Let's Update Champion Kits
So by now I'm sure everyone whose played League for more than a year has noticed a trend with newer champs, specifically that a lot of them are getting two passives for one. Or champs are getting abilities that fly in the face of reasons given to nerf older champs. Case in point for the latter; Yasuo vs Garen ult at level 6.
Garen: Rank 1 CD: 160 seconds Range: 400 Max Targets Affected: 1 Damage: 175 + 1 per 3.5 health missing Max Damage: 460 (assuming the target is missing 1000 health and still alive)
Yasuo: Rank 1: CD: 80 seconds Range: 1,200 Max Targets Affected: 5 Damage: 200 + 1.5 Bonus AD Max Damage: 1,000 + 1.5 Bonus AD Additional Effect: 50% bonus armor pen for 15 seconds
So right off the bat, we see that Yasuo has the stronger ult. It has considerably more range, affects more targets, gives Yasuo a steroid for 15 seconds, AND has half the cooldown that Garen's ult has. Yasuo need only hit two targets and he does more damage than Garen can do to one target, with the assumption that his target is still active after losing 1,000 HP at around level 6.
But I'm not here to ride the nag train. Instead of just complaining, I came up with some ideas on how to change Garen's kit.
His passive is definitely dated and could use some work. One of the most commonly held complaints against Garen is that he just stands there and can't be pushed out of lane. While patently false, it did get me thinking. What if instead of bonus health regen out of a fight, he got more health regen -in- a fight? To me, Garen's always been that Demacian soldier who volunteered to be the first one into a fight. He's not someone who will stand back when a fight's going down, even if he's low on health. He wants to be -right- in the middle of it, so let's go ahead and try to focus his kit in on that.
His Q could become a chargeable dash like Vi's, or could become something of a cross between Olaf's Q and Thresh's second hook casting. He throws his sword out a distance and charges to it. Maybe it applies a slow or a brief stun if it lands.
His W is in a good place, especially if some other areas of his kit get reworked. It gives him some tankiness and helps ward off attempts to lock him down.
Garen's E is pretty much locked. That is his singularly defining abilitiy, so the spin's not changing. It's got solid damage without a need to get a lot of AD, which lets him get more defensive items. If anything, I might lower the damage some and add a slow to enemies inside the spin. After all, I have to imagine it's hard to move inside a tornado of sword slashes.
Garen's ult is something else that could see some reworks. Right now it's just not that engaging; literally or figuratively. Right now, his ult is an execute. It looks nice, but I feel like given the evolving state of League that it could be better. What if its damage scaled off the enemy's AD (much like Veigar's ult). Alternatively, it could become a long-distance knockback. Something to push an enemy target out of a fight (or back into one depending on your skill)
Some of these changes are pretty extreme, yes, and might not really fit with Garen's design. But I feel like there's a chance the changes could bring more depth to Garen's gameplay. If nothing else, Garen needs a real way to start a fight. That alone would be enough to create engaging and meaningful gameplay for the Sword of Demacia.
Thoughts? Critiques? What about other older champs whose kits are showing their age compared to these newer kits? What are some of your ideas on how to change their kits for the better?
