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Let's Talk About Wukong (Reds' input welcome)

Rovert duBelmont·1/20/2016, 3:09:16 AM·7 votes·1,513 views

TLDR: Let's talk about how Wukong could be reworked, so that when Riot does it someday, they can use this discussion for reference.

Hello Everyone. [slayer-jinx-catface] Back when I started playing this game in 2013, Wukong was one of the first champions I unlocked and one of the champions I bought a skin for. (New Skin Hype Yay) Anywho, I thought I could start the community off on a discussion about what could be changed about Wukong if he were to be updated someday. Now don't get me wrong. I already enjoy playing the champion. His clone jukes and stop jukes are awesome to pull off, and his ultimate is one of the best wombo combo initiators out there.

However, Wukong is beginning to show his age, both visually and in his gameplay(original release date being mid-2011, almost 5 years ago). I realize Riot has more pressing concerns with champion updates (Yorick, Urgot, etc.), but I'm willing to bet that when they do a class update for diver-like fighters, Wukong will be a likely candidate, even if only to spice him up a bit.

Here are my thoughts on League's one-and-only Monkey King, and I hope the community can keep it going. Hopefully by the time the update is on their radar, they can look at this thread and get all the feedback they could ever want.

Now then.

Current thoughts

  • Wukong is characterized as a confident (arguably overconfident) jokester fighter, relying on a healthy mixture of raw power and playful trickery, fitting his monkey nature.
  • But in game, Wukong manifests as a pseudo-assassin with high burst on his basic abilities + ultimate, and high initiation potential when he catches the enemy team within his ult with the right composition (ex. wukong and yasuo are BFF's).
  • As it stands, wukong is a little binary in gameplay. He can either do what he wants, which is dive and kill his target with his high burst and initiate fights, or if he falls behind he has to rely on the playmaking ability of his ultimate in teamfights. Indeed, the sheer power the ultimate brings to teamfights has forced Riot to balance Wukong in such a way that his laning can be easily beat by popular top lane picks.

What can be done about this?

  • I believe the greatest potential lies in reworking Wukong's passive and his w (the decoy). The passive is a simple steroid of tank stats, so there is potential for gameplay to be added there. I'm not sure what, so I'll leave that to the more design-oriented people out there (Reds?). As for the decoy ability, its current state certainly allows for trickster shenanigans, but I believe there is so much more potential for those parts of the kit to have more pizazz if they were to be reworked.
  • I would even argue for reducing the "power budget" of Wukong's q and e to make room for the passive and w to have more power. For example, Wukong's nimbus strike (his e) could do without the attack speed buff. That kind of steroid favors extended trades and long fights, which I don't think melds with Wukong's hit-and-run playstyle.
  • I honestly wouldn't touch Wukong's ultimate. That is the ability (other than decoy) that I think Wukong is most known for, and its potentially game-changing impact is undeniable.

What do you guys think could be changed about Wukong? What do you think could be executed better in his kit?

NOTE: I realize these may not be followed, but I wanna put down some guidelines for this discussion

  1. This is not a "pls buff Wu Rito" thread. Numbers come and go, and therefore I feel that kind of talk won't be relevant here.
  2. Please be nice to each other. I'm not a mod, but I highly dislike rude people. I honestly don't know how the Rioters who frequent the boards are able to deal with the members of the community who berate them all day when they try to communicate with us. This is why we can't have nice things! (also, props to RiotRepertoir for doing what he does)

Also, this is my first post on the boards. Apologies for the long wall of text. [zombie-nunu-tears]

8 Comments

Little Stick Man1/20/2016, 3:22:50 AM4 votes

itd be nice if they shifted some power away from his ult, I think it still has the highest possible ad ration with a full cast, and move it into the power of his clones. nothing feels better than being that playful trickster wukong is and outplaying someone with a well timed clone

Tohob1/20/2016, 3:40:38 AM3 votes

as a jungler main who's best champion currently is wukong, these are honestly some pretty good ideas.

i'm a bet skeptical of clone changes, as the way it currently functions is very ideal when used properly. the fact that it stands still can be used for much more than the standard "press S and make them think i went invis, then turn around when they go past me" juke. you can use it for poke by EQing onto a target and then letting the decoy take their counterattack while you walk away, it allows for easier jungle sustain due to the mobs attacking your decoy, and it sets up ganks excellently even through vision by making the enemy team think you're standing in the bush waiting for your opportunity.

Losing the attack speed on his E would be pretty inconsequential for Lanekong or during teamfights or duels, as he doesn't benifit much from attack speed with the auto reset on his Q, but it would hurt him in the jungle quite a bit, as the attack speed helps with clear times and causes you to take less damage from the camps (because they have less time to hit you) but overall it would suit him more, provided a bit of power were added elsewhere to assist with clearing.

The idea of reworking his passive is a great one. currently his passive is extremely boring compared to nearly every other champion, and i would love to see something more interesting replace it. Overall i think Wukong has an excellent kit, but you are absolutely right that certain elements of it seem a little dated. i'd honestly leave his Q and W alone for the most part, but draining the attack speed from his E and taking a little power from his ult in exchange for a stronger and more involved passive sounds like a great idea.

Remlap12231/20/2016, 7:07:59 AM3 votes

Interestingly enough, I've been thinking about this lately. He would be a prime candidate for a gameplay update. I think there is some very interesting things that could be done with his decoy and his abilities. But he's also a very healthy champion that has quite a bit of counterplay (unless you're someone like me who knows how to stop juke and use his decoy offensively, in which case, good luck.)

SnazzyTheMister1/20/2016, 7:57:54 AM3 votes

i would just like to point out the synergy between the armor shred on his q and the attack speed from his e which allows him to fight it out and then use w to get away if things fall out of his favor, which gives him the feeling of playing with his toys and then dipping out before they have a chance to do anything back. maybe this isn't the pattern you want preserved, it does seem a bit disconnected to have a kit that seems like it wants to 1v1 someone with an ult and passive that are very teamfighty.

i would just be careful cus hit and run can feel like "i'm getting hit and cant do anything about it". i like the idea that wu steps up fights where he has the upper hand and then dips before his enemy can catches up but in my mind that shows up as a steroid based "window of power" type playstyle not hit and run.

something that might fit as chaotic and playful would be if every 5th spell(ish) doubled up in some way. q could be the next 2 autos, or maybe just count as 2 autos, or maybe it has a slow added, w could be the next time you are hit you drop a clone regardless of w cd. e could be some sort of aoe on his autos, or a movespeed boost. something that turns up what you would use that ability for. you could also put his resists from his old passive with his ult level if he needs it.

www GOHAM org1/20/2016, 8:50:37 AM2 votes

So i recently thought Wukong needed a change also and thought this was an interesting Idea I came up with.

The idea is to change his jump (E) into an ability that has 3 charges. So you will be able to jump from 1 enemy to another enemy to another enemy (similar to yasuo but only 3 charges that have to charge up like Vi's E). Instead of sliding through enemies like yasuo, wukong would jump and grab onto a enemy champion. Then he would move with that champion for 1-2 seconds; during that time he has to decide to either jump to another close enough enemy champion or just drop to the ground after the 2 sec. The best part is that you can activate your clone while on an enemy so that your next two jumps could be invisible.

As for his passive that thing is the most boring thing ever made. New idea. When he jumps from enemy to enemy his passive puts a stack (banana) above the enemy head. He can pop the stack by auto attacking (or Q) the enemy champion or using his ult. When the banana stack is proc'd by auto's he receives a heal based on a % of his bonus health; if he proc's the banana stack by activating his Q (crushing blow) it does double damage to the enemy and heals him the same as a regular auto. When the monkey proc's the stacks with his ultimate it instead gives him a shield that is based again on a % of his bonus health and each stack he pops will stack the shield. Shield lasting for entire length of ultimate or until broken by damage.

With the double damage on his Q if popping a stack, I would say he has enough damage to make the E do no damage, just used for mobility and applying stacks. To make sure he can sorta wave clear make his Q do similar splash damage that his current E does. This would give him the ability to proc stack on 3 champions or minions at once with one Q.

This would definitely fit nicely with his character as well as provide him with a more mechanically unique and complex kit. Without really changing his damage output at all I could see this turning him into a competitive LCS pick as well as a more fun champion for normals.

I would love to see this monkey jumping from tree to tree type of game play.

NAU6HTY NURSE

Sun Wu Ryuumoku1/23/2016, 1:52:17 PM1 votes

Wukong is characterized as a confident (arguably overconfident) jokester fighter, relying on a healthy mixture of raw power and playful trickery, fitting his monkey nature.

don't forget to add he's a great martial artist both in lol's lore (with the wuju) and the original Sun Wukong.

But in game, Wukong manifests as a pseudo-assassin with high burst on his basic abilities + ultimate, and high initiation potential when he catches the enemy team within his ult with the right composition (ex. wukong and yasuo are BFF's).

yeah and despite be a monkey feel so moveless.

I feel as dont offer so much possibility in play, a mainly don't display the power off the great Monkey king he must be. If a rework is made, as u, i think it must be on the passive... But i contrary to you i don't see the clone as the core of what Wukong must be. His staff and his cloud must be core cause wukong is a heir of wuju and should be mobile and have a decent range not only in his joke :)

ill post later my suggest.

Eng not my first language, hope its understanble ;)

MunchCrunchLunch1/20/2016, 7:04:09 AM1 votes

he doesn't need buffs. hes annoying as is.