Tristana Is A Watered-Down Version of Jinx (And Other Problems)

Tristana got new splash art today. And while it's wonderful and fun it also underscored a weird problem I have Trist lately that I wasn't able to put my finger on until today: Tristana is a thematically and mechanically confused champion.

When it comes to loving destruction and blowing things up for fun Trist is the undisputed O.G., so it's kind of weird that Jinx came along and took that part of her identity and turned it to 11. Jinx, as a whole, communicates that sense of wild destruction much better than Trist does in both visual style and in her mechanics. In fact, the only real difference between them appears to be that Jinx is totally okay with killing people while Trist seems to have a more child-like fascination with explosions and shooting things.

Trist is also weird when it comes to her mechanics. She's the Irelia of ADC's, a ball of stats that can do just about anything and offers very little interesting mechanics to play with or against. The most dramatic decision you have to make with her is when to W in on people, right-clicking will get you through the rest.

I think it's time to start thinking about who Trist is and where she's supposed to fit into this game.