Rammus guy since preseason 1 has some ideas!

Hey guys! I've been a rammus...somewhat main somewhat player since forever. He was the first character I really fell in love with, and have wanted to play him ever since. I've seen him through some bad times (gg can't taunt lee sin) and good times (gg 3 second taunt on a 5.4 second CD with max CDR).

I'm always thinking whats going to be OK for this little armordillo, and I think I have some ideas that might be good. I dunno if Riot already has some plans in mind, I know they are doing the tank (vanguard) rework soon so maybe they already have some sweet ideas lined up, but I figured now would be a good time to chuck some ideas out there. Ok, here we go!

Passive - Spiked Shell

I have mixed feelings about this passive. Honestly it totally makes sense with his character design, and I don't think in and of itself it is a bad idea. The problem comes with the fact that none of his other abilities synergize with it at all. Ok, maybe his taunt, slightly, with the armor reduction. You'll get maybe 3 autos off in the taunt time, maybe less if they have tenacity. If you want a passive like this, you need some AD ratios somewhere, or some AS steroids or some such. I'd love to see this passive stay on, as rammus should be the ultimate AD slayer. Trynds and Yi's alike should be fleeing in terror and leaving behind a brown trail when Rammus comes a rolling.

Q - Powerball.

Honestly, I think this ability is quite solid as it is. Please don't change it (not too much at least!). It's what makes Rammus Rammus. It can be countered or dodged, and it feels super satisfying when you dodge through the tanks or minion waves to hit your target. The damage and AP ratio are fine, and honestly it's not a bad ability to want to level last. It doesn't feel bad like some things.

W - Defensive Ball Curl

This ability is boring. I love it, it looks sweet, gives me rad defenses and makes me a huge raid boss...but its boring. There is no play to it. It's pretty much just press W once you are in the middle of their team. I'd love to see some exciting things added to it.

You could shorten the duration and cooldown by half, so Rammus players have to use it better. Even that would still have the same problem I feel.

You could want players to avoid constant dps on Rammus when he is in DBC. Maybe have it tick, it absorbs 1 hit every 1-2 (dunno) seconds while it's active. That way you could still focus fire him, but you can't just auto him slowly to death.

Or the opposite, you could prevent him from being burst. Lower the duration, but during that time, every 5% of his health (or 100 health, or some number that makes sense) he takes, his shell explodes (or something) doing x damage to all nearby enemies. Aka get malz ulted and focused, the enemy team takes a bunch of damage. Don't focus the rammus in DBC.

And that's what it should be. You should be hitting Rammus when he is weak, out of DBC. And you can, he is easily kitable in that form. There is counter play, but there is also the fear of him. When he powerballs in and is ready to go, you should be running in fear. But if you can get his squishy side, he should be one of the weaker tanks. He has to learn to use his defenses wisely.

E - Taunt.

This is what makes the opponent rage. Before, when it was 3 seconds, I totally understand. Being locked down for that long is silly, and doesn't really feel good on either end. No skillshot, no skill, just point and click and the enemy is saying "FML". The biggest problem I have with this is not the duration, but the armor pen. Back when it was 3 seconds, it made more sense. It was enough time to make that armor pen useful. Now it's shorter, you as rammus can barely get one auto in, and unless you are running with a heavy AD team, that armor pen isn't going to see much effectiveness.

I'd like to see something like an attack speed buff to Rammus after he taunts someone (or something). That would also help his jungle speed, and make it a bit more useful to level first other than "well you basically have to otherwise your ganks aren't going to be great". I'm thinking from 30-70%. Plus it would actually be synergistic with your passive. Attack speed (maybe a 4 second buff or something) would make it so he could go ham after he taunts. You could even lower the duration to 2 seconds from 2.25 and it would be fine.

R - Tremors

I used to love this ability when it was on a shorter cooldown. You could push towers with it, you could gank, you could even clear Red and Blue buff fine with it. The itemization was heavier into CDR for tanks back then too. But now, you have to save it because the cooldown is so long. And it doesn't feel very satisfying to use. You press a button and stuff happens. Most people are either peacing out away from you because you are Rammus, or they just eat your ult because they don't care, it doesn't do crazy damage (at least not until 16, and the hard part is getting Rammus to 16).

I think something could be added to it to make it more interesting. I was thinking a Tenacity reduction. Either 25% or so as long as you are in the Tremors, or 5% per tick of Tremors you stand in. That would make bruisers and juggernauts scared to be in the way of a Rammus. Maybe that tanky Darius eats too many Tremor ticks and has to be careful because his Merc Treads don't mean as much now. He's gonna get rooted for reals, or taunted to his death.

You could always do a stacking slow or something too...10% per tick. If you are going to have the cooldown as long as it is, I feel the ult itself needs to be a bit more impactful than just some damage. Especially early game. Rammus's ult at level 1 does barely more than Shyv's W at level 4 (it used to do less). It doesn't feel like it's doing much.

All in all, I feel like Rammus should be the AD slayer. I know some of my ideas don't represent that well enough, but I think that's how it should be, just based on his passive. If your team is Trynd top, yi jungle, zed mid, and jhin ADC, you should be scared when the enemy picks a Rammus. You should be saying "Oh shit guys, why didn't we get some AP up in this" and "Let's make sure to shut this Rammus down early, cause late game he will make our lives awful".

I'd love to hear other players feedback, and hopefully this hits the devs at some point. GLHF!