Volt's Balance Suggestion Thread
First and foremost, I'm just going to get this out of the way. I'm a human being with biases. The vast majority of my games are mid followed by support, then adc. Very few are top and even fewer are jungle. My first main in this game was Veigar. I then mained Xerath before the rework. Afterwards, I went back to Veigar until Azir was added. At this point I main Azir but still play a lot of Xerath and Veigar. I practically live in mid lane, so most of my suggestions are naturally going to be for that.
DISCLAIMER: I make no claim that these changes would correct everything. I simply claim that I believe they would improve the state of the game. I am not omniscient; I'm sure there are going to be things here that others disagree with.
Item: Hunter's Machete
Problem: too expensive
Verdict: Buff
Change: unnerf cost
Prediction: slight increase in power of dominant junglers, significant increase in power of less capable junglers
Secondary Changes if Necessary: none expected
Champion: Ahri
Problem: excessive mobility in mid lane, high win rate
Verdict: Nerf
Change: halve the movement speed boost she gains while Q is out.
Prediction: Ahri's win rate drops to just above 50%. Ahri is now more easily hit by skillshots and must try harder when attempting to flank enemies so that she can charm them.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: tweak the numbers on the speed boost as needed
Champion: Annie
Problem: instant ranged stun sans counterplay, high win rate
Verdict: Nerf
Change: Tibbers is now thrown as per the cinematic video and turns into a giant flaming bear in the air.
Prediction: Annie's win rate drops to high 40s
Secondary Changes if Necessary: buff E by making her absorb 10% of the damage dealt by a single target spell or 15% of the damage of an AoE spell. Her next spell will return this damage.
Champion: Azir
Problem: superbly low win rate, hypercarry that's a lane bully
Verdict: Buff and Power Redistribution
Change: unnerf Q damage, drastically increase Q cooldown at low levels, W rank increases soldier attack range back up to 400 at max rank, increase AP ratio on soldier attacks slightly
Prediction: Azir's win rate increases to mid 40s, no longer a lane bully
Secondary Changes if Necessary: none expected
Champion: Brand
Problem: Not Unique
Verdict: Modify Passive
Change: nerf passive burn to 1.5% from 2.0% per second. Each successive strike up to five against an opponent by your spells in quick succession converts a percentage of this to true damage. Five strikes will convert the entirety of his passive damage to true damage.
Prediction: Brand more useful in and against certain compositions, less overshadowed by Xerath
Secondary Changes if Necessary: none expected
Champion: Diana
Problem: poor jungling pre-6, falls off hard lategame
Verdict: ability swap
Change: swap E and R. Increase radius of new ult by 50 units, reduce damage of old ult slightly
Prediction: Jungle Diana becomes significantly better at ganking, win rate rises to high 40s
Secondary Changes if Necessary: reduce base damage on Q in exchange for higher ratio and reduce base shield on W in exchange for health scaling, upon popping all W balls, Diana receives a 2 second 20% movement speed boost
Champion: Jinx
Problem: dominant pick, moderately high win rate on jack of all trades
Verdict: minor nerf
Change: Fishbones mana cost increased to 24 from 20, very slightly reduce AS gains on Pow-Pow at low levels
Prediction: Jinx's laning takes a minor hit, dropping her win rate down to just above 50.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: fine tune AS gains on Pow-Pow
Champion: Kalista
Problem: unfun opposition, extreme smiting capability
Change: passive only procs on every third auto attack or on Q. Lunge distance increased by 50%. Lunged attacks and Qs deal 20% increased damage if moving toward the target. E's maximum is damage capped at Smite's damage (so at level 3 it'd be 430, at level 18, it'd be 1000).
Prediction: Kalista is given considerably more counterplay as well as significant chase capability, increasing the ability for melee champions to have the chance of catching her while not gutting her win rate. Win rate largely unaffected.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: none expected
Champion: Kassadin
Problem: superbly low win rate, inability to compete
Change: R is now charged. At zero charge, he may blink instantly up to 450 range. After a half second charge, he may extend this to up to 900 units away. Range interpolates between the two distances. Additionally, upon releasing the charge there is a delay before teleportation. At no charge, there is no delay. At max charge, there is a 0.75 second delay. A marker will appear at his destination during this delay.
Prediction: Kassadin win rate spikes back to around 50%, Kassadin much easier to shut down as he must endure delays if he wants to jump particularly far.
Champion: Katarina
Problem: extreme teamfight ability, high burst if ahead, high win rate
Verdict: Nerf
Change: Reduce Q bounce range by 50 units. Add 0.15 cast time to W and a 0.20 cast time to R.
Prediction: lowered ability to instantly burst targets when ahead requiring more team cooperation, slightly less safe laning phase. Win rate drops to low 50s.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: nerf Q proc damage to further reduce instant burst capability
Champion: Heimerdinger
Problem: extreme lane bully, high win rate in top lane
Verdict: Nerf
Change: spawning a turret now consumes 5% of Heimerdinger's current health. If you need a mental justification, think of it as him putting in blood, sweat, and tears into every turret.
Prediction: Due to reduced sustain, top lane win rates drop significantly to around 50. Mid lane win rates drop to just below 50.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: minor buff to AP ratio on his turrets
Champion: LeBlanc
Problem: extremely safe assassin, extremely high pick rate, low win rate
Verdict: Nerf
Change: upon casting W or amplified W, she may not teleport back until 0.5 seconds have elapsed from her arrival at her target destination.
Prediction: This nerf should significantly lower her pick rate, leaving primarily the LeBlanc mains. As a result, I believe her win rate will actually increase slightly to just below 50.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: increase AP scaling on E
Champion: Malzahar
Problem: very difficult to shut down, high win rate
Verdict: Nerf
Change: target is no longer suppressed for the last half-second of his ultimate
Prediction: dramatic decrease in dueling capability, easier to shut down, win rate drops to 50%
Secondary Changes if Necessary: none expected
Champion: Nidalee
Problem: jungle dominance, moderately high win rate, unfun opposition
Verdict: Nerf
Change: human form Q at max range scales only to 200% from 300% against neutral monsters
Prediction: first pass of jungling much more difficult, significantly reduced coutner-jungling capability. Win rate drops to high 40s.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: nerf human Q damage at later ranks and buff Cougar form's E damage
Champion: Syndra
Problem: unreliable CC, low win rate
Verdict: Buff
Change: amplify passive. In addition to the current buffs gained at max rank, her first skill to finish ranking up receives an additional buff.
-Q: manipulating a Dark Sphere with her other abilities resets the sphere's lifetime the first time it is manipulated.
-W: existing throwable targets are rooted upon impact when thrown. Dragon can also be thrown, though throwing dragon does not root it.
-E: Dark Spheres hurled by E are immediately and permanently enlarged by 20%, increasing their hitbox should they be used by W and increasing their damage by 20% if used by R.
-R: a fourth sphere orbits syndra and is used in her ult. Ult animation sped up by 30%.
Prediction: Syndra's win rate spikes given her new-found utility to low 50s.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: minor damage nerfs here and there
Champion: Veigar
Problem: superbly low win rate, unreliable CC, unreliable burst
Verdict: Buff
Change: see here
Prediction: Veigar win rate spikes to just below 50%, pick rate dramatically increases, particularly against highly mobile teams.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: fine tune E's spawn delay
Champion: Xerath
Problem: issues Q and R
Verdict: Power Redistribution
Change: Q now fully charges in 1 second rather than 1.5. Upon casting, the marker on the ground is present for 0.2 seconds longer. Ult modified. When firing from more than 1000 range, every additional 1000 range increases the radius of the ultimate by 30% while decreasing damage dealt by the same amount.
Prediction: skilled opponents dodge Q more easily, R is less frustrating for Xerath players. Xerath win rate drops slightly to 50.
Secondary Changes if Necessary: fine tune numbers
Champion: Zac
Problem: jungling inferiority and top inferiority
Verdict: Buff
Change: bloblets now spawn closer to Zac, though not as close as they once did. Killing large monsters drops 1 bloblet. Assisting in the death of Baron or Dragon will cause two bloblets to spawn. Enemy smite no longer hits Zac's passive.
Prediction: increased pick rate in response to his ability to immediately fight after killing an epic monster. Win rate increases to about 50%
Secondary Changes if Necessary: none expected
Champion: Zed
Problem: overly safe laning with high power later in the game, low win rate, unfun opposition
Verdict: Redistribute power
Change: reduce Q range by 50 units, increase AD scaling on Q
Prediction: laning made less safe, late-game power increased when opponents are more ready to handle him. Win rate increases slightly.
Well, there you have it. My list of changes that I'd like to see in the game. Again, I'm not claiming they're perfect. But I think that overall the game would be more balanced than before if they were implemented.
Thoughts?