The most "healthy" assassin?
Riot recently released a podcast on the state of the game, and in it they mentioned the upcoming assassin update. If you didn't see it, you can find it here: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/state-game-meddler-zirene-and-more . In this podcast, they were talking about ways that assassins can be useful to teams without being so oppressive. Currently, if an assassin doesn't kill an enemy then they are useless, and if they do kill an enemy then the enemy they killed is aggravated because they couldn't do anything about it. Think 
for example. Riot doesn't like the way this plays out, so they are looking at other things for assassins to be able to do to be useful to a team. Now, they said that one of the things that an assassin needs is counterplay. I absolutely agree with this statement, being blown up without anything you could have done is aggravating to say the least. What I don't agree with is that they listed 
as the "healthiest" assassin. He has counterplay ability and enemies have the ability to counterplay him, he can kill enemies but isn't guaranteed if he messes up. However, I don't see what else he brings to the table besides killing people. It doesn't seem to fit the idea of "other things an assassin can do besides kill people."
In my opinion, the healthiest assassin is actually 
. I know, she's pretty weak right now and difficult to balance. However, I think that she is still the healthiest. First things first: she can kill people. An out of position ADC can be killed pretty easily by her. However, she isn't guaranteed the kill if she messes up (uses her w early, gets collapsed on by the enemy team). To me, that seems to fit the bill on what Riot wants assassins to be doing. Killing but only if they do it right. BUT she does more than that. Her passive applies pressure unlike any other character in the game. A good Eve can make every enemy play a little safer while not doing anything at all. The THREAT that she might be in the lane, right next to her laner and you can't even see her is just as great as the actuality of her being there. To me, this fits the bill of the second thing that Riot wants from assassins: more than just a way to delete an enemy carry.
Now, I'm not saying that Eve is perfect the way that she is. Her inability to "assassinate" enemies compared to assassins like Talon leaves something to be desired when playing her. Her inability to get out of the fight after she's killed her target is kind of an issue late game. However. I think the upcoming assassin update might be the perfect time to fix these issues. A couple of ideas that I've had are an ability which immediately drops her invisible, with a grace period where nearby enemies don't reveal her (think 
ult), or maybe an ability which can drop a marker under her for her to recall to within the next 5(?) seconds (like 
w without the dash). These would give her a little more safety to play assassin without having to build tanky like she does now.
To wrap up this long rant, two things. Number 1: Riot, Zed isn't a bad benchmark of a healthy assassin, but Eve is also a great one too! Give her some thought when coming up with new things for them! And number 2: what ideas do you guys have for making Eve a little better without making her blatantly broken? What thoughts do you have about Eve being a healthy assassin?
only one with a reasonable amount of counterplay
imo. They conditionally deal good damage, but don't have ridiculous safety if they do. Their counterplay is reasonable and when I die to them i don't feel like there was nothing i could do. If i die to them it feels like my fault which isn't something i can say with many other assassins.
imo as an assassin is prolly the most healthy and balanced of them all. his kit has clear weakness and clear ways for counterplay, this is for assassin ekko guys. 
. My man's been off the free rotation for longer than I've been playing.
is the healthiest.
or at least she was before the most recent pounce nerf...
i like how she could spear you but unless she pounced into to melee range (where it is really unsafe for her to be) she really couldn't do much
and unlike EVERY other assassin she needs to land a skillshot to go in, this gives her more counterplay than ANY other assasin. becuase unless she is CRAZY fed, she cant fight you unless hunted is proced on you.. and she also wont be able to do a long range pounce on you unless hunted is proced.
and BEFORE the most recent nerf she was able to get in and get out and while she would take a lot of damage most of the time she would normally only be in melee range for 1- 2 second unless some sort of CC hit her. (which would mean instant dead kitty)
to make up for those extra 2 second your stuck in melee range without an escape, use the active every time and hope to god your team engages after you so u can get out when its over. which isn't HORRIBLE but really isn't ideal
or 2-3 ocean and a blue drags so you CAN throw spears all day, and this still is a pretty unhealthy style to play nid in.
It's no fun to play against.. and i can certainly say it is MUCH less fun to play AS, which i why i opt for the 
rocket jump who always has the reset. but if it didn't then no one would ever evolve it, so idk.
.
I know he usually isn't commonly seen as asassin, but for me he has playpatterns(if built as assasin and not bas bruiser) that imo are how a healthy assasin should work.
He has decent burst on e+aa+q, but only enough for ~40-60% unless **really **fed, he has a disengage and can play a hit n run game, he has some dps to finish of targets that survive his combo with little hp, but no enough to really shred them 100-0, he can improve his target selection at the cost of his disengage. He has enough survivabillity to not randomly die to aoe in a teamfight even if built agressive, but not enough to withstand focus.
The only issue is that his ult offers a bit much all-in potential if he only gets the slightest lead vs squishys, often killing befor the knockup wears off, offering next to no counterplay.
If the damage of his ult was more backloaded(less starting damage, but damage increases per tick), assasin wu would be a great example for a healthy assasin.
The Hit n run allows to have options even if you can't just straight kill a target, and the shred on q+his ult offer enough utillity to help the team even if behind.
