Are these Azir nerfs for real?
Ok guys, I'm sorry, but here's the reality.
A.) Many of us paid good money for a champion that was hyped and thrown in our faces for a month straight, only to not actually be able to play him for DAYS, and still not be able to really use him well for MONTHS. Azir was bugged from release until basically end of December, and Riot even admits he still doesn't work in the patch notes for 5.3. How the heck, then, do you justify the heinous nerfs to a champ who literally is still broken. Maybe Riot should focus on actually FIXING HIM before they go about trying nerf him.
B.) Azir's entire kit is based on positioning and zoning. How is he supposed to fulfill this role if his W range is as nerfed as it is? I understand that they are trying to make his early game even worse than it already is, but all they're doing is turning him into another Yasuo - who, last I checked, every pro is saying is more or less unplayable now. Riot has said in the notes that this is to balance out his huge late game potential, but here's the reality with Azir: AZIR DOESN'T HIT THE LATE GAME OP POWER SPIKE IF HIS LANING IS GARBAGE. If you get behind with Azir, you're pretty screwed. And not only that, they also nerfed his mid-late game by destroying his Q damage. I'm not sure how any of this is really justifiable with a really tiny boost to his AD, which he doesn't even use. His last hits with autos are just as hard as they were pre-5.3, and this is a really poor consolation prize to those of us who have actually taken the time to practice and get good with arguably one of the hardest champs to play and understand in the roster right now.
C.) Azir is already incredibly easy to deal with early game. Either get yourself a jungler who knows how to gank early and bam, (All you have to do is wait for him to be oom now and then gank him. HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING. Period.) or just out sustain him. He is dreadfully mana hungry until he builds his first regen item (and even then he's still really mana hungry), so getting an Azir to go oom before lvl 6 is incredibly easy.
Now his early laning phase is even harder than it already was because he can't keep strong early burst (like Zed, Fizz, or Kat) away from him. He has to get way too close in order to get a soldier near anything at lvl 1, and the range nerf is still pretty bogus even with Q available. It makes his already difficult to land Q even harder to land. IT'S A DAMN SPEAR, PEOPLE. A SPEAR. SPEARS ARE LONG. THEY HAVE RANGE. WHAT IS CONFUSING ABOUT THIS? Why do I Q people and see the spear literally go either through them and do no dmg, or go around them. If you're going to nerf his W range, at least open up the hit box of his Q a little bit to compensate. Or nerf his Q dmg and don't nerf his W range. I really don't think you can have both and have him still be viable. The nerf to the W range also ensures that strong counter picks (like Syndra, Xerath, and Ziggs) are basically untouchable. WIth the range nerf the chances of your being able to do ANYTHING to these champs is incredibly low. Syndra, I find, is particularly dangerous, though I don't really know what she's like now with her new E. I just know that usually her stun hits you hands down and then you die, pretty instantly, and there's nothing you can really do to deal with it. (I have literally E'd away from her stun and it still has hit me before, which is ridiculous in my opinion.)
Sorry for the rant, but I think I speak for a lot of people who have really loved this champion and have suffered through Riot's Mickey Mouse job of a release, and have been patient as they wait for his bread and butter W attack to ACTUALLY WORK CONSISTENTLY (or his ult, or his q, or his e, basically his entire kit, let's be real), when I say that I'm incredibly disappointed, frustrated, and downright angry that this nerf has gone down the way it has. You have basically completely run him into the ground, and if I didn't want my money back before, I certainly do now.
