Kayn, The Shadow Reaper: Just right, or too much?

Talvaren··1 votes·543 views

So to start off, I'm already digging this new champ. I love that we finally got to meet another of the Darkin. I love that we now have another member of Zed 's Order of Shadow revealed. I also love the idea of the old fight for power routine, with Kayn fighting Rhaast for control. I'm a little sad that he's an Ionia champ though, I feel that we're getting more of those kinds of champs than we are other necessary champs, like maybe Bilgewater or Mt. Targon. That said, what I really want to talk about is his gameplay. I've seen some of the PBE games, and I must say wow, just wow. He looks like a fun champ to play and can really dish out the pain, and that very much could be the problem.

Now I know that this is common when it comes to new champs being made. Sometimes they prove to be too powerful, other times they are too weak, and then there are the times they are just right. From what I have seen so far of Kayn's gameplay, he is most certainly broken and will most likely be nerfed. With that said, I feel it should be pointed out that his gameplay might be more than just broken, it might in fact be just plain cheating. For staters, the passive. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this idea, it's so cool.That said, it can make things unpredictable. I feel one of the good points about league is that people know their champs and how they can be played or countered. With Kayn's passive, I feel this MIGHT make it hard for players to figure out how to counter him; or another way of seeing it is they know how to counter one type of Kayn but their opponent decided to play as the other type of Kayn. Then there's his E, his "Shadow Step". Now this ability I feel is possibly the most cheating in a sense. Now I know there are plenty of mobility abilites that help get past the jungle walls, like Talon 's own E, but this one just seems evil. He could literally just pop out of any wall from any angle, and I don't feel there is any real counter to this ability. Then finally there's his Ult. Again, I don't hate anything about this champ, his Ult included, but I think this might be a very tricky Ult to deal with, it so far seems to be an Ult that makes it impossible to kill him AND make it so he can easily turn the game around to his liking. It also seems like one of those impossible to dodge Ults, so if ur low health, within his range, and his Ult is up, YOU'RE DEAD!

This is just my opinion. I once again stress I don't hate anything about this champ and I do find his gameplay mechanics to be cool and fun looking. What I am worried about is whether or not is if Kayn might have to be reworked in some way later on in League because his kit proved to be too unhealthy no matter what. Please share your opinions on this matter if you wish, and please DO NOT hate me if I have offended anyone in anyway for speaking my mind.

1 Comments

Fuh Queue1 votes

I wouldn't say he's "most certainly broken". I'll save true judgement until I get to play him myself.

That said, I have some points to respond to the ones you listed:

His passive is clear for anyone playing against him. Its not really hard to tell what he's going for or what form he's in. Ranged= assassin and melee= Darkin. His appearance is so easily noticeable that I don't think people will have trouble countering it.

His E Isn't as much of a problem neither. I say this because his ganks are garbage in terms of effectiveness. Let's assume the lane is pushed right up to his teammates tower, what difference is there if he uses E to run through the wall to flank or if he runs around it? Furthermore, if the laner is hanging back more, travelling that wall still won't result in a gank as effective as Zac or Hecarim.

His ult has a power budget. The damage on it is actually very bad. The strong part about his ult is the ability to become untargetable. However the fact he becomes essentially helpless while inside the host is bad as well. A team with a brain will kite back and wait for him to come out and burst him right down.

Again I don't have personal experience on him, I've just seen gameplay. I hope he's not like Camille because I really want to play him.

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