AP Kai'Sa's W significantly weaker after hotfix

SteelMankind·6/3/2018, 3:42:57 PM·1 votes·812 views

From https://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-811-notes

Kaisa PLASMA BASE ON-HIT DAMAGE 7-12 at levels 1-16 ⇒ 4-10 at levels 1-16 PLASMA PER-STACK DAMAGE 1-9 at levels 1-17 ⇒ 1-5 at levels 1-17 PLASMA AP RATIO 0.2/0.25/0.3/0.35/0.4 (for stacks 1-5) ⇒ 0.1/0.125/0.15/0.175/0.2 (for stacks 1-5) W - VOID SEEKER RATIO 0.45 ability power ⇒ 0.6 ability power

Pre-hotfix base W AP ratio: 0.45 + 0.2 + 0.25 = 0.9 (minimum) 0.45 + 0.35 + 0.4 = 1.2 (maximum)

Pre-hotfix upgraded W AP ratio: 0.45 + 0.2 + 0.25 + 0.3 = 1.2 (minimum) 0.45 + 0.3 + 0.35 + 0.4 = 1.5 (maximum)

Post-hotfix base W AP ratio: 0.6 + 0.1 + 0.125 = 0.825 (minimum) 0.6 + 0.175 + 0.2 = 0.975 (maximum)

Post-hotfix upgraded W AP ratio: 0.6 + 0.1 + 0.125 + 0.15 = 0.975 (minimum) 0.6 + 0.15 + 0.175 + 0.2 = 1.125 (maximum)

These changes were meant to nerf marksman-style AP Kai'Sa, who was tearing up bot lane with the item 3115 item 3124 build. Nerfs were deserved, but they also killed mage-style AP Kai'Sa that could be played as a gimmicky mid laner. Her upgraded W is the one thing that made AP Kai'Sa good; it had massive damage for its huge range and low CD (if it hit an enemy champ). You basically would sacrifice having lane pressure and waveclear ability for an extremely potent poking tool mid-late game.

Riot said they didn't want to kill AP Kai'Sa and buffed her W AP ratio by .15, but as you can see, most of the damage of her W came from her passive. 0.975 instead of 1.2 for upgraded W is a big deal, considering that W poke is the only reason you would ever go AP Kai'Sa mid.

I propose upgraded W having an AP ratio of 0.8 instead of 0.6. This would make AP mage Kai'Sa playstyles more or less just as good as before (i.e. gimmicky and risky but not without strong points) without breaking AP marksman Kai'Sa playstyles.

2 Comments

fromis chaeyoung6/3/2018, 3:51:05 PM1 votes

I actually came here specifically to make a post to say that AP Kaisa W is too strong in ARAM. Her W was already strong before the changes, and buffing the AP ratio just makes her more oppressive and obnoxious to play against.

So...yeah.

Khristophoros6/3/2018, 4:37:46 PM1 votes

"mage style" kai'sa is a weak and scrubby build. With how her kit is designed there's no way to allow it to be viable without rageblade + nashor's builds being massively overpowered.