Anivia and 7.14 "Bugfix"

Edit: TL;DR from bottom: List this change as a nerf and give us context please.

Anivia main since S3 here. Anivia's "Bugfix" this patch really stood out to me. For those unfamiliar, this is the change:

• Fixed a bug where several forms of loss-of-control effects (Fear, Flee, Taunt, Knockback, and Charm) weren't properly cancelling Anivia's R - Glacial Storm

As far as I'm aware, most of these, uh, aren't bugs. The knockback is a bugfix- that's always been supposed to interrupt her R to my knowledge. But Charm, Taunt, Fear, and Flee have never interrupted her R, going all the way back to at least season 3, and I believe all the way back to the beginning of the game. This is an interaction I've been playing around for a very, very long time. Vs, for example, Ahri or Rammus, I'm always acutely aware that it's A-OK to ult while they still have their E up. On the flip side, as Ahri or Rammus, I know better than to rely on my E to interrupt her R.

Edit: I'll use a different example instead of my original- a change to Ahri's E in patch 6.4. This change was of somewhat comparable scope to the change we're talking about today. It doesn't effect every single game, nor every single matchup, but it makes a BIG difference in the matchups it effects. Granted, the Ahri E effects more matchups, but I'd argue it makes a significantly smaller impact in most of those matchups. Regardless, the best point of the comparison is that Ahri's E had, for a long time, performed a particular way. Riot decided to change that, so they prominently told us exactly why they wanted to change it, and placed it somewhere in the notes where it would be easily found. For Anivia's R, they're making a similar change, but calling it a "bugfix", giving no context, and not making it prominently displayed. Thanks to NineTailedMystic for inadvertently giving me this great example. Now, back to the original post:

Anyway, the point is that this is as much a "bugfix" as removing Riven's animation cancelling would be a "bugfix"- that is, not at all. Maybe you, Riot, did not originally intend this interaction, just as you didn't intend all of Riven's animation cancels. But the player base has known about these for YEARS- I've found posts going back to Season 3- and has been playing around them for years. It's also very significant to Anivia's power level in these matchups. Now more than ever thanks to the shift of power to later in her ult.

I can't really argue with the decision to remove this interaction, if that's the direction you want to go (Anivia is fairly strong at the moment, and it's not "unfair" at this CC would interrupt her ult), but call it what it is. This is a nerf, and deserves the prominent positioning of a nerf in the patch notes, as well as the requisite context. Half the time I don't even read the bugfix section anymore because it's so long.

TL;DR List this change as a nerf and give us context please.