[Re-rework] Cassiopeia; easy to understand; difficult to master; counterplay and skill

Hey,

I'm Kowe. I used to main Cassiopeia for more than a year after her initial release, suffering through her nerfs. I am not satisfied by the latest rework. I don't think it fits her concept to sit back and farm stacks. I thought about a rework which stays true to her initial concept, yet is easier for people to pick up. The following suggestion will make playing and playing against Cassiopeia signifcantly more skill based, allowing for high potential during ALL stages of the game as is used to be. An important goal is to make ALL of her abilities viable instead of relying solely on E. She will be less forgiving, but also be more rewarding. I hope I got you interested.

Cheers, Kowe

The rework

New passive: Deadly poison Poison stackes can be applied by using Noxious Blast and Miasma. After each second a poison stack is lost, whenever a poison stack is lost the enemy receives 25+3/level (+0.15 AP) magical damage. Whenever the number of newly applied stacks exceeds a multiple of 4 enemies receive an additional +0.4 AP damage. (More than 4 ... more than 8... more than 12...) This bonus damage can't apply twice within 0.3s (because see: Miasma) There is no maximum amount for stacks. Stacks are displayed for both, your and the enemy's, team.

Explanation: Cassiopeia won't be able to hammer all points into a single skill for insane poke. She looses her skill level power-spikes. While getting hit once by a poke is even WEAKER than before, getting hit multiple times gets severely punished.

Q: Noxious Blast RANGE: 850 DELAY: 0,6s MANA COST: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
COOLDOWN: 3.75 / 3.5 / 3.25 / 3 / 2.75

Passive: Whenever Cassiopeia applies "Deadly Poison" to an enemy she receives 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 % movementspeed Upon hitting an enemy champion Cassiopeia receives 8 / 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 % of HIS MISSING mana. Noxius Blast applies 3 stacks of poison.

Explanation: With the damage being solely based on her level the question wether to skill Q, W or E depends on the enemy she faces. Noxious Blast doesn't help her hitting a target but allows her to avoid enemy skillshots more easily. At the same it it punishes enemies with bad mana management who can't make THEIR skillshots count. Hitting Q is essential for Cassiopeia's mana management and will seperate the good from the bad Cassiopeia players. Counterplay: In addition to picking a mobile champion, picking an energy based champion can force Cassiopeia into a mana-heavy build path with less overall damage.

W: Miasma RANGE: 850 NO DELAY MANACOST: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 COOLDOWN: 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10

Passive: Enemies effected by Deadly poison move 3 / 5 / 7 / 9 / 11% slower. Doesn't stack with Miasma's slow. Cassiopeia throws a growing cloud of poison to a target location, granting sight of the area and growing from a radius of 125 to 250 over 7 seconds. Enemies hit by Miasma receive 2 stacks of poison. Enemies within Miasma move 25 / 30/ 35 / 40 / 45 % slower After each second enemies standing within Miasma receive 1 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 2 stack of "Deadly Poison".

As mentioned earlier the damage of a single Q still is incredibly low. Keep in mind: YOU WILL HAVE TO SPLITT YOUR POINTS TO MAKE THE MOST OF HER KIT, WHICH MEANS ABILITIES ARE LESS MANA EFFICIENT.

Explanation: Miasma's passive grants less movement control than Noxious Blast, but makes follow-up hits easier. Currently Miasma is not punishing at all. With this change enemies standing in Miasmas finally are forced to get out. While on lower levels standing in it is fine as long as you still can dodge Q, at higher levels however enemies who refuse to move out get regular strong hits by Cassiopeia's passive ability. The cooldown of Miasma has been slightly increased.

E: Twin Fang RANGE: 700 COST: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 MANA COOLDOWN: 5 ACTIVE: Cassiopeia fires fangs at an enemy, dealing magic damage. If her target is poisoned, Twin Fang's cooldown is reduced to 0.5 seconds. Hitting a champion with Twin Fang reduces the cooldown of "Noxious Blast" and "Miasma" by 0.4 / 0.4 / 0.5 / 0.5 / 0.6s MAGIC DAMAGE: 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 (+ 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60% AP)

Explanation: Healing didn't fit Twin Fang. Ironically enough the heal from Twin Fang combined with WotA was the original reason for her to get nerfed. Instead of making Twin fang important through making it a pure damage source it becomes her main tool to reduce the cooldown of her other abilities and stack poison on her enemies.

YOU WILL HAVE TO SPLITT YOUR POINTS TO MAKE THE MOST OF HER KIT, WHICH MEANS ABILITIES ARE LESS MANA EFFICIENT.

Ultimate (UNCHANGED)

Petrifying Gaze RANGE: 825 MANA COST: 100
COOLDOWN: 120 / 110 / 100 After a brief delay, Cassiopeia blasts all enemies in a 80º cone in front of her with her gaze, dealing magic damage to them. Enemies facing her when damaged are stunned for 2 seconds, while enemies facing away are slowed by 60% for 2 seconds instead. MAGIC DAMAGE: 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 50% AP)

Explanation: While the ultimate has suffered by RIOT's rework, the stun allows her to make the maximum out of this suggestion. I don't want to touch it until I see how it actually works out.

All in all: The new kit makes it important to find a good balance between her skills. Contrary to her current state relying solely on E won't help. Instead of having one fix build path like she has now, this change will force her much more to adept to her enemies. Especially her mana management will significantly rely on her - and her enemies - performance. While there is much room for counterpicking and counterplaying against her she again has the potential of dishing out extreme DPS during the whole game, especially endgame. On a honorable sidenote: You can finally make use of cooldown reduction like any other mage instead of it being a wasted stat. Overall the new stack mechanic with equalized damage makes it more clear how mmuch continious damage you will receive each second. Keeping an eye on your stacks and avoiding the punishment for high stack amounts (opponent's Point of View) will be important to know when to engage Cassiopeia.