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Consume & Adapt [Kha'Zix Evolution Update]

Kouga·9/5/2015, 9:03:00 PM·6 votes·1,574 views

Let's take a walk back through time.

"Feast your eyes on this fine specimen here. Meet Kha'Zix, the Voidreaver – the most highly-evolved champion yet to grace the Fields of Justice. Maybe you're marveling at the iridescent wings or the intimidating spike racks? Well, you’ll find that's just one of many possible evolutionary paths your Voidreaver can take. Perhaps some adaptive camouflage and wicked, scythe-like claws might be more appropriate to your particular hunting ground. Whichever evolutions you choose to manifest, you'll find Kha'Zix has just the tools you need to viciously slaughter unsuspecting prey.

If you're the kind of assassin that's always ready to adapt, evolve, and overcome, you'll want to keep an eye on the latest addition to the Void lineup."

That was the Kha'Zix sneak peek, and it promised a Champion who could adapt to any situation, who could change their strategy on the fly to overcome any obstacle. I was super excited about it - but in the time since, Kha'Zix has been something of a polarizing Champion. I've had some ideas on the back burner for some time, but I didn't think it would get much traction. However there's been some murmurs again:

RiotJag

There's a chance we're doing to dig back into his evolutions over the next few weeks and see if there's some value we can add there. It's really hard to work on Kha'zix because the work always ends up getting really involved, so can't promise anything there.

Now I realize this is all just speculation at this point, but I wanted to put out some of my observations and thoughts for digging deeper into Kha'Zix's evolutionary options.

#1. 3 of 4 evolutions isn't choice, just process of elimination

The problem with having 4 evolutions and 3 points to put into them is that its rare for the player to really make a meaningful "How do I adapt to this game" choice. Instead, it is simply a matter of "which of these 4 are the weakest choice." Then it is just a matter of balance changes impacting which evolution is the odd-man out. It becomes simple min-maxing. Admittedly, sometimes the order of evolutions might be different. "Do I want the Q damage for more burst, or do I want E first for better gank range/escape?"

However, by the end of the game, the majority of Kha'Zix's (Kha'Zixii?) will be the same.

So how do we change this?

#2. Multiple Evolution Stages Per Ability

Instead of having each ability evolve only once, I propose having Kha'Zix able to evolve each ability up to 2, or even 3 times, giving each one clearly delineated payoffs and tradeoffs for each. Regardless of the number of levels, a "Max" Evolution would have significant payoffs.

If you go with 2 levels of evolution, then you can: a) still spread out over 3 abilities, and go for a more rounded options, or b) get 1 "full" evolution and 1 "half" evolution. If you go with 3 levels, then you can still spread them out, but then you could c) go "All-In" on one evolutionary path. Also, note that if you went with a 2 or 3 "level" system, you could reward the Evolution Points at different intervals instead of just on the R rank. Could be at different levels so you end up with more or fewer Evolution Points as needed. (for example if you wanted 2 levels of evolution, and 4 points to distribute, put them at 4/8/12/16)

All this means that your "End Game" Kha'Zix might be remarkably different from one another.

So let's look at some possible iterations. For the sake of argument let's just stick with 2 evolution levels, but these could certainly go out to 3. DISCLAIMER I am going to throw out some crazy numbers and proposals. Calm down. I'm just using extremes to make a point, the actual numbers or buffs would be subject to change and balance. The point is the concepts, not the exact numbers.

Taste Their Fear (Live) Kha'Zix gains 50 bonus range on his basic attacks and Taste Their Fear, which also deals「 (+ 10 × Kha'Zix's level) 」(+ 104% Bonus AD) bonus physical damage to isolated targets.

Could be.. Level 1. Isolation damage increases, but no change in range. Level 2. Kha'Zix gains bonus range on AA/Q, and gains "execute" damage on his Q (increased damage based on % Missing Health) regardless if the target is Isolated. If they are Isolated, the damage is further increased (or becomes true damage. lol, jk)

Basically this is your "All In" damage ability. 1 rank still gives you better Isolation damage, but 2 ranks gives you even better Isolation damage but also gives you a damage source if they are not isolated (by finding a low-health target). This is "Assassin Kha'Zix" path.

Void Spikes (Live) Void Spike fires three clusters in a cone, Slow icon slows by 50% and grants Sight icon sight of enemy champions hit for 2 seconds. Multiple explosions do not deal extra damage to the same target or provide Kha'Zix with additional healing.

Could be... (Base Void Spikes does not heal, just deals AoE damage. Extra damage to minions - to help jungle. Does not grant vision.) Level 1. Fires one spike. Additionally, Kha'Zix heals himself if he is in the detonation radius and gains regular Vision on targets. Level 2. Fires three spikes at greater range. Grants Kha'Zix True Sight of any stealthed units. Each spike returns health to Kha'Zix per Champion hit - Kha'Zix does not need to be within the radius to heal.

This is a safer, beefier, "Tank Kha'Zix" path. If he needs to be tougher this would let him last longer in a team fight by sustaining off the enemy team. The more enemies, the more health he gets back, allowing him to stick around much longer.

Evolved Leap (live) Leap gains range and its cooldown is reset on enemy champion takedowns.

Could be... Level 1. Leap gains X Range, and cooldown resets. Level 2. Kha'Zix can store up to 2 Charges, and creates an AoE slow upon landing.

This is "Utility Kha'Zix" - makes it very hard to get away from him. Level 1 still forces him to get the kill to get a free Leap, but Level 2 would let him store charges. If he expends both charges and gets a kill, one Charge immediately refreshes. The AoE slow would help his team stick to targets, but since Kha'Zix is giving up the massive damage spike by not evolving Q, it makes him less obnoxious of an assassin.

Evolved Void Assault (Live) Void Assault can be cast a total of 3 times and each instance grants 2 seconds of stealth.

Could Be... (Base: 1 Cast, 1 second,) Level 1. 2 casts (within X seconds), 2 second duration. level 2. 3 Charges (can be cast individually), 3 second duration, gains a bigger (but decaying) MS boost.

"Stealth Kha'Zix" - you can now store Ultimate Charges individually, used on an "ammo" system similar to Akali/Teemo Ults. 2 ranks here and 1 rank in Q makes Kha'Zix a potent stealth ganker, but he does not have the same team utility of an Evolved Leap, nor the sustain/soak of Evolved Spikes.

Now these are just examples, and I could take them out even further with 3 ranks, but that's just spinning a yarn at that point. The argument here is that Kha'Zix could truly be built on the idea of a truly evolving Champion who could actually adapt to different games without simply picking 1 of 3 paths to the same end result.

"But if he can become a 'perfect champ' in any game situation, wouldn't that alone make him OP?"

Riot is all about making strengths & weaknesses clear. I think by removing some of the "base" strength of each individual ability, he will clearly gain strength in one area but loses strength in others - making clear tradeoffs and payoffs for each possible evolution path.

Thoughts?

23 Comments

LoLKiru9/5/2015, 9:13:46 PM2 votes

I feel this would be a great way to do this honestly.

Normally generalists become major balance issues (since they can do everything at the same time, at least decently), but Kha would only be a generalist in the sense that he can do anything; but NOT at the same time (if he decides to do something, he'll need to forsake something else.

E.g: Evolving W twice and E once, means he completely forsakes his Q; unless he manages to kill Rengar in their event of course)

Penns9/5/2015, 9:21:35 PM1 votes

This would be so awesome, but broken as shit lol.

Kouga9/5/2015, 9:51:48 PM1 votes

Change... Khazix ...Is good...

Wicked Waffle9/6/2015, 1:27:58 AM1 votes

Looks like a really well-thought out post.

"Taste Their Fear" I would opt for the Level 2 Taste Their Fear to have a lesser execute damage, but decrease the isolation range. That's because late-game Kha' Zix is very negligible because everyone is grouped up. I would sacrifice execution damage for more chances to proc the isolation damage. Either that, or Kha' Zix Taste Their Fear now proc on-hit effects, for a different build path than normal (gotta increase them diversity!)

"Void Spikes" This seems to force Kha'Zix to level his W in order to jungle. Seeing as how Kha' Zix already suffers heavily in the jungle due to Warrior enchantment having horrible stats, and that his W can only be evolved at level 6, it's too harmful to jungle Kha. Unless, there's a new evolution point system (see below).

"Leap" Seems good to me.

"Void Assault" Level 2 Void Assault's stealth duration should remain 2 seconds. He already gets a huge boost from being able to store charges; any more and people would call him the new Vayne. Instead, I propose to integrate the previous Void Assault evolution; Kha gains 50% damage reduction for 1 second after he stealths.

My final thought is to change the evolution system. My goes along the lines of getting evolution points at levels 1/6/11/16. Kha starts off with one evolution point to help ease his jungling, because the heal isn't gained until 6 normally. This would force jungle Khas to evolve his W for substain, and lane Khas to evolve another ability. I don't really think that forcing jungle Kha' Zix to put one evolution point in his W would impact Kha' Zix greatly, as jungle Kha'zix is already forced to buy jungle items. Also: Have you every toyed with the thought of evolving Unseen Threat? My thought is that it would be something like this:

Unseen Threat (No longer slows) Level 1: Now slows for 30% for three seconds, granting vision during that time. Level 2: Taste Their Fear will now always deal isolation damage to people affected by Unseen Threat. This complements the Assassin playstyle, so if a Kha' Zix wanted to go full damage, it would be possible by evolving Taste Their Fear and Unseen Threat.

Toa Innodence9/7/2015, 10:09:57 PM1 votes

You'd have to play around with how many evolutions he could be allowed, I think four or five would be the magic number in this case, preferably four plus a fifth for the hunt. but all around this sounds good. if he were to be reworked, I'd prefer this.

Kouga9/27/2015, 1:38:06 AM1 votes

Bumping this for the Void.

Kouga11/21/2015, 5:36:36 AM1 votes

Bumping this due to recent Kha'Zix discussions from the Reds.

Kouga10/9/2016, 2:01:40 PM1 votes

Just thought I'd drop a bump due to the recent talk of a Kha'Zix rework or tweak in the upcoming Pre-Season changes.

Most of what I wrote above still holds true today.

#BeTheChange