A Quick Overview of the Assassin Reworks

So, I've been seeing a lot of people asking what the assassin reworks are going to be like on the boards over the past few days. Riot released a post for each one, which I'll be going through to basically give you guys a TL;DR. I'll also put in quotes from the Rioter's posts, in case you want to read them (it really will be a TL;DR if you decide to just ignore the quotes). In addition, several YouTubers, including Jeremy GamingCurios and Redmercy, have covered all 4 of them in videos over on their channels. The links to the posts will be here: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/MfXnx8VF-assassin-roster-update-leblanc-direction http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/hYn5EO3E-assassin-roster-update-rengar-direction http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/EjFNREfn-assassin-roster-update-talon-direction http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/QjJgio3P-assassin-roster-update-katarina

So, first, all assassins are getting a longer burst window, becoming less about killing enemies in a single rotation of spells and more about using skill to outplay opponents. Second, each assassin will fit into a certain niche: the Trickster (Leblanc), the Hunter (Rengar), the Roamer (Talon), and the Teamfighter (Katarina). They'll all bring something more to a teamfight that just instagibbing the enemy ADC (as an ADC main, I'm very happy about this), and they'll all in general have more ways to outplay and be outplayed.

Leblanc will have active deception tools that are even able to impact teamfights without her being there and her burst combo will be less centered around her diving face-first into you with her W. W will be more for the utility, escape, and trickery that it's currently known for without her being forced to use it to burst. Exact quotes from the post by 20thCenteryFaux:

"Extend LeBlanc’s burst window enough that enemies can keep playing after she dashes in. She already has some of this in E, and the idea of Q implies a delay even if it’s often popped instantly. Success here lets us preserve LeBlanc’s powerful damage while giving her awesome in-combat deception tools--so long as opponents can react before their trip to the fountain. Give LeBlanc active deception tools. LeBlanc’s tricky nature has lots of opportunity for really cool plays, and while her passive is awesome it’s also automatic and unreliable. We’re trying things like concealing information about LeBlanc or giving false information about her to the enemy. It should also allow her to specifically make plays centered around it -- whether using it to cover herself as she assassinates a target or the threat of assassination as a bluff. Ensure LeBlanc brings unique strengths to her team. LeBlanc should be able to use deception to keep her enemies guessing while she assassinates her target, which is something other assassins can’t easily do--there’s some of this on Zed and Shaco, but LeBlanc can go much further with it. A powerful and versatile deception tool would also have many uses outside teamfights, especially if the deception can occur without LeBlanc’s presence..."

Rengar will be the biggest changes. His bonetooth necklace is getting a complete overhaul to have more rewarding and obvious buffs, while at the same time likely marking targets for the Pridestalker to kill to get those buffs rather than him being able to just jump on anyone he chooses - likely me (ADC main) - over and over and over again until he has 20 stacks. He will also be much less brute force and much more about outplaying his opponents. His Ferocity is also going to have to be stacked up in fights now, rather than before them so he can just jump on "There's an exc--- 'an ally has been slain.'" Exact quotes from RiotRepertoir's post:

"More ceremony and depth to Thrill of the Hunt: One of the reasons Rengar is so frustrating to play against is that it feels like the game is trying to give you information about what’s going on around you when he’s using Thrill of the Hunt, but the information is so minimal (and so late) that it often leaves you wondering why you got any information at all. Expect Thrill of the Hunt to change in ways that gives opponents more meaningful play against it, but also in ways that give Rengar tools and options to outwit and outmaneuver his opponents rather than needing to be so brute force about things.

Some new spells (or significant changes to existing spells) on Rengar’s base kit: Rengar’s current kit strongly incentivizes him to use all of his spells immediately, and he can drop his whole base kit on you in a matter of .25 seconds. Some of this may be the nature of the Ferocity system, which tells you to max your Ferocity ASAP, but a large part of it is also that his Q and W have very little context as to how to optimize them effectively. Rengar players deserve adrenaline-pumping, healthbar-chunking button presses, but they shouldn’t all come out in the same instant, and they should have degrees of failure and success. His new empowered W is looking to be a game-changer.

Changes to the Ferocity system: The Ferocity system on Rengar’s kit is one of the standout points of uniqueness on the character, but it has some flaws in its current version. Because Rengar needs to build five Ferocity to get an empowered spell, and he only has three spells to build with, he can’t rely on getting to max Ferocity in a fight if he starts from zero. Thus, expert Rengar players usually optimize by approaching a fight with four or five Ferocity that they’ve built up against a minion or monster. Ferocity should have to be built within a fight, but Rengar should also be able to reasonably expect that he can get to the first empowered spell quickly and consistently. Expect Ferocity to be a mechanic that you make decisions around within a fight, rather than before it.

Adjustments to the Bonetooth Necklace: Bonetooth Necklace has a really strong fantasy behind it, but its current mechanics are just… off. First of all, Rengar is supposed to be all about conquering the strongest beasts out there, but given the current mechanics of Bonetooth, he’s more often best off just murdering the same unfortunate victim over and over again. If that was the only oddness to the thing, it might be acceptable for gameplay purposes, but the reward structure is also problematic. Upgrades like “Rengar now jumps farther with his leap” and “Rengar runs faster during R” are problematic. For example, if Rengar’s jump range should be longer, we should make it the default and let opponents get used to it. Ultimately, Bonetooth Necklace should be more about dominance over all opponents, and the upgrades it provides should be powerful, but they shouldn’t significantly alter spell mechanics or force opponents to relearn his spell ranges.

A champion that doesn’t live and die by the bugs it encounters on a game-to-game basis: This isn’t really about gameplay mechanics changes, but Rengar is essentially getting rebuilt from scratch under the hood. It’s important that your success as a player isn’t dependent upon whether your E decides to fire or not."

Talon will probably have the fewest changes. They want him to stay as that easy assassin to play, and are building his kit to make him most effective when roaming around the map. His passive is something that's basically useless on most champions, including him, so it's getting scrapped entirely. He will also confirmed be losing the blink, but gaining some sort of great mobility tool in its place designed for outplaying - possibly what they originally tested for Ekko's Q, which was his current E, but stores up to 2 charges instead. As usual, here are the quotes from Riot Stashu's post: "Leaning into what’s already unique -- roaming. Talon is among the most dedicated roamers when it comes to the Assassins, with boots of mobility being one of his core items. We think that this is cool and something to push on. Talon’s ability to both traverse the map and approach on his target will be way more awesome, appreciable, and thematic for everyone involved. Instant blink from stealth has its merits, but we could take it much, much farther on pretty much all sides (coolness / uniqueness / fairness / fun).

Extending his burst window. It’s important for Assassins to have some reliable threat on the enemy backline, but when all their damage comes out before the would-be victims can react, that’s a big problem. Try not to worry though, we’re not talking about much time here, even half a second could mean a LOT for these guys.

Focusing him on his target. Assassins should be empowered to hunt down and kill a particular enemy champion, and while there’s nothing wrong with having some AoE damage, when you accidentally get a quadrakill by just doing your job and aiming for the fed enemy Twitch, something’s not right. Blades-everywhere is an iconic and exciting part of what Talon does, but we’d like to siphon some of that ambient damage into more focused assassination power. He’ll still be able to get big multikills, he’ll just have to be a bit more deliberate."

And lastly, Katarina. She's also mostly going to be staying the same. She'll get a new W, and likely her current one will be added onto her E whenever she casts it, with a short delay. She is also going to require more skill and have it be more obvious when she outplayed you, because right now she's in the same group as Master Yi, the brain-dead "press button get penta" champions. Quotes from the post by Beluga Whale:

"Tactical Play Perhaps the most significant goal in this update is building Tactical Play and Counterplay into her kit - giving both Katarina and her opponents the ability to make moment to moment plays against each other. In teamfights, there is no more frustrating experience than playing against Katarina when she can cast 5 spell rotations as fast as possible, blinking all over the screen in a completely un-interactible mess of blades. Like the other Assassins in the other updates, we are addings windows in her kill pattern that opponents will be able to meaningfully interact with. Expect her live combo of Shunpo + Sinister Steel to be altered to not be as instantaneous. In return, Katarina players can expect to gain significantly higher mobility and the ability to dance in and out of encounters and set up her own success.

Laning and Interaction With her current live kit, Katarina players are forced to eke through laning phase, if they can. With no real means to kill or even make trades against most opponents, laning becomes a non-interactive affair of throwing Qs and stealing the opportune CS. This feels wrong given her nature and we want to make her laning a much deadlier dance for both parties involved.

Mastery and Skill Expression We believe skill expression to be an extremely important part of Katarina’s appeal that has been unfortunately under-exposed. To all the Katarina players who have undeservingly earned the reputation as face-rollers that win fights by mashing all their buttons repeatedly, we dropped the ball. Internally, we know that she actually has a rather steep mastery curve. On top of rapid input constraints, she tests many less visible aspects revolving heavily around her ability to track opponent CC and pick the exact right moment to engage. These are all important to her, but there should also be more obvious moments where Katarina has out played her opponents built into her own kit, whether through clever juking or flashy prediction plays.

Resetting This is probably the elephant in the room when it comes to Kat. There are multiple compelling arguments against it, including the extreme Feast or Famine pattern it creates. However, kill resets are a powerful tool for striking hard in high risk high reward and adrenaline rush gameplay, while also making a strategically sharp character. And Pentakills. We see Katarina’s ability to hedge her entire skill rotation knowing that if she is successful, she will be able to try for even more is vital to the unique appeal she brings to League. To resolve the aforementioned Feast or Famine, we are actually doubling down here. Expect that Katarina will not only get to keep her live passive and also gain access to some other form of partial resetting on part of her kit - most likely Shunpo.

Shunpo and Ward Jumping We felt a heads up is valuable here: As an indirect result of multiple shunpo resets built directly into Katarina’s kit and a heavy focus on premeditated set up plays, we are re-assessing Ward Jumping. Ward jumping allows Kat to be anywhere she wants regardless of how poorly she set up, which limits our ability to make this multi-jumping playstyle reasonable. Without Shunpo’s ability to ward jump, we would be able to push more power into Shunpo resetting, while also allowing us to give Katarina even more kill pressure in lane where the reliable escape limits her power budget. This isn’t a light consideration and we understand that this function is an expression of skill on the champion, but we feel that there is significantly more mastery to be gained through new Shunpo gameplay." Thanks for reading and feel free to share your opinions on the reworks in the comments down below. I also theorized a bit in this post about what I think the changes on some champions will be, but it's just theory as I am also just a player, not a Rioter and no more informed than any of you who has read the Rioter posts and/or seen the videos.