Zilean bombs

Toastey··2 votes·2,299 views

So Zilean bombs were recently changed to be vastly easier to hit: the hitbox detection was changed from centre-to-centre into edge-to-edge. That means that before, the infinitesimally small centre of the bomb model had to overlap with the infinitesimally small centre of the target in order for the bomb to snap onto its target. Now, only the very edge of the bomb has to clip the very edge of the target for the bomb to snap on.

If this is going to be done, either the damage or the stun has to be nerfed. Zilean bombs have a 300 base and 90% AP scaling at rank 5, which should be reached by level 9. That means at level 9, or approximately 15-20 minutes in the game, you have a spammable combo dealing 600 (+180% AP) and stunning in an AoE for 1.5 seconds. The only constriction is mana, which is offset by a RoA build and blue buff.

If this sort of damage and utility is going to retained, then nerf the hitbox to be edge-to-centre or centre-to-edge; that is, either the edge of the bomb clips the centre of the champ, or the centre of the bomb clips the edge of the champ. The second one makes more sense to me, since it would allow for fat champions to body block bombs more easily.

Let me lay out the bomb stats at Zilean's level 9 one more time: Q-W-Q costs 196 mana on a 12s CD (not including CDR) Deals 600 base + 180% AP magic damage, stuns for 1.5s in a 300-unit radius with a 900-unit range.

There's no way a skillshot combo of this power should have literally the easiest-to-hit type of skillshot hitbox.

11 Comments

Sneakyy XD5 votes

Or we could not nerf an already-terrible champion

Toastey2 votes

"Already-terrible champion"

Yeah, the champ is awful. That's why it's becoming a priority pick with a couple teams in China for the Zilean-Poppy combo. Only a horrible champion could have shut out TSM in a 19-0 game. Only a garbage champion could have that amount of utility paired with that amount of damage. :>

FrankerX2 votes

zilean is bad overall. sure his bombs deal some nice dmg but thats about it. his ult can save someone but doesnt do dmg. his w and e also dont deal dmg.

if his bombs, HIS ONLY WAY TO REALLY ATTACK dont do dmg, you can just delete this champ because noone plays an ap champ who deals 0 dmg. if you wanna complain about a champ that stuns and bursts you, complain about veigar. he is just too squishy and not mobile at all. if he had a speed up or dash this guy would be in meta. hit stun once, q + w = enemy half dead at lv 3 :D

Toastey1 votes

Implying that having only one damage ability makes a champion awful. Maybe think about the utility he offers with his E and R, compounded with a possible FQC buy. He's incredibly useful while also dealing amounts of burst to rival things like Lux R, Ziggs R, etc on a much lower cooldown. I'm not saying "gut Zilean" or "delete this OP champ". I'm literally saying his bombs are too easy to land for being that powerful, and that that specific issue should be addressed.

FrankerX1 votes

well the hitbox of the bombs is kinda weird agreed. but you can abuse that by staying in your creeps. he cant spam q w q forever he will be oom REALLY FAST at the beginning. so if he only throws 1 q it will most likely land on your creeps. trust me i played zil support a lot i know how frustrating it is when the enemys stay in their creeps and bombs dont land on them even tho you clearly hit lol

Toastey1 votes

Did you play him after the hitbox change? It got a million time easier to land, and if he double-bombs the creeps and you're in the AoE, you still take full damage and eat the full stun. Zilean is also seeing priority in mid and not on support, where he gets way more money to buy mana items as well as blue buff priority.

By the way, these are all things I mentioned in the original post, if you haven't read that.

FrankerX1 votes

when was said hitbox change? last time i played him must be 2 month ago i think. and yea ik zil mid > support. on support he isnt really usefull anymore sadly :D

Toastey1 votes

Hitbox change was either last patch or this patch. It was definitely a season 6 change, and I suspect the primary reason that NRG and some Chinese teams have picked him up. It's the Urgot shield buff all over again: a buff that Riot thought was an inconsequential, quality-of-life buff ends up pushing a champion to be so good that it becomes a competitive priority.

Toastey1 votes

I lied, it was patch 5.21.

Karcist1 votes

You make it seem like such a bad thing that Zilean is being used at all. Heaven forbid that any mid laners other than the standard few get used in high level play.

Toastey1 votes

Seems like everyone is reading one line of the original post and then downvoting and flaming.

Literally the only thing I've called for was retooling the way the hitbox and the power of the skillshot interact. Never did I say "Zilean is becoming a cancerously popular pick." Never did I say that he should be gutted or deleted. All I ever said was that the ease of hit-confirmation should be modified to properly reflect the massive benefits of landing the skillshot. It's way too easy as it is, and should be slightly harder---but not as difficult as it used to be.

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