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@CertainlyT Always 1 Thing

Martyrofsand··9 votes·1,162 views

So after playing a number of games as support with Kalista as my ADC has got me thinking a lot about your champion designs as of late. Gonna be honest Darius and Zyra are the only two champs you have made that I haven't hated, and being frank they are the only two that hasn't done a lot of meta warping even if Zyra was strong as support for a while.

I knew when I saw Kalista, especially her passive, that I was going to hate her. She fit the same mobility creep problems that Yasuo exacerbated and is even worse only needing an AA or her Q to trigger it. Thing is after supporting her I find I don't hate her. The focus on team play with her W and R especially are a ton of fun, and even made me enjoy Annie support for the first time as she doesn't have to have flash to start a fight anymore. I've actually enjoyed her being added to the game and the cooperation she encourages. That said I still LOATHE that passive with a passion. There is simply no justifying the mobility and advantage it gives on any champion. It would be like allowing 1 player to start with 2 queens in chess, IE blatantly to good of an advantage. It was then I realized something...

Yasuo/Thresh/Zed all three of them are just like Kalista. They have amazing flavorful kits that really give you a feel for who they are as a character and can be a lot of fun to play but that all have 1 thing that puts them massively over the top, namely they abuse mobility either themselves or for their teammates in the case of Thresh W. Kalista is right in this wheel house, she has great character and her abilities do so much to tie into her "Kalista+deal maker out for vengeance" fantasy it amazing, but her passive doesn't do something to really enhance that and it simply adds way to much to her kit to be considered reasonable.

Kalista does make me see why so many at Riot consider you a great designer with great ideas, and gives me some appreciation for your past work. That said I really wish you had someone acting as your filter to tell you to just stop when you add that last thing that pushes your champion so far over the top. It would go a long way to making your champions, and you, far less hated, and the game much healthier in the long run.

10 Comments

Pvt Yong Tai7 votes

I'd say he needs to stop adding so much damn mobility in the game.

You said it yourself: You like CertainlyT's Darius and Zyra.
Guess what they don't have?? A shit ton of mobility (WHOOOOSH)

My salt aside, if he could just buckle down on not think of #LCSplays #mobilityjukesallday all day, he might make a champion I'd approve of. All of his champions take mobility creep to the next level. It's really not healthy for the game as a whole. It doesn't matter that some guy on Riot has a lot of "cool ideas". Those "cool ideas" need to have a balanced place to settle on the rift. As they are now, these champions aren't just settling down. They are gradually pushing other champions off of a cliff.
(Mordekaiser, for one, has already fallen off and is no longer relevant to the game. Annie is holding on by a thread thanks to her friend summoner 4 )

Martyrofsand2 votes

That is kinda the reason I said he needs someone to play his filter that can sit back and say "hey the soul bonding mechanic and the way it works with Kalista W and R are amazing, that passive is way to much though" would go a long way to correcting what in the end makes his champions so hated.

Honestly CertainlyT is starting to strike me a lot of Vince Russo, for those that keep up with wrestling. When he had a filter in the WWE he made wrote some of the best wrestling to ever be seen, but when he was unfiltered in WCW he had such brilliant ideas as "Viagra on a pole match." That is kinda how I see CertainlyT now. His unfiltered ideas are adding way to much broken and toxic aspects to the game and if someone could reel him in when he goes over board and let him just design a champs character, personality, and how that comes out in their abilities things would be a lot better.

Pvt Yong Tai1 votes

Yeah I totally agreed with you on that part (though I still think soul bonding needs tweaking, e.g. Kalista can choose whoever she wants without permission from the recipient).

Narasimha1 votes

The amusing thing is that Annie is coming back because she roflstomp kalista so hard.

Pvt Yong Tai1 votes

Yeah that's why I'm saying she's not completely lost in the game like Mordekaiser is. She still has her merits (high damage and fairly low CD AoE stun), but that's only because she can make a flash play every now and then. If she couldn't do that, then she'd be out-kited and poked by just about every other ranged champion in the game. You'd be silly to walk into Annie's range all by yourself. This is coming from an Annie/Warwick main.

BrickRocket1 votes

He has really good ideas regarding champion kits, he just needs to realize that not every ability needs 20 passives attached to them.

Tsunday1 votes

I honestly don't think Thresh was ever over the top. His W is on a long enough CD that the allowed mobility feels quite fair. He can't forever E through minions or dash with every AA. I think Zed's mobility is just fine too. Yeah they needed some tuning post release but I don't think that's CertainlyT's fault. I think that Riot is putting them out on PBE and they aren't keeping them there long enough to see if the champion is too strong. They're going through PBE without people realizing 'hey this mobility and his endless assassin damage might be a problem' and so Riot is like 'I guess I'll ship this out now' and doesn't make the changes they need to during play testing.

A lot of new champions seem to be released on PBE for a very short time before they're released in game.

Hayaishi1 votes

Riot turns to certainlyT whenever they want LCS big plays thats why he's allowed to keep designing

IlyaK19861 votes

How is Zed's mobility over the top? He needs to be right in your face to do any damage--he needs that mobility in order to be at all relevant.

Martyrofsand1 votes

Your saying he needs to be able to point and click go invulnerable land behind you and still be able to instantly disengage any fight with his R as well as chase or disengage with his W.

I hope you are hearing yourself especially since numerous melee champs like Jax/Xin/Noc/Panth/Shyvana/Talon/etc have shown that no you don't in fact need multiple gap closers and escapes in order to do your job. Zed's mobility would be fine if he was limited to either the mobility of his W or his R the combination of both and how his R serves as both his all in AND his escape in one convenient package is far to much. I know his R originally got changed because the original implementation gave him to much damage by creating it right beside his enemy letting him get shadow+himself damage for free but there are better ways to address that than spiking his mobility giving him insane safety to go with his aggression.

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