A possible fix to make Diana competitive again
Brought up her issues here: Identifying Diana's Kit's Problems
Thanks to a lot of good thinkers and a Mod that detailed Diana in a different light, here is what I have.
You can read through the detail but if you dont want to I'll have a recap of everything I think should be changed, BUT please dont make comments if for or against unless you read the reasoning. I will reply to your comment only "You didn't read it" if you do.
Why Diana was broke to start
So Diana was designed as a fighter in mind. As a mage though and due to the game at the time, she was balanced as a mid mage. As, I see it to make her effective in a lane that consisted of many ranged champions and a very short lane she needed to be able to kill champs quickly. Drawn out fights would do nothing for her because the opponent could easily get back to tower in the time it would take to kill them. This made it very important for good base and ratios that would allow for successful kills in a full rotation. And it is this mind set, to what I know, is why Diana is the way she is.
What needs to be done
Diana was designed as a fighter in mind. Let's put her in top and balance her for that. So how does a fighters kit look.
Riven
Q does 95 + AD, can be cast 3 time in quick succession
Particularly look at that the base is half Diana's Q. Though the total possible damage is near 300, it is important to understand this damage is done over a couple seconds rather than Diana's instant damage.
So from Riven's example, Diana's Q, and probably her shield too, should be doing less damage but should be fairly spammable too. This alone would make a Diana building full AP unable to 100-0 a person until, maybe, full build.
Fiora backs this idea too.
Most Fighters also have Auto boosting effects. Diana only has 2 weak ones
A fair speed steroid for 3 autos after/refreshed on spell cast... Not a bad, 50% at rank one to 90% rank 5, but on a skill that is maxed last due to the lack of usefulness, being her pull/slow. (in my experience, only about 5% of kills are thanks to her E, kills that lacking anymore damage due to maxing E even second wouldnt of happened)
3 hit bonus... This one of the hardest 3 hit proc'able in the game. She builds no AS, at the moment, to help it, no ability helps stack it (no ability is triggered on auto), and, as stated above, her only other auto steroid has to be maxed last to maintain damage.
So the big take away from this is her AS steroid first needs to be on an ability that can be maxed earlier in the game without sacrificing damage or survivability, and to be fair she needs a new E. (maybe an on auto weak damaging AOE slow that pulls people nearby to the target hit, auto reset)
Also her 3 hit needs more ways to stack (Ekko can Q and E, Vi can Q, E, and R). So having more ways to do so will help
Her ult
As is isn't very useful as it is only about as strong as a basic mage ability with a longer cool down. Though, yes, it can be instantly refreshed if the target was hit by Q recently, but most did argue it just doesn't feel good to use as is. Also, it is just a pure dash and damage, so not a lot to tweak if needing balanced.
Either have more abilities apply moonlight or get rid of the moonlight and make the ult more impressive. Reducing the damage on it probably wouldn't be a bad idea either Just had a quick thought, Upon landing on a target knocks all other enemies away (like Xin's ult) creating a large moon emblem on the floor (just for looks).
Finally, extra power
With all of this her damage output will be more consistent than explosive and therefore would need some extra power
Particularly, improving her W's shielding (one even suggesting it should have an HP ratio too) and maybe adding a shield to her ult. . . . . Recap
P: Stacks on abilities (kind of like Ekko and Vi)(One stack per spell, even if multiple are hit). Q: Less damage, but less CD too. Consistent spam damage rather than insta nuke W: Less damage, larger shield, maybe apply moonlight. Consistent damage, more survivability for long fights E: Just needs something new. Maybe a similar on hit but with a little bonus damage too and auto resets (if not apparent)(Moonlight maybe). R: Less damage and more moonlight possibilities (Yasuo like jumping), or remove moonlight and make it more ult like (like a Xin knock back on landing).
By reworking it like this, it should be easier to balance and she should be more fun to play with plenty of play and counter play options. Also she would focus as a top, mid, or jungle lane fighter building AP, HP, and AS for more Melee split push or AP, CD, and mana for spam caster.
