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Looking at the Mid-Season Changes

junglerboy16·5/5/2017, 2:18:28 AM·2 votes·300 views

It seems like a lot of things missed the mark pretty dramatically, and I think it's fair to do a break down of what was good, what wasn't, and what might be done about it. I'm going to be relatively general with this since there's a lot to cover, which also leaves more room for discussion. This post is also after the first round of hot fixes came out, so keep that in mind. Lets start on a positive note:

  • The GOOD Most of Maokai's update Parts of Sejuani's update Adaptive Helm Gargoyle Stoneplate Defensive Item updates Most of the offensive item updates Support item updates Contribution clarity (finally) The Rift Herald fight (feels more epic and boss like, very appropriate)
  • The BAD Lots of oversight on fringe abuse cases for:
  • Maokai's Saplings (excessive scaling)
  • Sejuani's passive in relation to items and masteries, generally excessive damage (has been partially addressed)
  • Gargoyle stoneplate and champions with high true damage (e.g. Cho'gath and co.)

All of the Zac changes (partially reverted already, though not close to enough) Certain champs balanced around existing item stats were not adjusted or compensated (notably sunfire nerfs) BotRK changes don't address the issues introduced with the recent buffs Armor penetration items still feel too strong, especially when stacked together Rift Herald Summon

All other changes were just standard balance tweaks, nothing significant to cover here.

  • What does this mean? In large part, these changes were actually good. It is very easy to jump on the few more glaring problems and label the whole thing a failure, but when looking at these changes and their implications for the game and the future they are overall quite positive.

  • Tank damage is going down One of the most consistent complaints amongst the community over the past several seasons (and especially the last time we had a true "tank meta") is that tanks have had too much damage, largely due to the fact that they can use more spell rotations because of abundant CDR and the fact that they stay alive long enough to keep dishing it out over and over again (although some are just overtuned). Riot has made it clear that they agree since most of the changes implemented reduced the damage or reliability of the damage dealt by these tanks (Sejuani being the questionable and confusing exception). Maokai's % health damage was shifted to his saplings (now more conditional than ever with the brush interaction) and his ult is much more telegraphed. Zac's was reduced outright, although excessively so and without enough compensation to his utility, durability, or crowd control. Sunfire & co. were pushed to be a tool for clearing waves/camps (which they should be). Also, items like Gargoyle stoneplate could be the new face of class specific itemization, by creating clear and impactful use cases that heighten a class's intended strength while somewhat intensifying their weaknesses as well.

  • Resistances are supposed to be stronger than ever This is an interesting one. What Riot seems to be telling us is they want resistances to be strong in a way that tanks will be extremely durable unless specifically counter built, which I think is good. However, the abundance of penetration stats available and the way they stack together is still excessive in many cases. If tank damage and penetration values were tuned back and tank durability were tuned up more, Riot may finally be able to start comprehensively tackling damage creep.

  • Rift Herald: Where to Go From Here? I've gotta hand it to Riot on the objective fight side of things, they really stepped the experience up a notch, similar to the update to drake and Baron from the SR VU. That said: the buff and new summon both seem a little excessively tuned right now. In theory, this is an excellent concept which feels far more rewarding than the old Herald ever did while also removing the constant laning strength the old buff provided. This is something that I have come to appreciate greatly in my past several matches, since a rift herald kill no longer means I can't face my lane opponent head on and expect a fair fight. However, in it's current form, the Herald summon is way too strong and can snowball games even faster than they already did. If EVER there was a case for strengthening towers, it's this. I think shifting some of its damage from the charge into its auto attack DPS could solve a lot of its problems.
  • The State of Zac I'm not sure there's much I can say to this that hasn't already been elaborated on in other threads, but all of the changes to Zac seem like a mistake. He feels more homogenous and generic, while being less rewarding when played well. Furthermore, as has been said elsewhere more eloquently than I can, the changes break his kit's internal interaction, largely in regard to his passive bloblets (either through lack of creating them or difficulty picking them up now).

So that's the Midseason update broken down in a general sense, mostly addressing issues that stood out, since the parts that worked well speak for themselves.

2 Comments

LankPants5/5/2017, 2:37:28 AM2 votes

Seems like a fair assessment to me, I think there's a little bit of nuance you're missing on Sejuani, but that's OK, I probably miss nuance every time I talk about the majority of champions as well. I also think you missed one very bad change, GA at current is a pretty abysmal item to have in the game.

On the Sejuani front however

Sejuani's passive in relation to items and masteries,

I feel like the stats this is giving aren't too overbearing, rather it's the interaction it has with shields. Basically if Sej has a shield on her her passive doesn't drop until you break the shield, I hope this gets patched out soon but I'd highly advice you try an EotW build before it does, it's legit immune to poke.

In terms of what passive does outside of abuse cases it's pretty OK IMO. It's very similar to WW's E in most cases, about a 50% drop in damage for about 2.5 seconds.

generally excessive damage (has been partially addressed)

Her damage really isn't that much higher than it should be, it's just too reliable. She has too much damage loaded into her passive and too little on her E. This leads to far too many situations where Sej misses W and still wins a trade or has a successful gank by getting her E to proc and just nuking them.

Riot has made it clear that they agree since most of the changes implemented reduced the damage or reliability of the damage dealt by these tank (Sejuani being the questionable and confusing exception)

That's because Sejuani's immediate impact is just pathetic in comparison to tanks. She has less immediate CC, weaker initial lockdown and low longterm survivability compared to most tanks. If she didn't have her damage you'd never want to pick her over someone like Naut. I do agree that Sej's damage is a little too reliable right now however, I honestly hate the shatter mechanic on her kit and I'd personally love to see it either utterly marginalised or just gone off of her kit in favour of more W damage, magic damage W and a more impactful ult.