Boards›Gameplay

Bringing Assassins into a Healthier Place (Neither Buff nor Nerf)

RomanorumLegio·12/22/2014, 2:07:46 AM·1 votes·1,046 views

Here on the boards, one of the most controversial champion types is assassin. For this post, I will be defining an "assassin" as a champion who relies primarily on mobility to engage and quickly eliminate a priority target and then escape. (There are exceptions, but that can't be fixed.) The primary problem with assassins is how binary they are. They either feel laughably behind or unbearably ahead, and to both the assassin and the target, there does not feel like there is a whole lot of in-between. I feel like a healthy assassin environment is one where an assassin should be opportunistic and rewarded for taking the opportunities, but should not be able to force things. (Unless fed... always the exception).

In this post, I aim to suggest tweaks to the game around assassins (will not be touching champions kits and numbers) that should make the game feel more dynamic for both parties (the assassin and the target). I will say that I play the "targeted" champions MUCH more than assassins, so I may be unintentionally biased, despite my best efforts not to be. As such, constructive criticism is appreciated.

Summoner Spells

summoner 3 Exhaust --(Unchanged) Reduces target Movement Speed and Attack Speed by 30% for 2.5 seconds --(Buffed) Reduces target damage output by 45% for 2.5 seconds --(Removed) Reduces target Armor and Magic Resist by 10

I feel like Exhaust is a defensive spell, so the Armor and MR reduction feels out of place. I always use and see it used for the damage reduction and slow anyway. Because of this, I removed the Armor and MR reduction, but I slightly buffed the damage reduction to try keep its power budget about equal. I will be moving the Armor and MR reduction to a new spell.

summoner 31 Poro for New Spell Placeholder --(New) Marks Target for 2.5 seconds --(New) If target is killed by the caster, the mark will be consumed, granting 100% Movement Speed that decays over 3 seconds. Movement Speed buff will be lost if a spell or auto attack is used. --(Moved Here) Caster gains 20 Armor and MR reduction towards target for 2.5 seconds

Here I am trying to make an offensive spell that may be more enticing than ignite to some assassins who can get in, kill, but may be stuck there afterwards. (Like Diana or Talon) I included the Movement Speed buff cancellation to try prevent abuse from champion that can already get out really easily. (Looking at you, Zed ) I may have under-tuned this one because I feel that this would be very easy to over-tune.

summoner 21 Barrier --(Nerfed) Grants caster a shield for 1.5 seconds that will shield for 85 to 340 damage depending on level. --(Added) If shield is broken and 10% of max health is taken in damage before the 1.5 second duration is over, the shield will be refreshed.

Currently Heal and Barrier serve very similar functions, but I want to distinguish Barrier as the anti-assassination/burst combo spell. I gave it a shorts window of opportunity so that the assassin can play some mind-games to have it preemptively used, but at the same time rewarding the user if he/she times it will. I chose to use max health instead of current health so that it is most effective at the beginning of the assassination. If the target is caught out and he/she goes to 5% health instantly, the target should die because the assassin did its job. If the assassin is making gestures towards an obvious assassination attempt and the target picks up on this, then the target should not be able to be assassinated. The base shield offers about 25% less effective HP than on live, but the double shield offers about 50% more effective HP than on live.

Items item 3128 Deathfire Grasp --(Unchanged) 120 AP --(Unchanged) 10% CDR --(Removed) ACTIVE Deals 15% of targets Max Heal in Magic Damage. --(Removed) ACTIVE Subsequent Magic Damage done to target is amplified by 20% --(Added) ACTIVE Linear Skillshot that does 100(+10% AP) and all subsequent Magic Damage from the caster is amplified by 20%

Currently Deathfire Grasp offers no counterplay, and is abusive with high-damage, point-and click abilities. On top of this, the % Max HP makes no sense. An assassin/burst mage should be looking to obliterate squishy carries, not tanks. So I believe the simplest way to add some counterplay is to make the active a skillshot; at least skillshots can be dodged. Scaling base damage instead of % Max HP is also more fitting for the roles of who should be buying this item.

Can't think of suggestions for other items at the moment.

Please feel free to give constructive criticism and suggestions.

9 Comments

Lord Dusteon12/22/2014, 2:17:14 AM4 votes

No, these are definitely all nerfs.

You made Exhaust even stronger (yeah, real sure the assassins are going to LOVE only dealing 55% of their normal damage), made quite literally the most useless summoner spell I have ever seen (Yeah, 100% DECAYING movespeed over 1.5 seconds that cancels if you actually do anything except run AND that requires killing someone to even get the effect of is so good! It's not like slows are extremely common or that we have a true damage summoner spell that isn't completely useless), made Barrier go up to a 680 health shield if someone actually gets to you, and then removed a lot of Deathfire Grasp's entire purpose (unless you already hit them with hard CC or are literally on their face you have a low chance of hittings it's even weaker active. Since most hard cc's ALSO are part of your damage combo, this means you lose out on damage to make sure you try to get more damage).

So no, this isn't bringing assassins into a healthier place, it's nerfing them.

Edge of Daybreak12/22/2014, 2:22:37 AM2 votes

None of these changes are good. No one would take that summoner spell as long as exhaust and ignite exist. Exhaust is not purely defensive as limiting someone's damage in an engagement can be just as strong as setting them on fire. That barrier change is insane. Mages do have the option to not buy dfg if a change like this went through. Making it a skill shot that is that weak is putting it out of the game. Most dfg'd targets are squishies. If you want assassins to be healthier they need to have more difficult mechanics while still being worth it to master.

Epilogue of Life12/22/2014, 2:12:50 AM1 votes

Read until the barrier, then, just, like, no...we need to remove all shields, heals, and other "help ally survive 20/5 (insert assassin here) with the click of a button" spell from this game to make assassins more viable.