Reasons to revert Quinn

Kog'Maw revert rationale.

Our goal for the Marskman update was to create strategic identities**(1) for them outside of ‘who does the most damage’. What does each marksman do that their classmates don’t? Kog’Maw already had an answer to that question: be the glass cannon(2), demanding an entire team’s resources to support. So rather than create a distinct identity, we took a different approach: sharpen the one he already had(3)**. If ‘glass cannon’ was cool, could we push things further and make a ‘glass turret’?

10 months and 5 attacks per second later, how did that shake out? Well, Kog’s gameplay has actually moved away from the niche he previously filled**(4). Transforming into an immobile turret is certainly unique, but it creates a ‘feast or famine’ situation. Kog can’t move between attacks in the late game, so either he mows down everyone in range, or enemies walk to safety since Kog can't keep pace. Compared to the consistent payoffs of old-school ‘Jugger-Maw’ comps, playing with today’s Kog’Maw feels too hit-or-miss(5)**.

As an aside, new Kog's created some warping effects on the items system**(6)**. Specifically, on-hit items (Rageblade, Wit’s End, even Skirmisher’s Sabre) are balanced with the attack speed cap in mind, and Kog'Maw's pushing the strength of these effects past their designs. This puts heavy restrictions on the item system, all to support a single champ.

All said, we’re left with two choices - continue to make concessions toward Kog’Maw’s ‘glass turret’ ideal, or hit the reset switch to a stabler (though still imperfect) Kog**(7). The updated kit's moved too far from what made Kog’Maw special(8)**, so we opted for the latter. This transition may be choppy, as many of League’s underlying systems have changed since Kog'Maw's update, but we’ll be monitoring how he readjusts and make any changes necessary to support him(8).

1. Quinn already had a strategic identity. She was THE marksmen you took when you wanted to kill other marksmen and is tied with Vayne for best dueling). Quinn or her own with her blind, CC and gap closer all tie to "Hey I'm coming to kill that person with the gun and I'm gonna be at an advantage while doing so because of my moves". Valor was just an extension of this and gave Quinn the ability to get to the backline because she wasn't that good at killing frontliners (abilities aren't based around dealing damage/only damage steroid is attack speed/shorter range). She was already different from other marksmen who were based on "who does the most damage" in her blind, vault and tag team.

2. What does each marksman do that their classmates don't? Quinn already had an answer to that question: be the marksmen killer.

3. Riot's thing with Quinn was that "hey she has some pretty good mobility with Valor so let's amp that up. However they screwed up because Valor is a significant part of Quinn's kit that defines the duo but they removed Valor completely and only focused on mobility. Moving fast was one thing for Quinn but just moving fast wasn't why you picked Quinn. Just moving fast isn't why you pick ANY champion (unless you just like running around). JUST MOVINGFAST IS FUCKING BORING. HER NEW ULTIMATE SUCKS.

4. Kog'Maw still had the same niche, he kited less sure but still was immobile and still did a ton of damage. I think Riot didn't revert Kog'Maw because of his niche changing but because of how he was busted when successful. His changes were mostly due to feast or famine. Quinn too was also feast or famine. I have said many times that a Quinn that isn't ahead is as good as being behind. Rito's reasoning for reverting Kog'Maw was that it was busted and unhealthy. Quinn after the rework was also busted and unhealthy. I've said this as well many times but "fly in at mach 7 with point click burst and be back in lane before wave reaches tower". UNHEALTHY.

5. Playing today's Quinn doesn't even feel like I'm playing Quinn. It feels like I'm playing half a champion. Her new ultimate isn't fun, isn't strategic, isn't healthy and doesn't feel rewarding to use. In layman's terms it's just a teleport on a short CD that takes extra time to channel.

6. We've all read about "ADCs ABUSING lethality and ruining it for everyone" and this was the same for Quinn. Quinn would just build full lethality and it removed so much skill from her play patterns. Fly-by, E Q auto ONE SHOT. Cancerous to play against, doesn't feel rewarding, doesn't feel skillful. However Riot went with changing lethality items instead of the ADCs that made great use of lethality. I imagine if Quinn was the only one that was abusing it they would have reverted her... Lethality in comparison to on-hits have way less usage in game. Very few champions use on-hit builds regularly while lethality builds are used a lot on many different champions.

7. Old Quinn was imperfect as well and actually a bit less stable than the current Quinn but was way more healthy.

8. Riot has changed Quinn by nerfing lethality and removing away damage from abilities for more A/S on heightened senses so she'd be force to auto attack more. Quinn's updated kit has moved too far from what made her special. They've decided to keep on making concessions towards current Quinn and it's completely stupid.