Something needs to be done about Blitzcrank.

Rico Nasty·6/11/2016, 4:06:17 PM·9 votes·1,066 views

Right now, Blitzcrank is sitting at a 19.2% popularity rate, with a 54.4% winrate, one of the highest of both things in the game -- clearly a problem. Now, why is this? Many things are oppressive about Blitz's playstyle: -His hook. Enemies should NOT be forced to stand behind minions the entire laning phase - especially if he has an ADC like Jinx or MF that deals damage to entire units, you simply can't play against a Blitzcrank. In addition, as soon as Blitzcrank lands the hook, you can kiss that perfect KDA goodbye. His CC, follow-up knockup, and damage combined with the ADC's damage, offer for extremely little counterplay as soon as he hits this one ability. It's simply unhealthy. -His damage. For a tanky support, Blitzcrank deals too much damage. He can 1v1 people mid and late game no problem, and early game, he can delete over a quarter of a champion's health with one combo, something a tank should not be able to do. Combining his high damage output with his tankiness, it is not something a support should have as a gameplay element. SO. What are my proposed changes? -Lower damage on hook and knockup. As stated earlier, Blitzcrank simply deals far too much damage for a tank support. Lower his damage on the knockup during early game, but lower the damage on hook late game. It's a bit of a trade off, but it will make a difference. -Decrease hook's missile speed. Often times, you can't even react to Blitzcrank when he throws out his hook. With champions like Thresh, Nautilus, etc. you actually have time to react when they try to CC lockdown on you, but Blitzcrank's hook moves extremely fast and, with the amount of damage and CC it offers, it needs a lower missile speed to balance it out. Don't make it a super slow ability -- just something that's not a lightning quick grab that offers no reaction time. I feel that these changes are fair, as Blitzcrank keeps his core characteristics and what he is known for as a champion. However, they are toned down a bit, but he still keeps his versatile teamfighting abilities, good laning phase, and, most of all, his pain in the ass hook. Please let me know your thoughts below.

18 Comments

Arakadia6/11/2016, 8:49:44 PM5 votes

I don't think he actually needs nerfs, but a rework. A tank/support, the two classes in the game that deal the least damage. However everyone of blitzcrank's scaling actives scale 100%. Because he is so dependent on his hook, he requires these scalings to be viable. Let's look at some of his core gameplay problems.

  • His Q is too punishing for both sides. If he hits it, your dead if he has an ally nearby most likely. If he misses, he looses 70% of his power. Not necessarily 70%, but his hook contains the majority of his power.

  • He relies on massive scalings to be effective. He scales off AD, AP, mana, and wants to build MR, Armor, and HP.

  • His W actually hurts you for using it. It doesn't help allies either, but he doesn't actually need any more CC or damage or peel.

  • Frustration. It is not fun to hide behind your minions all landing faze. It is not fun how much he can zone you. It is not fun that he hits one skill shot and his job is done. It is not fun that once your hooked, unless your tanky, most likely the only way you will get out is through your summoners or allies due to his CC lock. Blitzcrank's creates such frustration that even though he is balanced, he has a higher ban rate than most supports. Supports aren't often banned, often times assassins or bruisers, but blitzcrank is commonly banned due to how frustrating it is to face him.

Overall I think blitzcrank is balanced but could use gameplay changes. His Q is over punishing to enemies it hits, or of it misses it's over punishing for him. Too much power relies on his Q and his kit cannot function well without the scalings he has.

spombjop6/12/2016, 12:06:33 AM3 votes

meanwhile Morgana broken freelo, free ticket to diamond

Blåbæret6/16/2016, 10:41:37 AM2 votes

Basically what Blitz does is stand in a bush all game denying you farm, he doesn't even need to hook. At some point though, you're likely to be caught in a bad spot and from there on it's GG.

EWBS Mithilesh6/11/2016, 6:40:31 PM2 votes
  1. learn positioning
  2. its easy to dodge blitz hooks if youre looking at him. he actually has a wind-up too.
  3. watch his positioning. he has to set himself up for the grab.
Bouncemaster Zac6/16/2016, 8:54:38 AM1 votes

All I have ever wanted from Blitz, since I started playing 3 years ago, was for his Q to simply be removed from the game. It's the single most fun-ruining thing I've ever experienced not just in League, but my entire life as a gamer. I'd rather do a long-play of Gone Home than be forced to lane against Blitzcrank.

Kledy McKledFace6/11/2016, 4:51:46 PM1 votes

hes the most easy support to counter... pick alistar or even braum they all destroy blitz

YJRBqwXJcS6/16/2016, 11:30:33 AM1 votes

Meanwhile Morgana can walk up and press R for a free aoe slow

And press Q to force a flash or someone to die.

How the fuck is blitz crank the problem

67chrome6/11/2016, 6:16:04 PM1 votes

Right now, Blitzcrank is sitting at a 19.2% popularity rate, with a 54.4% winrate, one of the highest of both things in the game -- clearly a problem. Now, why is this?

Utility-heavy champions generally top the highest win-rate charts. Probably has to do with everyone feeling "got to play a pure-damage carry regardless of team comp to win" and then screwing their team comp and loosing. Less to do with utility-heavy champions being legitimately OP.

Also, the support pool is pretty shallow: at least for support primary champions. There are only ~17 dedicated supports, which means someone is going to have a 20% play-rate regardless of balance for no other reason than that someone is going to be popular and several champions are not, because that's how popularity tends to work.

I'm not sure Blitz being popular and having a respectable win-rate is a particularly large issue all things considered. He isn't a pick like Zed or Yasou that has a massive pool of alternatives and a default negative effect on team composition.

-His damage. For a tanky support, Blitzcrank deals too much damage. He can 1v1 people mid and late game no problem, and early game, he can delete over a quarter of a champion's health with one combo, something a tank should not be able to do.

Typical QWER burst rotation on any champion does ~1000 damage at level 18, where typical HP of everyone at level 18 is ~2000. Once champions hit level 6, the base damage on their QWER will tend to chunk 50% of the base HP of their opponents.

Blitcrank would need to take out roughly half of a squishie's health with one combo rather than a quarter to be average.

Beyond that: Blitzcranks QWER is pretty low, clocking in at ~850 instead of 1000, where Thresh's hits ~1250 at level 18. Blitzcrank's base damage is already down there with Twisted Fate and Sona, being about as bad as a 3-skill burst rotation can get. The only champions worse off tend to be like Janna or Vayne where they only have 1 or 2 non-ult burst skills.

Blitzcrank also falls off pretty hard late-game, mostly just bringing rocket grab. As a support he tends to lack the income and innate tankyness to really be a solid front-line champion, and as a fighter he lacks a lot of base damage to really be that threatening after he hooks someone. He'll only really 1v1 mid and late game if he's fed from snowballing an early game lead and if he built glass-cannon AP, in which case he's not a tank that deals damage, he's a cardboard robot that does damage.

Please let me know your thoughts below.

I'm getting a sense that you're salty because you got man-handled by a Blitzcrank.

He's certainly irritating to fight against, but a lot of what you're taking issue with is mostly weaknesses of Blitcrank compared to other supports rather than strengths.

Seenan6/12/2016, 1:23:00 AM1 votes

I've thought this for a long time. His hook should at least be like Thresh...where, he can't hook through walls. Every hooker except Blitz suffers from terrain issues.

MunchCrunchLunch6/12/2016, 4:42:47 AM1 votes

he needs to be reworked. he needs more utility. to be more useful if his Q gets nerfed. its all in his Q.