Boards›Gameplay

Nerf Warwick Ult -- not Skirmisher / Devourer Item Combo

MungoGeri·11/26/2014, 4:27:42 PM·3 votes·3,749 views

There has been a lot of understandable complaining about how the Skirmisher / Devourer jungle item combination is overpowered when combined with Warwick's ult. I want to make the case to Riot that the item combination itself should not be nerfed simply because one character can abuse it. Rather, I suggest that the way the item interacts with Warwick's ult be changed. For example, one could make it so that the true damage from the Skirmisher buff only triggers on basic attacks and not on a spell like Warwick's ult.

The reason I say this is that I have had fun experimenting with fast attack speed build characters like "machine gun" , fast attack , and jungle . The Skirmisher / Devourer combination has been fantastic for these character while not overpowering and adds new possibilities for jungle play. However, I'm concerned that if Riot ends up nerfing the item combination simply to bring Warwick into line that these and possibly other fast attack jungle builds will start to become no longer viable.

11 Comments

Kuroi8611/26/2014, 8:40:46 PM2 votes

Looking at the numbers for both Skirmisher and Devourer, even if WW didn't exist, this change probably would have gone through. The true damage over six seconds sounds almost ult level strong and Devourer arguably has too much damage on buy. Devourer will easily recover from the nerf, I think Challenging smite is going into a good spot for what it's intended to do now, grant max attack speed champs a solid advantage without being a sure kill.

Dr Clueless PhD11/26/2014, 4:39:34 PM2 votes

The change you actually need for this to work is for Warwick's ult to not proc on-hit effects. Because you can't just say "This applies to REAL basic attacks, but not to things that proc on-hit effects" for the item. That's nonsensical. It would be the only on-hit effect in the game that doesn't actually get procc'ed as one.

And that change to Warwick would be his death sentence.

Lord Dusteon11/26/2014, 4:39:31 PM2 votes

...The nerf to devourer so far is only starting with 25 stacks instead of 40.

In addition, Warwick's ult SPECIFICALLY procs on hit effects 5 times. You know what basic attacks proc? On hit effects. For most intents Warwick's ult is him auto attacking you 5 times really fast.

SmokingPuffin11/26/2014, 8:44:58 PM2 votes

Skirmisher's Devourer wasn't just a problem on Warwick . It seriously tilted the playing field in favor of attack speed junglers like Udyr XinZhao Aatrox too.

We just complain about Warwick because he's the tallest tree in the forest. If you nerf him, but leave the fundamental problem of insane gold efficiency on SD, we'll just move to complaining about the next tallest tree.

Kazymandias12/23/2014, 3:05:01 AM1 votes

What Riot needs to do is stop pandering to all the whiners who don't know how to counter some tactic, champ, or item, therefore blame that thing and cry that it should be nerfed. They need to learn how to actually adapt.

The game becomes a race to the bottom, as this gets nerfed, then that gets nerfed. It drives away not just a proportionate amount of people, but generally ALL players, as they're so offended by how bad the change is. The item or champ nerfed goes from being very common, to being nearly absent.

And knocking 43% off of Devourer is a great example of that. Not only should they have started with maybe five points off and see if they needed more, but the nerf took an item that really diversified who you can use in the jungle, and ruined it to the point where you're barely going to see it at all. Even on a farm-centric, attack speed champ like Yi it's barely worth the trouble, now.

And that's a double shame, since it is the only interesting jungle item left. All of the others are just meaningless stat boosts. But Devourer actually has the "mini game" of accomplishing something through jungling. You kill camps, and you get a reward from the item.

Last season, all jungle items gave you something special if you did something special. Now only Devourer does. The rest are rather dull.

EndlessSorcerer11/26/2014, 4:44:00 PM1 votes

IIRC, initially Skirmisher's Sabre would deal bonus true damage for the next X autoattacks, where X=3. I wouldn't be surprised if they went back to that concept because it limits how much damage can be dealt but Skirmisher's Sabre to a maximum value.

Anonagon11/26/2014, 8:50:05 PM1 votes

I agree that Warwick needs a separate nerf, but I also believe that Skirmisher's/Devourer needs a nerf too, because Udyr, Yi, and Fiora exist too. I'd rather have that item nerfed than have Udyr/Yi/Fiora be nerfed separately, making them bad without the item, meaning they become jungle-locked champions.