Garen Needs A Rework
There needs to be a point in time when we have to realize that despite nostalgia, you have to recognize that some champions just aren’t healthy as is. Garen is one such champion. In higher ELOs, he’s absolute trash, and in lower ELOs, he teaches bad mechanics by allowing players to take advantage of people who make positioning and kiting mistakes, possibly the most common mistake made by lower ELO players, while reinforcing this "facecheck the enemy team while E is up" mentality.
He’s just a bad champion with dated abilities who desperately needs a rework. So here goes nothing.
Innate: A Worthy Opponent- For each second Garen is in combat with an enemy champion, he gains a stack of Determination, lasting for four seconds once out of combat, stacking up to 8 times. Each stack causes 5.25% of all damage Garen deals to be dealt as True Damage and grants Garen 3.75% slow resistance.
Q: Righteous Fury- Garen swings a mighty blow, dealing (40, 60, 80, 100, 120)(+50% AD) physical damage in a half circle in front of him and stunning enemies his for 1 second. His next basic attack deals (60, 80, 100, 120, 140)(+120% AD) physical damage.
> Cost: None Cooldown: (8, 7.5, 7, 6.5, 6) seconds Ability Type: AoE, Basic Attack Modifier Windup: 0.75 seconds AoE Radius: 300
W: For the King!- Passive: Whenever Garen kills an enemy unit, he gains +0.3 Armor and Magic Resist. Active- Garen charges forward, increasing his movement speed by (20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%) for 4 seconds. Enemies within a certain distance away from Garen moving away from him are slowed by (20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%) during this duration.
> Cost: None Cooldown: (15, 14, 13, 12, 11) Ability Type: Self Buff Radius: 550
E: Decisive Strike- Garen swings his sword with blistering speed, sending a shockwave in front of him that deals (60, 90, 120, 150, 180)(+100% AD) physical damage to enemies hit and silences them for (1.5, 1.75, 2, 2.25, 2.5) seconds. This ability deals 50% bonus damage to enemies hit by his sword.
R: Judgement- Passive- Garen’s attacks and abilities that hit an enemy champion grant him heath regen per 5 seconds equal to 1.875% of his missing health per stack of Determination, lasting 5 seconds. Subsequent attacks and abilities reset this duration. Active- Garen marks the targeted enemy champion as Villain. For the next 4 seconds, Garen gains +25% movement speed while moving towards the Villain, and deals 15% bonus damage to that champion. At the end of this duration, Garen brings judgement down upon the unit, dealing (100, 200, 300) plus 35% of the target’s missing health as physical damage.
This version of Garen is designed to give him some measure of range and retain some of his unique characteristics, while also filling out his identity as a Juggernaut. His innate makes him much more deadly as the fight continues, a standard for the subclass. Because of the removal of the old Judgement and the rethinking of Decisive Strike, he relies more on his auto attacks for damage, and his new E: Decisive Strike allows him to input a small measure of utility while remaining at safe enough distance for a tank. Lastly, his ult is now designed to have some measure of counterplay. If you are low on health with no resources, it’s a death sentence still, but with a clearly defined “Do or Die” moment, it allows the player the opportunity to pop a last second Barrier or any other shield/heal. In return, Garen gains the ability to single out a target and be stronger against/more sticky to that champion.
These are honestly just some of the thoughts I had, and I understand that I may have him overtuned or undertuned, but the biggest thing I want is for Garen to change from what he is now to something else. Thoughts?
