My take on Sejuani's Rework/Update (Warning: Long Post!)

On one of my long drives back home from visiting my parents, some thoughts about Sejuani came to mind. Not too long ago, Solcrushed gave us some insight to what we should expect when it came to Sejuani and her update. Solcrushed mentioned that Sejuani's kit is problematic and that Sejuani does not really live up to her lore. With all of that in mind here is what I came up with.

But first, who is Sejuani?

Sejuani was weaned on hardship and reared on barbarity. Where others succumbed to the harshness of the Freljord, she was tempered by it until pain became power, hunger an encouragement, and frost an ally in culling the weak. Through her ordeals, she learned that to thrive in the endless winter, one must become just as cold and unforgiving.

So basically, the cold makes her stronger and looks down on those who cannot survive/endure it. (By cold, I don't mean just the temperature but the harsh environment and living condition as well). I feel like she likes to charge in and tackle problems head on while not being comfortable getting/asking for help.

Emphasis on that 2nd sentence.

Problem: Sejuani as of right now feels subpar compared to other junglers outside of her ult. Her kit feels like press Q~R and just walk around auto attacking. Not very interesting to play and does not really play like her lore describes her.

Passive:

Old: Frost Armor Damaging an enemy with an ability or basic attack grants Sejuani 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 bonus armor and 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% slow resistance for 2 seconds, increased by an additional 2 seconds per instance of damage up to a maximum of 6 seconds, with further damage refreshing the duration.

Problem: Boring and too simple. Bonus Armor is almost negligible throughout the game.

New: Flail of the Northern Winds Using an ability causes intense cold winds to surround Sejuani for a short duration; duration stacks. Enemy champions and monsters caught in the Winds gain a stack of Frost per second. Sejuani gains increased bonus resistances and movement speed per stack when in range of the Northern Winds. Stacks max out at 3 per individual. Range/size of the Winds will scale with character model.

Solution: Move the 2nd part of her W to her passive so that she can continuously have it blowing around her. Let it put debuff stacks on monsters/enemy champions that leaves room for ways for her passive to interact with the rest of her kit. Passive does not do damage (we don't need another sunfire cape passive) but instead buffs up Sejuani.

Explanation: As per Sejuani's lore, Sejuani feels empowered in her cold and feels that others are not worthy to live if they cannot survive in it. So by moving her W into her passive, Sejuani can reliably pump out the wind when she sees fit. The cold will "empower" her by buffing her resistances and speed. The idea of having it scale up with the amount of Frost stacks within the range of her ult is that the more "Frost" or cold there is, the more Sejuani thrives. This will help her survive against the higher numbered jungle camps and let her be the tank front line she is.

Q:

Old: Arctic Assault ACTIVE: Sejuani charges forward, Airborne icon knocking up all enemies she charges through and dealing them magic damage.
Arctic Assault's charge stops after colliding with an enemy champion, but can affect multiple enemy champions if they are close enough together.

Problem: No real problem with this skill.

New: Arctic Assault FIRST CAST: Bristle readies up for a forward charge/lunge toward a specific direction. During this time, an ally champion may chose to "saddle up" with Sejuani and join her in the jump. This charges up similar to Zac's E; keeps Sejuani rooted in place as she charges. Arctic Assault will otherwise remain unchanged.

Range is increased when jumping towards enemy champions with stacks of Frost.

Explanation: I think this is a key part of Sejuani's kit and her personality but I wanted to give her a way to interact with her teammates.

W:

Old: Flail of the Northern Winds FIRST CAST: Sejuani's next basic attack deals bonus magic damage to the target and nearby enemies, capped at 300 against minions and monsters. After landing the empowered attack or upon reactivation, Sejuani rotates her flail about her for the next 4 seconds, dealing magic damage every second to nearby enemies.

Problem: Adds to the issue of Sejuani being a sort of "burst" champion and only feels good as an auto attack reset. It does however, synergize with her kit so I kept the latter half as her passive.

New: Frostbite PASSIVE: Sejuani's basic attacks and abilities now deal extra damage per stack of Frost. Damage is amplified against monsters. ACTIVE: Bristle shoots out an icy breath in a cone-shaped area towards a direction. Enemies hit take damage and are slowed; slows more the closer you are to Bristle. Those with at least 3 stacks of Frost are snared in place.

Solution: Synergizes with her passive to help her deal with the early JG while remaining relatively healthy; bonus resistances, Frost damage and way to kite monsters. Still allows for Sejuani to stick onto enemy champions but leaves room for dodge/outplay for the enemy as this is a skill shot. Rewards Sejuani for sticking onto enemy champions.

Explanation: Sejuani needs a more reliable way to stay healthy in the jungle and clear. This will help her kite around camps without having to sacrifice unnecessary damage/health to do so. Sejuani needs to hit skillshots now to really stick onto her foe. Although this leaves more outplay potential for the enemy team in comparison to her current E, Sejuani is rewarded more heavily if she lands it.

E:

Old: Permafrost PASSIVE: Sejuani's abilities and basic attacks apply Frost to enemies for 4 seconds. ACTIVE: Sejuani consumes Frost Frost on all nearby enemies to deal them magic damage and slow them for 1.5 seconds.

Problem: Adds to the "bursty" nature of Sejuani. Relies too heavily on Sejuani hitting at least one of her abilities. Also, it is boring and not very engaging for the player or the enemy. Slow isn't slow enough to hold onto target and no real outplay potential for the enemy team.

New: Glacial Tremor/Arctic Swing FIRST CAST: Sejuani slams the ground with her weapon creating a bit of unbalance on the terrain that knocks nearby enemies slightly closer to Sejuani and deals damage the closer they are to Sejuani when they get knocked back into her. SECOND CAST: After a short delay, Sejuani has maybe 2~3 seconds to swing her weapon from the ground in a circular motion over her head that deals a small amount of damage but disarms any enemy champion or monster caught in the swing.

Disarm = can't basic attack.

R:

Old: Glacial Prison ACTIVE: Sejuani throws a frost-forged bola in a line, shattering at maximum range or upon champion collision, dealing magic damage to all enemies in the shatter area. If the bola shatters with an enemy champion, this stuns the target and nearby enemies for a short duration. If the bola reaches its maximum range, this slows enemies by 30% instead.

Problem: Long range amumu ult. A very hit or miss with high cd. Hard to balance and is a long ranged skillshot that does not really fit Sejuani's character.

New: Endless Winter PASSIVE: Enemy champions can gain up to 5 stacks of Frost while Endless Winter is active. At 4 stacks, enemy champions begin to slow down rapidly; movement speed only. At 5 stacks, all Frost stacks are consumed and imprison the enemy champion in ice for a short duration. ACTIVE: A large blizzard surrounds Sejuani extending her Flail of the Northern Winds to that of the blizzard. Enemies caught within the blizzard have their vision severely limited. For the first 2 seconds of Endless Winter, Frost is applied every half second. Sejuani and her allies in the blizzard are hidden from sight; enemies on the outside cannot see in.

Solution: Keep Sejuani as a frontline, up-in-your-face, champion who is rewarded for it. Sejuani can still keep enemy champions CC-ed while having the option of using the ultimate strategically. The blizzard is large but not large enough so that her allies are completely out of harm's way. The blizzard will feel oppressive for her enemies (those who Sejuani deems are not strong enough to survive in the winter) and helpful for her teammates who are in the blizzard (Sejuani's allies).

Explanation: I feel that Sejuani needs to be put in a position to make tough decisions regarding her kit. This ult will greatly reward Sejuani if she can prep some stacks of Frost prior to using her ult but leaves room for players to use this ult to maybe secure baron/dragon, etc. Sejuani won't be heavily punished if she "whiffs" the ult initially as she other ways to contribute with the ult and the stuns are more like icing on the cake.

Summary: I know I'm late with my suggestions to Sejuani's changes as I'm sure Riot already has her update in the final stages as mid season is creeping up. I just thought it would be a waste for me if I didn't write my idea out and post it somewhere. So in my version, Sejuani is someone who was hardened by her harsh living conditions and has found ways to thrive in it. Sejuani looks down on anyone who takes the easy way and sees receiving help as a form of weakness. I made her kit so that she is a frontline tanky champion who really wants to dominate her enemy and "test" them with the same cold she was tested in. My Sejuani has interactions within her kit and really rewards players for hitting skillshots and making good decisions. Sejuani will still have her weakness of being kited but won't be as helpless as she was before.

Extra: I made her passive scale with size so that players can have the option of purchasing Elixir of Iron in the mid game. Plus, this will give her synergy/counter with champions like Lulu. I made the Q so that Bruisers and the like have a way to get into the fight with their front line.

[slayer-jinx-catface] Thanks for taking your time to read over this and leave me a comment of what you think!