Little reminder that Viktor's W works with stacks and, as such, should have a visual indicator

PaffWasTaken·Jun 25, 2019·4 votes·4,543 views

Yeah, so for people who doesn't already know:

's W (the gravity field) works with a stack mechanic, you get a stack for every 0.5 seconds passed inside its zone and at 3 stacks, you are stunned.

Since this ability already works with stacks and since its quite hard to tell if anyone including yourself will be stunned or not (its actual range interaction with hitbox widths really is confusing at times too) it would be a really really good QoL change to add a visual indicator to those stacks. I mean, there's barely any work to do other than binding a new visual aspect to an already working stacking mechanic and it would bring much more clarity to the ability, so why not?

7 Comments

PaletongueJun 25, 20192 votes

I don't think it's needed simply because it doesn't change the way you'd interact with the ability. Enemies will want to leave the zone because of the slow, and Viktor can't play around knowing an enemy already has 2 stacks, as he has no other CC or way to add stacks.

Effectively, adding a particle does nothing but add more visual clutter.

AyzevJun 25, 20192 votes

It can happen that you exit the zone with 2 stacks, and if you know you have 2 stacks, you wait until the area has despawned before moving on, but if you don't know, you may make the mistake of thinking they'll have dropped off and you can afford to start walking through it in the last second of its duration.

Most likely not a common occurrence, but this "visual clutter" also wouldn't necessarily pose a problem, depending on how exactly it's implemented. I think it's worth adding.

MogarlJun 26, 20192 votes

It would give Viktor a slightly better idea of whether or not someone is going to get stunned, and people trying to avoid it could better time their untargetability. Since less than a second of being unaffected is enough to drop all the stacks off.

Those benefits are likely not worth the visual clutter though.

PaffWasTakenJun 26, 20191 votes

Enemies will want to leave the zone because of the slow

But what if enemies are not even in the zone to start with and that they enter it? The hitbox is wacky and the visuals fade out even before the end of the ability's effect. This would definitely change the way they play around the ability, since "kiting" the border of the ability and resetting the 0.5sec trigger time ends up in a really really confusing situation in whether or not you would get affected by the stun. Hell, since the ability is just a ground effect, it tends to get absolutely overlayed by almost any other effects in the game, leading in some occasions to some real confusion on whether or not you are getting stacks or even if you are standing in it in the first place (the slow is barely noticeable before starting to level it either way)

and Viktor can't play around knowing an enemy already has 2 stacks, as he has no other CC or way to add stacks.

False. Nobody can know whether the effect is gone or not or if enemies are still getting stacks unless looking at the debuffs tooltips (which is already klunky, extremely inneficient and not even worth to look at) so you can't:

1- Judge whether or not an enemy will be stunned by walking around the EDGE of the ability (it really reacts weirdly on the widths of champion hitboxes)

2- Predict if an enemy will be stunned by getting out and in again inside the ability

3- Make follow ups on his skill shots on his upgraded W since you can't really tell WHEN the target will be drawed to the center on fast targets or if it'll even drag them at all

The list goes on on a multitude of more specific examples, yet it all comes down to the fact that having actual information on WHEN something is going to happen or if it'll actually happen really is game changing for both the user and the Victim, ESPECIALLY on a hard CC. Just imagine if Jhin wouldn't have an indicator for his W stun. Wouldn't make sense, right? Why would it make more sense on Viktor? What if Khazix didn't have an isolation target indicator? What if Darius didn't have an indicator for his passive? Even if those are more extreme examples, those all show that those champions base themselves on visual indicators to make plays. Viktor's W is extremely unsteady in its result and everyone can only get benefits from having actual information on it. Almost anything related to follow ups on this ability is based around timing, a timing that is highly unpredictable since you can't even SEE the buildup of the ability. Even if he can't add stacks from other sources than W, whats the point of having them since he can't even see them or see the buildup, even if they have such a fight-changing effect?

Effectively, adding a particle does nothing but add more visual clutter

Viktor is an old champion. He has pretty much half of the particles that most new champs possess even on their most basic abilities or even AAs, and that, even if he relies on stacking AoEs. Adding an actual indicator to his kit (the only other one is his ult targeting reticula which is barely noticeable either way) that would share actual informative data would be more than welcome in a kit who's already in need of clarification because of how confusing some hitboxes or cast speeds are. Granted, it heavily depends on how its implemented, but we have already an HUGE amount of visual indicators (evne some of the same nature like Kaisa and Braum ) yet they blend really well into each others. Adding another one based on such a short ability wouldn't clutter anything at all, at this point half of the particle effects who are presently implemented on new champions should be removed if it was an actual thing to look out for.

letsfeedtogetherJun 25, 20192 votes

why do you keep making this post every month or 2

PaffWasTakenJun 26, 20191 votes

Probably because its something that needs to happen yet Riot just ignores anything related to Viktor unless he is pro-picked? Whats so wrong about that?