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Question regarding passive stacking abilities vs active stacking abilities

I Came For You·5/12/2015, 6:42:12 AM·1 votes·422 views

What I've been noticing with recent champion reworks is that designers have been implementing active stacking abilities. What I mean by active stacking abilities is, abilities that require you to stack with AAs or spells before using it, leading to a "burst". (If anyone has a better name or the correct name, feel free to correct me). For example, the Ashe rework. The new Ashe requires you stack 5 hits of her passive before activating her Q, which temporarily gives her a burst of power for 4 seconds and going on CD for 18 seconds or so. Tristana is similar in that she relies heavily on her Q and E combo. Ryze also gets a burst of power after using a certain number of spells as well.

Passive stacking abilities include: Jinx, Graves, and MissFortune, as they get more attack speed/resistances/magic damage based on auto attacks. I'm not saying that these champions are good, bad, or broken, but merely using them as an example of passively stacking.

So my question, is what are your opinions? Are these newer stacking mechanics too much of a gimmick?, or are they just fine? To me, the CD for some of these stacking bursts take too long refresh or is harder to maintain in the case of Ryze.

2 Comments

ProfDrDeath5/12/2015, 7:29:50 AM2 votes

For Ashe, the active stacking mechanic fits her supposed playstyle.

You've probably noticed how Ashe's kit has become highly sustained damage focused, with almost no burst to its name (flattened out crits, no multiple arrow damage on W). The necessity of stacking your Q before having access to the uber-steroid fits right into that DPS-focused playstyle.