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Why Riot Botched the Warwick Changes

I CANT LAST HIT·12/10/2014, 8:46:49 PM·7 votes·1,643 views

Hello Summoners. As the preseason patch rolled out, as we all know Warwick suddenly became a huge contender in the meta, garnering a 60% win rate over the course of one patch. This was of course, because of changes to jungle items. Upon buying Skirmisher's Sabre and the devourer enchantment, Warwick's ult was able to garner a sweet sweet extra 255+(200+5x) damage, where x is stacks on the devourer enchantment. This being from one item with a cost of 2250 gold, was astounding.

Now needless to say, this needed some form of nerf. However, let's look at the path in which riot took to deal with this problem. First off, are the changes to Warwick himself. His W now lasts 60% of its original length, from 10 seconds to 6 seconds, and his ult now does 70 less damage, 350 total at level 16.

Riot also decided to tweak Skirmisher's Sabre and nerf the Devourer enchantment as well. The sabre was changed from an immediate 17-51 damage on hit for three seconds, to 60-162 over three seconds, depending on level. For the purposes of our calculations, we will assume level 18. The Devourer's enchantment now begins at 25 damage upon completion, from 40 last patch.

What does this mean for Warwick? A few things. Mainly, that he will revert to the obscurity he held for multiple seasons before last patch. Warwick has never been a strong, viable champion for many reasons. He has an arguably useless skill (his e), and an easily disrupted ultimate that locks himself down along with the enemy. Looking back over pick/ban rates from the last few world championships, we can see that Warwick has never really had a time in the spotlight.

http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/2jrzwh/worlds_stats_508_61120_of_champions_were/ Not picked or banned once in the season 4 world championship

http://lol.gamepedia.com/Season_3_World_Championship/Statistics#Picks_and_Bans_Statistic Not picked or banned once in the season 3 world championship

https://elobuff.com/events/2012-season-2-world-championship/champions Not picked or banned once in the season 2 world championship

http://lol.gamepedia.com/Riot_Season_1_Championship/Picks_and_Bans#Picks_.26_Bans_Statistics Hey look, he was hot stuff back in season 1!

Let's look at the differences between Warwick's damage from the last patch juxtaposed to this new patch. Of course, we will be focusing on that oh so spooky ultimate. This calculation assumes level 16.

Last patch: 420+255+(200+5x) = 950 damage (15 stacks on devourer) This patch: 370+259.2(calculated DoT)+(125+5x) = 829.2 damage (15 stacks on devourer) So, with no other items, Warwick's ultimate does 121 less damage overall this patch. Which, honestly is a fair amount.

In addition, Hunter's Call now lasts for 6 seconds, rather than 10. This severely cuts Warwick's early jungle clear time, resulting in less overall gold. This makes it take much longer for him to acquire his devourer, which of course now takes longer to buff up to its original 40 stacks. Hunter's Call is also a much needed form of sustain and damage during teamfights. These issues compounded from Hunter's Call alone hurt Warwick in a large way.

I of course would be a fool to say that the Devourer's enchantment + Warwick combo did not need rectifying in some way or another. However, Riot went about this issue entirely in the wrong fashion. Nerfing Warwick himself, who has never been a viable or popular champion choice, makes him now entirely reliant on the Devourer's enchantment. This forces Warwick into the jungle role 100% of the time. Warwick was weak before the Devourer, and he is now even weaker without it. Riot should not balance champions around items, especially concerning jungle items. This eliminates all versatility for a champion, siphoning them into one role. This of course, stifles creativity by players.

Riot, as someone who adored Warwick back in season two and stopped playing him once I realized how flawed a champion he was, I've been hoping for Warwick buffs for years. I'm very disappointed in the changes that were made this patch.

13 Comments

Meep Man12/10/2014, 8:57:26 PM6 votes

It is extremely hard to not balance Warwick around items. His ultimate applies 1v1 uncontested 5 on-hit effects which are mostly from items.

AKA Warwick needs some major changes to his ultimate and possibly even kit.

Battlemagi12/10/2014, 10:04:25 PM2 votes

I completely agree, but I only starting playing him season 3, to Nerf Warwick's basic mechanics because of a flaw with the item they created is dumb. I was good with Warwick before that item came out, and I didn't even use Feral Flare, I ran Elder Lizard, and I had a 75% win ratio with him in ranked, I was 9/2 with him.

Khristophoros12/10/2014, 9:17:21 PM2 votes

"He has an arguably useless skill (his e)"

Yeah ok not taking you seriously lmao

youngjake9312/10/2014, 10:25:01 PM1 votes

His E is like the 3rd best thing about him after his ult and sustain.... You can literally have vision over half the map of people that are within range of dying to you instantly+get a huge speed boost to them OR EVEN RUNNING FROM OTHER PEOPLE.

"Adds nothing to objective control." Meanwhile you never have to ward Baron or Dragon as Warwick because you will inevitably know about it before the are half done it when your E procs. You can split push like crazy because all you have to do if you get caught at a tower is hit one person down to 49% hp then run at 900 mph away.

Anyway, lol they nerf Skirmisher, nerf Devourer, nerf ult, nerf W AND nerf his first clear significantly with the Krug bonus change. With the 10 second W boost+stun every 4 hits Warwick could finish his clear with full health and mana and proceed to go kill the other jungler who is probably at 30% trying to clear on the other side. Then steal his camps too. It is too funny that they just had to slap the Krug nerf on there even after the W duration nerf. Poor Warwick

Edit: wait does warwick still have a 60% win rate? lol recent stats says he does

UncensoredAngel12/10/2014, 8:54:52 PM1 votes

THIS MAN IS THE MESSIAH OF LEAGUE

DoubleDammit12/10/2014, 10:36:36 PM1 votes

Hello Summoners. As the preseason patch rolled out, as we all know Warwick suddenly became a huge contender in the meta, garnering a 60% win rate over the course of one patch. This was of course, because of changes to jungle items. Upon buying Skirmisher's Sabre and the devourer enchantment, Warwick's ult was able to garner a sweet sweet extra 255+(200+5x) damage, where x is stacks on the devourer enchantment. This being from one item with a cost of 2250 gold, was astounding.

Now needless to say, this needed some form of nerf. However, let's look at the path in which riot took to deal with this problem. First off, are the changes to Warwick himself. His W now lasts 60% of its original length, from 10 seconds to 6 seconds, and his ult now does 70 less damage, 350 total at level 16.

Riot also decided to tweak Skirmisher's Sabre and nerf the Devourer enchantment as well. The sabre was changed from an immediate 17-51 damage on hit for three seconds, to 60-162 over three seconds, depending on level. For the purposes of our calculations, we will assume level 18. The Devourer's enchantment now begins at 25 damage upon completion, from 40 last patch.

What does this mean for Warwick? A few things. Mainly, that he will revert to the obscurity he held for multiple seasons before last patch. Warwick has never been a strong, viable champion for many reasons. He has an arguably useless skill (his e), and an easily disrupted ultimate that locks himself down along with the enemy. Looking back over pick/ban rates from the last few world championships, we can see that Warwick has never really had a time in the spotlight.

http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/2jrzwh/worlds_stats_508_61120_of_champions_were/ Not picked or banned once in the season 4 world championship

http://lol.gamepedia.com/Season_3_World_Championship/Statistics#Picks_and_Bans_Statistic Not picked or banned once in the season 3 world championship

https://elobuff.com/events/2012-season-2-world-championship/champions Not picked or banned once in the season 2 world championship

http://lol.gamepedia.com/Riot_Season_1_Championship/Picks_and_Bans#Picks_.26_Bans_Statistics Hey look, he was hot stuff back in season 1!

Let's look at the differences between Warwick's damage from the last patch juxtaposed to this new patch. Of course, we will be focusing on that oh so spooky ultimate. This calculation assumes level 16.

Last patch: 420+255+(200+5x) = 950 damage (15 stacks on devourer) This patch: 370+259.2(calculated DoT)+(125+5x) = 829.2 damage (15 stacks on devourer) So, with no other items, Warwick's ultimate does 121 less damage overall this patch. Which, honestly is a fair amount.

In addition, Hunter's Call now lasts for 6 seconds, rather than 10. This severely cuts Warwick's early jungle clear time, resulting in less overall gold. This makes it take much longer for him to acquire his devourer, which of course now takes longer to buff up to its original 40 stacks. Hunter's Call is also a much needed form of sustain and damage during teamfights. These issues compounded from Hunter's Call alone hurt Warwick in a large way.

I of course would be a fool to say that the Devourer's enchantment + Warwick combo did not need rectifying in some way or another. However, Riot went about this issue entirely in the wrong fashion. Nerfing Warwick himself, who has never been a viable or popular champion choice, makes him now entirely reliant on the Devourer's enchantment. This forces Warwick into the jungle role 100% of the time. Warwick was weak before the Devourer, and he is now even weaker without it. Riot should not balance champions around items, especially concerning jungle items. This eliminates all versatility for a champion, siphoning them into one role. This of course, stifles creativity by players.

Riot, as someone who adored Warwick back in season two and stopped playing him once I realized how flawed a champion he was, I've been hoping for Warwick buffs for years. I'm very disappointed in the changes that were made this patch.

As a Warwick top main since S2, I'd like to thank you for his post. His lack of relevant scaling abilities (his Q scales with AP, his ult scales with AD) mixed with his situational E and 0 hidden passives on abilities already made him a sub-optimal pick for top. But that is what enticed me to play him and master him, and to be good at dealing with all matchups. After the Pre-Season 5 map release, he found viability as a jungler due to overpowered jungle items and his innate sustain. Instead of nerfing said jungle items (all of which existed in one form or another EXCEPT for the true damage), they destroy his ult cooldown, ult damage, and reduce his w buff time. This makes him completely unviable in lane now and average-tier in jungle (6 seconds of increased attack speed on an 18 second timer is not a great skill).

Again, he has no "Hidden Passives". His regular passive gives him increased magic damage and life steal on hit (up to 3 stacks), his q deals damage and heals, his w increases his and allies attack speeds, his e gives him sight of low health enemies, and his ult, well, ults. He has no passive benefit from any of his actives nor an active ability on his e. He was already linear and out in the open. Now Riot decided to remove his power and not replace it anywhere else in his kit, making him complete garbage in lane.

The only solution to Riot's favoritism and refusal to admit mistakes is to start being a Lee Sin main. At least you'll be protected from nerfs.

AMYS GRAVE12/10/2014, 9:13:47 PM1 votes

they nerfed him because of his interaction with one item. that's stupid. now he has to take that item or just be weak as hell. an appropriate fix would have been

Skirmisher's Sabre RECIPE Hunter's Machete + 350 gold PASSIVE - CHALLENGING SMITE Smite can be cast on enemy champions, marking them for 6 seconds. While marked, you deal 18-69 bonus true damage to them on hit basic attacks, have vision of them, and reduce their damage to you by 20%. PASSIVE - JUNGLER Deal 45 magic damage on hit to monsters over 2 seconds and gain 10 health and 5 mana per second while in combat with monsters

problem solved without nerfing anything or anyone into the ground.

Steelflame12/10/2014, 9:38:06 PM1 votes

Honestly, they were probably aiming for the deletion for a good reason. He already has a rework coming out soon-ish, and it would be better to leave him in a "I don't have the ability to pick 1 person to call dead every 90 seconds" case because, honestly, WW isn't exactly big on #gameplay. It is either a 1 sided stomp in one direction or the other usually, based on if his numbers are high enough or not.