Ryze and Azir are the biggest mistakes Riot has ever made

HateDaddy··2 votes·1,866 views

Ryze - because he's been reworked about 52 times and the same common concept that riot refuses to let gonof is what breaks him: mana ratios. Mana items are easy to buy and give him ridiculous power spikes. Buying tear and catalyst shouldn't be a huge power spike. Ryze has literally never been balanced because of this. If you gave him AP ratios that weren't terrible and removed his mana ratios, you could turn him into a less frustrating champion to play against because he'd take time to scale, not buy flat mana, hit 6 and combo you repeatedly while vamping back and perma snaring you.

Azir: because there's no counterplay at all. Literally the only champion in the game that completely lacks counterplay and has an answer to everything you throw at him. He is worse than Lee Sin, Yasuo and Zed when it comes to having to play on his terms, he dictates every course of action. The only upside is he's one of the hardest champions to play, so most people suck on him. But if you master this champion; he is free wins. And he has too much power in his kit.

These opinions might be unpopular but all you have to do is look at competitive play to see how these two champions have always gone through pick/ban or trash tier phases and that's telling you their kits can never be balanced.

Even frustrating champions to face like Zed, Yasuo and Tahm have weaknesses. They're all melee for starters. Zed doesn't teamfight well, Yasuo can be easily focused (but knock up comps need to be deleted or made significantly weaker, that's my gripe with Yasuo) and tahm doesn't do much on his own. These champions carry games by being huge lane bullies and the best scaling champions in the game and that shouldn't be.

So Ryze is slated for yet another rework, can Azir be reworked as well?

8 Comments

Drunk Rummate4 votes

{quoted} Even frustrating champions to face like Zed, Yasuo and Tahm have weaknesses. They're all melee for starters. Zed doesn't teamfight well, Yasuo can be easily focused (but knock up comps need to be deleted or made significantly weaker, that's my gripe with Yasuo) and tahm doesn't do much on his own. These champions carry games by being huge lane bullies and the best scaling champions in the game and that shouldn't be.

Azir's major weaknesses:

  • Being a zone control mage limits him to teamfighting and turtling in his lane for the majority of the game. He can't deal with split pushers well, which is why you're seeing RYZE played against him (because Ryze can split push for a 1:3:1 setup, and is extremely strong with teleport due to it's initiation potential).

  • Weak to poke. He has low/no sustain and relies on potions and doran ring regeneration to keep himself topped off on health and mana respectively. Champions like Xerath who have tons of poke and built in sustain, or VelKoz who have low mana costs, great poke, and a strong all in from high range are extremely powerful against Azir.

Advice: Stop picking assassins like Zed and Leblanc into Azir, then complaining when you can't snowball and win the game before 30 minutes. He has a kit that's designed to stall games out versus low waveclear assassins. Champions like Varus, Jayce, Xerath, and Ziggs on the other hand, perform extremely well against Azir during all stages of the game. Alternatively, adapt a split pushing playstyle and take side towers and pull his team apart, weakening his teamfight.

Ryze's major weaknesses:

  • Extremely predictable burst combo that requires him to be stationary for a long time. This makes him very susceptible to CC. He also has low range, meaning for him to deal damage you will always have an opportunity to hit him back.

  • Heavily restricted to making plays based on his summoner cooldowns. He's very easy to kite when he can't just flash on top of you, or homeguard in with teleport.

Advice: Anything with a reasonable amount of CC will cripple Ryze's damage output in a fight. It's very easy to land CC on him since he is immobile most of the time. A champion like Ahri who can stay at arms length most of the time, and them charm him if he flashes in for a combo is fantastic. Alternatively, pick something with longer range and keep away from him completely. Or pick something that he doesn't want to target, and CC the living crap out of him (Leona style).

Rabblerouser1 votes

Great advice. Especially on the Azir.

Play Azir. Get to know him. Get to know his weaknesses. Where he falls behind... not just in the micro play but in the macro game as well, as mentioned with the splitpushers.

His soldiers, which he relies heavily on, require a certain degree of commitment. When an Azir makes a bad play, he's punished moreso than others because of his squishiness, lack of mobility, and his commitment to the play he was going to make.

5050BS1 votes

No Lee, Zed, Graves Reworked

Those are the biggest mistakes

That and removing SoloQ(tm)

HateDaddy1 votes

{quoted}

No Lee, Zed, Graves Reworked

Lee isn't even good right now and has rarely ever been that great in competitive play. He has shaped the jungle in the past but he's had a lot taken away from him (rightfully so). Azir late game is literally auto win. That's not true for any of those champs.

That and removing SoloQ

I was referring to balance but yeah solo queue needs to come back

Lugg1 votes

Ryze has always been a trainwreck. He is either super OP or completely worthless. I don't mind him being a late game hyper carry if he has a really weak early game.

Azir needs a few minor nerfs/tweaks and he would be a great champ.

RavenKouhai1 votes

Yorick

fullbacks631 votes

Azir is a get in his face type of champion, he doesnt need a rework. You bait out his E, or what ever shifts the soldiers and have at him in his face.

Mawootad1 votes

The mana ratios aren't what breaks Ryze, it's his astronomical damage output at close ranges.

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