Can we make Edge of Night less frustrating to use?
After seeing the buff to it in the patch notes it's obvious that Riot wants to put the item in a better spot, but I don't think that simply lowering the item's cooldown addresses the primary problems that it has:
- The channel time gets interrupted by any damage, including that of minions and monsters.
Getting hit by a random and hardly visible caster minion auto attack that was flying at you as you initiated the channel time for EoN, just to have it cancel the shield and put you in a really unfavorable position as a result, is an awful experience. Is there a particular reason that this interaction exists? Would removing this nuance result in some unintended functionality?
- The channel time gets interrupted by your own spell casts, even if they do no damage.
This one is easier to avoid once you figure out (usually by experience, but I'll get to that) that it's the case. If I'm Twitch, I have to activate my Q (stealth) channel before I activate EoN, otherwise the channel is immediately cancelled when I press Q. If I'm Draven, I can't refresh my axe duration or use W for movement speed during the channel of the shield, otherwise it's immediately cancelled. The same goes for other self buffs and mobility options, etc. I can see where removing the cancel from some mobility options (dashes, jumps) could cause balance complications. But buffs/shields on yourself/allies shouldn't be a problem.
During the channel time, you can't do ANYTHING outside of clicking to move without it cancelling the channel, and you can't be touched by anything in the game that isn't from an ally without it cancelling the channel. And the second issue is amplified by a beast of a different nature:
- There's a lack of clarity within the tooltip.
The tooltip specifically says, "Can move while channeling, but taking damage breaks the channel."
With the item in its current state, the tooltip should say, "You can move while channeling, but taking damage, dealing damage, or using abilities breaks the channel." It sucked that it took me failing to use the shield 5-10 times to figure out all of the possible cancellation methods. At the very least, the tooltip should be more clear.
But in my opinion, and as someone who loves the concept of the active, I think it needs a bit more than just a tooltip change. Minion/monster damage, self/ally buffs and support, and possibly dashes/jumps shouldn't cancel the channel. At this point there's almost never a game, champion or situation where I think to myself, "I really need edge of night here" moreso or even just as much as mercurial, which is disappointing because I'd love to see it become something more practical.
Tl;dr: Make EoN less frustrating and/or buff it by removing some of the smaller things that cancel the shield channel.