Let's talk airborne - with suggestions
Yes, the weekly airborne thread. I don't think I've weighed in on the issue, so here's my 2 cents.
Right now, airborne is one of those effects that has very little counterplay. You can't pick or build something to counter it, which means that once you're in the game, your only way of dealing with these effects is to avoid being hit.
Yasuo is the biggest culprit, being able to extend the duration of airborne effects with his ult, thus disabling you form doing... well, anything. Yasuo isn't in a great place right now, fortunately, but the problem remains.
What is the counterplay to Vi's ult-Q combo, a Zac flying over the wall and bouncing around, a Lee Sin jumping at you, a Malphite ult? Never going anywhere without first warding the whole map? Suppression can be QSS'd, you can use abilities while blinded, and most forms of cc can be cleansed to taken off with Mikael's Crucible. But not airborne. Nothing cleanses airborne.
There are effects in the game to counter, or at least mitigate many forms of cc. Boots of Swiftness reduces the effects of slows, Tenacity reduces its duration. Mikael's Crucible removes plenty of cc, as does QSS. Armor protects against physical damage, health against true damage, Randuin's and Frozen Heart against autoattackers...
So what protects from getting knocked airborne? Banshee's Veil? Zhonya's Hourglass? Veil is popped by any ability, which means that it only protects against initiation. Hourglass? Using Hourglass in time to protect you from an airborne ability still leaves you stuck in place, letting the enemy potentially wreck you while your team retreated. I don't think these are good options in the game.
--
Basic suggestions:
Tenacity. Just make tenacity apply to airborne too. It might end up looking silly for knockup animations to run faster than before, but it's an option. Champs with Tenacity can walk out of a Galio ult. Why not a Yasuo ult too?
Masteries. A deep defense- or utility-tree mastery to reduce damage while airborne. Either a tank or a support option, not something a carry would likely get.
--
Item suggestions:
Heavy boots. Lower speed than other tier 2 boots, but much tankier (against critical strikes or abilities specifically, to differentiate them from the aa% reduction on Tabi) and immune to airborne effects.
Really heavy armor. Or anything heavy, really. Something that deals AoE damage around where you land. Probably builds out of Giant's Belt, because giants are big and presumably heavy. This could also be a passive for a new, anti-airborne champ.
Winged helmet. LoL doesn't seem to have helmets yet. Spellshield-like effect that absorbs one airborne cc, like a Banshee's Veil, except specific to airborne effects. Should be an option on typical mids, so possibly MR or Spell Vamp as other stats. Could replace the single Ruby Crystal in the Veil recipe. Should be prohibitively expensive and such a suboptimal early item that it's not a first build in every Yasuo lane.
Smoke coat. Getting hit by airborne cc quickly creates a brief smokescreen around you that prevents enemy champions further away from seeing you (like a bush), though you should still be detected for Yasuo's ult and similar abilities. The effect could also be applied to Boots of Swiftness as a second passive. (the visual of a Yasuo tornado flying through a whole team and popping their smoke coats in a series of poofs is fun to imagine)
(the latter two could be components of semi-powerful AD or AP items)
Each offers its own strengths and drawbacks:
The heavy boots come at the cost of movespeed. No synergy with other anti-airborne items. Tank option.
The really heavy armor does nothing to enemies that kick you away, or who otherwise aren't near you when you land. Nami and Lee are safe from its effect. Yasuo, Vi, and Zac aren't. Tank option.
The winged helmet only absorbs one airborne cc before going on cooldown, and doesn't seem like an item that's particularly big and powerful offensively.
Smoke coat likewise doesn't seem like an expensive or offensive item. As an additional effect on Swifts, it's an inconvenience for the enemy, but not something that would prevent them from killing you if they caught you.
That's four (possibly five) item concepts with effects that provide a build option to mitigate or counter airborne effects. What's the current answer to a Yasuo comp? I don't know. But something in this post could become an answer to it.
Tangentially:
For the sake of clarity, I suggest you allow all items to be used while suppressed (incl. Zhonya's), and that Mikael's would clear all cc except airborne. I'm not sure I like the implications of such a change, but it would make things a lot more intuitive.
