I thought global ultis were removed a long time ago...

TCwrecks·Nov 26, 2014·3 votes·6,235 views

How come this new champion has one?

26 Comments

EnvyDragonNov 26, 201414 votes

Not really. Half the ADCs in the game have global skillshots.

If you're talking about global reposition effects - which are way more tactically significant - the ones they did away with were Panth and TF's, which used to be teleport-anywhere buttons, but now have much more limited range, and a lot of visual indicators to show that the champ is incoming. They've also been balanced around the fact that this mobility is available.

What makes Rek'Sai different is two things:

She can only teleport to tunnel entrances. That means she needs to plan ahead; to ult to a location, she needs to have used her E either to or from that location within the past 10 minutes, and the enemy needs to have not found and killed that tunnel entrance. It's surprisingly easy to limit Rek'Sai's ult freedom just by doing a quick look around for spider-holes. EDIT: And I just noticed that her tunnels are GLOBALLY VISIBLE. You can look on the minimap and see every single one. They're bright purple.
She sacrifices SO MUCH in her kit for the strategic flexibility tunnel entrances provide. She has ONE ranged ability, NO cc (aside from a knockup which she can only apply at her own location), NO gapclosers, NO steroids of any kind outside of the passive AS boost - which you can pretty much consider to be base stats.

If say, Ahri or Lissandra had a Rek'Sai-esque global reposition, it would be broken as hell. But Rek'Sai's mobility is not a means to an end - it's designed to be a strength in and of itself that she needs to rely on to succeed.

RiotMeddlerNov 26, 201414 votes

Good explanation by Envydragon here, free movement global ults are something we felt needed to be removed and something we don't have any plans to make more of. Those with conditions to be used by contrast, such as Shen ult or Rek'Sai ult, don't generate the same problems.

Stez007Nov 26, 20143 votes

Meanwhile, it's still going to be complete bullshit on Dominion. So thanks for that.

I Summons INov 26, 20141 votes

Why do you care? Looking at your match history you don't play Dominion. Seems like you're just here to complain.

RikariNov 26, 20141 votes

Dominion? Is that some other game created by riot with lol champs in it? does it have ranked games?

ShadowNinetailsNov 29, 20141 votes

Not sure if trolling because CS, TT, and HA balance generally don't override SR balance or if genuinely doesn't know that Dominion exists.

ShadowNinetailsNov 29, 20141 votes

Which part? The part where she can go anywhere as long as nobody's taken 1.5 seconds to stomp out her tunnel or the part where anybody can take 1.5 seconds to stomp out her tunnel?

QuephaNov 29, 20141 votes

Good explanation by Envydragon here, free movement global ults are something we felt needed to be removed and something we don't have any plans to make more of. Those with conditions to be used by contrast, such as Shen ult or Rek'Sai ult, don't generate the same problems.

do you think nocturne's ult needs to still have such hefty range requirements when he can only use it offensively, especially at first rank?

Yandere CarryNov 29, 20141 votes

This breakdown of her kit makes her seem incredibly weaker than the reveal. I really like the champ. I hope she is stronger than that. ;-;

Gray FanchonDec 2, 20141 votes

I think a lot of her strength is going to come from less tangible things - she lacks CC or gapclosers, meaning her ganks and teamfight presence may end up being a touch limited, but if you set up tunnels you can be pretty much anywhere on the map and take all kinds of weird routes to places. She looks strong to me! Just, you know, in more of a strategic sense than a concrete one.

(Actually, thinking about it those tunnels could really be useful for catching a laner from an angle they really aren't expecting, or simply bypassing wards. I think Rek'Sai's success is really gonna depend on leveraging that mobility to get stuff done. :D)

Yandere CarryDec 4, 20141 votes

she lacks damage too. Mobility doesn't make up for not contributing anything in a 5v5

Gray FanchonDec 4, 20142 votes

Really? Every video I've seen of her on the PBE has her doing great damage. Building Warrior enchantment on your jungle item + Tiamat's into Hydra seems like it works great.

Yandere CarryDec 4, 20141 votes

anyone that builds double damage items like that will "deal damage" The issue is her kit makes her more of a tank than anything else which means she needs to build tanky. I might be completely off, but if she is (as it seems to me) meant to be a tank... She can't afford to rush 2 damage items.

Gray FanchonDec 5, 20141 votes

How do you figure she's a tank? From what I'm seeing she has very little CC and no damage mitigation, and meanwhile has sustained damage output and the ability to be really mobile across the map. She honestly seems more like a fighter to me.

Also, I believe her designer has said that's the sweet spot he's found - two damage items then tanky. He recommended Hydra and Spirit Visage as items, in particular.

Yandere CarryDec 5, 20141 votes

her kit just seems like tanky utility jungler. iidk. i guess i need to read up.

MastèrBaitèrNov 26, 20141 votes

Not really. Half the ADCs in the game have global skillshots.

If you're talking about global reposition effects - which are way more tactically significant - the ones they did away with were Panth and TF's, which used to be teleport-anywhere buttons, but now have much more limited range, and a lot of visual indicators to show that the champ is incoming. They've also been balanced around the fact that this mobility is available.

What makes Rek'Sai different is two things:

She can only teleport to tunnel entrances. That means she needs to plan ahead; to ult to a location, she needs to have used her E either to or from that location within the past 10 minutes, and the enemy needs to have not found and killed that tunnel entrance. It's surprisingly easy to limit Rek'Sai's ult freedom just by doing a quick look around for spider-holes. EDIT: And I just noticed that her tunnels are GLOBALLY VISIBLE. You can look on the minimap and see every single one. They're bright purple.

She sacrifices SO MUCH in her kit for the strategic flexibility tunnel entrances provide. She has ONE ranged ability, NO cc (aside from a knockup which she can only apply at her own location), NO gapclosers, NO steroids of any kind outside of the passive AS boost - which you can pretty much consider to be base stats.

If say, Ahri or Lissandra had a Rek'Sai-esque global reposition, it would be broken as hell. But Rek'Sai's mobility is not a means to an end - it's designed to be a strength in and of itself that she needs to rely on to succeed.

Seeing this i wonder how this champ is actually going to do well. Especially if you can see the tunnels. Are the tunnels going to be harder to take out(e.g. like 8 hits or something not weak)? Are her rations high?(since no cc)?

What is going to make this champ thrive in the current game?

EnvyDragonNov 26, 20144 votes

Seeing this i wonder how this champ is actually going to do well. Especially if you can see the tunnels. Are the tunnels going to be harder to take out(e.g. like 8 hits or something not weak)? Are her rations high?(since no cc)?

What is going to make this champ thrive in the current game?

For what it's worth: when I wrote the above post, I'd played one game as Rek'Sai. I've played several more since and now I have a much better idea of how her kit fits together. (Hint: it fits together like a fucking masterpiece ;_;)

Picture it like this: lots of champions have leaps or dashes or whatever. Kha'Zix has his E, for example. Rek'Sai's tunnels work exactly like that... except that if you go back to that location later (and the enemy hasn't destroyed the tunnel by walking on it - and they aren't Zyra seeds, either, you need to stand on the tunnel for a second or so before it collapses) then you can redo the jump for free. As many times as you like.

That's a bit of an oversimplification - the tunnel burrow is a little too slow to be considered a gapcloser - but it should give you an idea of how absurdly goddamn mobile she is.

Another strength is... Well, it's kind of tough to describe. When burrowed, she's fast. When she unburrows, she deals damage and knockup. And while burrowed, the autoattack command is replaced with the "unburrow at this target" command. It leads to W being sort of a lite version of Hecarim's E; you don't get nearly the same amount of speed, and you can't push people around, but the knockup gives you a window to pull off a LOT of autoattacks, and if you position yourself right and use your Q, you can deal a boatload of damage around your emergence location.

She's also a really safe counterjungler because of her Tremor Sense. Without wards or anything, you can tell if your quadrant of jungle is inhabited. You can, for example, sneak into baron pit, use your E to head to the enemy red buff, and then either steal it or (if you spot an enemy champion moving nearby) reuse your escape tunnel to get the hell out of dodge.

...And, um, her ult is nice. Really nice.

You know that thing that happens where you gank a lane, and then the enemy champ in the opposite lane of the map pushes like crazy because they know you aren't coming for them? That ain't no thing anymore.

DreamspitterNov 26, 20141 votes

Not really. Half the ADCs in the game have global skillshots.

If you're talking about global reposition effects - which are way more tactically significant - the ones they did away with were Panth and TF's, which used to be teleport-anywhere buttons, but now have much more limited range, and a lot of visual indicators to show that the champ is incoming. They've also been balanced around the fact that this mobility is available.

What makes Rek'Sai different is two things:

She can only teleport to tunnel entrances. That means she needs to plan ahead; to ult to a location, she needs to have used her E either to or from that location within the past 10 minutes, and the enemy needs to have not found and killed that tunnel entrance. It's surprisingly easy to limit Rek'Sai's ult freedom just by doing a quick look around for spider-holes. EDIT: And I just noticed that her tunnels are GLOBALLY VISIBLE. You can look on the minimap and see every single one. They're bright purple.

She sacrifices SO MUCH in her kit for the strategic flexibility tunnel entrances provide. She has ONE ranged ability, NO cc (aside from a knockup which she can only apply at her own location), NO gapclosers, NO steroids of any kind outside of the passive AS boost - which you can pretty much consider to be base stats.

If say, Ahri or Lissandra had a Rek'Sai-esque global reposition, it would be broken as hell. But Rek'Sai's mobility is not a means to an end - it's designed to be a strength in and of itself that she needs to rely on to succeed.

#GLOBALLY VISIBLE

Even from the jungle?

EnvyDragonNov 26, 20141 votes

Hmm... I actually didn't check to see WHEN they show up on the minimap. I do know that after they are spotted, they remain on the minimap, even in fog of war. I didn't have the presence of mind to check, however, whether they appear the moment Rek uses her burrow E, or if they only appear when they enter a champion's vision for the first time (like how jungle camps show as present until someone spots that they're empty).

Either way, they aren't exactly impossible to find, and even spotting one accidentally means you can deal with it later if you find the time. Which is harder than it sounds, coincidentally, especially when you have 4 jungle quadrants to cover.

Gray FanchonNov 26, 20141 votes

This is very helpful to know, thank you. :)

KasaraNov 26, 20147 votes

Global passives were removed, not ults. For instance, Soraka and Karthus' ults are global ults. Zilean had a global passive which was removed and reduced to an 'in range' passive.

Kuroi86Nov 26, 20145 votes

Ashe Draven Ezreal Gangplank Jinx Karthus Lux Nocturne Pantheon Shen Sion Soraka TwistedFate Xerath Ziggs Global and semi-global ults have always been around and still going strong.

EpsilaunNov 26, 20143 votes

The ones they wanted to remove were ones with no drawbacks like TF and Panth, panth got global range (way back in the day) with a huge AoE/slow, TF could TP anywhere and he always knew where champs were, nothing to stop him hopping into base for a quick BD

New champ REQUIRES her E to be there (which can be destroyed by walking on top of) and provides no damage or anything else, JUST mobility to selective locations.

It has enough drawbacks to deserve its range.

Done25Nov 26, 20141 votes

I'd prefer range over about half of the map in exchange for -30 seconds off of the CD.

Gray FanchonNov 26, 20141 votes

I think global is better - the cooldown is long, but it means your mobility is firmly dependent on setting up tunnels and making the map your own territory. It sounds like it'll be really interesting to use.