ALOT of analysis about a very simple yet groundbreaking change to Azir

The premise is to make the base damage on his W scale with the level of the ability rather than champion level. The numbers in mind are 60 base damage level 1 (10 more damage than live Azir) scaling by 20 additional base damage per level up to a total of 140 base damage max level of the ability (30 less damage than current max champion level Azir on Live servers). Let me explain how I think this will improve his playstyle to be more rewarding for the player and less overwhelming and more interactive for his enemies, especially his laning opponents. I think it is important to first talk about his current problems and the things about his kit that create these problems.

NOTE: Sand soldier auto attacks currently have base damage which is listed as a passive on Azir’s W, Arise. (These notes are for people who are less familiar with Azir)

So, in my opinion, Azir’s problems are as follows:

1. Too overwhelming in lane early because of his poke and short cooldown on Q
2. Too underwhelming in early skirmishes and teamfights because of his incredibly low base damage of his sand soldier auto attacks
3. Too overwhelming late game

I think the cause of these problems is that leveling W DOES NOT increase the base damage of the ability; leveling W only decreases the refresh rate of soldiers that Azir can then summon and increases Azir’s attack speed steroid by 20% at level 1 and then an additional 10% per additional level. Since leveling W does not increase the base damage and E requires all-in commitment and has a long cooldown, even when fully leveled, the only reasonable thing to do is to level Q.

Leveling Q increases the damage to 65 level 1 and then an additional 20 damage per additional level. It also decreases the cooldown by 1 second per ability level from 10 seconds at level 1. The result is you get a Q that does 145 base damage scaling down to a 5 second cooldown (about 3.5 seconds at 30% cdr which is realistic at 15 minutes in the game). So because he is forced to max Q, he can poke like crazy leaving very few windows of opportunity in between Q’s because of the short cooldown. Mana cost on Q is 70, which is high, but give Azir a blue buff and that lane is over with very little interaction from the enemy laner.

Still, the worst part about maxing Q first is that outside of lane, Azir is out-damaged by….just about everything before level 13ish. Azir is outdone by everyone because W base damage only increases by increments of 2, 3 and 4 damage per champion level levels 1-9; it’s only at level 10 that his base damage starts to increase by increments of 10 and then level 17 and 18 it increases by 15. So if Azir tries to 100%-0% somebody pre-level 13ish, since his base damage on his w is so low, he finds himself being killed before he has time to do so or running out of mana because he has casted Q (70 mana cost all levels) so many times and his opponent gets away. This means that in the early game Azir is an overwhelming poke-bot in lane and has to avoid fights until level 13, which is usually attained by about 18 minutes, which by this time the game might already be decided.

This drastic increase in base damage in the late game, which is chronologically the same time Azir would be building expensive AP items like Rabadons Deathcap and is in addition to the base damage he gains both from leveling an ability and getting the additional base damage on W from gaining a champion level, gives him a MASSIVE power spike in the late game that makes him totally overwhelming and often times uninteractive if he ever gets to the late game. This means that he totally overwhelming to all enemies in his late game state.

In conclusion, the current state of Azir’s kit forces players to max Q and uninteractively poke his laning opponent out of lane while avoiding fights until his base damage and AP ratios becomes overwhelming later on which creates another uninteractive situation now for the entire enemy team instead of just his laning opponent.

Now I will discuss Mew concept for Azir: the only thing that changes is Azir’s W now starts at 60 base damage level 1, scales with ability level rather than champion level and increases by 20 damage per ability level. Before you jump to conclusions, hear me out, please. Let me explain why this will make him more interactive to his laning opponent, encourage him to all-in, skirmish and otherwise team fight throughout the entirety of the game, not just the late game, and to make his late game more forgiving. You may also address the tables below instead of or in addition to hearing my explanation. Let’s address one problem at a time.

1. Overwhelming poke: Let’s specifically compare New and Live Azir from level 2 leveling up to level 3. Live Azir takes a 2nd point in Q level 3 while new Azir would take a 2nd point in W. Live Azir gains 20 additional base damage from leveling Q AND he gains 2 additional base damage from his W after gaining a champion level for a total of 22 additional damage with 1 Q and 1 Auto attack from level 2 to level 3. New Azir gains 20 additional base damage from leveling W for a total of 20 additional damage with 1 Q and 1 auto attack from level 2 to level 3. At this point, you’re probably thinking “but Azir’s most harassing combo is 1 Q FOLLOWED BY 2 AUTO ATTACKS! And since he has more damage in his auto attacks then this would actually make his poke EVEN WORSE! YOU FOOL! YOU MUST BE MAD!” or something like that. This is true. 1 Q and 2 autos will do more damage but consider two things; it is incredibly difficult to dodge his Q but Azir’s laning opponent can position and prepare in such a way to avoid the auto attacks after the Q inevitably hits which, as long as his opponent only gets hit with 1 auto attack after the Q, will always take less damage than current Live Azir AND even if Azir does land his full poke combo and does more damage than current Live Azir, since he is maxing W and not Q, his Q will remain at over an 8 second cooldown until about 15 minutes (compared to about a 4 second cooldown with live Azir at 15 minutes) into the game which means he will not be able to do this combo nearly as often and it opens a window of opportunity for his opponent to act while this ability is on cooldown. In conclusion, less harass, more laning opponent interaction.

2. Inefficiency in skirmishes, teamfights and all-ins early game: Simply put, more damage in his auto attacks means he will have much more sustained damage in the early game, evidential in the tables below; compare the right most column of both tables to see the potential. Keep in mind that most other mid laners are leveling up an ability that increases their damage anywhere from 30 to 45 damage with every ability level, which would be about two auto attacks from New Azir.

3. Over whelming late game: Since W scales with ability level rather than champion level then the base damage stops increasing once there are five points in the ability, which with there hypothetical numbers means that Azir’s base damage on W maxes out at 140 opposed to 170 for live Azir. Azir has a 0.6 AP ratio on W so once he has items he will do damage regardless of his base damage. With New Azir he gets the base damage early game which is when he needs it, and loses a good bit of base damage when he does not need it.

Note: I apologize that the table format did not carry over from Microsoft word. I decided to include the table info anyway for anyone highly motivated to study the numbers.

Live Azir Q Damage Q + Base Damage of AA’s(1 AA) Q + Base Damage of AA’s(2 AA’s) Q + Base Damage of AA’s(3 AA’s) Lvl 1 W 0 0+50(1)=50 0+50(2)=100 0+50(3)=150 lvl 2 Q 65 65+52(1)=117 65+52(2)=169 65+52(3)=221 lvl 3 Q 85 85+54(1)=139 85+54(2)=193 85+54(3)=247 lvl 4 E 85 85+56(1)=141 85+56(2)=197 85+56(3)=253 lvl 5 Q 105 105+58(1)=163 105+58(2)=221 105+58(3)=279 lvl 6 R 105 105+60(1)=165 105+60(2)=225 105+60(3)=285 lvl 7 Q 125 125+63(1)=188 125+63(2)=251 125+63(3)=314 lvl 8 W 125 125+66(1)=191 125+66(2)=257 125+66(3)=323 lvl 9 Q 145 145+70(1)=215 145+70(2)=285 145+70(3)=355 lvl 10 W 145 145+80(1)=225 145+80(2)=305 145+80(3)=385 lvl 11 R 145 145+90(1)=235 145+90(2)=325 145+90(3)=415 lvl 12 W 145 145+100(1)=245 145+100(2)=345 145+100(3)=445 lvl 13 E 145 145+110(1)=255 145+110(2)=365 145+110(3)=475 lvl 14 W 145 145+120(1)=265 145+120(2)=385 145+120(3)=505 lvl 15 E 145 145+130(1)=275 145+130(2)=405 145+130(3)=535 lvl 16 R 145 145+140(1)=285 145+140(2)=425 145+140(3)=565 lvl 17 W 145 145+155(1)=295 145+155(2)=455 145+155(3)=610 lvl 18 E 145 145+170(1)=305 145+170(2)=485 145+170(3)=655

New Azir Q Damage Q + Base Damage of AA’s(1 AA) Q + Base Damage of AA’s(2 AA’s) Q + Base Damage of AA’s(3 AA’s) Lvl 1 W 0 0+60(1)=60 0+60(2)=120 0+60(3)=180 lvl 2 Q 65 65+60(1)=125 65+60(2)=185 65+60(3)=245 lvl 3 W 65 65+80(1)=145 65+80(2)=225 65+80(3)=305 lvl 4 E 65 65+80(1)=145 65+80(2)=225 65+80(3)=305 lvl 5 W 65 65+100(1)=165 65+100(2)=265 65+100(3)=365 lvl 6 R 65 65+100(1)=165 65+100(2)=265 65+100(3)=365 lvl 7 W 65 65+120(1)=185 65+120(2)=305 65+120(3)=425 lvl 8 Q 85 85+120(1)=205 85+120(2)=325 85+120(3)=445 lvl 9 W 85 85+140(1)=225 85+140(2)=365 85+140(3)=505 lvl 10 Q 105 105+140(1)=245 105+140(2)=385 105+140(3)=525 lvl 11 R 105 105+140(1)=245 105+140(2)=385 105+140(3)=525 lvl 12 Q 125 125+140(1)=265 125+140(2)=405 125+140(3)=545 lvl 13 E 125 125+140(1)=265 125+140(2)=405 125+140(3)=545 lvl 14 Q 145 145+140(1)=285 145+140(2)=425 145+140(3)=565 lvl 15 E 145 145+140(1)=285 145+140(2)=425 145+140(3)=565 lvl 16 R 145 145+140(1)=285 145+140(2)=425 145+140(3)=565 lvl 17 E 145 145+140(1)=285 145+140(2)=425 145+140(3)=565 lvl 18 E 145 145+140(1)=285 145+140(2)=425 145+140(3)=565

Note: I did not consider the increase in Attack speed that would be gained from maxing W which would theoretically make successfully landing auto attacks after a harassing Q easier but I’m relatively convinced the sacrifice of a longer Q cooldown will still make the poke more reasonable even considering these facts.

Please feel encouraged to comment but for goodness’s sake use logic and sentence structure. Thank you.