A Reworked Valor Rework

About a month ago, I posted a Quinn-rework suggestion to deal with the identity-crisis problem present in Quinn's current rework, without re-introducing the problems associated with her pre-rework state. Notably, Riot added in a Q mechanic similar to what I suggested in that thread, but no luck with additional Valor mechanics. Since then, I've changed my stance significantly on what has been done and what should be done. So I'll start off here by saying what I think of Quinn NOW after more reflection.

Quinn seems to be in a good place (when you delete an Ahri before she can finish her ult after she full-combo ambushes you by blue... and you're an adc... you're in a good place.) Even so, for veteran Quinn players, the rework still feels lacking in a core aspect of Quinn's identity. I'm not talking about vet players who raged about her win-percents coming out of the rework. Those are sore losers. I'm talking about players who actually respect the character's identity and aren't just looking for easy wins at every stage in the patch cycle.

Many of us miss the duel champ kit that, once upon a time, represented the spirit of tag-team now gone from Quinn/Valor (literally, Riot changed the name). I can understand Riot's choices, and to a certain degree, respect them. The new Quinn-carrying animation actually resolves a long-standing "logic" question, "where the heck does Quinn go when Valor swoops in, and how the heck does Quinn end up where Valor left off? Isn't he twice as fast as her?" So I say leave the Quinn-carrying mechanics.

Do I still think, like I did a few weeks ago, that "tag-team" was lost when Valor's kit was deleted? No, because on further consideration, I realize tag team was never really there. Two thirds of Quinn's mechanics were actually Valor mechanics ANYWAY (Q, W, passive), and the switch to Valor with Tag-Team gave you essentially the same kit with a few twists to make it more bursty and assassin style. But it was basically the same thing: Dash at them with e; hit them with q; vision with w. So when Riot removed all that, and made Quinn's side more bursty-assassin style, they weren't removing much (just making the kit-design more "concise", which, as a side note, probably makes it a LOT easier to balance), but I STILL think there's room to bring back some Valor diversity.

The way Riot has it now, you can Q or E coming out of Valor form. But I think they can add some extra effects to these, as well as W, to make them primarily Valor maneuvers coming out of Behind-Enemy-Lines (as R is now called) and bring back some of the independence of the eagle as well as some of the additional kit-mechanics to make the Quinn/Valor experience more rich. Yes, I still think when you use E or Q, you should return to Quinn and not have Valor initiate a reign of terror (Quinn's pretty good at that now) but Valor can still make some plays with these abilities as he's releasing Quinn, and also add in some interesting "planned-escape" mechanics with W.

As a side note, Quinn doesn't really NEED any mechanics right now to be balanced. She's pretty OP at times anyway. I would assume you'd have to nerf some of her dps numbers to keep her balanced (thus making balance a more challenging process once again) so I'm not wholeheartedly endorsing my suggestion here, but I'm still interested to see what people think of it. So here it goes:

While using Behind Enemy Lines, casting Q and E will exit flight, but will have different mechanics as you exit, along with W. These mechanics are as follows.

• Q: Valor drops Quinn and dashes in a line, damaging all enemies in the path and reducing their vision
• W: Valor temporarily releases Quinn after beginning an upward flight for reconnaissance. This "tosses" Quinn slightly upward, allowing Quinn to hop a wall. After 2 seconds, clicking W again returns Valor instantly to Quinn. After 4 seconds, Valor automatically returns to Quinn. As Valor initially soars, you gain vision in a radius. During these (up to) 4 seconds, Quinn can cast all abilities and basic attack, but has no move speed buff from Behind Enemy Lines (duh). When Valor catches Quinn again, regain move speed with an additional 50% move speed buff for 1 second (Valor dive inertia).
• E: Valor dashes in a line, but drops Quinn AFTER he begins rushing forward. Valor damages, interrupts, and slows all enemies in the line, and Quinn, from the dash inertia, tumbles to the end of Valor's dash line. Q can be cast during the dash to additionally reduce vision of enemies in an aoe at the point where Q is cast (think Ali wq combo. This also requires good timing skills to not Q too early or late.)

W adds some time-constrained escape mechanics that bring in what Quinn used to have with ult, in that she could cast it to get out of sticky situations without a channel. Note, Behind-Enemy-Lines STILL has a channel, but no channel is required here for Valor to catch Quinn again. But you only use W as a means to either a) jump a wall or b) enter a battle with a plan to insta-Valor within 2-4 seconds after an initial burst. Note, W will still have it's lengthy cooldown, so you won't be able to use this more than once in a given situation and still get to fight. I'm thinking that the Valor W may actually need a significantly longer cooldown still then the Quinn W. Maybe double. After all, Quinn could only use the R escape once every minute and a half or two before the rework.

The E mechanics makes it more of a Valor maneuver, but also gives Quinn something else she can do with E in terms of where she lands. This is nice for those cases where you want to initially come in on an enemy from behind as an uber-roaming adc, but you don't ACTUALLY want to be behind enemy lines for that long. Because, duh, you're an adc. You can make your initial plays coming in, but land squarely by allies. In addition, if you already like your positioning then you can just use Q or R coming out of Behind Enemy Lines. And then E afterwards to slow your target. Also, if you're chasing down a target, maybe you WANT to get behind them with E to cut off their escape. Etc. etc.

Given how bursty Quinn is right now, she doesn't NEED any escape/mobility/positioning mechanics. Providing this additional utility and aoe damage would obviously necessitate damage nerfs. But I'd rather have a richer more interesting set of mechanics with a bit of Valor's old semi-independence then hefty stats.