I never post on these boards.
With the recent changes (nerfs, buffs, and soon AP itemization changes on the PBE) on Kog and rumors that Kog is on the list of champs that may be receiving a mini-rework in the coming months, I felt compelled to post.
I've been an AP Kog main/one trick since Season 2. I am in the top 10 most mastery points on Kog'Maw in NA, and top 20 in the world. I am not saying I am a good AP Kog. At my best, I got to Gold 1, with 1 win in promos away from Plat 5 last season playing AP Kog in something like 90%+ of my games.
I have been waiting for some kind of update to AP Kog. Until then, I have done my best to adapt over the seasons.
To my understanding, Riot doesn't like AP Kog's gameplay, and I think they are right to do so. Enough has been said explaining their reasoning for this over the years, so I won't detail further.
Unfortunately, there haven't been any significant changes to make the playstyle more healthy, nor has there been any kind of compensation to AP Kog players throughout the past seasons, both for nerfing the AP ratios on his abilities or nerfing AD Kog (the W changes, both 5.0 AS and %hp reductions) and discouraging the ult spam playstyle (increased ult stacking and lower base damage vs champions, as well as nerfs to AP Kog's item builds such as Rylai's ).
Currently, Kog is not in a good place and hasn't been for some time. I believe a rework is very much needed for this champion that I hold very dear. Many players see Kog as a blight in botlane, but can't offer any suggestions to balance him beyond nerfing the core identity to AD kog as a %max hp tank shredding machine. There simply aren't many other levers to pull to balance his auto-attack centric playstyle without leaving AP kog reeling on the wayside as collateral damage. Increasing AP ratios isn't an option because this would promote the oppressive playstyle of AP kog from yesteryear. Many suggest nerfing Rageblade instead, and going through with this would be a start, but doing so will have consequences for other champions such as Kayle while still doing nothing for AP Kog.
Instead, my hope is that Riot will follow through with a mini-rework on this champion's kit. To this, I beg the developers to think of and remember AP Kog'Maw players while doing so. Nerf his ultimate and rework it to be his Q. Have its range scale with ranks or something, I don't know. After the removal and change of Zyra's passive, I wondered if they would do the same for Kog. In the upcoming rework, consider making his current W %hp damage into his new passive that scales with levels to make AD Kog more in line with the hypercarry people envision him to be, instead of the mid game monster that power spikes with only a Rageblade. If immobility is central to Kog'Maw's identity as a champion, give him the tools required to keep pace with the newer champions being released. Maybe some kind of grounding effect on his E instead of or in addition to the slow like singed, or shifting the current W range increase toggle to his ultimate along with the current Q attack speed passive buff. Alternatively, making the resistance shred on his current Q apply to his E. There are a lot of things that can be done with a mini-rework that weren't possible years ago. With the current state of Kog, I believe now is the time.
I have played AP kog'maw through the assassin meta, tank meta, ardent meta, everything and anything. I likely won't stop playing Kog until the playstyle is completely unviable, and when that day comes I will stop playing League of Legends altogether.
Until then, please remember players like me.
