Thoughts on how to nerf on-hit Neeko

Nerfing Neeko's scaling attack speed is a good start, but it doesn't hit key aspects of Neeko's kit that enable on-hit Neeko to be very strong. This nerf also hits AP mage Neeko harder than necessary. Neeko's kiting ability and a bug with her W have led on-hit Neeko to be overpowered. Nerfing these instead of her base stats may be better to balance Neeko.

Most people don't realize this, but a lot of Neeko's power in her on-hit build lies in her kiting ability. It's worth noting that the on-hit Neeko playstyle was played before patch 9.5, which buffed her E, yet it saw a spike in both play rate and win rate on patch 9.5 with the buffed E. Also, it's worth noting that Neeko's W gives her extra move speed on her empowered auto, which is definitely overpowered on on-hit Neeko, as she essentially has that extra move speed the entire time she is autoing (due to her attack speed).

There is also a bug with Neeko's W that gives her on-hit build much more power than it is meant to have. This is described on a reddit thread in the LoL subreddit. Essentially, if Neeko's attack speed is high enough, she can proc W twice instead of once when her 3rd auto is up. This is likely the main source of on-hit Neeko's lategame power, which Riot targetted with their scaling AS/AD nerf.

Some Rioters may disagree, but I believe that Neeko should be able to play both on-hit and AP mage as the player chooses. It's both fun to play and fun to watch in pro play.