@Meddler Champion AMA: Syndra

Just like to say that I think it would be nice to get a champion review ama after a few years to understand where a champion is at it's current state and if changes are needed for the current or future meta. I would like to say that I do play Syndra often but I don't think she is weak nor strong as of the current patch despite the low rate. The tanky meta and the heavy bruiser engage meta just makes her very vulnerable unless she has snowballed from early game and kept it going which Riot removed since patch 5.1. You can still carry games if you play the survival game till 6 and snowball from there, but even then people do understand Syndra's limits and can easily work their way around it. There are plenty of openings against Syndra. If you get to late game Syndra just needs to hope her team knows how to peel for her, despite her dps and burst out put patterns being considerably dynamic when compared to other champions mainly because they are skill shot reliant and require really poor positioning from the enemy. Which is really hard cause Syndra also needs great positioning since you are immobile. Don't get me wrong Syndra is a good champion, but like LS said Syndra is one of those champions that is hard to balance just like Azir since their strengths at times could easily overshadow their weaknesses. I don't think she needs changes for now but eventually she will need some better control presence; QoL changes for late game. It does not make sense that she does not become a late game monster like her lore would suggest. So here are some questions pertaining to Syndra and her overall development:

1. Any thoughts on mana changes for her spells?

2. Why doesn't W knock-up at Max rank? Did you guys think it would be too strong and decided to remove it before debuting her on pbe? W feels really lack luster in terms of what it offers. Most people max E for more consistent and strong CC since she transfers from a burst mage to a control mage for better mid to late game transition. I personally wouldn't mind removing damage from W for more CC especially since it is mechanically just re-positioning a sphere. To me it doesn't make sense how re-positioning a sphere does more damage than her primary spell. It should do equal if not less damage and just add better efficient cc.

3. What were your ideas for her ultimate? Have you ever considered allowing her spheres to fuse into one giant one like how Goku from DBZ gathers energy to form a spirit bomb; making the damage and size of the aoe increase per sphere and when it impacts it disperses into the same number of spheres ( very similar to how Doom bot Ziggs creates more bombs out of bombs)? Or would that be taking Zigg's identity of a large aoe bomb?

4. Would you consider lowering the damage on her ult and adding percent health damage per sphere?

5. Were there any different passive ideas? Whether it was different spell effects etc.?

Edit: Also what are your thought's on hard cc duration scaling with AP?