Should Amumu's ultimate have a wind-up?

darkdill·Jun 4, 2018·3 votes·2,017 views

The fact that Amumu's ultimate hits such a large area around him and doesn't have a wind-up means it can end up being oppressive if it's ever on the strong side, and also makes it inflexible to balance changes. I honestly think it'd be better gameplay if Amumu had to spend about 0.5-0.75 seconds winding up before unleashing his ultimate. While that might result in a lot more people Flash-dodging, the lower reliability would allow the ultimate to receive other kinds of power (i.e. converting into a full-blown stun instead of root/disarm).

But this is all anecdote, so I'd like to hear other opinions. Just no shaming, flaming, etc.

7 Comments

DerMangoJoghurtJun 4, 20183 votes

I'd argue that it already has a kind of wind-up, his Q. If you see an Amumu Q into the middle of your entire team, you already know what's coming and have a little bit of time to react. Flash is the exception to this, but is still somewhat predictable and has a high cooldown attached to it.

Teridax68Jun 4, 20182 votes

I think that if one were to break down Amumu's ult to its most essential component, i.e. its entangle, it could perhaps be okay on its own with an instant cast. However, the fact that Amumu's whole kit has damage, to the point where he's basically encouraged to throw himself at enemies like a hand grenade, I think is what makes him oppressive. I like the idea of a champion punishing opponents for being clumped together, and that sort of punishment could perhaps use quicker casting, though considering how Amumu also has pretty good tools to enter the middle of enemy teams, he needs a bit more telegraphing at lower elos: either he should lose some of his Q mobility, which is unlikely to happen, or he could have a wind-up to his ult, which would give his enemies some forewarning. Because of this, I'd support giving Amumu's ult a wind-up, provided he got extra positive returns for catching more enemies with a single cast. Ideally, this is something that should especially benefit his lower-elo counterplay, as he tends to dominate in those divisions, while allowing him greater strength in higher elos, where he doesn't do as well.

TesladinJun 4, 20182 votes

Thats good if he's opressive. That's his strength, what you can do is play to your champions strengths. You shouldnt remove all uniqueness from every champion just because it can be used to good potency

Teridax68Jun 4, 20181 votes

Lacking counterplay isn't and shouldn't be a champion strength. It is not the purpose of any champion to lack interactivity, particularly since at the end of the day League is a PvP video game, whose entire appeal comes from the interaction between players. Amumu is unique because he has a cool magic-enhancing debuff and a ton of both AoE CC and damage, and that for sure deserves to be kept. However, his lack of overall interactivity, the latter of which generally boils down entirely to whether or not he lands his Q, is precisely what is causing him to suffer, as he's far too easy to outplay at higher skill ranks, while still being a pubstomper at low elo. Giving Amumu's opponents more opportunities to interact with him in exchange for more power to Amumu could allow him to feel a lot better at all mastery levels, without sacrificing his uniqueness.

NankyokuJun 4, 20182 votes

No, please. Look at his win rate. If you're gonna do this might as well give all those assasin/100-0 junglers windups as well

NyarlathοtepJun 4, 20181 votes

Nope. Its a pretty unique cc. We dont need another generic stun that has shittons of counterplay. Besides it hurts more those that rely on aa, which is always a plus in my book. Besides he is a bit weak and this wind up would severely cripple him.