Helping Warwick Achieve Balance and Consistency

EDIT: 12/6/17 - Patch 7.24 _ With the changes to a number of champions I am seeing actually some of my ideas being implemented in other champions, and it further reinforces my ideas, especially in regards to Warwick's E ability. Adding damage and additional CC as long as the channel is run to it's completion is something that I highly support, and we can see Riot making these changes onto Galio's AOE taunt. After looking at other champions I'm seeing that even with my updated numbers Warwick does seem to be pretty undertuned. However, I think that my changes are a step in the right direction._ ** Tweaked Infinite Duress' numbers upwards slightly after looking at the overall damage lost from the rest of his kit. Possible to tweak Primal Howl and increase base damage while decreasing the monster damage bonus.** ** Also, some decent views, but it seems all I got was a single downvote? It would be nice to have a dialogue and maybe get some upvotes and maybe a Rioter response. **

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Warwick. A champion that many know and love, and one that many other's do not. He's someone that's seen some play in solo-q and normals alike, but he hasn't been seen in competitive play for a number of years (if not ever). Why is this so? I believe that there are two main factors holding Warwick back from being a viable jungler in Season 8 and beyond and they are as such:

1. Consistency

and

2. Overall Kit Viability (AKA Build Diversity)

There are a variety of factors that affect Warwick's kit and his overall performance during a match, from the health of his enemies, his overall health, his movement speed, etc, etc. With so many different variables being required for a successful match pro-players tend to shun Warwick as a viable jungler because they'd much rather take a champion that is more consistent, in both terms of damage out-put, damage absorption, and gank potential. They also do not like the fact that Warwick is incredibly dependent on Tiamat , often having to forgo completion of the jungle item in order to have a decent enough clear speed to keep pace with the Top Tier junglers who're able to clear at high speeds and have great sustain thanks to the completed , , and .

So, with that in mind I'm suggesting the following changes in order to give Warwick more consistency in not only in the jungle but in the lane as well.

Warwick's Base Stats:

Recommended:

1. Base health increase from 550 at level 1 to 600
2. Health per Level** increase** from 85 to 90
3. Attack damage at level 1 decreased from 66 to 62
4. Attack damage per level decreased from 3 to 2.5
5. Base attack speed** increased** from .638 to .689
6. Attack speed per level decreased from 2.17% to 1.99%
7. Base Armor** increased** from 33 to 36
8. Armor per level increased from 3.022 to 3.5

These might seem like an odd variety of stats to be both buffed and nerfed, but with the changes below you'll see why I made them. This is about improving Warwick's consistency in the early game. Many WW players feel that he is very squishy feeling for a melee champion with short range, and due to his early game reliance on Tiamat it can put a significant delay on his survivability purchases. There are some problems with his E ability "Primal Howl", mainly the damage reduction portion of the ability, that caused his base stats to be lower than they should be to compensate for such a powerful flat damage mitigation. That combined with the huge attack speed steroid he gets with his W "Blood Hunt" causes him to feel really good to play when those abilities are off cooldown but feel really terrible when they're not.

Raising and lowering the above stats will help Warwick feel more intuitive and will make it a little easier for newer players to understand their ability to survive early scuffles. This will also open up greater build diversity by allowing Warwick to scale a little better with attack speed and on-hit items while ensuring that if they want the perks of greater then they will have to invest. These changes, however, will make them more viable and can hopefully pull all of the focus away from Cinderhulk-Wick towards a greater variety.

Passive: Eternal Hunger **INNATE: **"Warwick's basic attacks deal 10 - 44 (8 + (2 x level))) bonus magic damage on-hit. While below 50% maximum health, Warwick's basic attacks also heal him for the same amount, with the healing tripled to 30 - 132 (based on level) while below 25% maximum health."

Eternal Hunger does quite a bit for Warwick’s sustain in the jungle, and it can make him quite the duelist in the early to mid game when he’s low health. However the whole “healing only when below 50% health” mechanic feels a little underwhelming and inconsistent especially considering you need to keep yourself below 50% while doing your jungle clears if you want to sustain properly with Warwick while conserving mana. I think that the following changes could be made to improve his clear and healthiness in the jungle:

“Warwick’s basic attacks deal 8 – 42 (6 + (2 x level)) bonus magic damage on-hit and heal him for the same amount. The damage and healing is increased by 2% for each 1% of maximum health Warwick is missing. Deals 50% bonus damage to monsters but healing is halved.”

The reasoning is to give someone playing Warwick the feeling that their passive is present, even if they are above 50% maximum HP. This also helps Warwick’s healing scale throughout a jungle clear or duel without it suddenly becoming overbearing when he’s below 25% maximum HP. He should feel more dangerous the lower he is, but being a complete drain tank monster unless he’s bursted down isn’t a good experience for the player opposite of Warwick. This also allows Warwick players to see their passive is indeed contributing to the healthiness their jungle clear while not harming Lanewick’s performance.

Q: Jaws of the Beast ACTIVE: Warwick dashes to the target enemy and bites them, dealing them magic damage, applying on-hit effects and healing himself for a portion of the damage dealt."

Honestly I believe that Jaws of the Beast is a great ability, but I feel that the implementation of it could use some improvement. I feel that the damage profile is very good, giving base damage scaling that rewards players for purchasing AD and AP, on top of % maximum health scaling makes the ability and damage feel impactful during all stages of the game. The only complaint I have with the ability is the activation: sometimes when you hold Q it doesn't register and you don't proceed through the target, and sometimes when you only want to activate for quick damage or a heal you slide through as if you held the Q button down.

Also the fact that you need to keep your cursor over the target in order to activate the 'hold' on the enemy champion (or monster) means that your cursor can't be elsewhere during the time you're attempting to activate. I would recommend that the Q 'hold' mechanic be removed and replaced with a simple dual activation of the Q button to initiate the swing on his target. This would be possible with a small activation delay and would help remove some of the clunkiness of the Q that bothers many veteran and new Warwick players.

W: Blood Hunt "PASSIVE: Warwick gains bonus attack speed against all enemies below 50% of their maximum health. BONUS ATTACK SPEED: 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110%

Enemy champions below that amount are also Blood Hunted, granting him out of combat bonus movement speed while moving toward them as well as highlighting their position to his team.

BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55% The bonus movement and attack speed are tripled against enemy champions below 20% maximum health. ACTIVE: Warwick briefly senses all enemies and then Blood Hunts the nearest enemy champion within a large radius for 8 seconds, regardless of their current health.

Blood Hunt cannot be activated while in combat with a champion, and cools down twice as fast if Warwick is not Blood Hunting.

There are many problems with this ability, mainly that it doesn't really feel balanced for a single ability to potentially grant thousands of gold in free stats simply by an enemy being low health. The movement speed mechanic also feels really strong when out of combat, but if you're chasing someone and happen to get hit by any sort of enemy champion damage it completely kills the speed and returns Warwick to his highly kiteable state. Also, the high amount of attack speed and movement speed given by the ability kills potential purchases of AS or MS items because it just isn't worth it, thusly killing build diversity on this champion. I believe the following changes would help out not only Warwick but enemy players as well:

"PASSIVE: Warwick picks up the scent of enemy champions below 50% of their maximum health. His basic attacks and damaging abilities "mark" enemy minions, monsters, and champions- increasing his blood lust, raising his stats, as well as highlighting their position to his team (Applies to enemy champions only).

_Warwick gains bonus attack speed and move speed against marked targets. _

BONUS ATTACK SPEED: 40/45/50/55/60% ** BONUS MOVE SPEED:** 5/10/15/20/25%

Move speed bonus is increased by 100% when out of combat, and Warwick gains an additional 0.5% attack speed against marked champions per 1% of his maximum health he is missing.

ACTIVE: After a 3/2.5/2/1.5/1 second channel Warwick briefly senses all enemies and then Blood Hunts and marks the nearest enemy champion within a large radius for 10 seconds, regardless of their current health. Warwick gains 10/20/30/40/50% additional lifesteal against this marked target and has 3/6/9/12/15% increased Tenacity against crowd control abilities of the target. This bonus tenacity can push above the cap.

Blood Hunt cools down twice as fast if Warwick is not Blood Hunting and enemy champion. Takedowns on enemy champions refresh** Blood Hunt**'s cooldown

These changes take away from the insane amount of free combat stats Warwick gets in attack speed but offers better movement speed in combat, and it also makes it so that Warwick can purchase AS items without it feeling like a supreme waste unless the "Press the Attack" rune is taken. Additional lifesteal and tenacity also keep in with Warwick's bloodthirsty hunter theme by making him more ravenous and less susceptible to CC. Making "Blood Hunt" activatable in combat after a channel also allows Warwick more tools in extended teamfights provided they get the necessary takedowns to keep the train running. This also improves Warwick's 1v1 potential in the jungle where he can punish invades or bully enemy junglers.

E: Primal Howl FIRST CAST: Warwick reduces all incoming damage for 2.5 seconds. After 1 second, Primal Howl can be re-activated, and automatically does so after 2.5 seconds. DAMAGE REDUCTION: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55% SECOND CAST: Warwick unleashes a howl, ending the damage reduction in the process, and causes all nearby enemies to flee for 1 second. Landing Infinite Duress Infinite Duress will automatically reactivate Primal Howl, but the target will not flee.

Overall this is both an incredibly powerful and an incredibly weak ability. The damage mitigation is extremely strong, and the AOE fear has helped me peel for my squishies or force apart an enemy team's formation for a solid engage in a way that wasn't possible with the old Warwick. Overall the spell is incredibly fun to use but it's inclusion force Warwick base stats to be lower, and it also gives a false sense of tankiness. This ability's fairly high cooldown also makes it feel bad when it's not up, and severely hamper's Warwick's consistency. Combine all of the above with the fact that it does zero damage means it could use some work. Below are my proposed changes:

"Primal Howl" Cooldown: 12 seconds at all ranks. FIRST CAST: Warwick reduces all incoming damage for 2.5 seconds. After 0.5 seconds, Primal Howl can be re-activated, and automatically does so after 2.5 seconds. DAMAGE REDUCTION: 5/10/15/20/25% SECOND CAST: Warwick unleashes a howl causing magic damage in a radius around him, ending the damage reduction in the process, and causes all nearby enemies to flee for 1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5 seconds. Damage against monsters is increased by 100%. MAGIC DAMAGE: 40/60/80/100/120 (100% Bonus AD)(0.75 AP)

These changes help Warwick with a faster clear, one less reliant on Tiamat, and helps balance him out a little bit more by reducing the insane amount of damage mitigation this ability has at all ranks. I feel that a very slight increase to CC duration to compensate for the small amount of base damage is balanced enough, and while the base damage is low the ratios are high enough that a more damaged focused Warwick will be rewarded. Once again, increasing build diversity is a positive. It should be noted that I think that another possible modification is to base damage and fear duration on how long the Warwick charged the E for- if the player charged the E for the full 2.5 seconds then it should deal full damage and have the full fear; if they charged it for only 0.5 seconds then they should only get a minimum 1 second fear and 20% of the damage.

R: Infinite Duress

ACTIVE: Warwick leaps in the target direction, stopping upon hitting an enemy champion. If Warwick hits an enemy champion, he channels for the next 1.5 seconds, during which the target is dealt magic damage (applies on-hit effects) once every 0.5 seconds while being Suppression icon suppressed. Infinite Duress heals Warwick for all the damage dealt by it.

MAGIC DAMAGE PER HIT: 58.33‾ / 116.66‾ / 175 (+ 55.66‾% bonus AD) _ Warwick is unstoppable during the dash but can be Silence icon interrupted during the channel._

Honestly I love the way the ultimate looks and feels, but even so I think that there should be some changes to the hitbox (it needs to be wider), the bonus range needs to be more permanent and based off of item purchases (, , , etc), and the damage profile needs to be adjusted and given an AP ratio for build diversity. So I propose the following changes:

HITBOX WIDTH increased by 25%.

RANGE: 700/800/900 _Infinite Duress gains additional range based on MS bonuses from item purchases- (Bonus Flat MS x 5) (+2.5% bonus range per +1% bonus MS) _

ACTIVE: Warwick leaps in the target direction, stopping upon hitting an enemy champion. If Warwick hits an enemy champion, he channels for the next 1.5 seconds, during which the target is dealt magic damage (on-hit effects are applied at 75%) once every 0.25 seconds while being suppressed. Infinite Duress heals Warwick for all the damage dealt by it.

MAGIC DAMAGE PER HIT: 35/50/65 (+ 30% bonus AD)(0.20 AP) TOTAL MAGIC DAMAGE: 210/300/390 (+ 180% bonus AD)(1.2 AP) Warwick is unstoppable during the dash but can be Silence icon interrupted during the channel.

This change goes through and allows players to ultimately choose how much range they want based on their builds, rewarding risky palyers searching for damage with or with additional range. This also helps give AP-Wick players who want to go or something as well.

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Overall the purpose of these small kit rework suggestions was to shift power away from his W and E abilities in order to increase the consistency of his other abilities. Making his passive more apparent during the early stages of the game while not completely overblowing his early sustain is important. By taking base damage away from his ultimate we can move some of that damage into the second half of his E and add AP ratios while tweaking the AD and bonus AD ratios. This helps increase build diversity and rewards Warwicks who want to build AD/AP/On-hit while making it so that full-tank-wicks still feel like they can contribute with higher base health and improved CC and peeling abilities.

Ultimately I just want to see Warwick improved, and I think that changes like these would be steps closer to improving his quality of life as a champion in normal and competitive play.

If you read this far thank you very much, I worked really hard on writing this and coming up with the various fixes.

Thank you!!! :)