I don't think Azir's weaknesses are punishable enough

LegacyDAP··77 votes·4,003 views

I recently asked what Azir's weaknesses are and the only answers I've been given is that he's immobile, he can't move his soldiers when Q is down, and that he has to go in the middle of the enemy team to Shurima Shuffle + Ult.

I understand Azir is immobile, but how the hell do you get in range to 100-0 burst him since he zones you (behind his team might I add) from around 800 units (Q range) to 1000~ units. This would be fine if he didn't half health carries with Q > AA > AA (thunderlord's). Not only that, but he has one of the strongest early games and mid-late games, like where the hell is the trade off? Why doesn't he have a weak early to be able to have this power later?

Another point I'd like to add, is that his Q is on a 6 second cooldown no CDR, and at 40% CDR it's 3.6 seconds. How am I supposed to punish him for using bad soldiers in that time frame? Not only that, but a smart Azir won't use both soldiers to poke you if they know you can punish them, he'll save one and when you get close he'll put it right on top of you to make an even trade.

Azir's shurima shuffle + Ult is the only thing I understand that could be considered fair, because it relies on the enemy team to have poor positioning and to be grouped to use it efficiently, and if he only gets one pick he'll probably die to the rest of the team in the process. The problem is I don't see many Azir's die just getting 1 pick after shurima shuffle. Usually because of Zhonya's Hourglass and because of how well he can zone off the enemy team in the process of picking 1 guy.

I really think Riot needs to look at this guy's kit again and fix some of the problems and identity issues (early game bully or late game hypercarry) that he has. Post will probably go unnoticed/downvoted anyways, oh well.

101 Comments

IAMS4T4N38 votes

whoever said azir is immobile is either a downy or has an IQ of 34

Papa Slothy5 votes

his immobility status is tied in to no shuffling when q is down

WalkingInACircle34 votes

And Leblanc is immobile too, her w has a cooldown you know!

Papa Slothy6 votes

it's more cause his q is used to change soldier location as well whereas LB w is used specifically for mobility or damage

NOT SAYING HE IS IMMOBILE, his e q is ridiculous, just saying why I think maybe people call him immobile

Blåbæret7 votes

He's not immobile though. He has a gap closer and can kite. How in the freaking world is that being immobile?

IMMOBILE - Jinx, Viktor, Syndra etc. These champs have nothing if they get caught, Azir can just fly his way to safety. Ridiculous claim.

Papa Slothy2 votes

again, I did not say I thought he was immobile, I was stating what I have heard people say

HE IS VERY MOBILE

LegacyDAP2 votes

It was a Diamond I on the summoner school Reddit. I asked how to play against Azir, and he said he was immobile.

EDIT: I was just saying that it was a Diamond I who said it. I did not say I agreed with him.

AlwaysByMySide11 votes

{quoted}

It was a Diamond I on the summoner school Reddit. I asked how to play against Azir, and he said he was immobile.

He was a lying piece of shit then.

YumaS2Astral20 votes

Azir is not immobile at all. With E and Q he has a lot of mobility, actually. That's how he manages to insec.

Critkeeper18 votes

Even if he couldn't dash at all, he wouldn't be easy to pin down with that ult of his, and the fact that soldier auto attacks for whatever reason count as aoe rather than pet attacks, so rylais will slow for 40%. Its basically an aoe melee frozen mallet at 1000 range.

MunchCrunchLunch13 votes

you can say that any champion in IMMOBILE WHEN THEIR MOBILITY SPELL IS ON COOLDOWN.

what kind of freakin argument is that

Miraweave2 votes

{quoted}

you can say that any champion in IMMOBILE WHEN THEIR MOBILITY SPELL IS ON COOLDOWN.

what kind of freakin argument is that

Azir is literally more mobile than Ahri on average over the course of a game, since Ahri's only mobile while her ultimate is up.

blfUvZ8Ybu2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Archangel Avacyn,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=rud3AQoO,comment-id=000f0000,timestamp=2016-07-03T03:34:16.800+0000)

Azir is literally more mobile than Ahri on average over the course of a game, since Ahri's only mobile while her ultimate is up.

Azir is literally more mobile than Ahri

Other Azir hater and comment.Lool.Ahri is more mobile.Learn game.

JackLovesLamp7 votes

You're very right amigo, Azir is too dumb late game to be as solid as he is in laning, sustained mega burst at long range and two forms of escape OP

HellsTrueKing7 votes

Personally I think that Azir suffers from the same problem that the other "pain in the ass" champs, a HUGE upside with virtually NO downside. Azir is essentially three champs in one, he has a huge aoe influence, a dash, a shield, a knock-back, and a passive that creates his own turret. Plus, he is absolutely no fun to play against. I think his kit is way too overloaded, but that's just me.

Boulderox1 votes

{quoted}

Personally I think that Azir suffers from the same problem that the other "pain in the ass" champs, a HUGE upside with virtually NO downside. Azir is essentially three champs in one, he has a huge aoe influence, a dash, a shield, a knock-back, and a passive that creates his own turret. Plus, he is absolutely no fun to play against. I think his kit is way too overloaded, but that's just me.

shield? cus he gains no extra shields, they removed taht... and his ult doesn't classify as a shield... But the thing being, he CAN zone very effectively, but after he has used the q, it is the best time to jump on him, now of course pre 6 this is more effective and post is trickier due to the ult disengage probably into his soldier.... or they could w-e escape...

EddardStark841 votes

If you don't know the kit of the champion you're discussing, please stay out of the discussion. Yes Azir DOES have a shield and it's not his ult.

Diamidmain2 votes

{quoted}

If you don't know the kit of the champion you're discussing, please stay out of the discussion. Yes Azir DOES have a shield and it's not his ult.

That 80 health shield is a game changer. Y'all are just complaining to complain at this point. Lol

EddardStark841 votes

HE stated (incorrectly) that he does not have a shield. I was correcting him. Holy hell man, at least follow along before joining in.

DIRU6 votes

the problem with azir is that all his weaknesses are covered by some other bullshit part of his kit.

Jabberwöcky5 votes

you need to use other mobile champs to kill him.

Ahri Akali Ekko Fizz Irelia Kassadin Khazix Leblanc LeeSin Nidalee Nocturne Riven Zed

I'm only in low gold at the moment, i usually get placed with higher gold premades in DQ, and everytime i see an Azir, these are usually the champs that shit on him the most, i think ive only lost to one Azir this game (who knew his champ inside and out and destroyed), but thats only out of 200ish games.

Handin Out Naps4 votes

A huge portion of those champions except maybe Zed, Leblanc, and Fizz will just get shut down before they can start rolling. Azir needs to be toned down, his kit is just too much.

The Bearded Bard5 votes

He's not immobile.

An easy fix to Azir would be to lower his range. 1100 range on such reliable damage is just silly.

Miraweave4 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Bearded Bard,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=rud3AQoO,comment-id=001a,timestamp=2016-07-03T02:22:58.024+0000)

He's not immobile.

An easy fix to Azir would be to lower his range. 1100 range on such reliable damage is just silly.

Or lower his Q range dramaically and have it scale back to it's current range with spell rank.

Diamidmain2 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Bearded Bard,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=rud3AQoO,comment-id=001a,timestamp=2016-07-03T02:22:58.024+0000)

He's not immobile.

An easy fix to Azir would be to lower his range. 1100 range on such reliable damage is just silly.

That's silly. As it stands right now - if I want to Q auto as azir vrs viktor, I'm going to get lazered for free. There are counters, but if you continue to do stupid things like play annie into azir, yes you're going to be punished for it.

The Bearded Bard1 votes

I don't even play Annie at all, let alone into Azir.

Fishlord4 votes

Aziz still needs nerfs, only to his W. Azir does way too much damage late game it's just insane. I've seen an Azir do almost 2x the amount of damage that a 21/6/11 Caitlyn has when he was only 6/9/4. Cait did a total of 70,501 damage and Azir did 131,610. Let me tell you, his late game is incredibly aids to play against because he has gap-closers, shove you away with his ultimate if you get close and not to mention infinite slowsitem 3116. I now know why I see him in nearly all my games. Do something about this bird.

Pnakotic3 votes

Don't worry the Riot Hammer have azir in her sight

rtbf2090432853 votes

The only reasonable way to nerf azir is to remove all the atkspeed he gets from his W: his burst is ok he's a mage, his zoning is ok he's a mage, his disingage is ok hes a mage. What's wrong is that his burst is sustained and can wipe a whole team in a matter of seconds without putting himself in danger of being shut down.

SpecterVonBaren2 votes

Make his W cost no mana to use, make it so every auto from his W costs mana. If he's going to be such a late game carry then make him like our other bird mage and have him be a mana guzzler.

Nameless Voice3 votes

This is what really bothers me. He can push and farm basically for free because his W is really cheap and his soldiers don't use any mana. You'll almost never see an Azir run out of mana in lane, unless he spams his Q or E a lot. Meanwhile, his opponent will very easily run out of mana trying to deal with his massive waveclear and pushing power.

Nearly every other champion has to pay for their waveclear, either with heavy mana costs, or at least with putting themselves into range to take damage. Azir gets it for free.

DorkunedAuras1 votes

AurelionSol

Nameless Voice1 votes

I seriously haven't seen that guy since shortly after his release. For some reason no one plays him at all.

Arsenic Sulfur2 votes

Because even when you do something, you feel like you didn't. He is in most people's eyes too passive.

The Great Divide2 votes

Syndra: Unless you really mess up/don't remember to keep a look out for his insec, as long as you have a decent handle on her, you will steamroll 95% of the Azirs out there every time.

Vistha Kai2 votes

From a Syndra main: He's still a cancer to lane aganist.

I mean, it's just like pre-nerf MYMU Zyra. Yes, you will eventually ruin his day, making him 0/5, but the annoyance level of laning aganist him goes up to 11.

ZeichiVos2 votes

Champs like Azir are the reason we need Malzahar. You forgot to ban some disgusting carry midlaner who does 1.5 times the adc's damage? Its okay, just Malz ult the bastard and take them out of the fight. Malz is mid lane's Chemotherapy.

morris13 votes

If you want to teach Azir a lesson we all know you pick Zed. Malzahar is actually the victim in that match up because Azir can easily pop his passive and poke him to death while using his ult to disengage from Malzahar and his voidlings or even cancel his ultimate.

EddardStark842 votes

While I agree, in no way should the cure for something as cancerous as Azir be something even more cancerous as Zed. They both need mini-reworks to be honest.

morris12 votes

If you can't defeat the cancer become the cancer. Fight cancer with more cancer.

YumaS2Astral1 votes

[deleted]

morris12 votes

{quoted}

What if Zed buys Zhonya?

What.

Dengeden2 votes

Azir is balanced around not being able to 100-0 with one combo. When [...] hits the fan, he needs to find a place to poke and ult. Meanwhile, his lane opponent can QWER in seconds.

Diamidmain2 votes

If you get a jungle gank at level 4, and Azir shuffles out, he's completely oom. Unable to do that combo again. Azir has a 47% win rate - the 4th lowest of any mid laner. He's sub-par as a mid laner in all categories except for cs and damage dealt, and he's not in the top 25% of either of those categories - just above the average.

Azir is strong because there aren't assassin mid laners in the current meta - which if you've ever played an assassin mid laner as azir, you know that he's a perfectly balanced champion.

In MSI, pre - Azir nerfs, Faker was handled on azir by a leblanc, for the exact reasons I stated above.

kJs1 votes

That's odd. Just a few months ago someone posted that Azir shouldn't be reworked in light of what a Rioter AMA and it got lots of upvotes.

EDIT: here http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/2ss8O4Nh-riot-meddler-pls-dont-rework-azir

LegacyDAP2 votes

That's because different types of people are on the boards. If I posted this at a different time it probably would have gotten lots of downvotes.

Milodic Mellodi3 votes

Nah, it's because the majority of...pretty much any community, really, are a bunch of bandwagoners. It's why you shouldn't really care about upvotes as much as important opinions.

LegacyDAP2 votes

Yeah, pretty much what you said.

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

he is very item reliant to become strong

EddardStark842 votes

This is not true at all. He spikes with 1 item and only gets stronger from there.

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