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Initial thoughts on Taliyah

Serpents Embrace·5/19/2016, 1:03:15 AM·2 votes·729 views

Disclaimer: I've only played her in two normal games. I did very poorly in one, and pretty well in the other (we still lost).

I tried her mid and top, and I feel like she did better as a top laner. She has a straight wall to get to lane, making your out-of-lane time smaller, whereas mid has a bunch of no-wall gaps. Your Worked Ground and passive movement speed buffs make ganking her tough when you can only come from one side, but not when you can flank both. Once 6, your ultimate can be used as an escape in a pinch.

  • Why is her passive totally useless in combat? The current values are way too high for in-combat, but why not give her something like half effectiveness in combat? She would need to position herself near a wall to get it and that's usually a bad place to be. If she sees an opening in combat to chase someone down or escape by kiting off to a wall it doesn't seem like a huge problem since she opens herself up to through the wall skillshots, any wall pin (Condemn skills) and less ability to avoid AOEs.
  • She was super weak early game. I feel like the main problem might be her Q. Not necessarily the damage values, but it's interaction with Worked Ground. It seems like you're much weaker when standing on your Worked Ground zones and I noticed that I was running out of areas to cast Q without being on Worked Ground. The trade-off between any semblence of wave clear and damage and a 10% movement speed buff is...not a nice one. It seemed like I would have wanted to create a zone of Worked Ground my opponent should be leery of pushing in to, but instead it just made it easier for them to do so and harder for me to fight back. Maybe if you could cast it more often on Worked Ground or you got some sort of damage bonus from casting it on or hitting opponents standing on Worked Ground?
  • Her W's quick cast needs some smoothing. The worst part was trying to cast W, have it knock straight up, and then try to cast something else. Super clunk! *R's cooldown felt a little long for an effect without damage, but it's a powerful one so I can see why. It does make laning really difficult after using it to get a kill or escape a gank, though, since the opponent knows it's down for almost two minutes.

Overall I can't say I'm disappointed or even underwhelmed. She's really interesting as a champion but she's not really exciting right now either.

What does everyone else think? Any one else found her better top, or tried her support or jungle yet? Anyone else experience the same frustration with her Q and Worked Ground?

8 Comments

Cyndercat5/19/2016, 2:06:02 AM2 votes

I played her mid and support. Did very well as support, but thats my main role and I cant see her kit bringing anything that would make her a worthwhile pick over more dedicated supports, maybe the roaming potential.

Mid I did horribly but I was against a zed who apparently counters her so Im not sure if she is weak early or zed just dumpstered me.

I agree that the W feels clunky and needs a fix, it also feels abit slow to cast and most decent enemies can evade it.

I feel the Q is fair. Worked ground makes you weak but its meant to, to stop you spamming projectiles all over. It makes you really think about when to effectively use the 5 hit Q and if it will be a valuable trade off for the worked ground. I do feel like it can get blocked by minions a little too easily, as she lacks strong waveclear.

If i could change something about her kit atm it would be to fix W clunk and to perhaps allow the first Q projectile to pass through 1 minion like lux or bard q.

Overall I found her a very fun champ without anything ridiculous or overloaded in her kit, which is great. I am glad theres nothing super exciting and flashy as that tends to be super OP at release and then nerfed to uselessness as its impossible to balance so I feel more toned downed champs are healthier. Taliyah still feels unique though so imo her design is good.

I did not enjoy playing against zed though and was disappointed at how easily he countered me. I hope shes not another champ who is super weak to all super mobile champs and im sick of those.

X8ViEhkPS05/19/2016, 6:12:39 AM2 votes

I only messed around with her in customs, just to try to get the feel of her.

Her passive is okay. Out of combat movement isn't really exciting, I like how the model looks in game when she is surfing.

I hate her Q. Mainly because the duration of the worked ground feels so punishing. Without any CDR (since the duration of worked ground is lowered with CDR) it takes 3 minutes for worked ground to fade. And without any bonuses with casting on worked ground makes you feel like you are casting half an ability. While it does give a bit of movement speed, she has so much inherent out of combat movement I'd gladly get rid of the worked ground movement for a lower duration worked ground.

Her W I think is fine, outside of usability issues that can be fixed it is an okay ability.

Her E is I think her best ability when I thought it was a terrible ability at a glance. I do think it should be maxed first just so she has a decent amount of wave clear, and good harassment. In combination of her W it makes the lane a bit easier to control.

Her ult is the only reason she is even slightly exciting. Super Anivia wall that can also be used to roam. Now do I think this alone makes her a good enough a pick? Well no.

My prediction is that she is going to fall into obscurity. Short ranges, small amount of zone control, and self punishing ability. I don't think her ult is enough to carry her into a respectable pick. I think she is going to be okay, but never great.