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R.I.P Control Mages

Kiwi Lemonade·7/17/2019, 12:37:11 AM·47 votes·12,882 views

With the absurd amount of Assassin and Basically-No-Cooldown fighter types, reworks, and new champions now in the game, champions like Syndra, Ziggs, Veigar, Lissandra, Viktor, etc. have become extremely weak, barely seen, and even if you can manage a win - you feel exhausted doing it.

They have been weak for quite a while now, with several problems about mages and their counterparts never addressed...

  • They're inherently late-gamey, most of their time is controlling creeps waves and battlefields and zone-of-controls than raw dogging their enemies under turrets and using a built in low cooldown teleport or dash out to not get punished.
  • Their combos are too weak, hitting someone with your combo-starting stun or lockup and then letting loose your abilities deals next to no damage early and costs near all of your mana, as opposed to the likes of a two-shuriken zed, Akali, or Qiyana now - only after you have 2-3 full items will your damage feel useful and games end so quick now thats not easily done at all, in addition to the fact Assassins and continue to mow down entire teams if fed where mages are still limited by their cooldown times, usually eliminating one opponent at a time unless they can AoE, then having to recharge.
  • Extremely long cooldowns for the above abilities. With most assassins, their cooldowns are innately very very low - you feel like you have to dodge their combo enabling abilities or massively overtuned damage every 4 seconds or die and succeed for minutes, all the while desperately trying to find an opening for your 18 second-CD stun - and then die because they flashed instead.
  • The majority do not have an escape tool, and pushing in your mid lane is extremely risky and has the most number of jungler access points. Most assassins won't worry, they need only Fizz E, or LeBlanc dash and can weave clear just as well now since Riot feels assassins should be able to have access to AoE damage spells instead of accepting that champion archetype should have weaknesses.
  • The only saving grace they have is hourglass, however due to the very short cooldowns on the above assassin abilities, this is not likely to save your life unless a teammate is their to ward them off, ironically hourglass is ten times better for the AP assassins mashing your face in than you. Other mage items cost way too much and do way too little for control mages.
  • While most of the issues I rant are of assassins, even the new juggernaut-style champions such as the like of the new Mordekaiser, Warwick, and more all are constantly being rework to either have dash or gap-closer/pull tool to "keep up" with the meta that is leaving mages high and dry - as well as insane tankiness allowing them to ignore most control mage poke with shields or heals.
  • Lack of creativity, mages don't get reworked, and its been so long since we have had a new Control mage that is actually unique, Swain was a good one, but drown out by the new Pykes, Qiyanas, Neekos, Sylas, Zoes. They all seem edgy and new and cool but its really just Champion can dash (usually more than once), Champion can stun, root, silence, taunt, charm, sleep (pick any three), and then kill you - overloaded kits and overtuned damage every time. The game has been paced by all these new additions, without any signs of slowing down.

_Rest in peace true Mages, may you one day be able to lane again... at least maybe you might end up as a support if you get lucky with quick-fix bandaid buffs to your damage. And Anivia, keep going strong, you are the last of them. _

117 Comments

chipndip17/17/2019, 6:39:39 AM12 votes

Here's everything I don't like about this thread:

  1. "Control mage" isn't a class. The mages you're currently advocating for are largely burst mages, but you also seemed to lump in Swain, a Battle Mage, and Ziggs, an artillery mage, into this mix of burst mages.

1a) The burst mages you lumped together are VASTLY different. Syndra is designed to spike in the mid game and nullify enemy carries from a safe distance. Veigar is a late game champ that's designed to more efficiently nullify anyone as time passes and his ap increases. Lissandra is a utility pick that garners more damage if she can chain her passive on stragglers, but is largely used for her very reliable cc and fight stalling capabilities. Viktor is a late game scaler with more uptime in fights than Veigar, but less single target burst than him. Vastly different roles, but you lump them together and say they do "no damage"...which is bonkers.

1b) Given the fact that you're complaining about burst mages, why are you putting NEEKO on the antagonistic side of your argument? She's a burst mage that has two rounds of hard cc. How does that not fit into your "control mage" category? Not saying you're right in even talking about a sub-class that doesn't exist, but this is literal hypocrisy. On that note, why are you complaining about Zoe, another burst mage? I honestly could go on with this but I digress since there's other shit to go on about.

  1. You seem to not understand why assassins have lower cds and mobility in comparison to mages. Assassins are normally melee champs. Without gap closers, they wouldn't be able to do their job of quickly descending on targets and bursting them. On top of that, they need lower cds because, unlike most mages, they're practically useless unless their whole rotation's up or they're insanely fed. Mages can be useful in a fight through cc. Most assassins don't have strong cc options to prove useful in a fight.

  2. A mage's escape tool is their cc. You don't need a big ass dash when you're already a ranged champ with hard cc.

  3. Mages have plenty of defensive itemization. They can literally build a spell shield, after all. The problem is that people look at 60 magic resist, 10% cdr, and 75 ap and go "...man I have NO defensive options". Not to mention mages have plenty of ap + hp items in the game. If you don't want to use your tools, don't, but stop complaining that you don't have them.

  4. Juggernauts and tanks are designed to deal with mages, especially mid game oriented burst mages that can't burst through people that build defensive stats. You complaining about it just means they're doing their job.

NelsieLisnen7/17/2019, 7:57:01 AM7 votes

There is no coherency in your categorization. Firstly the term control mage/zoner is obsolete since most mages do the same thing, they zone. Syndra and Viktor are a lot stronger than the other picks you mention and they get picked every now and then in competitive. If it wasn't for Azir being the optimal mid mage they would be seen a lot more. Lissandra was a terror up until the spring split after which she was nerfed to the ground, it doesn't have to do with assassins being strong. You are comparing mages, the strongest overall class, with assassins, the weakest/second (?) weakest class in the game. And why not talk about control mages that dominate the game like Lux, Azir, Zilean and Taliyah. The very existence of zoning mages is what makes juggernauts nonexistent in the game. The strength of AP items right now gives mages the best shred in the game and since most juggernauts are reliant on facetanking they just get kited, CC'd and rendered useless by mages in fights. Assassins are the single most obsolete class in the game. There is literally ONE all around viable assassin right now, that is, Akali and that is primarily because of the early clock/hourglass not affecting her so much since she is a skirmishing assassin. The rest do not constitute optimal picks over any good mage in any kind if situation. Let's compare,

Pool of viable Assassins: Akali, Zed (barely and only in theory, hourglass destroys him). Pool of viable Mages: Syndra, Viktor, Zilean, Lux, Azir, Taliyah, Leblanc, Zoe, Neeko, Rumble, Lissandra (albeit very situational), Ryze, Elise, Sylas, Vladimir.

And now that my rant is over, I have to say, I agree with the gist of your post, just not the specific examples. It's bitterly true that some mages have been left to rot in the gutter. Ziggs, Xerath, Annie, Brand, Veigar, Vel'koz are the ones that pop up in my head immediately. And it's sad because if you strip their kits down they are centered around the same idea as those of other viable control mages. It's just that riot doesn't want to deal with refreshing their kits and numbers so that they can compete with the rest of their class. It's a problem of inter-class instability, not a problem of mages being weak as a whole.

thefatlazycat7/17/2019, 1:05:03 AM5 votes

Syndra? Weak? We're talking about the same Syndra, right?

ModKnightsKemplar7/17/2019, 7:23:48 PM4 votes

The counterpoint to your entire argument is safe waveclear.

Pro play has shown how powerful waveclear is. People at low elo don't tend to use it, but you could. If you're playing a "control mage" (whatever that means, see chipndip1's comment) into an assassin, then you shouldn't be able to duel them early. That would be terrible game design. What you can and should do is farm safely with your ranged abilities and autos that they don't have.

pushing in your mid lane is extremely risky

As it should be. If mages had all the tools you wish they had, they wouldn't be mages. If you don't want to farm safely under your tower until you have 2-3 items, then you shouldn't play that style. That's what's required, and the stats show that it's plenty powerful when played properly.

If you have assassin envy, there's an easy fix for that; play assassins.

VonCesaw7/17/2019, 8:11:09 AM3 votes

If it makes their precious assassins irrelevant, they CAN and WILL remove it It's why Lulu was forced to support, Sion was forced to top, mages were forced out of bot, etc

Velasan7/17/2019, 1:10:24 AM2 votes

Thing is that it is temperamental from game to game. For example, your basic immobile mid burst mage doesn't have access to magic pen except from items (only rune that gives it would be impact that requires you to have a dash or invisibility).

So, like you said they are weaker than normal early and there's more time for assassins to beat up on them (particularly when they rush Hexdrinker or require you to build way more armor just to deal with the Lethality on a Serrated Dirk). Then in mid game bruisers get their spear of Shojins and Cleavers and start popping off.

However, if they don't get beaten down too hard early, immobile mages have the range and aoe damage to provide a lot to team fights. Hinging a lot of their effectiveness on rotating as a team to an objective to fight over. At that point they are good though. A mid game Syndra can do some monster work in a team fight, as can Viktor and many more of those mages.

There does need to be a fix though for all the magic only shields. Should be able to get both kinds AD and magic damage shields.

Nea1047/17/2019, 8:05:27 PM2 votes

Dashes. Dashes for everyone.

Hypermobility is a dangerous feature, and of course the incompetent people over there made a disaster about it. Fla$hy plays, btw.