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Yuumi is the cutest slap in the face I've ever gotten

Josh Sand··6 votes·2,467 views

In August of 2018, Riot releases one of the most busted, high skill ceiling champions they've ever created with the Akali rework.

Nine months later, Riot releases a new enchanter that's basically just a buff hat.

What the actual hell?

You release one busted champion after another until it comes to enchanters, and then we get to play out the power fantasy of being a sentient buff hat.

The support role already has plenty of Garen-Difficulty level characters as it is. Adding on another support with a design as shallow and as bland as this doesn't build on the modernization of the role.

You have champions in this game that legit take 50 games to even get a handle on, but then design time gets spent creating a support champ with a kit that fits on an index card? Is there anyone at Riot that gives a shit about the state of Supports?

It's so frustrating to main this role just in general, but then to just get table scraps for a new Enchanter kit feels fucking bad.

35 Comments

Butterwood2 votes

So the complaint is that she's going to be too easy to play? Maybe wait for the actual release before you make that decision?

Plus, Riot has already said they try and mix the difficulty of each new champ that is released.

Oleandervine2 votes

The thing is, she won't be easy to play. You are relying nearly 100% on your ally to position you and them where you both need to be to be the most effective. That means that you have to place the utmost faith in your Vayne that she won't try to throw down in a 2 v 5 while you're attached to her. Furthermore, your aim can be completely at the mercy of how your ally is going to be moving, so it takes a good sense of prediction to guess how your ally and enemy will be moving so you can land your skill shots.

Butterwood1 votes

She doesn't sound easy to me either, but just questioning the OP's concerns.

Oleandervine1 votes

This concept can actually be hard to wrap your head around if you've never seen or done it before. I've played and thoroughly enjoyed Abathur in HOTS, so I'm very familiar with how Yuumi's play style will be. So maybe the OP is just over simplifying things because they haven't experienced this type of play style.

Fízz v21 votes

True they are pretty similar, but Im pretty sure Yuumi will spend way more time out of allies than Abathur and actually fight people

Oleandervine1 votes

I don't think she will. She doesn't really have a reason to be outside of her allies, because even Abathur had to check back every now and again to refresh his mines and make sure he's not in danger. She is a direct adaptive damage buff to her ally she's on, plus she will grant them a shield when her passive activates.

Fízz v21 votes

plus she will grant them a shield when her passive activates.

Thats exactly why she will probably be unattached more often, because she has to auto attack to get the shield and get some mana back. Plus I think it might be pretty troll to just sit in W while you are full hp instead of trying to tank a bit and then go in W (like eating a Thresh hook and only then using W before dying).

But thats laning phase, later on you will likely be attached to someone most of the time.

Oleandervine1 votes

Here's the confusing part though:

Passive - Bop ‘n’ Block

Every so often, Yuumi’s next attack against an opponent restores mana and grants her a shield.** If Yuumi is Attached,** the shield protects her ally. The shield protects Yuumi or her ally until it’s broken.

Our understanding is that she can't auto when attached. So how does this caveat come into play if she can only attack while detached?

Fízz v21 votes

The way it works is, you auto attack and get a shield, then when you W to an ally, you give the shield to them (so I guess if ignite is on you for example, you start taking damage since you gave the shield away).

Thats how it looks in the trailer at least.

Josh Sand1 votes

She's going to be easy to pilot, based on how simplistic her kit is. That isn't to say that she isn't going to have an impact.

Yuumi's closest similarity is Lulu. Lulu has shallow kit, with very few skill tests on her abilities. If you time her spells properly however, she can have a significant impact in a game. This impact comes more from the player's game knowledge, than it does any actual mastery of their champion though.

If you already have a general idea of the game and how the role works, it's not going to take very long to get the hang of a champion like Yuumi, because all of her abilities are very straightforward. I agree that there are new mechanics you will have to learn, but these are easily executed point and clicks that are reliant on your ally's positioning rather than your own, which is a hard cap on this champions skill expression.

If your effective positioning is gated by the positioning of others, then you don't have nearly as much positional agency as you would have if you were playing another champion - that decision tree is now made for you by your allies.

I ran into this when playing Braum - if my ally was in a stupid place, I could go and protect him and die too, or I could just walk away. But if my ally was smart about their positioning, then my protection became that much more impactful. The biggest variable for Braum's protection is where his ally chose to position themselves, moreso than where Braum has chosen to stand.

Oleandervine2 votes

She may have some simplicity, yes, and a kit as strange as hers needs some parts to be simple or else it's unplayable. That said, there's something about her Q that requires skill too, because it has additional affects the longer the projectile flies before hitting. Then her R also requires multiple strikes on the enemy to even CC them, so there are skill factors built into her kit. She's not going to be as point-and-shoot as Lulu is.

Josh Sand1 votes

That's true. The missile could be a pretty big deal depending on how fast it is, or if there is any acceleration to it.

Tobykachu2 votes

How exactly can you make a high skill cap enchanter? Make their heals or shields skill shots? That didn't work out too well with Lux.

Josh Sand1 votes

You wouldn't have to go that far to create a high skill cap enchanter. Skill shots are a possibility, and I would argue that at lower elos, Lux support is absolutely viable.

But that aside, you can gate a champions healing or shielding behind skill tests that aren't a point and click.

Similar to how Rakan needs to land his quill and then reposition in order to heal an ally. Given the rest of his kit with a knockup and an ally dash, that skill test isn't too terribly hard - but design along those lines add a challenge to actually delivering the heal.

You could have an Enchanter heal function similarly to how redemption works. Ground targeted, so displacement would counter it, and enemies know where you will be moving to. And a delay so that it would be more useful vs slower damage, rather than assassination bursts.

You could even do something like gangplanks barrels where you have to arrange nodes before they get destroyed in order to deliver a burst of healing.

There are other ways you could kit out an enchanter that peels and protects without even giving them heals and shields. Areas of Blindness or disarm would be fantastic peel for an ADC, or concealment like Ivern's bush. Even if you gave an enchanter an obstacle spell like Anivias wall or Trundle's pillar, that would be huge.

Or it could be something really weird like a short ranged spell that swaps places with your ADC (that they would obviously have to opt into). Or a sacrifice type spell that wrecks all of your defensive stats and move speed to give your ally a defensive boost.

I don't think you really have to get that crazy in order to design an Enchanter that has a skillset that is a little harder to pull off. It's just a matter of creating interesting trade-offs and restrictions that make it more of a challenge than "click on friend to heal them."

xDogMeatx2 votes

i hope its a buff hat champ. i want my veigar to be like THANOS. having yummi is gonna either my glove or one of the infinity stones. soon riot soon will you make my veigar having attached by 4 champs one champ (4 inside) vs 5. I only used 1% of my power.

Oleandervine1 votes

There's an ability teaser video up already. It shows her zipping from champ to champ. There's also an article (without numbers) detailing how her kit works.

Josh Sand1 votes

LOL I stand corrected good sir

xDogMeatx1 votes

im gonna enjoy using veigar 'IF' yummi chooses to become my infinity stone. thats the only drawback i see

AbiwonKenabi2 votes

We don't even have videos of her abilities yet. We've yet to actually see her in action. Calm down.

I think the shields and heals could be balanced easily. Its the "share stats" mechanic is my only concern.

She relies a lot on her ally's positioning so it might be better in some cases to bail on them.

Ninjas Flossing2 votes

jumping the gun with no knowledge huh? i've been there, never ends well. careful how you treat your feet, you'll be eating them soon.

Josh Sand1 votes

Or you could actually read my arguments and address them like some other commenters have

MalrothDragonia1 votes

you realize that with her kit she's gonna be Rakan on steroids?

Like, her W has zero cooldown if you dash between allies, her team fighting is gonna be dumb, and we don't have the recharge rate on her heal.

She gets 2-charges, I can see her being a ridiculously high skill cap champ.

Also unlike Soraka she will be hard/near impossible to burst down, bc I believe when she's attached she can't be targeted.

Josh Sand1 votes

I'm talking about how shallow her kit is and how long it would take to master her, more than what her power level might be.

Her play pattern isn't anything new to Enchanters. It's point and click shielding / healing with a large and telegraphed ultimate. Those all might be powerful abilities, but my argument is that her kit is really shallow and boring.

Her kit is more basic to play than even Janna or Soraka, and I don't understand why the roster needs yet another basic-ass enchanter kit - especially when Riot shows over and over again that they arent shy about trying to break the game with new Fighters and Assassins.

They could have done something really cool for Enchanters in the same way that Taric did for Wardens. But I guess with new champs, they calculated that a magical cat hat with a simple kit would sell well.

Oleandervine2 votes

You've clearly never played Abathur in Heroes of the Storm. Her kit may seem simple and shallow, but it will actually take quite a bit of coordination to get used to playing off of someone else's positioning, as well as how and when to pop off your spells to be help your ally. You have to rely on your allies to know where to be and when, it's not up to you, and that can be a terrifyingly daunting expectation.

Josh Sand1 votes

You can have a shallow kit that still demands a good deal of game knowledge in order to be effective. Timing a shield or polymorph can be highly effective, but it still doesn't present you with same mechanical demands that lining up a barrel chain or setting up a Steel Tempest does

Oleandervine1 votes

Barrel chain, yes. Hitting Q three times, not so much. But as I mentioned elsewhere, there are skill based factors built into the abilities of her kit. And it's not like every champion has to be as high of a skill cap as someone like Bard, Ivern, or Xerath.

Kai Guy1 votes

I feel called out. You listed 3 of my fav champs.

Josh Sand1 votes

That's kind of the original point I'm attempting to make - that most of the enchanters are decision all based, not skill-cap based, and that the class could benefit a lot from a new champion that represents that.

This is a missed opportunity to create an enchanter with a really high skill cap - something that we know Riot is capable of because of releases and reworks like Akali, Irelia, Yasuo, etc.

Of course, that doesnt really matter anymore because my post has gotten downvoted to hell, so any chances of a larger community discussion around this issue are slim to none.

Oleandervine1 votes

Rakan on steroids in what way? She had 1 CC spell, and it's her ultimate, and it requires people to be hit by multiple waves to actually get CC'd. Rakan eats, sleeps, and shits CC.

And unlike Soraka, you know where she will be if she's attached to another champion, and she can't auto. She's a bit at the mercy of her allies in that regard, because while you can't target her, she's going to be sitting duck if her ally dies with her on them.

MalrothDragonia1 votes

her mobility is gonna be nuts, she can just jump to allies constantly.

You think losing autos is bad vs constant untargetability? She's a caster. She still gets to fire spells out, enhanced by being on a carry through the adaptive conversion.

As for being a 'sitting duck', in a team fight she'll just jump to another ally, while losing none of her tempo or healing. I do wonder if you can auto in transit, that may be part of her pattern.

Oleandervine1 votes

I am pretty sure you're completely catastrophizing things here. Her kit is deliberately kneecapped. She's not got a lot of impact by herself, and most of her spells, barring her heal/MS boost, have weird contingencies or delays to be the most effective. So sure, she can zip around, but you're acting like she's Rakan and will be CCing everyone when she looks at them or like she's Xerath, who will be nuking people left and right. She's not. She's got very particular spells, and she will have cooldowns on those spells, so everything you've been pointing out in your doom and gloom is probably not even going to be a thing.

MalrothDragonia2 votes

I'm specifically talking about how 'binary' she is or isn't. APM is gonna be a big part of it, there is gonna be a lot of decision making in her kit, and some stuff to master. That's all I'm saying. I already said I was talking about Rakan's mobility, not his CC, but you brought CC up again for some reason. I'm just saying she'll be good, and she'll have a decent skill ceiling. That's my point. I'm not 'catastrophizing', I think she'll be good

Illabethe1 votes

I don't think she's going to be as easy as people think. Why? Her attach may make her untargettable, but that's also a weakness. Non Targetted aoes will hit both champions..... and Yuumi attached can only heal the person she is attached to. She will literally often commit suicide by making it easy to aoe destroy 2 champions in the same space.

And, she can't heal allies when she's NOT attached.

She also lacks substantial damage output, and using her ult to its full potential is going to be hard to learn (She can reposition mid ult making it unlike MF or Kennen).

hrooza dota 1 votes

the last 2 supports we got are both high skill ceiling champions one of them is an enchantress Rakan and the other is unique kind of support Pyke

for real players need to stop the (do riot care about supports) bull shit tbh its crying for the sake of crying , supports are strong and theres hard and easy supports just like every other class.

QancerClown1 votes

Why is this downvoted? He is right. Yuumi is a champion that u can go afk on. Riot should never make champions like that. New champions should be hard to play. We have enough of easy to play champions. And on support it is too visible. There are literally 5 support champions that require skill. The rest is on Garen lvl. Yuumi will create unhealthy enviournemt in the game. She will make some characters broken. New funnel strategies will arise. Do you really want that?

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