Zilean Changes: Review and my thoughts

Q - Time Bomb

Time Bombs are now a lobbed skillshot with fixed travel time. The Time Bomb sticks to enemies and allies near it. If nothing comes nearby, the bomb detonates normally. When Zilean gets two bombs on the same unit, the first bomb detonates immediately, stunning all enemies in the area for 1.5 seconds

TIME BOMB DELAY 4 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds DAMAGE 90/145/200/260/320 (0.9 ability power) magic damage ⇒ 75/115/165/230/300 (0.8 ability power) magic damage RANGE 700 ⇒ 900 COOLDOWN 10 seconds ⇒ 12/11/10/9/8 seconds COST 70/85/100/115/130 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana

Over all I like the fact that Zilean's Q is now a skill shot, as there are a lot more things that you can do with it. You can use them to zone, to check bushes, bomb that pesky invisible Teemo. However, I feel that the bombs are less rewarding over all.

The buffs: The increased range and attachment of the bombs are nice. You can now harass from further away, and it creates a zoning effect if you did not land it on a champion. Secondly, with a shorter timer on the bombs, there is less time for the enemy to react. The mana reduction on the Time Bomb allows you more leeway for how often you can use the bombs during the early game. If you manage to land a double bomb on the same character, you now cause an AOE stun for 1.5 seconds.

The stun: The cooldown change means that in the early stages of the game before level 5, the time window to double bomb is extremely short. Without any CDR, at level two you have less than a 1 second window to land the second bomb for a stun. With the 2nd point in Time Bomb, you are able to cast the second bomb with a 1 second delay, and once you get the 3rd point at level 5, there is still a fraction of a second delay based on the casting time+travel time. For practicality, this means that while the range of Time Bomb increased, the effective range for the stun is around the original range. It also requires landing both skill shots on the same target, which can be difficult when a lot of characters are in close proximity to each other.

The Nerfs: Significant damage reduction. The bombs lost 17/21/18/12/6% base damage respectively for its level. Then on top of the base damage reduction, Zilean lost an AP ratio of .1 for a further 11% damage reduction to Zileans bomb. Considering that this is literally Zilean's only source of damage in addition to now being a skill shot surprised me.

My Opinion: Over all, I like how the new bomb feels. It will take effort to land the bombs, and their is more potential for the bombs to have a larger impact in a team fight; however, the bombs unreliability as a skill shot, in addition to the reduced damage currently makes me feel that Zilean has been significantly nerfed. Though as my skill with landing the bombs and getting the stun off increases, I may reconsider.

One of the difficulties I encountered with the Time Bomb is that it would not attach when it looked like it should. I would cast the bomb on an enemy, and it would land with the champion on its edge; however, the bomb would not attach. I do not know if the attachment needs to be refined, or if this is due to the "camera angling" showing that they are inside the range, when in fact their sprite is outside the range. Just need to take some time to adjust so its a guaranteed land.

E - Time Warp

DURATION 2.5/3.25/4/4.75/5.5 seconds ⇒ 2.5 seconds SLOW/SPEED AMOUNT 55% ⇒ 40%/55%/70%/85%/99% (yes, that is correct) COOLDOWN 20 seconds ⇒ 15 seconds COST 80 mana ⇒ 50/55/60/65/70 mana RANGE 700 (center of Zilean's hitbox to center of opponent's hitbox) ⇒ 550 (edge of Zilean's hitbox to edge of opponent's hitbox) - this should be around a ~75 range reduction, which varies depending on how fat his target is

I'm on the fence when it comes to Time Warp. I really dislike the 2.5 seconds across the board; though, this is mainly due to being used to the old Zilean with 5.5 seconds at max rank.

Buff: Time Warp received a significant increase in its speed % effect. This can allow someone to catch up fast, or effectively "Sit Doggy" an enemy champion. Using it on an enemy can make landing a double bomb much easier, and keep an enemy who is out of place out of place. The reduction of the mana allows this skill to used more frequently in the early stages of the game. The cooldown reduction allows the skill to be used sooner, however, this is in compensation of the permanent 2.5 spell duration.

Nerf: To counterbalance the % speed modification Time Warp has, the duration has been set to 2.5 permanently. The overall range of the spell has been reduced.

My Opinion: The % increase is powerful; however, the cost of not being able to keep the effect going saddens me. It definably helps to get people in an out of situations, or to keep an enemy in a situation, but it "feels" nerfed to me becasue of its reduced time. Whether it is or not, I don't know.

R - Chronoshift & W - Rewind

R - Chronoshift DURATION 7 seconds ⇒ 5 seconds COOLDOWN 180 seconds ⇒ 120/90/60 seconds COOLDOWN no longer reduced by Rewind

The Buffs: Chrono shift's cooldown has been significantly reduced allowing the ultimate to be used more frequently without the need to spend mana on Rewind.

Nerf: The duration has been reduced, requiring better timing on when to use the ultimate, and reducing the amount of time the enemy need to wait for it to wear off before the kill.

My Opinion: I'm rather happy with this change. It does not cost mana to get Chronoshift off of cooldown in a reasonable amount of time. Most of the time, Chronoshift is used soon before a champion dies, and so the time nerf does not effect the use of a typical Chronoshift.