Nerfing Garen & Yorick is fine, just do it carefully.
tl;dr: I know & agree with what Riot's plan is, I just want to stress that really I like seeing both of them at higher MMR. Also put forward a potential changelist for Garen.
I'm already aware that this is already Riot's plan but with so many people complaining about Garen/Yorick nerfs in general I thought I'd come out with my opinion & a few angles to look at both champs through.
First, the obvious - Garen/Yorick DO need a nerf. Both champs are insanely powerful in low ELO and also have good amounts of success in higher ELOs as well. As much as I loved seeing Dhkola picking Yorick in LCS it basically proved the point - Yorick is too strong right now in certain situations. Garen is similar with many players in Master/Challenger picking him either when autofilled or just as a consistent pick.
Secondly, my prime concern - Do NOT nerf these champs hard in higher elos. Honestly, I'm GLAD these champs are seeing play there. When was the last time you saw Yorick in LCS or when you saw Garen being a viable pick even in Challenger? I love that they're getting the spotlight, even if it's because they're a bit overtuned. The last thing I want is to see them ruined because they were too dominant at one ELO and that forced them to be dragged down in every other category.
So how do we keep these champs relevant in high elo while both lowering their capability at lower elos & also managing to remove some of their more 'brainless' skill in the meantime? Since Yorick is the trickier of the two I'll be taking a look at Garen.
For Garen I think it's pretty straightforward. He's the epitome of a 'stat-check' champion that requires a lead and sufficient scaling time to become relevant. You farm for your W passive, you go for Trinity & only then do you start spinning into people. This also puts him in a spot where he's pretty brainless to play to the point of one shotting the villain with R & endlessly trying to kite you down with Q. To that end I think the proper way to make him feel harder to play/better to play against is by targetting either his laning, his W or both alongside taking a look at the Villain system.
Potential changes include:
- Flat nerf to Passive, either by increasing its cooldown before lvl 11 and/or by reducing how much HP regen it gives. Could also just target regular HP regen too.
- Examples: Increasing passive cooldown from 9 seconds to 11 seconds, reducing HP regen bonus when below a certain % HP (25% before lvl 11, 50% after lvl 11). Reducing base health regen.
- Power shift on W. Pretty straightforward, take flat power out of his W and trade it in for something that more skilled players can benefit from. In particular I'm looking at reducing either the W duration or flat Armor/MR gain in exchange for more benefit for using W right at the proper moment.
- Examples: Reverting total AR/MR gain from 40 back to 30 and/or reducing the amount of damage reduction given for the majority of the effect's duration (20 or 25% from 30%). In exchange for these nerfs buff the PROPER timing on the W with more damage reduction/tenacity (Increase both from 60% to 75 or 80% for the 0.75 period). Note: I'm aware they tried this in the past and were worried about Garen having 'too much tenacity'. Fact is that Garen doesn't usually go for the Tenacity in either the Resolve or Precision trees (see Riste's usual rune paths), hence he won't be going over 100% too often or if he is then that's the fault of the player).
- Reducing flat up R damage against villains. I don't think I need to explain how absurd this can be sometimes, you've probably seen it at least once. How to fix it? Reduce base damage & compensate in % missing health damage.
- Examples: Reducing R base damage to 125/325/525 from 175/350/525 while increasing % missing health ratio from 28.6/33.3/40% to 30/35/40%.
So, how would I nerf Garen overall? I'd probably do something like this:
Garen: Perserverance (P):
- Out of combat cooldown increased to 12 seconds before level 11 from 9 seconds before level 11. Courage (W):
- Total AR/MR cap decreased to 30 from 40.
- Damage reduction & tenacity for first 0.75 increased to 75% from 60%.
- Damage reduction for the remaining duration decreased to 25% from 30%. Demacian Justice (R):
- Base damage decreased to 125/325/525 from 175/350/525
- % Missing Health Ratio increased to 30/35/40% from 28.6/33.3/40%
That's what I think for Garen at least. Yorick is a trickier subject and probably needs either a hit to his laning or to his late game scaling. I'd personally prefer a power shift from his Q onto his E (since that's a skillshot) but hey, a base armor nerf would probably work too. But long story short - Be careful about nerfing these two, Riot. They're pretty fun to watch since they're not usually meta in higher MMRs.
