BALANCE REWORK IDEA: Charging Skillshot for Blitzcrank Q.

Mad Hit Monkey·10/4/2016, 3:01:09 AM·5 votes·840 views

So after getting wrecked by rocket grab after rocket grab from a 'Definitely Not A Top Laner' Support Blitzcrank, I considered ideas for modernizing our favorite Steam Golem.

An idea, possibly brought up before by people, was to give the Rocket Grab a charging skillshot for release, not unlike Vi and Varus Qs, allowing more room to balance him, while not raising the skill floor too much.

Here is some things that changing the Grab in such a manner can give us:

  • Like Varus' and Vi's Qs, the grab could increase in range during the charge, slowing Blitzcrank's movement speed during charge, and let it go on cooldown if not released.
  • The Speed of displacement (the nearly instant pull) need not be altered.
  • Wind-up VFX and SFX can be used to, when Blitz is visible, alert the enemy that Rocket Grab is charging up.
  • Cooldown and Mana Costs are now given room to be reduced because overall power of the grab has been reduced.
  • The rest of Blitz's abilities can be balanced now that the grand bulk of Blitz's power distribution isn't piled on the one ability.

This is just an idea. By this point Riot has the tech to do it, and I'm certain that changing the rocket grab in that direction will not raise the Skill Floor too much for new players.

EDIT1: Now that it has been brought up, a Slow on Q would completely be at odds with the current slow on W.

Please give thoughts, I hope positive.

Blitzcrank Blitzcrank Blitzcrank Blitzcrank

EDIT: The question isn't about 'How does someone deal with Rocket Grab'. Obviously 'don't be standing there' is the answer to that.

The question is about 'Can Blitzcrank be given modern balancing?'

17 Comments

oSEXYPLATYPUSo10/4/2016, 3:03:04 AM3 votes

no that is what and the only thing blitz has going for him.. it has a 20 sec cdr lvl 1 with no cdr

it is what identifies him as a champ...

thresh has a windup on his hook

if you position correctly you shouldnt be grabbed

Friendly Ram10/4/2016, 3:46:08 AM2 votes

I'm all for nerfing blitz but i think this would be too harsh currently. sure he's obnoxious but all of his power is in the q.

DrCyanide10/4/2016, 4:12:41 AM2 votes

This feels like a perfect way to dumpster Blitzcrank honestly.

One thing you're forgetting is that it's currently nearly instant. Changing it to a wind-up and move (a la Vi Xerath Varus Poppy ) means it needs significantly more buffs than a mere CD/mana reduction, because it'd be an out-right nerf.

No, to make the wind-up-and-walk change you'd have to give the ability something extra. You'd be looking at something like being able to change the direction of the Q mid-flight (probably pressing Q again to re-aim), with the wind-up either increasing the range or the speed at which it could re-aim.

Astôlfo10/4/2016, 3:47:13 AM1 votes

Or you could just dodge the friggin' Q and stop whining.

ABlueQuaker10/4/2016, 3:52:43 AM1 votes

Chargeable Q. When charged, fires it 3x the speed and double the distance.

Koala Frenzy10/4/2016, 4:42:22 AM1 votes

It's fine as is. The problem with blitzcrank is he's a late game support, not an early game one. Snagging people in lane is actually fucking hard and gets harder the higher up the ladder you are. Minion hitboxes are practically as wide as a 6 stacked level 16 chogath while a lot of champions can be visually tagged by the sides of the range indicator but still not be grabbed.

But your team is going to expect 100% accuracy despite them whiffing every skillshot they have.

Fondling Gems10/4/2016, 3:26:46 AM1 votes

One issue I see with him having a charge up like that in comparison to champs like Varus and Vi Blitz has a built in speed up, which means that while charging Q he will also W and keep the same movespeed, it also directly counteracts the previous usefulness of his W in giving him a speedboost to hit Q before it ran out, now it would be an ability that basically adds a mana cost onto Q because you just burn it whenever you want to Q. The two abilities basically cancel each other out and that is never a good mechanic.

If he gets that Q change his W would also need an update and at that point he might as well get a full on rework.

Hige10/4/2016, 3:34:39 AM1 votes

I don't think that blitz' grab is that much of a problem honestly... yeah a good hook will win games but is the hook really the problem? after you get pulled you also get knocked up AND silenced...

which leads me to my other point... thematically, Blitz knocking people up is simply wrong, his animation doesn't even do an uppercut... his punch should knockBACK instead of up, this way a good blitz would have to use his skills correctly in order to neutralize his target instead of focusing all his attention on Q and the facerolling the keyboard