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About Blitzcrank's new W

Win1Ocent·4/8/2015, 10:38:11 AM·9 votes·4,196 views

I love Blitzcrank, he is a game changer, he is strong and i play him a lot.

His W was awesome before, running really fast is great. I never really got why he also got attack speed from it but i'll take it. Anyway, it always felt really good to use it, it felt great being able to run to help out or gank other lanes fast, it felt great catching up to someone and felt great to escape sticky situations.

This W change changes pretty much everything about the spell. It feels awful to use, every time the slow comes in it feels like i just got backstabbed by a shaco or hit by a malphite Q. Not to mention, the movement speed you get from it is not even noticable.

I decided to time it, to see what wins in a race, a run using W or a run without using W. I tried it with both mobility boots and with boots of swiftness. with and without the swiftness mastery (reduces slows by 10%)

Place your bets now!

Mobility boots is faster than boots of swiftness (duh), but not by much at all but what pisses me off is that you're actually slower using W now than without using it, you don't actually gain any distance by using it but rather slows you down. Even if you use boots of swiftness and the swiftness mastery you're still slower than you would just never using it.

The fact is, you're only really super fast for the first 0.5 seconds of using it, then after 1 second you only gain like 20 and the remaining 3-4 seconds you only gain like 1-3 movement speed? It's ridiculous!

I would be fine with it if it didn't slow you afterwards, i also timed a run to end just before the slow started, turns out over an almost 7 second long run you are 0.4 seconds faster using W before the slow. Is that really so bad? Gaining half a second of distance?

I realize Blitzcrank is annoying and his W was too strong, but come on! I don't want to cringe every time is use W....

Oh, and also, why does the wanderer mastery (movement speed when out of combat) get shut down when his slow kicks in? Does me getting slowed count as being in combat? With myself?

33 Comments

Ulquiorra9954/8/2015, 2:37:45 PM9 votes

Look at the other side of the coin.

Yes, it feels really good to use. Yes, it feels really good to catch up to people. Yes, it feels really good to escape sticky situations.

But, it feels really bad to have Blitz press one button and beep boop towards you giving you a choice: zigzag to dodge hook and get powerfisted because you can't outrun him or try to outrun him and get hooked because you run in a straight line. It feels really bad to juke out Blitz's hook only to have him run to you and knock you up anyway. It feels really bad to outplay someone against whom one mistake spells instant death only for his shield to trigger while he beep-boops away.

It is really good to see one of most uninteractive parts of Blitz's kit go down.** No, someone with a tool like Blitz's grab should not have an on-demand, reliable mobility tool.** While numbers might be off, it is an excellent idea: shorter but intense burst of speed followed by a moment of weakness.

qoqTL6CDMk4/8/2015, 12:28:46 PM4 votes

I've been maining Blitzcrank for a while now, with about 250 games on him this season in mid diamond and another 400 or so across all of my accounts last season. I played one game this morning and oh my lord did it feel bad. There's no point in even using his W anymore. Might as well just ignore that skill and pick up a talisman or a righteous glory. It feels really bad playing him right now, and even though I've put most of my games on him this season I don't think i'll be going back to him for a while. RIP Blitzcrank.

Win1Ocent4/8/2015, 10:53:01 AM3 votes

To be honest, i kinda thought Leona would get a nerf before Blitzcrank would. I get that it's supposed to be a positioning thing, but without the slow it would be fine, he is actually slower than Leona and Thresh without his W active, in a race, Leona and Thresh would crush him if he uses W, i think they might actually beat him even with the extra burst of speed before the slow kicks in.

The nerf could have been bigger sure, but i'd rather him not have any movement speed at all and just get something else than have something this bad, it's worse the Ezreal W now.

IcyPepper4/8/2015, 10:42:24 AM3 votes

I think they're intending it to be a positioning tool (like Ahri's Q change...?) rather than a chasing/running tool. Like it gives you that split second to get in the right spot for a grab, rather than using it to run up to someone and power punch someone (seen Blitz players do this, actually).

It's removing the safety from his W.

Now, I hear ya, it sucks. But Blitz is kind of a top-tier support with both high pick and win rates. Now, I'm not saying that alone deserves a nerf bat, but if any support got nerfed it would be him.

Just be glad he isn't getting the Sona treatment, whether or not she deserved those nerfs. Let's just hope it's one nerf, not sixteen or twenty-one or how many it was last season.

Leti the Yeti4/8/2015, 11:18:52 AM2 votes

pssst blitz gets attack speed cuz he's a fighter/tank...

BastionKross4/9/2015, 1:50:44 PM1 votes

{quoted}

His W was awesome before, running really fast is great. I never really got why he also got attack speed from it but i'll take it.

It gets an attack speed buff because Blitz was designed and built as an AD solo top laner, hence his champion tags of tank and fighter respectively. Many people play him support because of those hooks and lockdown potential, or play him AP because the burst is real. But he can actually be very deadly AD as well due to his E doubling his auto damage and its use as an auto reset (and being able to crit). The magic damage from his Q and ult also gives him quite a bit of mixed damage as well. His passive and ult passive are pretty great for dueling too.

MarshallBananna4/8/2015, 6:37:06 PM1 votes

It's k.

The counter play to his grab is dodging. But when blitz can just hit W and run at you, that counter play disappears.

Simply activating W and running at you or your team is incredibly disruptive and forces you to either flee and get hooked, or attempt to dodge the hook and get punched. It removes counterplay.

SouL1ess4/8/2015, 8:29:17 PM1 votes

I would be fine with it if it didn't slow you afterwards

Exactly what I said on another thread.

The high percentile movement speed bonus decreases massively in value due to the movement speed soft cap (hi Zilean), and the Underdrive just completely undermines any distance that you are trying to cover.

KMannnnn14/8/2015, 8:34:13 PM1 votes

I haven't had the chance to play the change yet, but I liked it in concept, as it played up the high-risk, high-reward playstyle that is Blitzcrank. I also kind of realized it was going to be a nerf, but I was hoping it would at least be a buff for really aggressive plays, since you can get into a good position to pull that much faster.

Sad to hear it doesn't quite feel so rewarding.

FantasySniper4/9/2015, 12:37:01 AM1 votes

I think it fits his high/risk reward playstyle that Riot is trying to fix.

Before, you could pop [W] and get anywhere you wanted without fear, basically making the "risk" in wasting his [Q] pointless since he would have an extremely high chance of succeeding anyways.

Now, if he does a misstep, he can actually punished for not having his spells up since he can't get out of the way.