think Syndra has a very unique design and play style. If it's at all still on the table, I'd very much like to discuss it with everyone and, especially, get the thoughts of frequent Syndra players on what possible approaches exist towards pushing her back into a place where she can shine without oppressing other immobile targets with her supremely high damages.

My own thoughts lie in giving her some form of mobility to strengthen her ability to outplay targets that get in her 'no, no' zone. The idea buzzing about my head exists somewhere along the lines of giving her a movement speed boost either moving toward or moving around her Dark Sphere's. Potentially extending this to her W, Force of Will, when she grabs a Dark Sphere to give her a short burst of movement speed to get in range for that max range E, Scatter the Weak. I can't really speak numbers, but I feel that movement speed itself is a fair improvement, as long as it doesn't get too crazy. Syndra at her core is supposed to lack mobility, however, that doesn't mean she should be completely vulnerable. Rather, giving her a fighting chance at point blank without necessarily relying on the E, Scatter the Weak, stun to hightail it to safety.

The point of this thread, should it get any views whatsoever, is to come together to put forth positive changes towards her kit that both fundamentally keep the same, while giving her the boost she needs to see her through rougher seas!

8 Comments

Craft Zeppelin2 votes

the current problem that syn suffers is mana issues, and athenes is a real trash tier item after the ap item changes. it doesnt offer the power it used to and she is still stuck with that item

Baseball3b1 votes

I actually never have mana issues except against someone like ziggs or zed with insane waveclear.

Of course though, Athenes buffs would be much appreciated

Blastumz1 votes

Syndra is a baller ass champ- once she finishes athenes and is level 9. I would be really sad if she recieved any changes that simply werent number changes. Less mana cost and more damage on her early Q. That. Is. All.

Baseball3b1 votes

I'd like to see that 10 damage given back on her Q for the early game to make it not worthless.

I really think the area where they should focus on is her W's max rank passive (the slightly longer slow). Perhaps give it an Mr or health shred or even make it an aoe slow zone, like Viktor or Ekko's. The current .5 second longer slow is very underwhelming.

Edit: I'm not a fan of making her more mobile. It's one of her biggest weaknesses and what allows her to have the strengths she does

ARURFbuhbuhbuhhh2 votes

In some part I understand why they took away her early sphere damage. I'm fairly certain at one point it was 80 damage base rank. This was very oppressive with the relatively short cool down. I love the ideas on her W, Force of Will, but I also feel at the same that she starts going into the territory of Oriana and Viktor with a slowing field rather than an initial slow, and I think reasoning behind the short slow is that you can follow up that short duration slow, when it's easier to hit them, with a stun. The entire combo ideally being Q -> W -> E -> Q potentially utilizing your ultimate if they are low. She would be a terror to a team fight if she could, overtime, slow the front line of the enemy team and stun them for a back line dive. I posted a link above, I don't know if it works, to the Reddit page where they discussed why her true damage on the PBE was removed. They feel that if she were capable of targeting anybody indiscriminately it would push more into an all purpose mage rather than the current 'be-careful-where-you-position-yourself-nuke mage' she is now. I think my favorite idea is what you said about duration, a longer duration slow would be just as effective as a field effect but require much more user skill! Overall, I love the suggestions. I hadn't really considered her W, Force of Will, to be the most lacking part in her kit.

Edit: I forgot to add my reasoning as to why I think a little mobility is okay. Both Viktor and Cassiopia have some form of movement speed increase, but they are still generally immobile without a form of dash. That was my only thinking on giving her the same respect. However, I understand where her power level is in regards to most other mage. So it would have to be nothing too crazy!

Baseball3b1 votes

Personally I think what made her oppressive was the insane hotbox on her E which let even the worst syndras pull off full combos 9 times out of 10 and the early sphere damage nerf was just a knee-jerk reaction. Her Q damage let her be a lane bully, which is fine, but the E hitbox just made her obnoxiously oppressive, imo and now that that's fixed, she's lost her bully potential which she needs to stay up to part with other similar mages since she lacks scaling. I do like the fact that they withdrew the changes from the PBE -- didn't really feel that it meshes well with her, though I do hope she isn't forgotten about by Riot.

The only reason why I'm somewhat against giving her mobility is because of what's happened to Ahri. Granted, she was already mobile before, but the Q ms boost has the entire community QQing about her. Viktor essentially has only 2 major damaging spells in his E and ult, which I think, frees up his power budget enough for the MS boost. The whole Cass rework is a mess and I'd rather not use her as an example of good design, but pre-rework she needed it since she was very kite-centric, much moreso than Syndra while lacking her ability to cast spells while moving. I'm just wary of giving Syndra similar treatment to Ahri when she already has such high burst, aoe, decent dps, CC, and awesome kiting potential.

Just split between changing her W and E max rank passives. Both don't contribute much as she is now imo (rarely ever find the wider E cone helpful). Definitely agree with the AOE slow field intruding on other champs' territory, though it's already fairly easy to pull off at least a 3 man stun with 1 sphere. Just throwing ideas out there. Perhaps her W could gain a higher % slow relative to how many spheres she currently has out?

Edit: I'm bad at spelling

ARURFbuhbuhbuhhh1 votes

I honestly think Syndra is one of the champions that should be capable of a 'whatever-you-want' skill order, which would depend upon exactly what you said, toning up each ability to exist in its own area for each situation. Q max for harass against shorter range targets and the stun for AoE team fight CC. This would of course depend upon them tweaking her Transcendence passive to set in stone this idea.

My only conundrum is how to make her W operate effectively as something that you would max first. It's range is potent, but at just over 125 more units range over her Q, it doesn't feel substantially large enough to max against more dangerous close range opponents. Perhaps tweaking the cool down as you max it so you could effectively use it twice on one ball, with an increase to range, to give her safe long range harass in addition to medium-to-long distance threat with the Q max.

Even if that weren't viable, keep the cool down, keep the range, and tone up the CC, even a micro stun within a small range of impact, because, while her W is clearly part of her burst, it just exists as a minor slow and extra burst as you said.

My last thought would be for transcendence of her W, especially in regards to her ultimate. If you maxed her W to be able to hold two balls at once, suddenly her burst potential goes up, as well as the effectiveness of the ability overall.

Baseball3b1 votes

I don't think she'll ever have more than one option to max first just because her Q is such an integral part of her kit, comprising all 3 of her other spells, her poke, her ult damage, and her combos. The flaw with maxing E first in your example is that you'll be losing poke and damage on her combo in lane and you won't have the opportunity to make use of the Transcendence passive until teamfights actually start -- which means it makes more sense to max second.

I think it's more an issue of choosing what to max second. Currently, maxing E second is the best way to go, because of the reduced cooldown and damage. If they toned up the CC on her W like you said (and decreased the mana cost slightly) it would make for a viable 2nd max and could be maxed interchangeably with her E depending on the team comp/strategy (I.e. max W second for a skirmish/pick strategy and E for a teamfight comp/if vs. an assassin, etc.) I absolutely love the idea of her W being able to hold two balls at once. Would be awesome to see and fits her thematics well.

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