Let's Talk Vi

Hey there everyone.

So why Vi? Why am I bringing her up? Well, to be honest, not many people talk about her. Don't get me wrong, I think Vi is extremely popular from a character standpoint. What I more so refer to is her in game. If she's spoken about, it's usually because she's meta...and everyone says how much they hate her ult. So let's talk about her and dissect her problems.

##Why does Vi have issues?

I'll preface this by saying that I am NOT a good player. I'm not going to propose I'm a diamond 1 Vi main who knows every aspect of everything about her. I merely like to play her a lot. That said, I want to point out some things I've found about Vi in my years of playing her. She hasn't even changed much since release, mostly number tweaks:

• Problem 1.) Vi is basic.

There's no real polite way around this: Vi is about as pick-up-n-play as a jungler can get. She doesn't really have a lot of mechanics outside of shenanigans with auto-resets (on E) and carrying targets with a Q-flash (Which really isn't feasible as a mechanic to do.) Vi, to me, feels like a much simpler Lee Sin: A diving character who can knock around one target but not much in the way of Lee's ability to do some incredible things when you're good at him.

• Problem 2.) Vi is reliable to a fault.

If you pick Vi, chances are that you have "little" room to screw up your plays...that said, if you do screw up, you're out of a gank/fight. With E and R being point/click and her W being a total passive, Vi can't really fuck up much sans blowing her abilities at the wrong time. However, her Q is where all the money is. If you land a Q, you can follow up for the rest of your combo. If you miss your Q...you're done unless you blow your ult in a bad situation. Compare that to a champion like Sejuani: Say she misses her Q. That sucks, but that's ok! You can possibly salvage it with W and E. It also makes playing against Vi simple (Just don't get hit by the Q). Which leads to...

• Problem 3.) Frustrating Ult

And not just for your enemy! Vi's travel time gives you ample time to react, which makes it easy to zhyonas (And utterly stop Vi) or untargetable which breaks the ult fully. If you have the tools to counter it, you're never going to be hit by it. If you don't have the tools to counter it, you can and WILL be hit by it every single time.

• Problem 4.) Patchwork Kit

Made back in early S3, Vi's kit is something is a mismatch with how she actually plays. Designed as a top laner, Vi has AD abilities that make you assume she should be built as something of an ability caster who weaves in auto-attacks. Yet her W increases attack speed and encourages you to constantly hit targets with your autos. This is also a problem because Vi's abilities have pretty lengthy cooldowns (Q/R) until higher levels, meaning your main damage source of proccing W encourages you to focus on auto-attacks. It's why you see goofy builds like Bork/AS Vi still work.

##Improving Vi

Beyond taking a look at divers as a whole, who suffer from being caught between the worlds of assassins and bruisers, I can think of a few possible ideas. Bear in mind, I don't consider these complete fixes but ideas that could get the ball rolling and make Vi less of a simplistic champion.

• Give Vi an actual W.

Move Vi's W to her passive and give her a W that fits her theme. Maybe you can bring back the taunt/defensive move from her prototype kit? Maybe you can encourage the boxer archetype and have Vi bobbing, weaving or dodging in some way. Hell, maybe go back to the Zaun roots and give Vi some sort of cheap-shot ability like a kidney punch to stagger opponents.

• More power, less reliability.

Vi needs some power siphoned form her ult. If you're keeping it as-is, maybe remove the pretty heavy damage associated with it. In return, maybe give Vi some sort of ability to delay her own attack? For example, after casting R, Vi can hold/tap R once again to dig her feet into the ground, slowing her approach. Doing so when the enemy goes untargetable or zhonyas doesn't break the tether, making it a game of chicken with who blinks first. Vi waits too long, they get to hourglass. They wait too long, free ult.

The same can be said for Vi's Q. It's the core of her ability to get into/start fights. Maybe give Vi another way in or don't have Vi's entrance so entirely focused on her Q. That said, you can still have her Q. Just give her the option to expend more resources if she DOES miss.

• Give Vi some more tools.

Right now, Vi brings two things to a team: Damage and CC. She doesn't really have the beef to be a tanky frontliner unless she goes heavy damage. It's also why Vi's power exploded during the beginning of CotC's rework: It let her build hardcore DPS without sacrificing tankiness. Maybe give Vi some tool other divers don't have. Maybe Vi can break down walls or charge through terrain. Maybe focus on the lore and make her the type of champion where your team goes "Did...she really just go in?"

##Wrap-up.

I like Vi. I really do. I own a ton of skins, love her personality and play her more than any other champion. Despite this, I can't help but feel like I'm handicapping my team when I play her. That all my time on Vi could be better served learning Lee Sin. That I'm really not bringing enough to the table with this champion to justify picking her. Lemme know what you guys think.

TL;DR: Vi is too simple and suffers because of how simple/reliable she is. I propose making changes so Vi has more of a skill ceiling while removing some (but not all) of her reliability/damage.