This is NOT ok.
http://i.imgur.com/8slUB97.jpg
From the 7.10 patch notes:
Rammus
Q is faster, has a shorter cooldown but also last for less time. W amplifies his passive but also slows Rammus. E grants attack speed, R now applies slows but does less damage.
While we originally passed on Rammus when planning our midseason work, we landed on an opportunity to give him some love later on in the process. Rammus’s playstyle, like his vocabulary, is overly simple: if he can navigate through a fight and Powerball a juicy target, the rest of his abilities are basically no-brainers. Once he’s in the enemy team, of course he wants to Taunt a priority target and of course he wants to be extra tanky and of course he wants to do damage. There weren’t enough points where he needed to think about when to use his abilities.
Reducing Powerball’s duration but having Rammus go faster more often will allow him to decide when he wants to try and chase someone or just back up. When he does go in, we’re giving his other skills slightly more complexity to give him decisions about how he wants to use them. Curling up will still make him incredibly tanky but at the expense of movespeed, and his ult will now steadily stack a slow on people around him. Now, the Armordillo has to decide whether to slow one target to a crawl, or stand still while he takes the heat for the team.
NEWPassive - Spiked Shell REMOVEDPHYSICAL SHELL Rammus no longer gains 25% of his armor as attack damage NEWMAGIC SHELL Rammus’s basic attacks deal 8-20 (at levels 1-13) (+10% armor) bonus magic damage
Q - Powerball COOLDOWN 16/14.5/13/11.5/10 seconds ⇒ 16/13.5/11/8.5/6 seconds DURATION 7 seconds ⇒ 6 seconds NEWCHANNEL Powerball is now a channeled effect MAXIMUM MOVEMENT SPEED 155% ⇒ 150-235% (at levels 1-18) DAMAGE 100/150/200/250/300 ⇒ 100/135/170/205/240 SLOW 20/25/30/35/40% for 2 seconds ⇒ 40/50/60/70/80% for 1 second COLLISION DETECTION Radius slightly reduced, allowing Rammus to better navigate through enemies. Collision check rate increased, making collision more consistent. AREA OF EFFECT Unchanged. In other words, Rammus will knock back, damage, and slow enemies in a larger area than the collision radius. BUGFIX Rammus can now interact with Plants during Powerball
W - Defensive Ball Curl COOLDOWN 14 seconds (starting when W is cast) ⇒ 6 seconds (starting when W ends) DURATION 6 seconds (unchanged) BONUS RESISTANCES 40/60/80/100/120 ⇒ 20 flat, plus 50/55/60/65/70% of Rammus’s total resistances NEWCURLED UP Rammus slows himself by 60% while Defensive Ball Curl is active NEWOK Rammus can now reactivate Defensive Ball Curl to end the effect early NEWSPIKIER SHELL While Defensive Ball Curl is active, Spiked Shell is amplified by 50% THORNMAIL-ESQUE Enemies that basic attack Rammus while Defensive Ball Curl is active take damage equal to 25/35/45/55/65 (+10% Rammus’s armor) ⇒ Spiked Shell’s bonus damage (12-30 (+15% Rammus’s armor) while Defensive Ball Curl is active)
E - Frenzying Taunt NAME Puncturing Taunt ⇒ Frenzying Taunt REMOVEDPUNCTURING Frenzying Taunt no longer reduces the target’s armor by 5/10/15/20/25 NEWFRENZYING Rammus gains 20/25/30/35/40% attack speed for the duration of the taunt (1.25/1.5/1.75/2.0/2.25 seconds) NEWALRIGHT The attack speed buff’s duration constantly refreshes while Rammus’s other abilities are active
R - Tremors DAMAGE PER SECOND 65/130/195 (+0.3 ability power) ⇒ 40/80/120 (+0.2 ability power) NEWARCHITECTURAL INSTABILITY Tremors deals double damage to structures NEWSHAKY FOOTING Tremors slow affected enemies by 8/10/12% for 1.5 seconds. Subsequent tremors add an additional stack and refresh the duration (max slow: 64/80/96%)
Just for context.
I'll have to apologize first, because I really do think someone has gone rogue at Riot Games, and this is just going to be calling them out.
There was once a post that mocked the creation of Riot's champion balance. Speedy, goes fast, absorbs lots of damage, does nothing else. The only thing missing now is a dash/jump.
Dissection: Rammus's playstyle was very easy. Because of this, Riot decided to "give him some love" by: Reducing powerball duration, and increasing the speed. Taking away flat bonuses, and replacing them with percentage bonuses. Reduce Damage output. Bend you over so Riot can have their way.
This is not a very fun champion to play.
Q intimidation, gone. Damage, gone. Ability synergy, gone. (I'll explain this one) Dignity, gone. Scaling, gone.
So now that Q can be canceled by just about anything, Q+Flash doesn't happen anymore. A strange concept considering Shen's dash is uninterruptible. Rammus's previous kit allowed him to be real defensive and self sufficient. But now he will rely on the stage of the game. A champion who solely relies on the progression of the game is absurd. Rammus can't be without a teammate, since his damage output is pitiful. He's essentially a Tanky Soraka.
How to beat the new Rammus: Let the powerball strike you, QSS the taunt, and walk away while Riot has its way with the new playing the new Rammus. Pick Zyra support. Anything Zyra does basically negates the new Rammus.
Before, Rammus could come at you and be a real threat. He could move through team fights due to his tankiness. You can see Rammus before he spins into his powerball form. When he does this, he may/may not charge through or away from you.
Some hero at Riot studios can spill coffee on whoever's keyboard that caused this and save us all before every champion becomes Speedy.
