Gonna take a lot of the ideas I like below and devise a possible new kit for Azir:
Passive: same stuff
Q: has sand soldiers deal damage around them in a circle (maybe the range of their auto attack hitboxes, which extend slightly beyond auto attack range). Also cause sand archers to fire a pass thru skillshot. Both of these slow enemies hit
W: same stuff, except sand soldiers now intercept one incoming spell projectile, which destroys them upon contact. Also, there is a brief delay when conjuring the sand soldier, some kind of sand rising from the ground to form a soldier animation. Larger cast range
E: now conjures a sand archer with ranged auto attacks, which will attack targets in range that Azir orders, instead of Azir attacking. Basiclly an alternative sand soldier. These ability also operates under an ammo system, in fact, it could be same ammo system that his W operates on (they could share an ammo system). Cast range equal to old W cast rang,e or new W cast range (balancing thing). This ability has the same delay as W
R:
ultimate but with Azir sand soldiers (they would be destroyed upon contact thou). Lol, that was a half joke, no, the other option could be the same as he used to have. Also possible to increase the range of his sand archers with each rank of this, or just at certain levels for Azir himself, this would help late game, but if he already is good, leave it out
My thoughts: this would take away all of his mobility, but I don't think he should have it, thematically or mechanically. He's an emperor, he's not charging to battle with his solders nor is he running away with them like a p*ssy. No, he is standing and fighting, always! This gives him more DPS with less burst, especially if the sand soldiers operate on a common ammo pool. That way, in lane, he sets up an army to zone (this would have to be balanced to not be oppressive), and in teamfights, he could throw his soilders at the enemy carries to block their damage and attack them, and/or set up archers for more sustained damage
Any thoughts?