Sejuani Just Might be Riot's Best Mini-Rework So Far. (Old vs. New Comparisons)
Let's start with my background on Sejuani before anything else, since I think it gives a bit of context. I started in Season 3-ish (or 4-ish, can't quite remember exactly. Tail end of S3, iirc) and Sejuani was on the free champion rotation that week. Sejuani's playstyle blew my mind since she was exactly what I wanted from a tank: GO IN AND LET NOBODY SURVIVE. She goes in, wrecks house, and NOTHING stops her. The problem was...Back then, anything could stop her. Still, Sejuani was awesome for the Q-R-W plays she could make and the surprising amount of damage she could do with nothing but HP items.
That said, she was also very weak back then. Unplayable? Not by any stretch of the imagination, but her clunky W and lackluster CC for such a CC-based champion made her a questionable pick. (Until Cinderhulk in S5 came around, but we don't talk about that dark time.) So Riot brought her into the modern days by reworking her bad passive, super clunky W, and annoying-but-ultimately-not-useful E. To say it was successful really is putting it lightly. Is she picked at the high level constantly? Maybe not, but she has her place now as a frontliner with many stuns, strong DPS and burst, and fear-inspiring engages.
Old Passive: Frost Armor Innate Effects: Sejuani gains 10-25 Bonus Armor and 10-25% Slow Resistance for 2 seconds when she damages an enemy with an ability or basic attack. Duration stacks up to 3 times, total 6 seconds duration that refreshes with each further ability/basic attack.
So, this passive was alright for helping her get through her clears but just didn't have enough impact outside of that. Slow Resistance on its own is rather useless; if a Slow tags you, you're gonna be chased to Hell and back anyway, whether or not you have Slow Resistance or not. If it gave innate Tenacity or the bonuses were always active and got increased with further ability/basic attack, then maybe it would have been more useful, but regardless, it's gone now.
New Passive: Fury of the North Frost Armor: Sejuani gains immunity to Slows, 20-100 (+100% total Armor) Bonus Armor, and 20-100 (+100% total Magic Resistance) Bonus Magic Resistance. When she receives damage from an enemy champion, large neutral monster, epic neutral monster, or enemy structures, this effect lingers for 1-3 seconds. Sejuani receives Frost Armor if she hasn't taken damage from one of these sources in the past 15-9 seconds. Icebreaker: Enemy champions, large neutral monsters, and epic neutral monsters stunned by Sejuani also gain the Frozen condition. If Sejuani deals damage to a Frozen target with an ability or basic attack, she deals an additional 10-20% of their Maximum HP as Magic Damage, limited to 400 damage against monsters.
Yeah, this is SO much better now. Sejuani before had no way to deal damage on her own without buying AP, simply just try and survive until her team came to back her up or leave her for dead. Now? This Icebreaker is EXACTLY what she needed. The Frost Armor as well is a huge godsend since she needs to survive the inital burst before she can start looking to kick ass with Icebreaker or throw out some CC. With Frost Armor + Icebreaker, she's now the frontliner she truly is.
Old W: Flail of the Northern Winds Cost: 40-20 Mana Cooldown: 11-7 seconds First Cast: Sejuani's next basic attack deals 4-6% (+3% per 100 AP) of the target's Maximum HP (max 300 vs. minions/monsters) as Magic Damage in an AoE around the target. Casting Flail of the Northern Winds resets Sejuani's auto-attack timer. Second Cast: Sejuani spins her flail around her in an AoE (350 radius), dealing 10-40 (+1-3% Sejuani's Maximum HP) (+15% AP) Magic Damage every second for the next 4 seconds. This activates when Sejuani lands the enhanced AA, reactivates her W early, or the first cast's buff duration expires.
Yeah, this was tough as nails to get to activate. The enhanced AA animation was really drawn-out and not like her normal AAs, which made it really hard to land if you didn't Q-auto-W, and even then it was sometimes iffy as they might be able to recover and Flash away in time. The spin damage was negligible at best and was really only useful for applying Frost to someone. Overall, I'm glad they reworked it since this was one of the most unreliable and awkward abilities in LoL.
New W: Winter's Wrath (I like this name better, personally) Cost: 80 Mana Cooldown: 9-5 seconds Target: Cursor Direction (Cone then Line) First Swing: After a 0.25 second delay, Sejuani lashes out in a cone, centered in the targeted direction. Enemies caught in the cone take 20-40 (+1.5% Sejuani's Maximum HP) Physical Damage. Small neutral monsters, large neutral monsters Scuttlecrab, and lane minions are knocked back towards the center of the cone. Second Swing: After the first swing completes, Sejuani immediately swings again in a straight line in the same direction. Enemies caught in the line take 30-170 (+4.5% Sejuani's Maximum HP) Physical Damage and are very briefly Slowed.
THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW. No more clunky AA enhancers, just a nice simple double-swing ability. The first swing having knockback is really nice for jungle clears and defending structures, and the second swing having a short-but-significant Slow attached really makes ganks much more potent. Also, the Physical Damage is actually really nice since Red Buff has negative Armor, which makes Winter's Wrath even more effective at clearing. As a nice side bonus, it allows Sejuani to punch through Magic Resistance and deal some significant damage, making her a dangerous frontline threat that needs to be dealt with ASAP by some means. If not dealt with, Winter's Wrath lets her tear through frontlines and backlines alike with surprisingly high consistent damage output.
Old E: Permafrost Cast Range: 1000 Cost: 55 Mana Cooldown: 10-6 seconds Passive: Sejuani's basic attacks and abilities apply Frost to enemies for 4 seconds. Frost can't be reapplied to any target that has had a Frost stack consumed by Permafrost's active until 4.5 seconds have passed. (3 seconds after Permafrost's duration expires.) Active: Sejuani snap-freezes any targets afflicted with Frost, consuming all stacks within range. Frost stacks removed this way deal 80-180 (+50% AP) Magic Damage and Slows the victim by 50-70% for 1.5 seconds.
Now...This ability wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. Lord knows how many kills I've secured with this thing! However, while the Slow was significant, it simply was not enough. Sejuani lacked either solid burst or consistent lockdown, both of which Permafrost was to blame for. It did OK damage, but not enough to be truly menacing without going full AP. (which was fun af, actually) It had a nice Slow, but it was still just a Slow and could be brushed off somewhat easily. This ability basically sat in limbo of "Useful, but at the same time, not very useful at all." Oh and it was awful for jungle clears, save for Wraiths/Chickens.
New E: Permafrost (Personally, I would have gone with Cold Snap or Frozen Prison, but Permafrost is still a simple name. Punchy and has a nice "oomph" feel.) Cast Range: ??? (Assumed 1000. Feels like it.) Cost: 20 Mana + 4 Frost Stacks Cooldown: 1.5 seconds Passive: Sejuani's basic attacks, Winter's Wrath (W) swings, and any nearby allied melee champions' basic attacks apply Frost to enemy champions, large monsters, and epic monsters. This can stack up to 4 times per target, allowing the use of Permafrost's Active. Targets cannot gain Frost stacks again for 10-8 seconds after Sejuani successfully Stuns them. Active: Sejuani encases the target in ice, freezing them in place. This deals 40-120 (+30% AP) Magic Damage, Stuns them for 1-2 seconds, and applies Frozen.
Yeah, needless to say, this is SO much better. This Stun is so useful and makes for some deadly ganks. In teamfights, her melee allies (toplaner and/or tank support, usually) can help her spread this super fast and start popping off Stuns like they were going out of style. In ganks, she can almost always apply this on her own very easily, but if her gank ally is melee (i.e.: toplaner), then the initial Q-W combo will almost always be the last 2 stacks she needs to Permafrost the poor fool she just tackled. This is far more useful than her old Permafrost, but still well-balanced to be mostly utility and Icebreaker fodder.
Old R: Glacial Prison Cast Range: 1175 (Line) / 225 (Damage Radius) Unit Speed: 1350 Cost: 100 Mana Cooldown: 130-100 seconds Active: Sejuani throws a True Ice bola in a line, either shattering on collision with an enemy champion or when it reaches its maximum range. Enemies affected take 150-350 (+80% AP) Magic Damage and are Slowed by 30% for 1.25-1.75 seconds. If this collided with an enemy champion, that champion is instead Stunned for the duration instead of Slowed.
I think this is the only ability I wasn't totally keen on being changed, though I do see where the changes were coming from. This ability was simply too reliable and basically let her shotgun a whole team, which wasn't OK. Accuracy wasn't really rewarded, so you could throw this willy-nilly and still likely get a lot of value out of it. I see exactly what they were doing by making the changes they did, which we'll go into with her new R.
New R: Glacial Prison Cast Range: 1175 (Line) Unit Speed: 1350 Cost: 100 Mana Cooldown: 120-80 seconds Active: Sejuani throws her True Ice bola in a line, going until it either collides with an enemy champion or reaches its maximum range. If this collides with an enemy champion, it deals 100-150 (+40% AP) Magic Damage and Stuns them for 1 second. The bola becomes stronger the further it travels, dealing up to 150-350 (+80% AP) Magic Damage and Stunning for 2 seconds upon collision. When it collides or reaches maximum range, it shatters, creating a Glacial Storm for 2 seconds, Slowing all enemies inside by 30%. After the Storm expires, it shatters and explodes, dealing 150-350 (+80% AP) Magic Damage and applying an 80% Slow for 3 seconds to all enemies inside of its AoE.
So, this is what they did. Basically, if you throw it up close, it's not gonna do much and just be used for the Frost stack. Land it at a distance (if I'm not mistaken, it reaches max power at half of its max range) and you'll hit whoever you nailed with it REALLY HARD, probably able to Q in to range and land a W on them, popping Icebreaker for an obscene amount of damage. Now good accuracy and strong engages are being rewarded, but it's still very useful as a zoning tool even if you miss. I'd say this was a smart change as well that shifted power around appropriately, bringing Sejuani into the modern age.
Closing Thoughts:
Sejuani has been a champion with what should be a simple identity, but her old kit's clunky W, mediocre passive, and underwhelming gank power without her W constantly proved to be an issue. Riot finally had enough (a sentiment a lot of us could agree with after the initial expected outrage calmed down) of her kit not being up to date and took a scalpel to it, breaking down what makes Sejuani unique and what needs to have a chainsaw taken to it. Her mini-rework brought her right up to date, able to fight with the best of them and still have well-defined strengths, weaknesses, and USPs. (Unique Selling Points) She has gone from Sejuani, the confused engage-tank that needs AP to function, to Sejuani, Fury of the North, defined by her fantastic engages and fool-popping damage without being OP-OP. I'm very happy with her in her current state and think she would be super strong if the meta shifted to be a little bit more melee-favorable.
If Riot wants to attempt more mini-reworks on Sejuani's scale, I think they definitely earned themselves some confidence with hers.
