Potential buffs and nerfs to garen to make him balanced across all elos
This is a post i made hours before and moved it back to the top again , because i got no feedback . I got a degree in english language but it is not my native one , so i am sorry for any mistakes , i hope that at least what i say makes sense . Bear with me , it is a really long post . Let's get started :
Hello there. This is a smurf of mine , in which i enjoy playing full ad garen . I am a low dia - low masters otp garen player in reality , so i think i have some authority to give some thoughts about garen . Thing is , garen is a simple mech champion and will probably remain one , even after a potential rework . This is totally fine tho . Beginner friendly champions are required , the problem tho is the following : he is so simple that he cannot be balanced for both high and low elo with number buffs/nerfs . We saw that when his q got +40 dmg at rank 5 , he got to an astonishinh 52% even at low diamond , something that lastly occurred during juggernaut update . If average at high , he is completely broken at low , if the opposite occurs then he is average to weak in high :( . He has room for improvement tho , improvements aimed towards the higher brackets , impacting nearly non at all the lower ones .
Change number 1 : Uncap resistancies gained via farming , lower the gain for each minion , by 10-15% . Lower elo players cannot farm properly , thus this will make garen weaker for lower elo , stronger for higher elo , rewarding people with decent farming skills . Bear in mind that average game is around 30 min . MIND THAT GAREN NEEDS 160 CS TO GAIN + 40 ARMOR AND MR . This means that with the 10-15% nerf to gain same value he would need 180-200 farm just to reach same value . This is more like a nerf , not a buff tbh , especially since it makes his early game weaker
Change number 2 : I BEG YOU . Remove the time to cast the abilities of q and r . I do not ask for any number buff here . Heck , if winrate somehow skyrockets by this , nerf the damage of the abilities . Seriously , im open for nerfs there if needed to balance . I would even trade 3/4 of the true damage of villain mechanic to have this . BUT , for the love of , where i play , 0,20-0,25 seconds for my q/ultimate to land after clicking is a way to give me depression . There is an extremely high amount of plays , favorable trades , farming under pressure and extended combos that could have been made if someone utilized it fully . Just to give an example , landing q and ultimate on a carry could be 0,4-0,5 seconds faster , meaning i could have got more spins on my e , 1 more tick of ignite before executing . In lane i could have been able to harass and maybe not get hit back , now q is not an autoattack refresher , rather a damage steroid . Not to mention that it is impossibly difficult to even hit ultimate vs mobile champions that have f , even tho it is targeted , since it cancels if the enemy got out of window range / vision during ultimate channelling . LOW ELO WOULD GET ALMOST NOTHING OUT OF THIS , since they just randomly try to oneshot an adc / apc without further thinking or knowledge of exact damage limits , high elo would get an extreme buff that would make garen viable without breaking him , for inexperienced people to abuse . Just the q immediate animation would make garen able to beat fiora , jax , darius , camille and so many others if played properly . Now it is really easy for a mechanically adept person to cancel every single q you try to hit ( fiora w , jax e , camille shield/e+e -> stunned before q lands ) , as for darius you would not have the delay , so it would be way easier to escape the extended trade afterwards + his q .
Change number 3 : Fix the passive . It is either comically broken or comically useless . Pre 11 useless , post 11 the most broken thing in game in my opinion as a garen main player . Give him a stronger pre 11 passive , nerf his post 11 one . BUT , because early game dictates the flow of the game , if i were to balance it , i'd give garen 1/4 stronger pre 11 passive to take 1/2,8 of his post 11 one. Number can change , fluctuating potentially to lower/higher values but the concept is : stronger pre 11 passive for way weaker post 11 passive , at a value of around +25% early value for a -35% later value (probably)
Change number 4 : REMOVE villains true damage ( or its bonus damage in general ) . Instead give me healthy bonus AD when i am fighting the villain , but in doing so , i would like also slightly higher base stats for compensation or a prize for kills / assists on villain ( or potentially both at a lower degree ) . Atm , villain is doomed to die even to a 0-100 garen because of the outrageous true damage + % true damage , melting squishies and tanks alike , while it is based on completely random situations and has difficulties in its usage for the garen player as well .
(((((((Change number 5 : Higher base ms , lower tankinkness . A + 20 ms for reduced level 1 armor ( - 5 ) , base hp ( - 48 ) without nerfing their scaling tho , or mr . Fixes some of his immobility issues , keeps his mobility issues still (remaining a juggernaut) but makes laning really , really harder , giving him a supremely hard time early on to reap the above benefit . Good players will manage the waves of the minions and survive the blow , bad ones will die)))))))) This is highly experimental , potentially wrong in many ways , including the thematics of garen as a juggernaut . However , one can only dream :D
FINAL THOUGHTS : I just hope for 1 or 2 of those changes to come live , not all of them , since all of them at once would leave garen at a pretty liquid state without testing . However , in time , i would like all of them to implement , adjusting numbers accordingly so that he stays as close to 50% win rate as possible from iron to challenger tier
ult. decide on a baseline of his passive, either 30 or 40 that he can stack up on minions. then allow him to gain an additional either 1 or 0.5 points of resistances for every champion takedown that dont count towards that cap.
gets the full reset on his rank 3 ultimate.
passive, on like a minute cooldown. this would give him some level of control over the mechanic.