Concerning the Vel'Koz Changes

Yorukin·1/23/2016, 2:47:16 AM·1 votes·561 views

Like many, I consider our favorite tentacled researcher to be in a good spot balance-wise. One problem I see with him, though, is how people treat his abilities. Most players choose to level up his W first rather than his Q, which seems a little strange when the latter is perhaps the most unique part of his kit. The most likely reason is their respective uses: Plasma Fission is used to poke people down, apply a decent slow, and make trick shots to hit people in what would for any other champion be a blind spot. Void Rift, on the other hand, is used to clear minion waves, apply quick stacks of Deconstruction, and zone nearby opponents. That, combined with a decent recharge timer reduction with each rank, make it more appealing to pool into, never mind how much more fun it is to play around with his Q.

His other abilities are in a good spot right now, but I do feel like Vel'Koz could use a bit of a (non-damage related) power shift from his W to his Q. Nothing major, I just want to see Plasma Fission have more uses than catching people off-guard.

2 Comments

ModWulf Helhammer1/23/2016, 2:49:34 AM1 votes

First: His changes have little to nothing to do with balance

Second: Statikk on the likely scope of Vel'Koz changes

WhiperSnapers1/23/2016, 10:39:51 PM1 votes

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/jQmE1EjE-mid-year-mage-update?comment=001500010000000c

It seems your guys' expectations on how much we'll warp some of these champions just because they're in "the 6" is quite large and drastic. Guess it's understandable given some of our track record. It's important to consider that our changes have ranged from as small as Darius and Miss Fortune to as large as Mordekaiser and Graves.

Our current plans for Vel'Koz might literally be the smallest scope changes we've ever done in a class update. In fact, I could understand how some people may not even really perceive it as a significant update and more of a "patch note."

Either way, your downvotes are loud and clear. You don't really want Vel'Koz to change much. We don't really plan on moving Vel'Koz's core at all - just want to amplify what's already there.