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Spells, Spell Effects, and Really Confusing Interactions

Nightingale·3/24/2015, 1:21:05 AM·1 votes·1,223 views

Greetings, today I'll be discussing some strange interactions that I noticed with a specific subset of abilities. Namely, Ezreal and Gangplank's Q, with an honorable nod to Yasuo's Q and Jinx's Fishbones.

These are all things that I noticed thanks to the new item, Luden's Echo. I made a post about this on Reddit earlier today, so I'm also posting here for visibility, as I'd really like to know the sorts of thought processes that go into a decision like this, or if it's simply a bug or mistake that can or should be changed.

Let's get started, though. I'll use Ezreal's Q as the basis for most of this research. Mystic Shot is a spell which acts like an auto-attack some of the time, and a spell at other times. Mystic Shot will be blocked by Spellshields, and will trigger Sheen effects, just as a spell should, but can also be Riposte'd by Fiora as well as not applying spell effects, such as Luden's Echo, Rylai's, or Liandry's.

Why is this, though? Ezreal's Q is treated like a spell in every other regard, but for some reason it's not allowed to interact with three specific items? And yet, it is definitely a spell.

Certain "spells" like Udyr's Tiger Stance (the activation, specificially), trigger not only Luden's, but also Rylai's, Liandry's, Spell Vamp, you name it, as well as On-hit effects. The reason for this is because it's not just an auto-attack, nor is it just a spell. It's both.

In the same vein, I believe that spells like Ezreal and GP should be classified the same way, as both auto-attacks and spells, in all respects, not just when it's convenient. Riot has mentioned that they seek to improve clarity, especially for new players, and this sort of strange interaction confused me for multiple hours earlier today as a player who has been playing this game for multiple years.

If this truly is an intended behavior, I'd like to know why the specific exclusion. I don't think it makes any champion overpowered in any sense, it really just makes things unclear.

2 Comments

The5lacker3/24/2015, 1:41:04 AM3 votes

Any ABILITY triggers Spellblade, even if it applies on-hit effects. Every single one. There's no difference in interaction there between Ezreal's Q and anything else that's similar. Likewise, any ability that applies on-hit effects will consume the Spellblade buff to deal bonus damage, and can be blocked by any effect that blocks basic attacks as they check for on-hit effects triggering. Additionally, they just made it so all abilities that apply on-hit effects trigger Spell Shields. So there is literally nothing strange about Ezreal's Q. Everything is working as described and as intended. It is a skillshot activated ability that applies on-hit effects. It does literally everything that list of attributes should do. It isn't "Treated as a spell in every other regard." You literally just said it doesn't apply spell effects. So that's at the bare minimum one regard it isn't treated as a spell.

Matthias91193/24/2015, 2:13:17 AM2 votes

Ez's Q, GP's Q, and Nasus' Q basically are auto attacks. They apply things like Spellblade and Statikk Shiv, but not Luden's Echo or things like Liandry's or Rylai's passives.