Ssssh, don't tell anyone that Jax pressed R. it's a secret!

iPrawn··80 votes·17,639 views

I tried to charm a Jax to see if I could one shot him, and he survived the combo, then flash + leaped me, and killed me. I was full build Eve, and he only had MR boots for MR. It wasn't till afterwards that I realized my noob mistake, I had forgotten about his R.

It's kind of annoying that some old champs have ults that have particle effects that are too similar to their basic abilities, or too simple or small of particle effects, making it easy to escape your notice. Jax can activate counter strike at the same time that he ults, to make his ult less noticeable, since the counter strike's effect looks similar in color, and makes it hard to see for anyone with poor eyesight, or who doesn't know exactly what Jax's ult looks like, or anyone not paying perfect attention.

There are a few champions that have ult effects which are easy to miss, here's my short list:

  1. Jax (his ult can be partially concealed by his counter strike)
  2. Mordekaiser (very difficult to see, it's easier to listen for his laugh, but not for the hearing impaired)
  3. Veigar (might depend on his skin, but the projectile portion of his ult looks too much like his Q)
  4. Trundle (his ult looks kind of like the active effect of Blade of the Ruined King, it's not enough)

I do wish Riot would give these champs a mini rework of their ult effects, so they would look a little less like basic abilities, look less like item actives, and overall just make them much more obvious and threatening in appearance.

26 Comments

Stray Kat35 votes

Jax I can totally understand, and agree with. Morde, doesn't it put a giant helmet/Morde head over top of you? I always thought that one was extremely obvious, can't really think of much way to make it more obvious.

Veigs I'm on the fence about it needing a change. Like you said, it looks very similar to his Q - But at the same time, it's targeted and can't be dodged as well as having a fairly fast projectile speed. If he's cast it, it's basically too late. Morg/Sivir/Noct(?) have that split second to try to nullify it with a spellshield, or you have a split second to try to hourglass, but in general I don't see it making much difference or being particularly worth the design team resources. If they were touching him up again anyway, I'd totally support making it slightly more obvious of what it is. Just not sure I'd support specifically putting the time into it if they aren't already messing with him. I'd think just changing the color of it would be the most obvious solution and require the least work, but then they have to think about it thematically - Not very many colors would fit Veigar other than dark colors that won't be super easily discernible from his current spell colors(Particularly for those of us who are colorblind.), making it kind of a waste to spend time on it when it won't really be any more clear. Changing the entire projectile animation is possible, but even then there isn't much to thematically make it - An arrow or something that is VERY obviously different from his Q wouldn't really fit the Veigar theme properly. It's a goofy situation. Maybe just leaving the particles in a line behind it would help? You'd know immediately "The line goes from Veig to the spell - That's his R coming at me", and the particles already exist it would just be a matter of making them not instantly fade as it travels.

Not to say I don't support making them more clear - I'm just not sure that two of them really need it in general. Veigar's you get used to over time(Especially if you play him and pay attention to the abilities as you use them - You'll learn the difference quite well.), and Morde's I really think is already super obvious. If they can change them to make them more clear to more players without spending resources better spent elsewhere, that'd be great. If not, they're at least "Okay" as it is.

Jax though I agree 100%. The little circles around his core are super easy to miss in a hectic battle or if he activates it before he's in your vision. It really could use some form of indicator that is significantly more noticeable.

nguforever1 votes

Yeah, as a Morde player I can definitely confirm that a helmet appears above the enemy champ. Plus, you don't have to worry about that for long because he's getting reworked!

HUE HUE HUE

The Ecdysiast18 votes

Jax's VFX just got updated. His ultimate is now a very obviously different, bright gold sphere and his counter-strike doesn't hide it at all.

Mordekaiser's full VGU is almost done so that doesn't matter, but even so how do you miss a giant Mordekaiser head above you?

I actually agree with the Veigar one. For his base and a lot of his other skins, the effect looks way too similar to his Q.

And Trundle, too. His has almost no particles.

nutzdeez2 votes

I highly doubt morde is getting any work done. But even with the VFX update Jax's ult is still hard to notice even when you use yourself. I think it would make sense to get a similar effect to that of Nasus or Renekton and change height

Moon Mom12 votes

It's been noted several times morde is the upcoming VGU

The Ecdysiast2 votes

{quoted}

I highly doubt morde is getting any work done. But even with the VFX update Jax's ult is still hard to notice even when you use yourself. I think it would make sense to get a similar effect to that of Nasus or Renekton and change height

No, I didn't say Mord should be getting a rework soon. I mean his rework is actually almost finished. It was in the last champion roadmap. Although yes, technically that does mean his current model and kit won't be getting any further changes.

And I actually do agree Jax should grow in size with his ult. It may not make sense thematically, but it's only fair to give a champion increased size if you're going to give them a massive defensive boost.

BigFBear11 votes

I would add Tryndamere.

You definitely HEAR when he starts his ult but you can't really see when it ends because it has almost no visuals. The best thing you can do is to look when he heals himself because good Tryndas do it right before Ult ends. But what if he doesn't? I can't count how often i used my DMG ability too early because I thought it must have ended now.

If you consider that his Ult is one of the most imbalanced Ults in the game, i mean, he is completely invincible (!), it should shine like a thousand sun's!

Dorans Pants10 votes

hah, an Evelyn player complaining that something is hard to see. The irony.

But I agree wholeheartedly.

HateDaddy4 votes

If it makes you feel any better, there are absolutely times where I’ve thought I casted my R as Jax but I didn’t, and I got blown up. It is rather annoying.

SanKakU1 votes

Me too.

Lovelle3 votes

Trundle literally turns huge when he ults, and the effects gradually bulid up over 4 seconds. That's more telegraphed than 90% of what newer champions do.

The bigger issue is that it's hard for teammates to tell who he ulted, since the target barely changes in appearance aside from becoming slightly smaller.

SeaWeaboo2 votes

His new R is pretty clear, though I feel like they could brighten his new visual effect for counter strike. It's very obvious that he is using counter strike, but It is quite difficult for me to see the edges of it due to how faint the color is. Got me killed cause I thought I was out of range so I held onto my flash. I think anything like this should be given very clear indicators like Tryndamere's R. Really frustrating to flash and try to finish him off but he pressed R and now he just spun over that wall.

ITZ ICY1 votes

Last patch his E was just spinning his weapon around him, in no way was it concealing him being blazing yellow.

In this patch, his E indeed has particles, but they are blue, and his ult is an even more pronounced yellow ball. Even though it loses a bit of color during E, the shape of it is really easily seen through his E and is actually more visible now than pre-patch.

Shen MD1 votes

Also it's very annoying for me to play vs a Cho'gath, his ult, his q and his autoattack has the same body and head movement

SanKakU1 votes

I agree that for Trundle, at least for allies should get a more visible ultimate. For Jax, I think enemies should see it more easily, and allies should hear it more easily. Veiger's ultimate I think they already tweaked but I guess they could do more but I feel like if you're stunned maybe there's nothing you can do anyway.

Josh Sand1 votes

Most champions should feature roughly the same amount of clarity for their high inpact ultimates.

Champions with cloudy ultimate effects certainly gain some hidden power out of it. The Veigar case is especially troublesome.

Karn Bishop1 votes

So what your saying is half you damage abilitys did nothing? counterstike outright blocks E and blocks the initial flick damage for Q as well and with only the last 3 Q damages i'd be shocked if you did manage to kill him.

Solidair31 votes

If they ever update his VO maybe he'll get a really good voice line to indicate he's ulting.

Granted the visuals SHOULD be more apparent. Hopefully if he ever gets an update he'll get an ult that isn't just defensive stats.

Vlada Cut1 votes

If je built an ap sustain item like item 3146 he'd two shot while not dripping his HP.

Moonscourge1 votes

Your W reduces MR by 35%, that and flat pen and your Void Staff should have been enough to reduce whatever puny MR his ulti gave him. Nope. It's simply that his E reduces AoE damage by a flat% that ruined this kill for you. The fact Eve has nothing after her one combo is just the cherry on top.

SEKAI1 votes

If Jax is ever going to get a visual update, which he definitely needs one soon, Riot should make it so that Jax changes his fighting stance into a more serious posture during the ulti's active. Or something like that.

Because using ulti's active is the time when he gets real serious (the active's name is literally called "The Champ"). Some visual cues would be nice to both add more clarity to the players of the active's use as well as to inject some more character into Jax.

Dracocrash1 votes

BUT MUH HOMEGUARD SPARKLES

Livin like Riven1 votes

Another thing that could've played into it is Jax's counterstrike actually negates 25% of the damage from AoE abilities like Ahri Q. I don't know enough about Ahri to say if her R/W count as AoE, but yeah, his E will help him against AoE spells and most people don't tend to play around that at all and blow cooldowns on a counterstriking Jax just because they're a mage.

Morticianjohn1 votes

Played countless games against jax and I couldn't tell you what his ult animation looks like

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