Rengar Bruiser Rework Ideas
Before you start, this will be a very long post, it's a theorycraft of sorts on how to rework a champion and I intent to make it as clear as I can through text alone, which naturally means a lot of it! So if you can't or won't take the time then leave now, don't bother posting something about "the post is too long" or some shit, that's the whole point of it, you simply cannot get a clear idea across with minimal typing. You've been warned, and I hope you at least enjoy the thoughts I present and hopefully invoke :)
Now I know most of you out there, plenty of you other Rengar mains included, only see him as an assassin and absolutely nothing else! But were you aware..... that he was originally designed as a bruiser with assassin-based elements? And that his first rework was an attempt to slow down his assassination ability and push him more towards being a skirmisher? I bet most of you didn't, and I also bet a lot of you might be thinking that I'm making this all up!
But why would I? What would be the point? And besides, go back and read Rioter's posts from when he was first released and balanced as well as when he was reworked the first time, not too mention what they've been saying recently about moving him closer to the diver/skirmisher label for balance reasons. They do currently recognize him as an assassin, but that's cause their original concepts for his release and rework failed, not cause that's what was intended.
I personally believe that these concepts failed nearly entirely due to his double casting ability! Not his stealth like many of you believe, not his base damages or scalings on his abilities, and no not his resource system in and of itself...... just the fact that he can double cast abilities.
It's ironic, before his rework that's what EVERYBODY was saying, but now I seem to have to bend over backwards just to convince people of this what I thought to be apparent fact :P
So my rework idea revolves around removing his double casting! I know many of you will scoff at this notion, "it's part of his identity," "he won't be viable without it," "rabblerabblerabble!" But think about it for a minute, if he didn't double cast, then each of his abilities could be flat out buffed and more easily balanced without having to worry about them popping out twice! So here's my proposed ideas:
PASSIVE: His leap from brush should forever remain intact and I believe Riot knows this, so moving on to his Ferocity! It would still work the same, he gets stacks and at 5 it would augment his abilities, but instead of them each having their own separate cooldowns they would remain the same abilities but more powerful for their next use. And for the big difference, instead of his abilities gaining him stacks (cause I changed his E and R so they wouldn't work as they do now in this regard), he would get them through auto attacking, like a true skirmisher would!
Think Fenrir from SMITE, he's a relatively balanced champ, whether you like the game or not, and that's how his abilities work (but he uses mana :P). This change is intended to push his focus to prolonged fighting instead of just blowing someone up, it's healthier, easier to balance, and I personally think it would be more fun.
Q: Base Q would be buffed, same base damage (maybe slightly higher since it can't be double cast, or even adding the 20% increased AD he has on his EmpQ) but the increased attack speed he currently has on his EmpQ would be moved here. This would allow him to fight in a more skirmisher/diver type way, think Vi, Olaf, Aatrox, and the like, they all have reliable ways to increase their attack speed... well reliable-ish.
EmpQ: Instead of just doing more damage, this would instead do true damage. Yes I know, true damage is really hard to balance and many times seems unfair, but it seems to work just fine on Olaf and the red smite, right? So it could either be like Olaf, in this way it would do the same damage but as true damage making his dueling and skirmishing viable. Or it could be like the red smite, where when you hit someone with it your autos or something will deal true burn damage overtime, again another way to make his dueling/skirmishing viable.
W: Instead of it granting him armor/MR from hitting enemies, it should instead lower the attack speed of the enemies he hits, as well as still doing damage but maybe scale it on AD since he shouldn't really be building so much of it anymore, or no/lower scalings and higher bases, just something different then mostly AP scalings lol I propose this cause right now his W is almost entirely a tanking ability, just a way for him to become a better meat shield, it's not great for dueling and only decent for quick trades, and almost entirely useless for assassins. Having it reduce attack speed makes it perfect for a skirmisher/diver!
EmpW: OFC it would heal him! lol But also add on a slow to enemies hit. This would give him a more reliable way to stay in the fight and to stay on targets, but it would just be a slow and could not be double cast meaning it would still have plenty of counterplay. The healing part is just kind of part of his identity now and doesn't seem out of place at all, infact it seems needed.
Now this is where things change A LOT, so keep your minds open to the ideas for at least as long as you read them, and keep in mind as well that I intend to make him a diver/skirmisher and am trying to get rid of his one-shotting one-trick-pony type game play. If this is the kind of gameplay you want to keep then sorry to tell you but Riot is already working on a way to remove that, so start looking for your next best choices!
**E: ** For this I would remove his bola entirely! GASP! Yes I know that's been a part of his kit for a while, but it feels like such a tack-on, just an addition that he has and not something that's integral, so hear me out. This is where I'd move his stealth! :O
It would be more reminiscent of Twitch's stealth, takes a while to activate, and even longer if he's taking damage, but instead of it giving him movement speed he would get his passive leap like his current stealth has. Think about it, what does every single diver/skirmisher have that he doesn't? A reliable way to gap close that only really works in one direction! His abilities would no longer be double-castable and only one of them would be damage focused, so you really wouldn't have to worry about him spamming this and deleting anyone.
EmpE: If you used your ferocity on your new stealth based E it would grant you reduced damage or increased resistances (which ever would be more balanced ofc) while casting it, so you'd survive to the point where it would activate, as well as it lingering throughout the stealth and a few seconds or something after you come out of it, making it a good initiation tool. It would also make your stealth last longer, cause I'd like to think the unempowered E stealth wouldn't be all that long, since it could be used multiple times in a fight.
**R: **This is the only ability that shouldn't be effected by his ferocity. This is where his bola would essentially go, but instead of a skill shot slow/root it would be a surpression. It would be a point and click ability with short range, meaning you'd have to leap someone or stealth up to them, and you'd snag them in a net, like a true hunter would! You'd move at a reduced speed, so you couldn't "Skarner" them away at lightning speeds, but you could still use your Q and your W, but your Q could only be used on the person you captured. And if you reactivated the ability you could throw a target in a direction of your choice, the distance of the throw based on how long you've held onto them. So like if you grabbed them and immediately through them it could be a large distance (to your own team as a catch or away from a fight like a Poppy ult) but if you held onto them for a long time to beat on them you wouldn't be able to throw them very far.
Essentially the goal of this ultimate is to catch someone, to find your prey and either kill them, deliver them to their doom, or to remove them from interfering with who you deem as your true prey! (or removing the biggest threat cause logic lol). To me at least Rengar's identity is that of the true hunter, he fights for survival, he's tough and can stand toe to toe with other fighters, and he doesn't just land on someone and blow them up, he CATCHES THEM and does what he pleases, death or... well disengage! :P
So for all of you who made it through that, what are your thoughts!? What's good? What's bad? What would you change, to make weaker or stronger? Or your own thoughts on entirely changing something like I tried here? I'm so excited about the Rengar rework and his return to diver/skirmisher, so any thoughts on how it might happen are good to me! lol