Thoughts on Juggernaut rework (Specifically Skarner and Morde)
I am not a biased Rito hater. I love the game, and am inclined to agree with your decisions. I want to start by saying that I love the Garen and Darius reworks. And while Garen's doesn't fix all of his problems, he is definitely in a much better place. The Mordekaiser and Skarner reworks strike me as ill thought out.
The new Skarner passive seems to me as if it is only useful if he is in the enemy jungle from minute one. If you aren't controlling the Spires at all points in the game, you are missing out on resources (which is fine, because players should be rewarded for playing their champion properly) but my problem is that it also gives rewards to your opponent for destroying them. This is understandable in all other cases, but not with Skarner. Giving free gold and vision to the enemy team as part of a passive should come with BUFFS to the rest of his kit, not nerfs. I understand that you can't give buffs to his chase power, but giving him a passive that gives the enemy team free gold unless he makes reckless invade calls at all points in the game sounds like a hindrance to me. The Spires in the enemy jungle need to either not give them rewards, spawn later into the game (after minions are in lane, like at 2 min into the game) or need to be locked out of recapture for a LONG time (like 1 minute). That way he could either ignore them and not be concerned that the enemy team is getting a ton of free gold from his passive, or when he captures them, he is assured that they will stay his for longer than 10-15 seconds. I feel like the risk he has to take in order to properly use his passive is disproportionate to the reward he gets from it.
About Mordekaiser. Mordekaiser has a few more problems than Skarner. Oh boy where do I start. So his new passive is hilarious. It makes you want to go bot lane so that you can steal Dragon. Also his W makes you want to duo lane. And his passive that lets you duo lane and not lose XP. That is all great stuff that makes him want to go into a duo lane with a Support. But that doesn't change the fact that he's melee, and that a melee in the bot lane is just going to get harassed and die. Myself and most high level Support and ADC players agree that if he were to come to bot lane in his current state, we would laugh at him and FB him by 3 minutes. He doesn't have the tools to succeed against any bot lane with an ADC. Taking him Mid with a Support isn't an option, because then you are leaving your bot lane in a 2v1 lane. Taking him Top with TP (to retain Dragon control) or sololane mid could work, but then you are foregoing all of the stuff that makes you want to Duo lane. So the only way I can see Morde work is with a Duo top lane with TP, or as a Mid lane who just is in agreement with the Jungler to gank for him a lot. And neither of these cases seem particularly fun or good for the game, or anywhere close to what was intended.
So I have two questions: While Skarners new passive gives him great control over his own jungle, why give him a passive that inclines him to invade at all stages of the game, and then nerf his means to do so? The risk he has to take is disproportionate to the reward he gets from it.
And with Morde, I don't think that this passive shield alone will be enough to help him survive the bot lane against a real Support/ADC. Do you disagree?
