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PBE Context please: Azir W Changes

Tempest656·5/19/2016, 11:15:59 PM·3 votes·798 views
Surrender at 20

People have already mentioned the changes to his R which is frustrating, but I can understand the duration changes due to the fact it makes Azir and his team unassailable for a long window if used correctly, so a hit to the duration is understandable for if a little saddening to me. However, the newest change of removing his W's ability to sacrifice Soldiers onto towers for damage blindsided me. Azir has little direct utility outside of his Ult and long CD passive, and to me his ability to punish towers if left alone in lane is not simply just a powerful ability, but powerful part of his Champion identity.

What drew me to Azir as a first time player, was that he was a champion who could change the landscape meaningfully by removing and erecting towers, which tied in wonderfully with his lore. I could certainly understand lowering the damage it dealt to give opponents more time to respond, but the removal entirely is baffling.

I know what's on the the PBE right now isn't the final outcome, but would it be possible to have some insight into why these changes are being made? Is it the case of removing some of Azir's hidden power, as using his W to damage towers isn't super visible to the opponents beyond the towers HP disappearing? Or is it that he's all around too strong, and needs to be brought back in line at high levels of play? And in either case, will we see changes to other parts of his kit to compensate the changes to his power budget?

Thanks for your time.

19 Comments

The Aqualious5/20/2016, 12:12:30 AM3 votes

Hopefully Riot realizes that they have BS like Zed and a couple others to deal with, and revert Some of these Azir changes.

The guy isn't even as strong as we make him out to be, especially against range foes who don't even need to worry about the sand soldiers unless Azir lands his Q

blfUvZ8Ybu5/19/2016, 11:36:36 PM2 votes

Stinger nerf and ult ms nerf are fine.Even 3/4/5 second duration nerf may be fair.But three seconds at all levels and w nerfs are unjustified and brutal.

Riot hates Azir.

Crett5/19/2016, 11:43:27 PM2 votes

I remember release Azir. I think he's about half as strong by now.

Tempest6565/20/2016, 12:51:02 AM2 votes

I am making my own interpretation of the R changes, I don't like it, but I get it. The disruption and damaging impact of his R remains mostly unchanged, even at 2 seconds. What it changes the most is when you use the shurima shuffle to cut off 2-3 members of the enemy team while all of yours gets uninterrupted fighting on the remainder for up to 7 seconds. That's a very long time in a fight. Especially when you can run through the allied Azir's wall afterwards to catch stragglers. It's a very strong ability. Reducing it's duration means that you as an Azir player need to make that wall count. But it's more likely to leave it as a purely offensive/disruptive tool than a defensive one. Which is a shame really.