Wait, I think I may have balanced Pyke...
The problem with Pyke is that Riot demands that he be a lethality-building support, which isn’t something that game’s economy conventionally encourages. What if Riot shifted their mindset about Pyke such that he was instead viewed as an Assassin who CAN support, but not as a Support Assassin? By this, I mean having Pyke join Swain, Vel’Koz, Sion and other champs who can solo lane or support, then balancing both builds evenly. This would mean:
- Removing all lethality ratios from Pyke’s kit, replacing with them with regularly AD ratios/base values.
- Returning Pyke’s waveclear (Q, E)
- Nerfing the crap out of Pyke’s grey health and lowering Pyke’s base health to keep Assassin Pyke honest and Tank Pyke killable.
- Removing (or heavily nerfing) his gold duplicating ult. For example, perhaps after getting a kill, Pyke opens a Kindred-like champ select menu (a “bounty menu”) and earns assist gold instead. Pyke could then select any champ (himself included) who would then get the remaining gold difference (Pyke’s stored kill gold minus the assist gold he already received). The total gold economy doesn’t change, but Pyke could choose whether he wanted to support an ally or take the gold for himself and carry.
In particular, the last suggestion would make Assassin Pyke default for solo lanes and Tank Pyke the default support, and that would be just fine. Support Pyke could be balanced around Pyke’s base damage and HP-Damage passive conversion ratio, and Assassin Pyke could be balanced around his scalings. Other versatile champs (J4, Malphite, etc.) have been balanced in the same way, so we know a healthy compromise is possible.
Bruiser Jarvan, Lethality Jarvan, and Tank Jarvan all have different builds and playstyles, yet each one is still iconically Jarvan. If Riot can accept that Pyke can be something aside from a full lethality mobi boots Support champ and still be Pyke, balancing him is intuitive and easy. Pyke’s stalker fantasy exists regardless of what items he builds, and if Riot is willing to compromise on their original vision for the champ, I think we can finally see him in a good spot.
