Meddler you announced Azir rework. What should we expect from it?

FostXTV·11/6/2016, 3:05:41 PM·82 votes·25,471 views

I am very curious because I'm Azir main myself and I really want his kit to remain unchanged. Personaly I want his ultimate to be 3/4/5 seconds instead of 3 seconds at all ranks, that's what I really want. Because his ultimate is not only for Shurima Shuffle its for peeling late game for yourself and carries and 3 seconds is simply not enough. It would be great if you can tell us all what should we expect from it and what it should be like.

-Thanks

-Fellow Azir Main

209 Comments

Big Lincoln11/6/2016, 3:36:41 PM53 votes

tbh I'd liek to see more soldier stuff encourage

nerf his Q's burst damage and lower the CD, it should be strictly for repositioning soldiers. then let him have more soldiers late game so he can cover big areas with those sandy fuckers

RiotMeddler11/8/2016, 12:02:19 AM18 votes

Azir's a champion without sufficient weaknesses if his numbers are in a useful place. Short version - he does too many different things. That's why we want to do some work on him.

In terms of what specifically though that's both something that's pretty far off and a topic we haven't figured out as a group yet. People have suggestions certainly, the most common revolving around removing range and/or mobility and putting that power elsewhere. Those are still personal opinions though, not a chosen direction.

Short term by contrast (most likely late this year or January) we'll be looking to add some power to him. He's problematic when strong, but we think we can buff him somewhat without putting him back to pick/ban in high elo/pro play. That we'll be looking at shortly, with a focus on figuring out what the healthiest things to buff are. Goal would be to put power somewhere that we don't later have to remove it from, even if he were someday too strong again.

Blàdedancer11/6/2016, 4:37:39 PM16 votes

Yes, I main the Azir myself too, I hope they don't destroy his theme in the rework. Keep the soldiers, the most problematic thing about him is his E because it allows the insane plays, and the EQ combo. They need to remove or change that, and he would be fine.

Veltox11/6/2016, 7:11:06 PM9 votes

Well you have 2 options.

Beefy Battlemage(think )but short-medium range if you want him to keep Shurima shuffle.
E and possibly ult gone but getting a lot more soldiers and perhaps an item that grants him situational upgrades for turret. But knowing Riot who knows what abomination will be born.

AirKingNeo11/6/2016, 3:58:52 PM9 votes

There are 2 things they will do to Azir. Nerf Rylai's and then either replace his E or his ultimate. Both are really unhealthy anti-interactive abilities.

Oh and there's no reason to buff his ult because 3 seconds really is enough, just ask Kayle who's ult is 2/2.5/3 seconds. Kayle, that champion who Azir is a copy of but much more overloaded and was once better than.

HazyCloud711/6/2016, 8:11:46 PM7 votes

Meddler said "large scope work" wouldn't happen for a while so I doubt he can really give much insight on what direction they'd go with a rework.

Whatever small changes they plan to give him if any aren't going to help. His W base damage nerfs killed him and there's no chance they revert them. It doesn't matter what quality of life buffs they give him either, he's still going to do no damage for the first 15 mins of the game compared to other midlaners.

When they do finally decide to do large scope work on him, personally I hope they double down on his marksmen-like play style and just get rid of the EQ combo. Its not ideal but its better than him being in the dumpster like he is presently.

Teridax6811/6/2016, 5:48:55 PM5 votes

It wasn't really an official announcement, so it might be a long ways off until we see work done on Azir. There are three main problems that need to be addressed with him at this point:

He's far too difficult to pick up. Unlike practically every other champion, which can be played with at least moderate success from the get-go, Azir has extremely low win rates up until you reach the top tiers of elo and games played. He needs to be made easier to learn, even if he still ends up more difficult than the average champion, and keeps a sky-high skill ceiling.
He's far too safe in the right hands: When played to near-perfection, Azir turns into a lane bully on top of being a hypercarry, and doesn't put himself in as much risk as would be expected from an autoattacker mage. One part of the issue is his Q, which gives him a pretty large amount of poke damage when combined with a W auto, but the major issue is his dash: either he uses it as an escape, which isn't appropriate for a mage like him, either he uses it to dash to his target, which he shouldn't be doing anyway as a squishy non-Slayer champion. I feel there is honestly no place for mobility in his kit, and it might be better to replace his E with something else.
He's still extremely buggy: There's still a heap of technical issues with Azir's soldiers and, above all, his wall, that need to be addressed. One issue comes from his wall pinning enemies to terrain, and I think it should a) simply stop enemies in their tracks, instead of knocking them back, and b) consistently push enemies over terrain, instead of sandwiching them for what amounts to a 3-second stun.

Bronze II Yasuo 11/6/2016, 4:12:10 PM4 votes

If anything I want Azir to get a new passive. He's already got a dominant laning phase that transitions well into team fight with his Ultimate and Passive that can keep him super safe. His passive also gives him too much siege potential kind of giving him split identities of what he's suppose to do.