Boards›Gameplay

After X indicators

Void2258·1/10/2020, 5:56:42 PM·1 votes·1,815 views

Several characters, like Graves, Sona, Annie, Xayah, Pantheon, or Jhin, have a special effect that happens after you do something X times and have an indicator for this located under the mana bar, or have an "ammo" indicator showing when they will have an attack pause or change. This helps the player keep track of when this special effect will happen. Other characters don't have this, and so you have to try to count or look at the buff bar or try to see a usually very subtle graphical effect on the champ model to see when the effect procs. Some also have a falloff so just counting is not enough.

  • Neeko gets an empowered AA after 2, no falloff. Very hard to see hair glow.
  • Ashe can use her Q after 4 attacks, with falloff if she stops attacking. Hard to see glow on her bow.
  • Kassadin can use his E if 6 abilities are used by anyone around him. Can't really count since anything around him procs and not all are visible. Very hard to see ring around his model
  • Diana gets a cleave after 3 attacks, no falloff. Sword glow can be hard to see, especially if dashing around.
  • Caitlin gets a guaranteed crit after 6 attacks, no falloff. Hard to see, very quick effect around her gun when it actives.
  • Sylas builds up petrocite bursts, with falloff. It's hard to track the number except on the bar, and his glowy hands can be heard to see.
  • Ahri's Q heals after X spell uses, no falloff. The only sign is a very slight green tint to her ball.
  • Malzahar builds up voidling charges with spell casts. It would be nice to see the number in the next w cast under his bar.
  • Ryze builds up runes. There is no visual indicator for rune count, just a counter in the buff bar. He needs to know how many for telling if he is gonna proc move speed bonus.
  • Rumble could use a tracker for Harpoon ammo
  • Xerath could use an ammo counter for his ult. Due to how it is exclusive use, this is less essential, but a nice touch for consistency.

And others.

Could these champions also get the indicator under the mana bar? This would unify the ui language for all characters with an "after x something happens" type ability and ensure that the cues for it are visible in team fights, as the health bar has overlay priority above any fancy effects happening. It would just make all champions that have these types of "counting" or "ammo" abilities much easier to use and also make it easier to switch or learn new champs since you already know what the visual que for this kind of thing looks like.

Putting a little depleting bar under the mana for timed abilities (singed ult, kog w, Leona w, Riven Ult, etc) would also be a nice UI touch.

10 Comments

GDIvsNOD1/10/2020, 6:06:37 PM1 votes

This would fall under the category of nice quality of life changes for some champions, and I agree (not sure someone like Mordekaiser needs it though?).

Another would be how Jhin gets a screen zoom out on ultimate cast. Xerath would enjoy this, as well.

Beerstein1/11/2020, 4:16:07 PM1 votes

Some of those are easy to see, like Cait.

Void22581/11/2020, 4:16:25 PM1 votes

losing the forest for the tree here. I am just gonna remove the morde bit; it was a nice extras and not the main point anyway.

Void22581/11/2020, 4:43:51 PM1 votes

Side comment comparison: Imagine if you had to track Renekton's fury level in your head by counting attacks and abilities. That is basically the same as the current state of keeping track of some champions' procing effects. Ren's fury is more complex than simple counting due to various amounts per action and the falloff rate, but so are Ashes stacks for example, even if they are discrete rather than continuous.

To play Pantheon effectively, you have to know when the proc will trigger for his enhanced ability to know when to go in. Same with a champ like Cait or Neeko or Diana or Ashe. You need to know you can go in and proc at the right time, and right now counting is about the best way to do that. But for Pantheon, you always KNOW when his next enhanced ability will come up because you can see the pips, so you can think "I proc after 1 AA so I can tower dive now", rather than with Ashe "I think my q will be usable after 1 attack so dive... crap I miscounted and died to turret I needed two attacks not one". The lack of visual indicators very much makes those without harder to make plays with.