Snowballing Assassins

Mons·Feb 2, 2017·3 votes·500 views

I question the very concept of a snowballing assassin.

Let's ask who is having fun here?

You have 3 game states: Assassin snowballing, middle ground, assassin limping In the first case, the enemy team isn't likely to be having fun. I personally don't like the game state where it is hard to even leave your base as a non-tank. The second is normal game, ebb and flow. The third isn't very fun for the assassin character, when they can't do what the central concept of an assassin character.

it seems that good game design will provide fun for the maximum number of players by having most assassins not-snowballing, trying to keep the assassin at the place where they can do what they are designed to do, but only when things go their way.

Discuss.

9 Comments

Edge of DaybreakFeb 2, 20171 votes

I disagree with your assessment of the middle ground. If the assassin isn't fed and you have a mage mid then the assassin has lost as you most likely outscale them. Assassins dont have much choice due to the feast or famine nature. They have to get fed as a requirement. Riot claimed the rework would change that but nope not a single thing was done about it.

LordGeovanniFeb 3, 20171 votes

riot has been giving assassins far too many tools to deal with being feast or famine which is contrary to the assassin archetype

Edge of DaybreakFeb 5, 20171 votes

{quoted}

riot has been giving assassins far too many tools to deal with being feast or famine which is contrary to the assassin archetype

What tools would that be? Khazix and Leblanc who riot is calling a mage now are really the only ones with something to do if they aren't far ahead of you. Fizz at best gets to knock up a carry then hope for the best because if he doesn't 100-0 you he dies. In most cases for the other assassins you are either so far ahead you destroy the opponent with little they can do or you aren't and a simple CC, exhaust or even the adc lifesteal tanking you all lead to your failure. It was this way before the rework and it is definitely still this way after the rework.

LordGeovanniFeb 5, 20171 votes

So assuming the assassin isnt trying to burst some one in 1.5 seconds, we gonna ignore that fizz has his ultimate that forces everyone to stop what they are doing and to walk out of it and too bad if you and the person that got hit happen to try to walk the same way. That in it self is crowd control and still has massive damage on it. Any one else on your team can clean up from it you dont HAVE to be the one to confirm the kill. Le blanc with her roots again even if they dont instakill have massive damage on them. Her E cooldown has no relevance as a cooldown later in the game. Magic resist is the worst defense path to build. etc for other assassins with tools to get around and be mobile being chased is also utility that some of them have.

Edge of DaybreakFeb 5, 20171 votes

I'm gonna ignore the leblanc part because I said except Leblanc and Khazix. Almost every assassin has the exact same tools from before the rework when riot labeled them as feast or famine. Riot did not change that whatsoever or in most cases nerfed those tools. Fizz for instance just has a slightly larger ult if he hits it from range but considering your team has a frontline as it should they can either catch it or the backline just moves out of the way. If he hits you from close range the damage is almost cut in half and the 2 second wait means he is going to get CC'ed and melted anyway. Having 100% of his power being locked behind a skillshot is extremely feast or famine since he cannot reliably kill you if he does not his ult.

You're ignoring a hell of a lot more than I am when it comes to the assassin rework in it's entirety.

LordGeovanniFeb 6, 20171 votes

they had the tools to do more than just insta kill a target before the rework as they do now but people only value the instakill. fizz has a massive slow that also dodges everything with high damage on it this is why bruiser fizz was a thing mobility on his q too both are tools where you go in make the enemy use alot to try to kill you and you run them around without being able to kill you wasteing resorces and if they ignore you from the beginning you just delete one of their champions. throwing max range fizz ult causes the entire enemy team to stop what every they are doing and run away even if it lands on a front liner he is slowed and your team can easily pick him off because of how far the enemy has to run. not to mention you can just stand slightly off to the side and completely throw behind the enemy front line on to their carries. low cooldown high damage spells that also have utility on them most all the assassins have this in common except katarina who has high cooldown spells but getting kills or assists completely reset them

Craft ZeppelinFeb 2, 20171 votes

As long as this game sticks on the concept of having adcs. Assassins always thrive in some manner and will make the game healthy and regulated. And as far as I can see this season had more complaints on adcs and tanks rather than assassins, while assassins are doing just their general routine. Besides, the assassin update made sure whom makes the assassin snowballs, is a person who can't learn from mistakes. they deserve to lose.

...well of course rengar is excluded though.

AptestFeb 3, 20171 votes

The problem starts with the core concept of an assassin as a champion dedicated to assassination.

The assassin is dedicated to being good at reaching to and killing targets. because he is dedicated to those goals, he must be also good at them. because he is dedicated to this, he has to be able to provide this consistently because that is the core game of the character.

the problem is that the person being assassinated is being removed from the game. essentially you have 1 player who is specialized at having a second player not play.

if there is a character on the other team that is consistently very good at making you not play, that sucks. since the game has to provide game for you regardless of enemy team composition, a "no game for you" champion can not exist in a well designed game.

tl;dr: the entire concept of an assassin class as a class dedicated to killing priority targets reliably should not exist.