Cassiopeia Rework - The Hard Numbers and Why it's NOT for the Best.
#Important So recently I got into the PBE and there are a few some things I would like to note from personal play experience.
Passive Changed Today: up to 400 stacks, at 75 you get the Life Gain from E and 5% AP (none before then) at 200 you gain 25% CDR and 10% ap (and still only have the 5% ap before that) at 400 you gain 30% Ability power (the ability powers overwrite each other, not stack with each other)
♦Finally got max stacks by taking a Nasus split-push and farm strategy and leaving my team, max stacks (400) at 35 minutes playing top lane. We lost since I still didn't deal enough damage to actually kill anyone. (Although I was almost there!) ♦W bug was fixed so it's visible, this actually had a large effect on gaining stacks. ♦I was able to gain 75 by 8:30-9:00 in game. ♦Gaining 400 stacks didn't even happen ever so far, typically someone wins or loses before then (50 minute range I estimate) ♦An enemy Cassiopeia asked how I was able to spam my E so much (I explained the E reset mechanics) ♦Stacking mid game is difficult unless you are constantly fighting. ♦Tear is a MUST, RoA is beneficial ♦Mana problems are very apparent and she has a very different playstyle ♦Sustaining mana in lane is very hard as E does minimal damage to last hit with and gains minimal mana ♦Lichbane and Rabadon's Deathcap are both great items to capitalize on ♦You do remarkably LESS damage at all stages of the game (haven't reacched "late game" yet it seems. ♦The reworked of the rework is even worse IMO - now first ability at 75 stacks rather than 50 AND you don't gain AP as you get stacks rather a flat 5% to 10% to 30% (5% is about 2.5 AP with 50 AP). ♦Even working hard to stack up as fast as possible, you probably won't benefit from the 30% AP of full stacks until 50 minutes or more. ♦The slow from W isn't noticeable (I typically didn't max it as it has the highest CD and lowest damage) ♦Now that W is NOT invisible, people actually avoid it, and don't really care about the slow. ♦Q does a lot LESS damage ♦E Does a lot LESS damage in the early stages of the game (and even mid-game as well unless you somehow managed to get ahead and get a lot of AP) ♦Q mobility is less early and paired with less damage early makes "outplaying" nigh imposssible ♦Lack of mobility to have a safe laning phase with little damage prevents you from "Carrying" a game ♦For that matter I have never really carried much any of my games (if I won it was due to knowing how to talk with my team and out-rotate or solo lanes got ahead) ♦The new new passive (see above) is even worse than prior, and makes even a good laner (I don't think I'm too shabby at least) unable to outscale much of any champions, including AP supports who bring the same utility as well as more damage (Annie was one - AoE stun that's more reliable) ♦Again, more will come but it's not looking good in my eyes (and I really am trying out loads of build paths and different methods of playing).
To begin it should be said that I am not a Cassiopeia main, as in I play her possibly 1-2 times in every 15 or so games, typically in normals. She is however a champion I fell absolutely in love with and that I knew was at a borderline state of being a very viable pick against a lot of the "safe" midlane picks. The changes I believe she needed to be an excellent, and fairly healthy [despite her toxic attitude ;) ] gameplay with room for outplay on both Cass' end and the enemy's end.
Since this is about the recently announced Cass. skill rework, I want to first show you hard numbers, and then follow it up with some explanation. Please make sure to read through the entire post before giving feedback, as well as keeping feedback constructive.
Damage is calculated assuming 0 MR and 0 Apen, with a total of 790 base AP using this build. Obviously it could be different, but we'll assume a good rab-cap using 6 item build that is similar to what you would build in a game. Reworked Cass' AP is at 1027 after an additional 237 from her passive, which grants 30% additional AP when at 375 stacks. For the sake of the late game scaling we will also be assuming Cass has 375 stacks of her passive. The value of the utility in her spells (Movement modifications from Q/W, Lifegain from passive/E and stun/slow from ultimate will not be initially calculated with a value - although I may find a way to add them later if requested). Skills are assumed at maximum rank (all points allotted to them). Damage is calculated assuming a single target.
Cooldown assumes 30% + 5% for Reworked (Passive + Masteries) Cooldown assumes 5% for current (Masteries)
Q Damage Reworked: 210 Base Damage + 35% of ability power (359.45) = 569.45 Total Damage (over the 3 second period) Current: 235 Base Damage + 80% of ability power (632) = 867 Total Damage (over the 3 second period)
Q Cooldown Reworked: 4 Second Base + 35% CDR = 2.6 Second Final Cooldown 3 Second Base + 5% CDR = 2.85 Second Final Cooldown
W Damage Reworked: 30 base damage per second + 10% of ability power (102.7) = 132.7 damage per second - Total of 928.9 over 7 seconds Current: 65 base damage per ssecond + 15% of ability power (118.5) = 183.5 damage per ssecond - Total of 1284.5 over 7 seconds
W Cooldown Reworked: 15 Second Base + 35% CDR = 9.75 Second Final Cooldown Current: 9 Second Base + 5% CDR = 8.55 Second Final Cooldown
E Damage Reworked: 155 + 60% of ability power (616.2) = 771.2 Total Damage Current: 190 + 55% of ability power (434.5) = 624.5 Total Damage
E Cooldown Reworked: 5 Second Base + 35% CDR = 3.25 Second Final Cooldown Current: 5 Second Base + 5% CDR = 4.75 Second Final Cooldown This is slightly less relevant as it will have a 0.5 second cooldown upon casted on a poisoned target.
R Damage Reworked: 350 + 50% of ability power (513.5) = 863.5 Total Damage Current: 450 + 60% of ability power (474) = 924 Total Damage
R Cooldown Reworked: 100 Second Base + 35% CDR = 65 Second Final Cooldown Current: 110 Second Base + 5% CDR = 104.5 Second Final Cooldown
Below I will be doing Total damage over a 30 second period of time, assuming that you were to maximize every single spells damage as well as mana to cast them. E calculations are based on the target being assumed to have poison and thusly a 0.5 second cooldown. Again, it is calculated not factoring in Magic Resist or Magic Penetration. Q damage, for the sake of time and acknowledging the slight cast time, will not be calculating the damage lost in the milliseconds from cooldown coming up and total duration of the damage.
Q Damage over 30 seconds Reworked: 30 seconds / 2.6 Cooldown = 11.53 Casts 11.53 Casts/30 Seconds * 569.45 Damage Per Cast = 6565.76 Damage/30 Secconds
Current: 30s/2.85c = 10.52c/s 10.52c/s * 867damage = 9120.84 d/30s
Current Q is potentially 38.92% more efficient in terms of DPS
W Damage over 30 seconds Reworked: 30s/9.75c = 3.08 3.08c/s * 928.9d = 2861.01 d/30s
Current: 30s/8.55c = 3.51c/s 3.51c/s * 1284.5d = 4508.60d/30
Current W is potentially 57.59% more efficient in terms of DPS
E Damage over 30 seconds Reworked: 30s/0.5c = 60 60 * 771.2 = 46272
Current: 30/0.5 = 60 60 * 624.5 = 37470
Reworked E is potentially 23.49% more efficient in terms of DPS
R Damage over 30 seconds Reworked: 30s/65c = 0.46 0.46 * 863.5 = 397.21d/30s
Current: 30/104.5 = 0.29 0.29 * 924 = 267.96d/30s
Reworked R is potentially 32.6% more efficient in terms of DPS
This is again for late game Cass, which is what the rework is supposed to have a powerful impact with, the numbers of damage don't show that kind of change. Yes Cass gets an additional 5% movement speed from her Q and 10% additional slow on her W, but I don't feel like those trade-offs compensate for the sheer amount of damage loss.
This is the end of the first portion of this post, please offer your feedback and I will try to read/respond to them ASAP.
P.S. It's pretty late where I am and I am pretty tired writing this, ignore spelling and grammatical errors if you would and I'll try to correct them in the morning!
Part 2 - Utility Changes Feedback
These changes will asume you max E, followed by Q, followed by W, getting a point into your ultimate when accessible.
[Q-E-W-E-E-R-E-Q-E-Q-R-Q-Q-W-W-R-W-W]
Q Utility Movespeed at all levels to show the tradeoff.
Reworked: 10% // 15% // 20% // 25% // 30%
Current: 15% // 17.5% // 20% // 22.5% // 25%
You lose the early game moves speed (5% lost at first rank) to gain it late game (5% gained at rank 5). This also means you won't have the same amount of Movespeed until level 10, and having more Movespeed level 12 and above. I believe in terms of of scaling that the amount lost (5% at level 1 lost until level 8, where you are 2.5% less until level 10) to gain the addition 5% total in the mid to late game portion of a match is a good tradeoff to offer more lategame power.
End Decision: You lose early game move speed to eventually gain the same % of movespeed you gave up for mid to late game.
W Utility Note that the cooldown pre-150 stacks, the reworked W will have a substantially increased cooldown (14.25), while after the 150 stacks W will have a smaller difference in cooldown of about 1.2 seconds with current W having a lower cooldown (assuming the build listed above).
Reworked Slow: 15% // 22.5% // 30% // 37.5% // 45% Current Slow: 15% // 20% // 25% // 30% // 35%
I shouldn't have to say that the reworked Miasma is stronger in terms of slow percentage, however, you will be able to use it less frequently than the current W. Again it's a tradeoff. You slow for more, but your slow has a MUCH higher cooldown until you have 150+ stacks on your passive, where even after it is still a higher cooldown than the current W.
E Utility QoL poison check is needed.
Lifegain from passive starting at 50 stacks. Uncontested.
Mana refund from passive portion of E. While it's technically uncontested, the current passive of Cass (Deadly Cadence) reduces mana costs of skills by 50%, making sustained fighting, something Cass excels at, more reliable, while harassing without stacks takes more mana initially. This is a tradeoff of offerings safe lane sustain (Just Q and E the creeps for passive stacks and mana refund) but doesn't beat the team fighting mana-help that her current passive does. Since they are trying to reduce her lane bully and increase her late game/team-fight I feel like this change is counter-productive to that.
R Utility
The cooldown reduction (of 10 seconds) is only good reworked due to the passive, as the only skill that scales phenomenally with CDR - since it has a high base cooldown. I believe that decreasing the cooldown and the damage is a good trade to make it so cass can hold more impact in team fights.
This doesn't really sum up the changes well, but below I'm going to write a suggested change.
Suggested Change
Passive Aspect of the Serpent Cassiopeia gains a stack of Aspect of the Serpent for each second that an enemy champion is poisoned and for each poisoned unit that she kills. Each stack is permanent and gives 1 Mana to Cassiopeia, up to 400 total stacks. Cassiopeia also gains some additional effects according to her amount of stacks. 0 Stacks: Casting a spell causes any subsequent spellcasts within 5 seconds to cost 10% less mana, stacking up to 5 times. 50 Stacks: Twin Fang now heals Cassiopeia for 6/8/10/12/16 (+0.1 ability power) 175 Stacks: Miasma Slows for an additional 0/2.5/5/7.5/10% 400 Stacks: The cooldown on Petrifying Gaze is reduced by 20 seconds.
Noxious Blast [Q] ACTIVE: Cassiopeia hurls poison at the cursor's location, which strikes after a 0.6 second delay. All enemies within the 75-radius area are poisoned, taking magic damage over 3 seconds.
Cassiopeia gains a movement speed boost for 3 seconds if Noxious Blast damages a champion.
TOTAL DAMAGE: 75 / 115 / 155 / 195 / 235 (+ 80% AP) COOLDOWN: 3 Seconds MANA COST: 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 / 75 MOVEMENT SPEED: 10/15/20/25/30% RANGE: 850
Miasma [W] ACTIVE: Cassiopeia throws a growing cloud of poison to a target location, granting sight of the area and growing from a radius of 125 to 250 over 7 seconds. Enemies in the area are poisoned, slowed, and take magic damage per second for 2 seconds. Continual exposure renews the poison.
MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 (+ 10% AP) COOLDOWN: 9 Seconds MANA COST: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 SLOW: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35% RANGE: 850
Twin Fang [E] ACTIVE: Cassiopeia fires fangs at an enemy, dealing magic damage. If her target is poisoned, Twin Fang's cooldown is reduced to 0.5 seconds.
MAGIC DAMAGE: 55/80/105/130/155 (+0.4/0.45/0.5/0.55/0.6 ability power) COOLDOWN: 5 Seconds MANA COST: 30/45/60/75/90 RANGE: 700
Still has additional checks in place to see if target was poisoned.
Petrifying Gaze [R] ACTIVE: After a brief delay, Cassiopeia blasts all enemies in a 80º cone in front of her with her gaze, dealing magic damage to them. Enemies facing her when damaged are stunned for 2 seconds, while enemies facing away are slowed by 60% for 2 seconds instead.
MAGIC DAMAGE: 150/250/350 (+50% ability power) COOLDOWN: 120 / 110 / 100 RANGE: 850 MANA COST: 100
Overview of Changes and Why. #Passive: Stacking Mana: Cass doesn't directly scale with mana in terms of damage, but the small boost to mana allows for several more spells to be cast late/mid. Deadly Cadence?: Keeping deadly cadence is an important aspect of Cassiopeia to me. If anything, it offers a ton of synergy with the stacking passive, as it commends you for playing fairly aggressive (in which you open yourself up to jungle ganks when you do). Twin Fang, More like Twin Gain: The small lifegain on this could make or break some trades, but it isn't so much that you are gonna major spell vamp early on with it unless you use a LOT of mana. Miasma Slow: I like the current damage of Miasma, as well as the ending slow of the reworked, I think offering the slow strength would be better suited to mid/late (so you can't just W and prevent jungle engages) where it becomes more of a zoning tool, since it is pretty easy to avoid in the early stages and very visible in the late stages. I felt keeping that utility slow was something Cass. needs, just not in the early stages of the game and at the cost of a huge cooldown nerf. I can look more than once ya'know?: Reducing your ult is essentially why the 30% cooldown exists on the reworked cass, so why not just come out and say "Let's just make it so you can ult more!" instead of hurting her other spells to compensate for the ult buff. By making it the last tier of her passive, at the full 400 stacks, you can be sure to capitalize on the long windows she has until she ults again, but let her stack up and that window of opportunity becomes a bit shorter.
#Noxious Blast I liked the movement speed scaling of the reworked, trading of the early speed for late speed, making her easier to shut down in lane and susceptible to ganks. I kept the damage of the current however since I don't believe the tradeoff warrants a huge nerf to the damage, since you are again, giving up the early speed for later speed.
#Miasma I kept the flat damages and slow of the current W, while giving the the lesser scaling of 10%. The reasoning is that I expect Cass to gain the increased slow from her passive, and it shouldn't do a load of damage on top of being an effective zoning tool. I kept the current cooldown, knowing you won't be able to get 30% free CDR. I also kept the higher mana costs from the current due to the passive I introduced.
#Twin Fang I kept the damage scaling of the reworked, flat damages and scaling, as I felt that it was healthier than the current iteration of it. Toning down her lane bully a small bit, but allowing it to scale past what it currently capped at. I didn't want it to refund mana, knowing it heals AND knowing she has mana management assistance on her passive. The poison check is a must have QoL improvement.
#Petrifying Gaze Since this is THE iconic ability of Cass, and a fairly strong one at that. As such I think she should be able to use it more frequently, especially in team fights. Reducing the base cooldown as well as offering flat cooldown reduction on it allows you to do it more frequently late game, but not nearly as much to be oppressive early.
These changes entail a few things. You can build CDR, and ult frequently and use your E for zoning, BUT you lose out on the damage scaling of your Q and your E. Or vice versa.
