Champions that really need buffs and changes for Season 5

So I was looking over the champion list earlier, and I realized that there are a number of champions that have been neglected in some way for a very long time. This is a list of champs that I think really need some attention. I'm no Challenger player, just a measly Gold, but I've been playing for four years and have a solid 5000 games played, so I know my way around the Rift. Please bear in mind that these are just my opinions; feel free to disagree with me or add in mention of champs you would really like to see buffed or changed.

Brand

Brand has been almost exactly the same for a long, long time. Much like Cassiopeia he's a victim of mobility creep, although arguably even more so because he has no movespeed boost or slow in his kit (though he does have a semi-unreliable stun.) He's short-to-medium range, his damage relies moderately on a DoT that doesn't stack or benefit from skilled comboing, and any hard engage/cc champ just completely ends him. Numbers buffs won't work here because as a burst mage he has potential for abuse. He needs something, though.

Diana

The last time I remember Diana being a good pick, she had just come out. She can still hold her own in certain lane matchups mid and top, but almost everything she does in those lanes could be done better by Akali. Her kit was clearly designed as an AP jungler to complement the otherwise deficient pool of AP jungle champs, but shortly after her release she got a large round of nerfs that took her from strong (but honestly not broken) to basically just above trash tier. Those changes need to be at least partially reverted, or instead of restoring the range on her pull and ult her Q and orbs need to scale better.

Fiora

This one's a little iffy, because she has recently seen a bit of a popularity surge, and I'm aware that she actually does have a rework coming up. The problem with Fiora has always been that she's a mADC with no disengage. She engages well and her lategame can be a terror, but her laning phase is terrible against most common tops and once she goes in she basically can't leave unless everything is already dead or fleeing. Her rework can't come soon enough.

Gangplank

The recent buffs to nobody's favorite pirate were a welcome surprise after years of Riot ignoring him. And he's so close. Sooooo close. His ult buffs really do help him a fair bit, there are a couple lanes he can win, and he has seen some use as an almost-viable jungler. But he just needs... something. I'd suggest scrapping his E completely and giving him something there that feels more intuitive. When I play GP on an ARAM or something, I can't help but notice that I barely feel anything happen when I hit E.

Graves

This one's a bit iffy. I'm including him here not because I think he's weak exactly, but because he has been missing something in his "feel" for a very long time. Along with being one of the weaker current ADC's, he has a role as a "burst ADC" that it doesn't always feel like he can fulfill. Unless you're hitting something point-blank with all three bullets of his Q and following it immediately with an ult, his burst potential feels kinda low. The best comparison is Jinx. From autoattack range a level 16 Graves with 200 AD can hit you with Q/R for about 1200 damage. The same level/AD Jinx can hit a W/R from twice the range for about 1700 damage (variable on missing health of course) with a much bigger and higher-damage AoE blast radius on her ult. Not to mention she has better CC and situationally better mobility. Graves has just fallen behind.

Hecarim

Skarner recently saw a rework that boosted his viability, but his brother Hecarim has been in a tragic spot for far too long. He's only really playable in the jungle (yeah, I saw that LCS promotion game and it was pretty cool to see him mid, but they still lost) but in the jungle he is extremely feast-or-famine. You're either going to crazy-hard-carry with Hecarim or you're going to fall on your face. He excels on mobility, but he really excels on nothing else unless you can get fed early. He does ok damage, he's somewhat tanky, his cc is all right... but he just has trouble really shining in an average game.

Kennen

Do you remember the last time you saw Kennen in a game? For me it was about a week ago, and before that it had been about a month outside an ARAM. I'm not a Kennen player so I don't know exactly what to say about him. I do know that he can still occasionally win a top lane, but I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a Kennen carry. And as a DPS champion with very light support/utility, if he can't carry then what is he for? He needs something but I have no idea what.

Malzahar

This is another case where I haven't played enough of him or against him recently to really understand what he needs. Malz has been basically unchanged for forever now, and he's actually also maintained an above 50% win rate for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure he even needs buffs honestly, but he's one of those champions that you see so rarely that it can be very hard to tell. His play pattern is strange. He can be a serious lane bully, he can roam decently well because he can hit one ability and watch the gold farm itself, and his ult is a guaranteed kill under the right circumstances. But his lategame has always seemed to be somewhat subpar, and I feel like if he was played more often we'd see his win rate drop sharply. Does he need changes? I can't say for sure.

Mordekaiser

J/k, Morde es best #1, huehuehuehue.

Olaf

Olaf got a rework, I believe about a year ago now. After the rework hit, many people were concerned with how weak he feels, and we got Riot's now-classic answer: "We'll be watching how this champion does, and adjusting him as needed." Then they never touched him again. Olaf does have a few good matchups in top lane, but he suffers from the "but why?" syndrome. As in, sure, you can pick him as a counter to a couple other champions, but why? Yeah, you can make it through the jungle with him, duel and gank decently well, but why? Olaf doesn't do anything better than any other champion. One solid change would be to get rid of the silly "passively his ult makes him more survivable, but when you use it to do anything but run away you're going to die!" thing. Past that, he could use some serious numbers buffs.

Poppy

I'm pretty sure Riot has been thinking about Poppy for going on 5 years. Thinking, just not doing anything. As anyone who has played this game for a while can tell you, Poppy has never really been "good." I guess way back, pre-season one she may have had a niche, but that was back before the meta shaped into what it has been since at least season two. Poppy isn't exactly a bruiser, isn't exactly a tank, isn't exactly a fighter, isn't exactly an assassin. She belongs to a forgotten class of champion that used to be called an "anticarry." Kassadin, Galio and Veigar all have remnants of this class of champion, though these days Kassadin is generally thought of as an assassin, Veigar as a burst mage and Galio as... well I don't know exactly what, but he's pretty kewl. Anyway, Poppy still does exactly what she has always done: crappy laning phase, crappy midgame, godlike lategame for about five seconds every two minutes. She picks a squishy target, dives and kills it, and then either dies or leaves the teamfight entirely. That's it, that's all she does. Well, no, actually, there's one more thing she does better than any other champion. For at least three years, she has been the #1 pick for any champ select screen where you will also be taking Revive/Clarity and typing racist slurs to try to get your team to dodge.

Sejuani

Sejuani is one of a couple champions that has simply never been good. And it's tragic, because she looks great on paper. She's a tank with two forms of hard cc, a slow and AoE damage. Perfect jungler, right? The problem is that she just never seems to do any of those things as well as you would think she would. Build tank? Then her jungle clear speed is terrible. Build damage? Half her damage requires her to be in melee range and she actually isn't naturally very tanky, so you're going to melt. Her CC actually remains good at just about any stage of the game. I've never actually heard from Riot why Sejuani has been so bad for so long. ALL of her problems could be fixed by simple numbers buffs. All of them. She needs shorter cooldowns, more innate tank stats, higher damage, or any combination of those three things. Why it's never been done is baffling.

Sivir

Sivir is an ADC that was reworked not too long ago, and after her rework people were stoked and then followed their excitement with a resounding "meh." She's ok. She has a high-damage poke and a spellshield. Her W seems to be useful only as a lategame waveclear tool, because early game it's just going to make you miss CS and push your lane. Her ult makes your team run fast. Really? Riot addressed that in a spectacularly unsatisfying fashion, which basically came down to "it's fine if Sivir is never a competitive pick due to having an ult that does almost nothing, because it makes her a niche pick!" No, it makes her a never-pick. To be fair, Sivir still has a few matchups that she dominates, she can trade well and she clears waves as well or better than any other ADC. But that doesn't make up for her awful AA range, her inability to kite without her ult on, and the fact that she has half a kit. Oh, did you know that Sivir has a passive? Can you think of what it is without looking it up?

Tryndamere

Trynd goes through these little phases of popularity and it always seems to be a problem. He suffers from mADC disease, and as such he's always either broken OP or "why bother" tier. His ult in particular has always been problematic. Other than Ignite or using another DoT just before his ult wears off, there's simply no counterplay to an invincibility ult. If he's fed he will kill three people before his ult wears off, regain a chunk of health and then get away. And he'll do the same thing all over again in 90 seconds. The only thing more annoying than a Trynd ult is Teemo, and that's saying something. But his lane phase is bad against most things, his jungling is very close to awful, and he needs a full rework.

Urgot

The other major offender in the "has never once been good" category. Urgot's not exactly an ADC and he's not exactly a bruiser. He has the damage to actually carry a game and he can see some success in top lane against a few things. But he's just never been good enough to be popular, and the catch-22 here is that Riot decided a long time ago that he's not popular enough to ever be made good. It's the same reason Urgot has seen one skin since he came out. I forget which Rioter made the initial thread, but what it comes down to is that Urgot is "gross" and Riot believes that nobody will ever want to play him because he's not likeable enough. I'm pretty sure the actual reasons are closer to him having a terrible AA range and an ult that's about the closest you can get to trolling yourself when used in most teamfight situations. He needs a rework, if only to give him an ult worth having.

Veigar

Ok, Veigar's not exactly bad. The thing with Veigar is that he's extremely one-dimensional. He's got an AoE stun, then some damage, then some more damage, and some more damage. If you want to learn Veigar, all you have to do is learn to combo his stun into his W. That's it, there's nothing else. Veigar has maintained a pretty steady 4-5% pick rate with about a 48-49% win rate forever now. With Riot's recent focus on interesting play and counterplay, Veigar is an old champion with an old playstyle that needs to be addressed.

Viktor

This is another champion that I don't really feel qualified to comment on, because he's probably the oldest champion that I don't own and have never played outside a free week. From what I understand, Viktor has had huge problems with buggy abilities in the past, and while I'm pretty sure most of those were fixed, some must still remain. His kit seems pretty strong but he's almost never picked. I'm sure a commenter can elaborate on what he needs, but it's pretty clear he needs something.

Volibear

Volibear is the worst champion that I love to play. He feels so visceral and powerful, even when he isn't. The bear is primarily a jungler that occasionally sees play top lane, and he sometimes carries games. Voli's problem is that he is, in fact, very strong... for about 20 minutes. He clears well, has a borderline broken passive during the early game, can gank pretty well and has a combination free AS steroid/execute built into his kit. But he's also one of the easiest things to kite (let's call this the "Sion's Passive Syndrome",) his damage and passive don't scale well, and his ult doesn't really seem to do anything at any phase of the game. Seriously, his ult. It looks and sounds so cool, but all it does is add a small amount of non-scaling magic damage to his autoattacks that arcs onto what usually ends up being minions. Hurray, an ult that helps with waveclear! Volibear has a lot of potential, but Riot needs to find a way to make him scale better and his ult needs replacing.

Warwick

The Blood Hunter has a rework coming soon™ so I won't harp on him too much here. For the longest time Warwick's been in this weird place where he's great at a very low level of play (a jungler you can play without runes, like Fiddlesticks and Nunu) and a somewhat high level of play (looking at you, Diamond Warwick mains.) But he is rarely good at a moderate play level, particularly in Silver and Gold. Like I said, I won't talk about this too much because it looks like his rework is going to solve just about all his issues, but I wish soon™ was sooner.

Yorick

Most people are going to disagree with me here, but I think Yorick is fine. He's so rarely picked and his lategame contributions are so iffy that his early toplane dominance can be overlooked. No, what I'd like to comment on is the fact that Yorick has NEVER GOTTEN A SKIN. He had two release skins, and that's it. I've never understood it. There have even been multiple Harrowings that would have been a perfect place to give a skin to the Gravedigger. Maybe Riot is just trying to discourage Yorick from ever being popular because they know that if he ever gets really popular again they're going to have to respond to the lamentations of players who hate laning against him. I'm pretty sure that a year or two ago Riot was talking about reworking him, and then we never heard about it again. But screw that. Just give the poor man a skin.

All right, like I said, feel free to comment on anything I said. I fully expect to hear a few instances of "omg ur dumb x champ is op" but I'd rather see some honest discussion in here. Thoughts? Further champ suggestions?