Mid season mage ultimate review (Malzahar, Brand, Velkoz, Anivia, Fiddle and Viktor)

Ok guys, so it has been few days since we could explore these new mage changes and so far, it did not receive much of a praise. So let us analyze some champs and how will these changes influence them. For our analysis, we will use statistics from http://www.leagueofgraphs.com for players in gold and above so you can check it out yourself. We are going to desribe just the champs we have played a lot, a lot of games in order to avoid misunderstanding.

We will look at the important aspects like overall enjoyment, predict win rates, popularity on mid and possible new roles.

Let us start with Malzahar. (enjoyment +, win rates = , pop mid +, new roles +, )

This guy seems to be really strong and not only in midlane. We have to start with his passive, which is actually pretty damn amazing and strong (like builded Banshee), so no more Malphite or Maokai engages. It is also going to help him on mid lane especially against assasin, whose damage output will be significantly lower. His Q is now weaker, but you can spam it more frequently, which is nice. The main strength may come from his W, and its stacking, especially in the jungle. How many junglers can solo drake at 4:00? Just try it yourself: Gromp, Blue, Red and Drake from Blue side. Pretty damn amazing. His E and R also received sligth changes, that may cause him to become nigthmare for enemy tanks stacking health, Mundo wont go where he pleases. Overally, he deals extremely well with meele champs because of his W stacking, truly a nigthmare, and will probably become a strong pick in next weeks. Top, Mid, Jungle and even Support can be an option. So keep an eye on him as more players will probably learn him now (just 4.3% popularity). Already having 3rd highest win rates on mid 53.2%, may become the next big thing.

Let us continue with Brand (enjoyment =, win rates =, pop mid -, new roles +).

Brand seems to be loosing his identity as a midlaner. He may have received reasonable changes, especially the stun at Q for two seconds was a nigthmare, but overally, he may have been strucked to hard. He will now have to rely on his passive much more, which will make his laning phase extremely hard and mana costly. Already not the best laner, will struggle a lot against his natural counters and his win rates at mid (15th overall, 50.8%) will almost surely decrease. But, there is one big but. He may find new roles, where he can rely on his kit much more, especially Jungle Brand and even Support may become the next viable option, to cover his poor laning phase damage or to highlight his strength in 2v2, 3v3 or 4v4 skirmishes and teamfights. So overally, his win rates may stay the same if players could adapt to his new kit, but it wont be on mid, that is for sure.

Next is Velkoz (enjoyment +, win rates =, pop mid =, new roles =)

Velkoz changes are actually nice so we are giving thumbs up for his designer, unlike for Victors designer, but we will get to that later. To sum these changes up, True damage everywhere. When Riot said that they want to create midlaners who would be a good option in some cases, Velkoz is the finest example as stacking magic resist may not work the desired way. This guy will always hate his dashing counterparts, which Yasuo surely approves, so there will be always a way to somehow out maneveur him, or get outplayed by him. Yes, writer is a mathematician so he may have sympathies for Velkoz, but we are trying to stay objective. Balanced magic damage reduction for true damage overall. High win rates (4 overall, 52.8%) will probably drop a little bit in the beginning but will slightly rise afterwards. Spazie will probably enjoy his new Velkoz support as well as we did.

Ok, ** Anivia **(enjoyment - - -, win rates -, pop mid -, new roles =)

Clumsy, Anivia is simply becoming more clumsy in the meta that does not suit her at all. The reduction of her damage from Q, stun duration improves although, and especially the new R thing (let us just wait 5 seconds for its maximum effect, players will gladly enter the storm and who needs mana anyway) are really not enjoyable for diehard fans of a bird is word, but it may improve with the given time. However, the time may not be given to the already hard to play champion. Win rates of 52.8% will surely not stay the same over the time, as she will now need even more time to scale nicely into the late game and the potential to outplay her will definetely rise. People in solo queue are unfortunately not very objective focused so it may be time for Anivia to dissapear from Rift. The enjoyment from playing her was nowhere found in the recent games and by denying blue buff, you make her laning phase non-existing (focus farm and suffer from aggressive enemy or focus him and learn how to farm with aa). We really mis the joy guys, that was not cool, not cool at all.

Fiddlestick (enjoyment +, win rates =, pop mid =, new roles =)

For some people Fiddle is mostly a jungler, but it can be a viable pick on the mid lane as well in situational matchups. We will explore both possibilities. His new passive gives him movement speed when staying still which should help him in the jungle, especially speed the things up. His nerf on range of his fear Q will however make it even more risky and if we considere that many champs have some sort of crowd control, Fiddle may suffer. However, his E bounce, which is now increased to 7 bounces can make it easier because of the silence it provides, both in teamfights and on lane to farm. Overall, the changes that were introduced suit the Fiddlestick character more than previous kit. Some people may try him on mid, but he will never have the popularity when there are multiple vision items available for all, because if he wont surprise you, he is useless. You wont see him a lot on the Rift, that is for sure. 2.6% popilatity for a jungler?

Viktor (....)

To sum these changes up, RIP Victor. There have been many articles on this website, that were directed to this changes and we have to agree with those negative ones. Is there anyone who will pick up Victor now and will put time to master him? Yes, there will be, but it wont be anyone from platinum, gold, silver or bronze. It seems like that Riot does not care much about these people, because well, what do they now, but it is them, who make the core of the playing community. Just read this: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/NiBr0dRA-viktors-patch-69-entry-shows-that-whoever-worked-on-vik-has-no-idea-who-he-truly-is- and give that man a damn cookie. Already having extremely low win rates 47.0%, is slowly becoming a laughing stock. Shen remembers.