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Continued damage nerfs to Rek'sai have pidgeon-holed her playstyle.

Profirix··31 votes·3,087 views

Upon release, Reksai dealt an incredibly high amount of damage and was rightly nerfed the following patch. Continued nerfs however continue to eat away at her viability as a tanky bruiser and have essentially made it so you must build full tank in order to be viable. She has essentially become this champion that occupies the same niche as Zac, and with the Zac buffs she does not provide a unique experience. I bought her so that I could build a mix of damage and tank with her previously decent ratios but I find that building offense on her at this point is just a waste of money.

The release of the new Cinderhulk has replaced Warrior enchant as the dominant go-to jungle item for Rek'sai because it is repeatedly nerfed to the point where you can no longer out-trade an opponent before succumbing to her weak base defensive stats. I implore you to reconsider all of these changes that you keep making to Rek'sai. She used to be my favorite champion for her unique and fun dueling style but now I feel like nothing more than a glorified stun-bot, completely dependent on your team to engage even a roaming and isolated individual.

25 Comments

Voluug139 votes

She still has better utility and basically a global ult.

That is a big difference from Zac who is more of a teamfighter that RekSai.

I personally think some lategame defensive buffs at the cost of the damage she lost could do her some good. Her kit made that damage ridiculous on top of the CC and mobility.

KarKzz1 votes

I feel that rek'sai is still a very strong pick. Because of her nice damage (despite building a lot of defensive items), mobility , Utility(OP passive) and gank potential (her tunnel allow A LOT of ganking paths, kind of like zac). She can dominate teamfight with her low-cd knock-up and tunnels. You should burrow/un-burrow at least 3-4 time every teamfight. Also, you can always engage fight at the perfect moment and never get surprised, thanks to her passive. You still can burst ADCs to midlife in 2 second just with the warrior + hydra, while having 3 tank items + mercuries.

I like that change, because it makes her even more fun and interesting to play. It's a buff to people that use her uniques strength , but a nerf for people that play her like a normal bruiser. She is not a Vi-clone, she is more like an AD zac.

kcStranger6 votes

I personally felt the first round or two of nerfs was necessary for balance, but I don't get why they're still nerfing the Q in 5.7. Her ratios are already pretty low, and her damage certainly isn't oppressive. A quick look the numbers indicates Rek'Sai's win rate is right around 50%, so I think they're just trying to fiddle with her (rather than buff or nerf, though this is certainly a nerf). And the nerf is pretty significant when you realize that over 3 strikes, it's actually a decrease from a 90% to a 60% AD ratio. I wish they had just left her alone.

I say all this, and I don't even play Rek'Sai XD I think she's cool but I'm staying well away until several patches go by without any more nerfs.

In fairness to Rito, I think they want to "pigeon-hole" her playstyle to some degree. Recently, Riot has been all about giving champions very specific strengths and weaknesses to create more opportunities for counter-picking and counterplay. And, I might be overreacting to the nerf (or maybe underestimating the tunnel buff...I just don't see that as very impactful). It just seems like overkill to me.

junglerboy162 votes

I wish they had let her be a high damage threat rather than being just another "early damage poor late game scaling bruiser" (a la Aatrox Darius Garen LeeSin Pantheon Renekton etc.).

On release, her problem was that she had really strong base stats, but also good scalings. Instead of keeping with her theme of slaughtering whole caravans in the desert, they nerfed her damage ratios to make it pointless to build damage (except maybe a warrior enchant or a Tiamat). They should have made her less defensive and more offensive (the bruiser who builds multiple damage items and then maybe a couple defense items rather than the bruiser that builds mostly defense unless really ahead).

4nth0l0gy1 votes

Yessss

This. I love her with damage. If I wanted a tank, I'd pick a tank with more than just a passive w benefit to their defensive abilities (NautilusRammusMaokaiSion).

4nth0l0gy2 votes

I don't think she's very viable anymore. Being unable to build damage for cost-effective scaling is brutal to her. Her mobility is still nice, but she doesn't bring much at all to a fight without damage. I mean, why take her over LeeSin or Nidalee now?

Widder882 votes

Rek Sai uniqueness is her R, W and her borrowed vision, Q and E. The unborrowed Q is just bullshit and should be given an AP ratio instead of AD, if removal is not an option. She is not supposed to be a good duelist, she can be everywhere.

Old Man Teeto2 votes

When you give arguably the best utility in the game to a jungler with near 100% uptime, the champion shouldn't also be a high damage carry.

I'm talking about her Vision control. Not only can she see any movement from a freaking insane range, but with a no cost, low CD Q which gives vision when it hits while Tunneled means it's basically impossible for Rek'sai to ever make a mistake.

When Rek'sai has all the tools to avoid making a mistake, as well as play making tools, the champion is just atrociously overpowered.

Her tunneled vision range needs to be drastically reduced to just slightly below normal sight range to warrant any positive increase to her damage output.

leko bel zet 1 votes

yea but whats the point here if she can't follow up on actions and btw tremor sense has a latency on foot steps and the target stays anonymous which gives an approximation only. maybe its a situation where you can win but you unborrow and lose vision its a closed loop add all the nerfs....... i hope you understand my point she can help her team more than her self great for lcs not so much in solo queue .

Dreadlocks1 votes

I remember release Rek'Sai.. soooo much fun you could dish out sooo much damage and with a Hydra it was insane. Now when I activate my Q, I feel like I am just giving the enemy a nice back scratch because her damage is super poor. (even with a damage item)

Pixelhouse1 votes

Seriously as those useless nerfs on champions that aren't even considered OP anymore, how about you nerf the ones that actually NEED nerfing. I just bought reksai a week ago to test her out, thanks for that money through the drain..

Hard4Hamsters1 votes

She's getting ninja buffed in the next patch 5.8. Randuin's is getting it's active reworked and Rek'sai benefits from it a LOT. If she decides to pick up a Black Cleaver, she can benefit from that as well, though not as much as some champs. These item reworks are going to give a lot of power to fighter champions.

Profirix1 votes

Thank god, though I really don't understand why they decided Randuins needs this. This change ONLY benefits AD tanks.

Sorioku1 votes

When you use the word "pigeon-hole" what do you mean? I'm pretty sure no matter what you build you're gonna play similar games as reksai. Pop in knock up press Q and E and pop out..

Profirix2 votes

I am referring to build path. Previously it was advantageous to build Warrior - damage item (tiamat or phage into TF) and then go full tank from there on out. This way you could maintain decent damage while being able to survive a few hits here or there sustained during ganks.

Now it is no longer viable to grab Warrior because each additional damage item adds a very minimal amount of additional damage when compared to the defensive stats you get for just building pure tank. Basically, don't try dueling anyone because you will not be able to deal enough damage to kill them before they burn through your tank.

It is a shift from either tank or bruiser builds being viable to exclusively full tank builds being viable. It also raises her skill-cap because a full tank jungler requires actual teamwork and everyone knows it is not easy to communicate that in solo queue.

Fnz1 votes

Cinderhulk Reksai into Ravenous problem solved!

Profirix2 votes

I disagree. Cinderhulk requires a continuous input of defensive items, especially around the early-mid game transition and with the 5.7 cinderhulk nerfs. TheOddOne made a very interesting point about Ravenous: it is too expensive as a second item. By the time you are able to finish it and benefit from the additional lifesteal, the opponents have built enough damage to destroy you very quickly. You cannot forget that Rek'sai requires literally diving beneath the opponents to land your CC. These reduced AD ratios on her primary damage dealing spell further reduce the usefulness of any AD built on her. If anything, armor penetration is the only way to maintain a decent level of DPS and since brutalizer is a cheap item, you could possibly get that before building more tank but you risk dying to the enemy jungler or in little skirmishes.

Erockandroll1 votes

Rek'sai is still on the high end in the LCS tier list. Which is the alpha and Omega of what Riot needs to balance around. And the LCS is picking her for her Mobility and utility.

The thing that gets me with the damage nerfs is that it's pretty understandable, when Rek'sai was powerful enough to duel everyone at the same time. It's understandable why they nerfed that ability in particular. But that being said, Why didn't they shift that damage on her E? She would still have some damage threat, but more focused to a single target?

RoyceRollin1 votes

A champions build was pigeon-holed? Welcome to leagueoflegends.

JimmyNtheKudos1 votes

I don't think I've ever really had problems against Reksai except for her insane mobility, which is actually getting buffed! XD

n810m1 votes

Yeah why didn't they just leave her damage alone and nerf her Tremor Sense. LCS always mentions how it's one of the strongest aspects of her kit. Why not just have it scale with W levels back up to normal value at rank5?

Bears Dont Care1 votes

No reason to.play jer now. Back to lee sin who has both.mobility and damage.

Profirix3 votes

I am a jungle main and I don't own Lee Sin, I refuse to buy Lee Sin, and I will never touch that garbage.

4nth0l0gy2 votes

Thank you. From one jungle main to another, I appreciate that mentality.

But yeah there really is very little reason to choose RekSai over LeeSin now.

leko bel zet 1 votes

I have been feeling the same way too I can understand the initial nurfs but all the continued nurfing ( to lcs pro players liking ) have strayed her away from here alleged role as "fighter" to become the following :

knock people and absorb damage robot.(which is good if your playing with your own team cuz thats your job and your teammates will put in the damage. but not really in solo queue) " 98% of us are not professionals"

you will try to chase and knock people including carries (mostly have a way to escape) but your damage is pathetic. its just frustrating with 1 dmg item late game.

build 2 dmg items and you'll just die at the beginning of every team fight cuz even 2 items are not a threat when everyone has armour late game given you are most probably in the middle of it considering the nature of the camp.

basically your are in complete dependance on your teammates in the game after the 15-20 min mark adding you don't really have a strong early game other than your ability to gank early. now compare these attributes to other fighters like darius for example and tell me the resemblance.

now add no crowed control without high risk of dying ,no slows pray escapes often, low stats and squishy early game ( ofcorse positives like lane pressure, sustain and tremor sense still exist but sadly out weighed by all the nurfs)

on the other hand you have a champ like nid that can whipe your health bar with one skill shot.(js)

rek'sai is in the game for her W button........ just pick up lee sin or nid i play here just for fun now.

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