Morgana is one of the original 40 champions

Witch of Babylon·Dec 29, 2016·90 votes·6,732 views

and I'd just like to say how well designed she is. She has never gone out of control. Even though her abilities sound quite op, she has never been on a 58% winrate level cough Sona cough. She has also never been reworked while a majority of the original 40 champions have recieved reworks, Morgana has not. Only small gameplay changes. And even though she became an extremely popular support in Season 4, she still did not become insanely powerful. Like I said Riot, really great design for such an old champion.

185 Comments

vOmvbrawfUDec 29, 201656 votes

Because she isn't overloaded to shit.

Surfer AsheDec 29, 201620 votes

Well, I can describe her as overloaded if I choose my wording correctly.

She has hard CC on two abilities (that's half her kit!), a massive AoE slow and stun with no counterplay because she has an Olaf ultimate on a basic ability that also absorbs a ton of magic damage!!1!!1 Her massive puddle does more damage the lower you are and she has FR33 sustain in her passive!

Plus her Q roots you until the heat death of the entire universe and a massive fridge sized hitbox

That was pretty easy.

EnloctDec 29, 201612 votes

I don't know how hard you tried but that honestly didn't sound too bad.

Morgana has nice, high impact skills with clear counterplay. It's quite nice. Around the time Nautilus was released I remember a Rioter stating that they wanted to shift away from the huge 3 second CC's and make their CC heavy champions have more and fewer CCs that could be chained together. I didn't really think it was necessary at the time but I didn't see a problem with it either. In hindsight...I like the old shit better.

AhristocatsDec 29, 20167 votes

olaf ulti doesn't stop if you take a lot of magic damage and her ulti counterplay is mobility creep

beside, your description was 5 lines if you want true overloaded champs, i can write an essay of 20 lines on some champs

Faceroll TacticsDec 30, 20163 votes

I remember having to explain all the free shit tank ekko got back in mid season 6

Serika ZeroDec 29, 20164 votes

Morgana has: A Snare A heal passive A DoT that deals magic damage Additional magic damage added to the DoT based on % missing hp A Slow A Stun Anti Magic Damage shield Anti CC shield

Regardless how you want to put it, she is not overloaded. All her damage is magic. Her damage take time for it to be applied. Her ultimate has counterplay (very little tho) of allowing you to get out of teether range. Her Q is a slow moving projectile. And E can be broken with enough magic damage. And her W can easily be step out of.

Comparing this to other champions is not needed. The only similar champion (Malzahar) has seen a rework simply because both riot and the playerbase at large didn't understand him. Yet he was very simple, similar to Morgana. But unlike Morgana, he was never played in LC$ without the rework.

Reaper SorakaDec 30, 20164 votes

Here's how it's done.

She has a bind with a 90% AP ratio that roots for up to 3 seconds the size of a semi-truck sliding sideways down an icy arctic road, and speaking of the arctic, her pool that does BONUS DAMAGE BASED ON MISSING HEALTH is the size of it's ocean.

She has a shield that basically makes her or her ally invulnerable to any CC and block well over 500 magic damage even under a support build.

Her ult, which is easy to land on an entire enemy team with one item has one of the highest AP ratios in the game, dealing a whopping 140% AP and binds all of her targets for YET ANOTHER 1.5 SECONDS.

EnloctDec 30, 20161 votes

Still, sounds only strong and not overloaded. The most concise description of Ekko would be longer and more convoluted.

Surfer AsheDec 30, 20165 votes

Ekko has 3 CC, Morgana has 3 CC

Ekko has AoE, Morg has AoE

Ekko has a shield, Morg has a shield

Coincidence? I think not. Either both are overloaded or neither

Serika ZeroDec 30, 20163 votes

Morgana has 3 CCs (a snare, a slow, a stun). Ekko has 1 stun, a slow, another slow, another slow and a movement speed buff (this last one is not CC). So, Ekko doesn't have 3 CC, ekko has 4 CC.

Ekko has AoE, Morg has AoE. Correct. Ekko has a shield that blocks all types of damage. Morgana has a shield that blocks ONLY magic damage.

Morgana can block CC, Ekko can't do that. Ekko has a 2 part mobility skill and 1 more mobility skill on his ult.

Ekko has a huge self heal (heals based on hp lost in the past 4 seconds), compared to Morgana's mediocre heal (spell vamp) Ekko can go untargetable, Morgana can't.

So, lets see what one has and the other one doesn't: Ekko over Morgana has: movement speed buff, 3 moblity skills, going untargetable and more CC. Morgana over Ekko has: Anti-cc shield and a snare.

Total: 6 more stuff for Ekko Total: 2 more stuff for Morgana. End of story: Ekko has 4 things over Morgana :)

Umbra IoniaDec 30, 20163 votes

Ekko now don´t have slow in the passive so he has 3 CC.

DecritDec 30, 20161 votes

waitwait i wanna try it

she is a mage that needs to build almost no offensive items - she has a spell that has long range, big radius that has one of the biggest roots in the game ( if not the biggest cc for a basic ability in the game ) that deals a lot of basic and scaling magic damage.

She has an aoe that deals damage instantly and over time based on missing health ( so even if she builds no damage she is still able to do tons of it because she can benefit from her team' s damage as well ) that synergizes absurdly well with the root.

Also she has an unique spell that places a magic shield that differently from all the other spellshields in the game also denies CC, even if it has a sliver of shield on ( CMON RITO WHERE THE FUCK IS CLARITY!!!1!111 ), and that can be used on other targets other than self!

Plus, an absurd ultimate that deals a lot of damage in an area twice, stuns and has absurd sinergy with items like Zhonya or her own shield.

AND HER PASSIVE GIVES ABANDONED STATS THAT WERE DEEMED TOO TOXIC FOR THE GAYM RITO PLOX.

i was good enough?

Surfer AsheDec 30, 20163 votes

You have over 3 pararaphs, so you win by default. Content doesn't actually matter!

ACENOXDec 29, 201639 votes

[{quoted}](name=Witch Of Babylon,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EWrZIETJ,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-12-29T15:17:23.053+0000)

and I'd just like to say how well designed she is. She has never gone out of control.

Hahahahahahaha

neverforget 100% pick/ban rate morgana season 1/season 2

RocketRelmDec 29, 201623 votes

Aaah. I miss those days. That was when I first started playing, and first picked up Morg Mid. Good times.

Though yeah, once that craze died down after some number nerfs, Morgana's been mostly fine. I think she's in the running for least changed champion over the longest duration.

The Season 6 changes made Morg Mid workable again, and I love every minute of it.

ACENOXDec 29, 20162 votes

yeah good time

no bad match up champs, spamming W and getting hp back with passive E+R, uncounterable ulti that removed half of the enemy team hp+2 sec stun or Q+W and a squishy died

AnidanDec 29, 20162 votes

Yeah, but back then half the roster was absurd. Morgana, Udyr (never forget Innervating Locket), Kassadin, Soraka was pretty damn obnoxious (some things never change), and more. It wasn't just Morgana, it was others. She just had the luck to be safer than some of the others while doing it, whereas others traded that safety for even more absurdity like Kassadin back then.

AhristocatsDec 29, 20164 votes

correction: in season 1 90% of the roster was absurd, not 50%. League could have been funnier if riot buffed instead the 10% weak champs like galio (they eventually did and he became broken since they nerfed other champs)

AnidanDec 29, 20162 votes

Exposed, boys, my numbers were wrong.

You're right, as I remember it. Most people were absurd in Season 1. It was all kinds of fun, even if it wasn't the most balanced.

XonraDec 30, 20162 votes

This was the first thing I thought :P

Her ult used to be worse, her black shield was a lot stronger, and her passive was what, twice as strong at least?

PennsDec 29, 201621 votes

Pretty sure she is on the "rework list" tho lel

RalanrDec 29, 201630 votes

Only because Kayle is there and they want to do a double update because Morganna's model and VO are very dated.

Though this is going to hold back Kayle's VGU by a lot.

5000000000000000Dec 29, 20161 votes

I mean spell vamp just doesn't make sense, both on gameplay level and thematic level.

ahferroin7Dec 29, 20164 votes

It kind of does though if you think about it. There is a pretty decidedly sadistic aspect to her personality, and spell-vamp does rather fit that.

5000000000000000Dec 29, 20165 votes

"We'll bring them pain." "I'll have my revenge." "They will suffer." "Without mercy." "Share in my torment!" "Do not dally!" "Feel my pain."

There is definitely a desire to inflict pain on others, but I'm not sure if healing from damage is an accurate representation of that. She's driven by vengeance, but not pleasure. I guess kinda, thematically?

GrReaper96Dec 29, 20162 votes

On the side not i really hope they increase both Kayles and Morgannas lines

elon wątrobaDec 29, 20164 votes

She's literally feeding on their pain.

Supreme Senpai69Dec 29, 20166 votes

Oh she's feeding all right.

Critmaster GarenDec 29, 201615 votes

pretty sure she has received nerfs in the past.

she was out of control at some point in the early seasons, when she was played midlane like a non interactive lanepush bot.

throw down w, and walk away. rinse repeat. she still plays like this, only that in the past her passive healed her for more, and spellvamp was op on her. no matter what you did to her, she just out sustained any form of poke.

if i remember correctly, black shield could also break cc on allies, and her snare hit for the full duration at lvl 1.

Maximum MordeDec 29, 20169 votes

Her Puddle also shredded mr so eventually when she did land a Q it would hit like a nuke.

iTaLenTZDec 29, 20168 votes

You have obviously never laned vs Morgana. Press W --> wave farmed, Get ganked --> press E and walk away, spam Q until you hit and enemy gets tagged by leaverbuster and you get a kill. There is seriously almost no lane interaction other than dodging incoming Q's/stand behind minions.

By all means I am not saying she is terribly designed but she could use some changes

Witch of BabylonDec 29, 20163 votes

Actually I have gone against Morgana mid. Not too hard to deal with.

iTaLenTZDec 30, 20162 votes

I am not saying it because she is hard, I am saying it because she is superboring to lane against. There is literally zero incentive for interaction unless you can OS out of nowhere.

SeenanDec 30, 20162 votes

{quoted}

You have obviously never laned vs Morgana. Press W --> wave farmed, Get ganked --> press E and walk away, spam Q until you hit and enemy gets tagged by leaverbuster and you get a kill. There is seriously almost no lane interaction other than dodging incoming Q's/stand behind minions.

By all means I am not saying she is terribly designed but she could use some changes

When you're a mid-main and have to face a Morgana, I personally cringe. Cause it's the same pattern. Every time. With no change other than if she decides to flash-ult/Q aggressively, but even then...

Most boring lane I can ever play. Try to attack? Shielded. Try to wave-clear? She waveclears as well. Try to dive her? Ult or Q or both.

And each Q has a 90% AP ratio attached to it. With a decent base damage. If you're hit, you're gonna feel it, if not by the snare.

NightmareAmazoXDec 29, 20166 votes

Jhin is the Morgana in the Marksmen role. He's pretty balanced.

TotalJerkDec 29, 20166 votes

You probably only say this because you've only seen Morgana support. If you had experienced Morgana top you'd learn to hate her.

ranged
strong wave control
extremely difficult to gank thanks to black shield
too safe to trade with
trades wont stick anyway thanks to spellvamp
Perfectly capable of surviving (and potentially even winning) a 1v2 lane back when lane swaps were a thing
No losing matchups (which pretty much applies to mid and support morgana as well)

Dominick DestineDec 30, 20166 votes

[{quoted}](name=Witch Of Babylon,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EWrZIETJ,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-12-29T15:17:23.053+0000)

She has never gone out of control

... you serious?

I can remember at least three non specific points in history where she was overwhelmingly powerful and needed huge nerfs... for example because of the original versions of Black Shield.

Another is that her W has been nerfed to prevent easy waveclear.

Sozan5Dec 29, 20165 votes

Teemo is one of the original 40 champions and I'd just like to say how well designed he is. He has never gone out of control. Even though his abilities sound quite op, he has never been on a 58% winrate level cough Sona cough. He has also never been reworked while a majority of the original 40 champions have recieved reworks, Teemo has not. Only small gameplay changes. And even though he became an extremely popular ~~adc~~ ~~top~~ ~~mid~~ ~~jungler~~ ~~support~~ meme in Season 4, he still did not become insanely powerful. Like I said Riot, really great and clever design for such an old champion.

ModAcademy KaynDec 29, 20165 votes

I mean, i personally wouldn't call it clever, when it's all very binary. Well designed, yes, but not clever.

Witch of BabylonDec 29, 20162 votes

CosnirakDec 29, 20165 votes

Morgana actually needs a gameplay rework, just a minor one (and of course a big visual update). Her passive is awful because she can't play into it due to having terrible mana. Her auto attack range is far too short (it's the same as Thresh's) for no good reason, which is one of the biggest factors in all of her terrible matchups in both mid and support. Her mana is very bad; if the only justification for that is to keep her passive in check... her passive needs to change.

Mid Morg is currently suffering a lot and has been in a slow decline for a very long time. You used to be able to fix her mana enough with mana pots and masteries but one was removed and the other weakened. So many indirect changes have chipped away at her bit by bit, but the big direct blow was the silly change to her W in 5.9 which was intended to hurt support Morg while not affecting mid Morg but did the opposite. Remember when Morgana could be played mid and/or top even in pro games?

CasterGilgameshDec 29, 20164 votes

Morgana that you know right now is just a watered down version

Miku AppendDec 29, 20164 votes

I just hope Riot reworks her into a mid laner again. I'm tired of not doing enough damage as Morg mid where she is intended to be at. If they gotta remove the spellshield so punks stop taking her bot, alright that's fine with me.

Nimble MantaDec 29, 20164 votes

Morg mid does tons of damage.

All SkillzzJan 1, 20173 votes

Getting hit by a morgana Q is like dcing.

DanjengDec 29, 20162 votes

She is somewhat clunky though. Very reliant on one ability, her q. Also her model is outdated.

DarkRitualDec 29, 20168 votes

Only reliant on Q to make late-game picks or early game plays. I get as much mid-game playmaking with flash-ults as I do landing bindings.

TotalJerkDec 29, 20165 votes

Morgana can definitely function with Q on cooldown. Black Shield and Soul Shackles are both great abilities, although admittedly the fact that tormented soil scales with missing health means she needs to land a Q to do significant damage with it.

dominusxDec 30, 20162 votes

If only her snare could last a little longer. I mean i got time to go and cook a 3 course meal once i get hit by it but then it ends and i can't even get to eat the damn food..

MyrmironDec 30, 20162 votes

Lol @ all the season 5 players who upvoted this. Morgana had her fair share of periods where she was considered op. Be it Season 1 (overshadowed by Kassadin), or when she was discovered as a support in season 3.