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My feelings on the Assassin Update as a former Assassin only player.

I Q·2/1/2017, 2:39:40 PM·3 votes·1,292 views

After reading Riot's recently posted article on their thoughts on the Assassin update, I felt like expressing how I feel about the situation aswell. (Article found at http://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/2017/01/dev-state-of-champion-update-january-2017/ )

Ill state my opinion on every assassin covered in the rework. However, some I do not have much experience with so sorry if I can't provide much on those.

Ekko My name used to be "Shenpai Ekko" so it is pretty obvious how I feel about this champion. Let me clear up that I have never played Tankko.

Ekko was overtuned before the rework since he could deal a ridiculous amount of damage while being over 3000+ health. In my opinion before the rework his best build included tanky AP items that give mana, and a Lich Bane.

Riot wanted to stop Ekko players from building tanky, so they changed up some of his ratios from % of health missing to flat AP. This was a good idea and I support this part of what they did.

However, they ended up nerfing Ekko's passive as well. Ekko's passive in my opinion, is what makes him work as a Skirmishing Assassin, nerfing this was a huge blow. He went from slightly above average to below average just because of this change. Nerfing the MS gained from the passive was fine, but the damage nerf wasn't needed.

TLDR: Riot's nerfs to Ekko where a little over board and it pushed him out of meta, however they made good changes to his ultimate

Le Blanc Honestly, this champ has always been cancerous in laning phase. But atleast before she had a weakness, and that was her waveclear.

Riot buffed her waveclear while making her a lot more versatile and reliable. She only got buffs, there were no downsides to her rework. Le Blanc's rework was overall a failure.

No one likes playing against her, but for some reason she got all of her weaknesses taken away. She is also better in the lategame now, which was another one of her previous weaknesses.

TLDR: No nerfs, all buffs. Too overtuned, will most likely need another rework imo.

Katarina This will be tough to talk about, since Kat has a really dedicated playerbase, and I am not in it.

Before the rework she had clear weaknesses, and had clear strengths. She had a high skill ceiling and did a lot of AOE damage, but was easier then most to shutdown in laning phase. Most of the time she needed to roam to succeed, but you could easily stop her, take her turret, or follow her down.

Now however, this is all changed. She has a higher skill ceiling now, no clear weaknesses past "Dodge her daggers." Her strengths were made stronger, her weaknesses were made stronger. I do not see a downside to this rework, her damage isn't even delayed which is what Riot wanted to do. Also, her laning phase is a lot more oppressive so shutting her down is even harder then before. She doesn't need to roam to get ahead anymore, she just pushes in, hits 6 and oneshots the enemy laner.

TLDR: I don't know if she needs another rework, however she is overtuned right now. She needs more clear weaknesses.

Talon According to Riot's article they wanted to give him more options then before, but I don't really see that happening. It's either Q to engage and do your combo, or E/Flash then Q to oneshot.

Talon was not good before the rework, he had mana problems and had no real way to fix it. Now he stole Kat's old thing and needs to roam to win lane, which I don't get why Riot is promoting.

Roaming isn't a fun mechanic. No one likes it when an AurelionSol or a Taliyah roams botlane and starts a 4 gank bot, all they did was add another problem for botlane to worry about.

PS: Im not going to talk about much else when it comes to Talon, I don't believe I have enough games on him.

TLDR: What Riot seemingly wanted to accomplish with the Talon rework didn't seem to happen. However, he may be good later if balanced around numbers and roaming.

Rengar Honestly, I banned this champion before the rework. The crit oneshots were just insane, but he was manageable. He'd normally kill someone and die, or die for a flash.

This is all changed now however, he can actually oneshot multiple people at once. He received a cleanse ability on his W and a 30 second long camo which allows him to basically run across map before it runs out. Pressing his ultimate is almost guaranteeing a kill now which is ridiculous.

They lowered his skill ceiling, which wasn't a good idea in my opinion. Atleast when a Rengar pressed his ultimate before he was making a commitment, and had to make a choice, but now he doesn't need to make a commitment for 30 seconds.

TLDR: They lowered his skill ceiling, made him more versatile, gave him AOE burst (Besides the AP Rengar Cheese), and they gave him a cleanse. He is most likely going to need another rework.

Fizz Fizz has been, and always will be a hated champion. Taking away that is taking away his identity, so riot took it in the opposite direction.

His new ult can cover almost an entire lane, his W basically gives him a free sheen, and his ult snapping "mechanic" is just god awful to play against.

With the rework he became a lot less manageable. He now OVERBURSTs people harder then before.. Fizz Ult + E will normally oneshot a squishy mid-lategame, he doesn't need his other 2 abilities. He doesn't make a commitment when he ults, he just R + E then Qs out. This hasn't really changed from before except that it is now even worse because of the size of his ult and his W.

Normally what I would do to fizz pre-rework is push in, hit level 6 first and then try to force a fight. Now, there are only a select few characters that can deal with Fizz without flashing everytime he ults.

His ult has become a guaranteed kill. Even if you are 3/0 in lane and he is 0/3, if you don't have flash you can't engage with most characters. He is too safe for the damage that he provides.

Skillshots should take skill to land, if they are going to give a reward like a guaranteed kill. But with Fizz his ult just snaps to you even if he misses the lane wide skillshot.

TLDR: Fizz's rework just increased his strengths while delaying his earlygame burst, but past that all he got was buffs. He needs more clear weaknesses in his kit other then "He used his E! Go all in!"

Zed I still play Zed a fair amount after his rework, but damn is it hard to do now. It feels like you need to outplay the entire enemy team to be relevant lategame. Exhaust mixed with all the new support items make assassinating an ADC harder then ever. But don't count out his nerfs.

Zed has gotten a reputation over the years in midlane, and most mage mains hate him. So because Riot likes the mage meta, Zed must be nerfed.

The permanent AD buff from his W was the only reason he was relevant lategame, but now with it moved onto his ultimate it is NEAR IMPOSSIBLE to get the AD now.

When playing Zed after the Duskblade changes you can't walk away from your ulted target, even if they are under 100 HP. There will always be someone to stop your ult from kill, let it be a support with locket or a karma mid. But this is made worse because unless your ult kills the target, you don't get your AD. Even if you kill your target WHILE he is ulted, you don't get the AD. Also, because your ult's AD gain is scaled by the enemy's AD the enemy team can tell who you are going to go for 90% of the time.

TLDR: Zed's changes were an overall nerf, and the meta of the game shifted towards things that make his job harder. These 2 things put him in a really bad spot. Zed should get 50% of the normal AD gain if he kills a target before the ult triggers.

Akali I can't say much about Akali, since I've only played her once. However, since the rework I have seen less tank Akalis and more Ap Akalis so I will consider that win. I don't think she should be buffed or nerfed, she seems fine to me.

Shaco Before the rework most Shaco players liked building Crit in most situations, and now it has become the opposite.

After the added AP ratio on the Q, AP Shaco has become really oppressive, so most Shaco mains opt for the AP or Hybrid build/

Shaco is solid after the rework, but Riot has stated that they plan to rework him again on other boards posts, which I agree with. The rework enabled AD Bruiser or Tankco which is honestly cancer. The increased Q stealth duration honestly makes it worse.

TLDR: Shaco mains didn't like the look of the rework, and now most of them are abusing it. Riot wants to rework him again, which is a good idea. Kill Tankco!

Kha'Zix Kha'Zix got a few changes in his rework, but out of all of the reworks I think we was changed the least. He still is a really good jungler and still loves building CDR. However, he just has the added bonus of extra CDR in his kit.

There isn't much to say about Kha, he was good, and he is still good. Not much was changed about how Kha players play the champion. The only change that caught my eye was that he can stand in bushes to gain a temp stealth. But this is rarely ever used from my experience.

To Conclude The Assassin rework in my opinion is a failure. Skill ceilings were raised and lowered in the wrong places. Champions that were buffed honestly shouldn't of been buffed, and I can say the same thing about most of the nerfed champions.

Tank assassins came back because of the rework, and it is honestly sad how Riot believes that this rework was a success. It isn't a "controversial", it was just not good for Assassin players, and the majority of the playerbase. Most of the Assassins now rely on those 4 man dives botlane, and the others just rely on those level 2-6 oneshots.

I think that Zed, Ekko, and Shaco need slight changes. Whereas Rengar, Le Blanc, Katarina, and Fizz will need either a rework or a mini rework like Shyvana.

Sorry for the long read, just wanted to get my opinions out there on the Assassin rework. I hope you enjoyed reading and please comment your feedback!

10 Comments

Lauchmelder2/1/2017, 2:47:32 PM1 votes

{quoted} Zed has gotten a reputation over the years in midlane, and most mage mains hate him. So because Riot likes the mage meta, Zed must be nerfed.

Do you also know WHY most mage mains hate him? It's his stupid safety while having a (pretty much) endless amount of energy, paired with a free last hitting passive and once he gets a kill on you the lane is pretty much over.

The rest I agree with.

Hint: If you add a few - (minus) in a row to create this:

It makes each section stand out a bit better.

ChaddyFantome2/1/2017, 3:02:21 PM1 votes

Talon According to Riot's article they wanted to give him more options then before, but I don't really see that happening. It's either Q to engage and do your combo, or E/Flash then Q to oneshot.

Shows your lack of depth of the champion.

Talon's combo list is one of the most versatile of the assassins imo because he has the least set in stone condition to get his Damage burst off. His passive is applied by his Q , each hit of his W and each hit of his ultimate and the last his of his ultimate converges on the target he Autos of Q. He only needs to auto after 3 hits of his spells. and his Q CD gets short enough that you can reliably use it twice on a person at later ranked.

This means Talon had many options from goign in with his stealth. getting close then using his stealth at point blank, leading with W, using E to get into Melee for the Crit on Q, etc before using any combination of his following spells before auto attacking and then dashing away to reach his kill condition. it is just his kill patterns require more from the player than simply inputting a sequence correctly and fast enough in most scenarios and his getaways are less free. With proper timing, a Talon can even get multiple Passive procs off on a target.

Talon was not good before the rework, he had mana problems and had no real way to fix it. Now he stole Kat's old thing and needs to roam to win lane, which I don't get why Riot is promoting.

Kat's shtick?

First off, Kat was alwyas the ne more reliant on gettign 6 then all-in-ing the enemy laner. Before her rework she just throws Qs at you over and over in lane until 6 where she jumps you and presses R. Second, talon was always more reliant on ganking bot. Riot just made his go to strategy of doing so as well s flanking more pronounced and versatile.

Roaming isn't a fun mechanic. No one likes it when an or a roams botlane and starts a 4 gank bot, all they did was add another problem for botlane to worry about.

I think that Roaming is incredibly fun. So much so that i do it on every position.

PS: Im not going to talk about much else when it comes to Talon, I don't believe I have enough games on him.

Clearly.

I understand these are your opinions and thoughts, but a good amount of your conclusions seem misinformed to me.

HongChongDong2/1/2017, 5:14:17 PM1 votes

The issue with the fizz rework is that that's all he has. He has statistically lower damage than he did before and his entire kit is now reliant on landing that ult at a distance. He either lands the ult and tries to burst someone or he doesn't and he can't do a single thing about it.

There are plenty of champions with mobility to dodge it and late game you can simply zone him off from throwing it all together by placing a tank inbetween him and the carry. At that point he's 100% completely useless.

Even if you can't dodge it all it takes is MR and an exhaust and he can't scratch you. Then if he commits to the ult and attempts to burst you and fails he's left with no damage while you can just turn on him with whatever you're playing.

When people see the new fizz all they see is what he does in favorable matchups, aka immobile mages with no defense like xerath, lux, ziggs, and even syndra. People who can't dodge the ult and won't out tank him. No one ever talks about matchups like Ryze, Zed, Talon, Orianna, Leblanc, Also Syndra, Katarina, and Viktor. That's just matchups that can screw you on their own. if the matchup takes exhaust then nearly every matchup can screw you over.