Protobelt Discussion

Now that it has been out for a patch, and we have seen it in action, I just want to start a discussion about the protobelt (). I want to know what the general feelings are about it, as in: Is it impactful? If so, is it in a positive or negative manner? Does it accomplish its design goals?

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My Thoughts:

Mobility is arguably the strongest mechanic in League of Legends (right next to invulnerability), and this is why flash is effectively mandatory as a summoner spell. The ability to dodge a critical skillshot, close the gap for a critical initiation, or increasing the gap for your grand escape all demonstrate the versatile power of mobility. Now with the protobelt, mobility in the form of a dash can be purchased by anyone with some spare gold.

In regards to mobile champions, the dash is short enough that for many people on most champions it does have a "meh" feeling. However, this does not diminish its power. Even if a champion kit already has a dash, the additional protobelt dash makes it easier (or simply possible) for many champions to hold onto some sort of mobility in the case that something goes wrong. This therefore reduces "down" periods where a champion has blown all of its mobility and is now vulnerable. Protobelt can also be combined with any dash to increase the effective range which turns situation were one is almost close enough to definitely being close enough. Generally, though, the power of the protobelt is less impactful on mobile champions.

Immobile champions are where real problems start to arise with the protobelt. Sure, for those with limited burst it feels pretty fair letting them have a little more safety or letting them get that last little bit of damage off, but it is truly broken, I would argue, on immoble burst mages. Until now, most immobile burst mages like Annie or Veigar have been designed around the idea that if you come into their zone, they will kill you. This effective range is generally small enough that they can still be safely poked using longer ranged abilities as you danced around the edge of their range. They would have the options craftily forcing you into a position in which you had to get in their range, ignore you, or blow flash which would leave them vulnerable for up to five minutes (300 seconds). The problem with protobelt is that it makes it that if you are in range to interact with them, they can blow a 40 second cooldown to kill you while keeping flash for safety. I would say that as long as champions have "I will f*** you up" zones, it slants protoblet too far into the realm of unhealthy for much more personal consideration.

All of this is without talking about the damage attached to the dash as well.

However these are just my current thoughts as I post.

tl;dr: What do you think about protobelt? I think it doesn't work with the current state of League.