Harass and Poke, Is it what it used to be?

Every game like League has it. Some characters have those abilities that are low cooldown, easy to hit, and do a decent amount of damage. Meant to hit repeatedly, Its a good zoning tool and establishes a line. "Im going to throw my ability at you if you cross this line"

Its got its fair share of counterplay for sure, you can throw your own harass back, build items specifically for it, go all in on them, lots of things.

But is it really what it used to be? Taking a look at lots of harass based characters, it seems that they have problems with their kit.

Lets take a look at for example.

He's a problem champion because of his passive, but thats not what were looking at right now. His Q is the spitting image of harass. Targeted ranged ability with decent damage, low cooldown and mana cost. Perfect for throwing at your opponent constantly.

But why does he also have such a fantastic all in? Surely you should come with one or the other. I'm not talking about getting your opponent low with harass and then going all in, I'm talking just at 100% health going in for an attempted kill.

The problem here is that in conjunction with his high damage harass tool, he also has two all in abilities that shouldn't be aiding a kit meant to be harass based. Whats this? Pantheon also has another nuke ability? That cant be right, hes harass based. He shouldn't have another ability that does large damage on demand. Why?

It just gets worse from here. because his poke is so potent, it doubles as an all-in tool because his kit forces it that way. A passive that turns his poke into an execute, a targeted stun gapcloser and a second nuke ability that specifically does double damage to champions?

This isn't a pantheon balance thread. This is everywhere. So many champions have harass thats great but the rest of their kit turns their harass into an all-in ability.

Is a good example of it done properly, (while not being uber fed)

Q is obviously the poking tool. While a nice zoning tool, its got relatively high cooldown compared to other harass spells, so while it can be used as a harass tool effectively, its got clear openings. But the rest of his kit can help turn it into something else without being particularly overbearing. Nevermove to get the full duration, and Torment to amplify the duration. His kit synergizes with eachother to get the full potential of each ability without needless stat boost passives. This is that kind of kit done right.

If a kit needs stats like "Does double damage to champions" or "Increased damage below % hp" it means that the kit shouldn't be working that way, and that these stats are enabling it to do something it shouldn't.

You see where im getting at? Poke shouldn't be an all in tool because the rest of your kit is increasing the damage significantly to be a combo piece.

Is another example of a harass kit done well.

The Q is a potent harass tool, sacrificing cooldown and mana for longer range and damage. Good harass tool. Hold on, W turns that Q into extra damage! Not entirely true. Because Q has a charge up time, you're losing that extra harass damage to detonate those marks immediately. Damage you would be missing with autos and other procs by charging it up.

So while his Q is a great harass tool, ultimately Blighted Quiver and auto attacks are the brunt of his all in damage.

Is another good example of a kit done wrong.

Q is a great harass tool. High damage, low cooldown, low mana. The rest of her basic abilities mimic the Q with forms of crowd control to keep them at a distance. Seems ok.

But you get to the ult, its another ability that turned that Q into an all in tool. While it doesnt increase the damage of your Q, Using Q increased the damage of your ult. Another kit turned a great harass ability into an all in tool from needless passives.

Is the shining example of a harass kit gone way wrong. He didn't used to be this way.

Original Release zed was less harass based. The primary power was in his E, so he was more commited then a harass based kit. He was in closer range, and wanted to be in combat more for those low cooldown E procs.

Now this Zed is basically all shuriken. Energy means limitless mana in lane, so he can harass endlessly.

Because of how W is, its not possible to react and dodge his harass. You need to preemptively do so, which doesn't always work. Lets take a look at a usual scenario.

Zed throws out his WEQ. He chunks you for about 50% of your hp because of extremely high damage and scaling. But hold on here....

Because W increases the range of his harass, and that he can teleport to the shadow, this turns his harass into an All-in tool with his ult, since really all he needs to do at that point is Ult with a basic attack or two for the kill.

Do you see where I'm getting at? So many kits are enabling harass to be proper all-in tools, or harass is enabling an all-in when it shouldn't. Champions who dont have harass and just all-in, or vice versa, are strictly at a disadvantage over these champions because they have both bases covered with generally no penalty.

The ability to harass and all-in potently is just so oppressive that its not really possible to keep up without real sacrifices, or playing the same thing.

Another list of champions who have this problem (but are not limited to):

Balance is a real issue in the game. Damage is at an all time high. The least you can do is rework the classes that have clear issues between harass and all-in.