The upcoming Heimerdinger nerf is a bad one and here is why

I have had my fair share of Heimerdinger games (over 700) and right now he might be a bit too healthy for the game. Where I couldn't get any higher than Gold 3 in previous seasons, right now I am steaming towards Platinum at a near 70% winrate without much of an effort to be honest.

However, the upcoming Heimerdinger nerf I fear is going to be the beginning of the end. Here is the pruposed change: Heimerdinger H-28G Evolution Turret (Q) H-28Q Apex Turret (Upgrade!!! empowered turret) beam damage lowered from 200/270/340 to 100/140/180

So his ultimate turrets base dmg is getting a real blow, having its damage at the highest level dropped down to a point where it's lower than it is right now at the lowest level. This might seem fair, because he still has a good AP ratio and the ult turret will still do proportional damage, but this nerf seems to be meant to nerf Heimer his kill potential throughout the game.

Here is the problem, Heimerdinger isn't a champion that's used to having a lot of kills anyway and he can get his gold from farming. His core purpose is pressure or deffense and sustained damage. Heimerdinger above all others is a very tactial champion.

The nerf on this ability might make some difference in teamfights where everyone decides to go and take a shower under his turret(s), however most of the time this damage will be soaked somehow or his turret will simply be destroyed (which can also be smited). Now at Gold and below it might be so that people are not skilled enough to recognize the damage a Heimerdinger can do and they will do terrible engages and end up giving Heimer a double kill or whatever. But that's the point of this champion, he is supposed to be this way and he is already a lot easier to kill with the current highdamage meta. For instance an Udyr or Jarvan can now run in at level 2 and pretty much kill him if he hasn't got his E yet, provided their laner helps them ofcourse. At a higher elo let's say Gold 2+ people will stop doing these things and respect the Donger. Making this nerf pretty bad for Heimy, He's getting more vulnerable, but on the other hand he can simply defend until the late game.

And this is where the real problem is for people playing against Heimerdinger. His winrate is at it's peak at the very latest of late games, where every team fight can be a loss or a win and where team fights tend to be a lot more coordinated. This is where Heimer is currently in the top 3 winrates (correct me if I am wrong, but stats are currently unavailable). The reason he is at such an advantage is not because the so called mighty ult turret of his, but because of his ability to pressure as well as defend and stall losses and turn them into wins, flipping a lost teamfight into a winning game when your team revives and the enemy mistakenly overstayed.

Then we have the mightiest weapon in Heimerdinger's arsenal. His ult E. His bouncing grenade. This thing is the real game changer, because you can stay out of harms way, look for a good angle and toss it on top of whoever is in front of the enemy team and if it's not the tank, they're pretty much dead, because your team will jump on top of them and even if the enemy team responds and start a full on teamfight, you've got your turrets to back your team up. Not only is his E a great offensive item, but it can greatly stall enemies from getting to you or your teammates, and in combination with , you can slow the **** out of the enemy 24/7. Apart from this he has insane objectieve and siege control over baron and drake and ofcourse the enemy turrets.

What I am afraid of is that this nerf on his ult turret will prove to be insufficient resulting in a double nerf following next patch, detroying him completely and having his time to shine be diminished to nothing more than a fart in the wind.

So what can Riot do to balance Heimerdinger the way it should be done?

• Reduce his blast radius on his bouncing grenade (Ult E)
• Reduce of remove the stun on his bouncing grenade
• Disable his ability to set turrets in the river (except in the bushes)
• Increase the cooldown on his turrets, but also make them a bit more durable
• Channel time for setting up his turret, again making his turrets a bit stronger though, but this would make it less easy for him to turtle
• Make his Bouncing Grenade channeled or a cast delay.

These are just simple ideas, but nerfing his ult turret seems like the worst of nerfs right now, leading to more nerfs in the very near future.