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My thoughts on all Mages (regarding upcoming updates)

LordKentravyon·1/24/2016, 4:52:07 AM·1 votes·495 views
Champions | League of Legends

With the current discussion of mages and updates I'm coming forward to give my 2 cents worth on mages in general. I will be going down the list of champions classified as "mage" on the league page, I will however, be skipping past many secondary mages (Amumu Katarina Sona ) that I feel are better classified elsewhere despite mage like features / scaling / items etc..

Small forewarning, although I have played all these champions at some point or another, I have only played a few to any large degree so much of this is coming from the standpoint of a teammate or opponent. This also means some champions will have smaller sections so mains out there please feel throw ideas, and input my way.

First I will be addressing the "big 6" reworks (Malzahar, Vel’Koz, Brand, Vladimir, Cassiopeia, and Zyra.) than the others.

Brand Brand Thematically I say Brand does a pretty good job. Although I know some people get frustrated with Brand I never really have. Nor have Played much of him so not much to throw down. One thing that I do like is the whole ablaze part though. The way he lights you fire, it hurts and his other abilities interact with you if your on fire. Maybe one thing would be to make it a little visual though? Providing clarity for both Brand and his opponents.

Cassiopeia Cassiopeia I think we have all heard the complains about her since last rework. Hopefully this time they really enforce her as a Dot Mage and not a mash E bot. GOtta say I lover her ult though.

Malzahar Malzahar

I love Malzahar, and in general I love anyone who can be built and played in vastly different ways. Although I personally find him a little on the boring side to play ap (sorry Malz mains) I always found his ad build extremely enjoyable. AP you just hard shove with relative safety, and post 6 work on landing all your abilities on someone in one DELETE combo. I'm sure many find that combo enjoyable but i personally prefer the DELETE methods on other mages.

AD Malzahar however makes use of the passive (i know some AP malz players don't really give two shits about it) On AD Malzahar you looking to count and manage your voidling spawn (pre-fight) and spam your abilities for as many voidlings on the field during a fight. I really like that the voidlings interact with a DoT ability rather than how many other summons / entities have their attacks tied to the auto-attack of their creator or an initial target. I love the idea of summing creatures from the void to run amok causing chaos admits the enemy team. Though I understand AP malz is the priority. PLEASE RITO DO NOT KILL AD MALZAHAR.

Velkoz Vel'koz Copy pasting my statement from another thread

i really want him to stay as is (not a hardcore main but i enjoy the occasional vel supp game or sometimes mid)

Im really surprised he's been brough forward, he's been considered one or the most balanced if not THE most balanced champion for a long time.

He has very clear strengths and weaknesses, he can be very impactful for his team But doesn't feel unfair for the opposition. Who can stop him with smart play.

If something ABSOLUTELY had to be changed no debates and i had to pick one thing i would begrudgingly go with his W (providing whatever it is replaced with still functions as wave clear)

His Q geometry and R disintegration ray need to stay. No debates they are extremely iconic and enjoyable a large part of what goes into why you pick vel.

His e is important, only really safety tool and allows you to combo

His passive is cool it opens to window to support and males him a bit harder to itemize against . If I'm not mistaken its also the only "one two three" system that is entirely reliant on spell procs rather than autos or a mix of both in the case of ekko.

That leaves his W which is just damage and wave clear. Its double proc effect was unique and cool at the time of his release but it has been utilized in other champs by now (viktor rework, poppy rework)

I could live with a new more interesting w as long as it still provides wave clear and doesn't gimp his damage (currently because it procs twice at different times it can have significantly mote damage than a one hit spell)

Vladimir Vlad

Don't play much of Vlad but I like the idea of him being a sustain mage. That being said his current state is singularly responsible for the state of spellvamp. It would be awesome If a way can be found to keep is in kit sustain whilst allowing spellvamp to be more prevalent in the game. Main things other than sustain I enjoy about his kit are his troll pool. (it's like a fizz E but not mind boggling frustrating by being spammed to living hell) and the fact that his ult amplifies damage to dealt by all sources to its targets. Seriously that is huge for wombo's and could be an awesome contributing factor to "Why pick Vlad?"

Zyra Zyra

I'm glad to see Zyra on the update list I think she really needs it. Her thematic s are pretty good so I'm just going to get straight to the point on what I would like to see with her.

  1. More of her plants, and her plants doing more unique things. I love the idea of her summoning her plants. But currently their just little extra bits of dps thay are quickly killed off. Since an entire skill is dedicated towards spawning them though it would be cool see them do some more interesting and unique stuff. Maybe interactions for being close together, a third type of plant (or maybe just a larger version of a later spawned one?) If two seeds are put on top each other etc..

  2. Whatever happens to her ult I want it to remain visually large scale and I want it to continue interacting with her plants. Simple as that.

Gunna take a break and play a match, will be back after and edit in some thoughts on champions outside of the "big 6"

2 Comments

Critmaster Garen1/24/2016, 4:54:56 AM1 votes

cant wait for riot to overract and buff mages, so they can push out bruisers from top lane again like they did last time. if the marksmen rework is any indication, theyre not just making the ap items a little bit cheaper and do some small kit changes.

instead of going full circle they could, you know, just revert the fucking marksmen buffs this time, so there arent 2 marksmen and 2 assassins in every team like right now. maybe mages wouldnt have so many problems if adc didnt get to be casters and carries at the same time with essence reaver.

which moron thought it would be a good idea to give them almost cdr cap and infinite mana sustain into a standart attack speed/crit build? NO other item in the game has 30% cdr. and the champions that opt for cdr dont get 800 damage auto attacks for building it. carries build auto attack multipliers, mages and casters build cdr as spell multipliers. it has always been this way for a reason. if you just give them both in one build, then you blurr the line between adc and mage. and the mages who arent critting for 800 damage between their spells fall behind.

the burst and kill potential of assassins to take them out before they move wouldnt be so much more important than utility of mages.

that and making the game intentionally more snowbally didnt help either with assassins being snowbally champs in nature.

realistically all they have to do is tune down some of the shit theyve been overdoing in preseason. revert the minion changes, nerf marksmen (and ESPECIALLY essence reaver) early and midgame, reduce item prices on some ap items slightly. boom, game balanced. instead i just see them going down the same spiral as 2 years ago, when they buffed marksmen. the game was complete garbage and a giant mess for the entire season 4. they just cleaned up one mess by making another.

Minooshka2/6/2016, 4:14:22 PM1 votes

Since Bard, Kindred, Illaoi and Jhin. Most of the new champions and re-works have a distinct mini-game or thematic being played around their kits. Which I enjoy, and I think most in the community enjoy.

Since most of these mages build practically the same standard items sets and have a Q,W,E-R (in any order) combo that doesn't really vary much within their kit. They have nothing distinct between them. Unlike, say- Rhyze who has a on-mana scale and boosting ultimate. Or Annie with her giant Tibbers-for example.

Even Zyra (alongside Cassiopea) have clunky feelings to them to be effective within their own kit. Despite their thematic originality.

I'd like for us to take a look at a re-worked champion Fiora Fiora and Yasuo Yasuo. As an example. Once Yasuo was released, his kit (dash, wind-wall and his Ultimate) was so similar to Fiora's parry, dash and Ultimate- butmuch more easily executed and effective as a whole kit, that Fiora was left on the side. Yasuo basically stole the totality of her kit, making it thematically his own. Which left poor Fiora with a copy-cat champion that was more popular. A rework was in order for Fiora. And although many miss her old kit. They can simply play Yasuo to make up for it in my opinion.

Many of the newer champions have rounded kits that feel very diverse, even limited to the 4 abilities that they have. They seem unique and representative of the champion. I think the developing team very much wish the same thing for the eforementioned mages.

Brand Brand

Since Brand is an old fire spirit of pure hatred and temper. I see how this passive is dangerous; % health over 4 seconds, empowering his other abilities as well with %damage?! But he has no stuns and all of his abilities are simply different kinds of area damages. No utility whatsoever, no escapes, no gap closers or ways to get away. No originality to them outside of simple pure damage. Vel'koz and him are very similar when you think about it.

Perhaps changing his passive to do 1%- max 8, based on outside casts or your own casts (such as Maokai's 3-casts/then heal) would make it more dynamic. Tweaking his E-(pillar of flame) to be centred on him-as a push back or a wall could make a major difference in his utility. I think his Q, instead of a simple line, could have a little burst at the end (such as Anivia's), to supplement the early loss of poke by changing his E.

For his ultimate- I think he could start a timer and become a living bomb. Giving off the same effect as his current one but have 1,2,3 timer to it. The scare-factor alone of an exploding mage would be worthwhile.

Malzahar Malzahar and Vladimir Vladimir Frankly I always thought Malzahar's ultimate, should belong to Vladimir.

Vladimir- What about vampires makes them unique?

I think Vladimir's passive is boring. (Alongside with Diana's permanent 20%attack speed). Any stat increase should already be designed as part of the character itself in my opinion. Vladimir is just another poison-play mage, without having actual poison. So like Twitch, he gets to add plagues or become empowered against his enemy. And the whole kit feels... meh between him playing and the other abilities' interactions.

The life/blood drain? (Fiddlesticks/Karma) have very similar ones. and Warwick basically has a copy/paste Q of his, but melee instead of Ranged. But unlike the other mages (and even the werewolf)- Vladimir has no slow/stun to work with to keep the individual immobile in any way. Unless he is using his Sanguine pool (which requires him to go Melee-as a mage... a big no no). Why not have it stun the target momentarily? Or make his speed up (since he's received energy from it).

The most interesting part of Vladimir is his W-Sanguine pool. It is an almost Fizz-like dodge ability. Lets never get rid of this please!

If this Mage's whole purpose in being is supposed to be life-drain and self healing. It all seems jumbled with some sort of poison, blood dodging gimmick.

It definitely needs rework.

Malzahar Malzahar - Malzahar is a prophet. He sends forth creatures of the void. The void assists in his spreading of its 'evil word' and presence.

The whole voidlings' system could have better synergies. The fact that they only come out every 4rth casts, severely limits the potential of Malzahar. If he wants to have SUPER voidlings, he needs to work on AD- rather than AP alongside Cooldown reduction. But since he needs mana to cast so often (not found on many AD items)... As a mage, that is a bit strange. Especially since the voidlings are not permanent and die off after a certain time. Which creates an odd mana-waste. All of his other abilities QWER scale on AP. He also doesn't have any ability to aid or direct the voidlings (necessarily), outside of his E (malefic vision) which the voidlings prioritize as targets. Unlike other minions which target whatever their champion targets.

What I suggest, is that the voidlings remain until killed (and cap in number up to 3). That they still grow over time (so they can be culled early if an enemy champion targets them early). But that they would follow him and prioritize his targets. If the point of this mage was to make him a hybrid. Then make the abilities better hybridized or cause the voidlings to interact. Such as the Q- causing magic damage but that any voidlings would pounce (a set distance) and they would be the ones to conditionally apply the silence.

Or E-malefic vision would attach a Voidling to the person's body and be the entity dealing mix AP/AD damage for a set time until removed.

I think Malzahar's ultimate should be much more voidling related. Perhaps they spring from the ground, holding their prey as Malzahar AP-stares them to their demize?

Zyra Zyra

Ah Zyra... anyone that wishes to use this plant-champion needs good reflexes and to think outside the box with her plants.

Here is her BIGGEST drawback; Her seeds do nothing. Use up her 1/4 abilities slot. So unlike Heimerdinger who can put a turret (that does something) and can hold 2(place potentially 3). Zyra's does ABSOLUTELY nothing when she places them on the ground. Including the fact that an enemy champion can simply walk on it to kill it. This very much pushes back Zyra by almost 1-entire level at the start of the game.

If Zyra's plants are her own personal seeds. Why do the plants HP not scale alongside her? They die so quickly in team fights or when targeted that much of her damage potential can simply be culled and nipped in the bud(Yes-I went there). Considering that she uses her own Mana to do so, this is very much a Mage that is countered early.

Include the fact that her seeds are NOT invisible in the jungle? The trap/early warning detection aspect of her as a potential mage-Jungler is lost. I've always used her seeds as Early-warning-detectors when I don't have a ward.

So- I suggest; Make her seeds a automatic obtained ultimate (ready at level 1- such as Jayce and Karma); explode and deal AP-damage based on her total HP if walked on. (This will make her a potential Jungler-Mage.) At level 1, she can have a damage dealing ability + pseudo ward. Make her plants HP scale alongside with her own Hp so that they are not instantly killed. Make her seeds invisible in the Bushes (since bushes are full of plants- frankly a seed amongst them shouldn't be noticed).

In lieu- of a W (her seeds) give her a life sapping ability or a passive/activate. such as; If she remains immobile for 2 seconds she absorbs nutrients from the ground. Activate she spits digestive acids debuff that increase the damage her plants and her own abilitiesdeal to that target.

You'll have a well rounded Jungling Mage that can take 'some more' damage than other mages while not having to change much of anything else, including her range or the duration of her plants before they die. She could also be a viable Mage-Jungler. Capable of doing some kind of damage to the Jungle monsters at level 1 and able to ward herself against enemy junglers with the change to her seeds.

As for Zel'kozVelkoz

I absolutely adore the guy! The void creature of total burst annihilation! I would only change 2 things;

1-That his auto-attacks stacks his passive. He is already a burst-mage. Unfortunately due to long cooldowns. He has to run away once he does his full combo, or Work very quickly to gain his 40% cooldown (sacrificing the full AP-route). This is more than made up by his True-damage passive. However it is still a major setback. At LEAST make 3 consecutive auto-attacks stack a passive debuff. That would be a midway- concession to keep some sort of sustain.

2-His Void rift have a slight decrease in 'range' but Vel'koz pushes himself backwards using the ability. So that he has at least 1 sort of range getaway. (although I totally understand his E- Tectonic Distruption has this function). The E-works better against melee than range. I simply think he could be slapping the floor and pushing himself back with his W from the force of it.