What Buffs Would We Like to See For Mages Hit By Mana Rework?
In his most recent Quick Gameplay Thoughts, Medler has said of the recent mana changes that,
“There are a group of a few mages who... are able to burn a lot of mana repeatedly and do seem to have lost a noticeable amount of power (Anivia, Cass, Taliyah, Malz). Might need to put some power back into them as a result, still assessing.”
What would buffs would you like to see them receive?
Waveclear is part of some mages’ identities and, indeed, essential to their function. Scaling and roaming mages especially need reliable, affordable, and safe waveclear because they must leave their lane to help teammates or farm minions to buy items. Restoring some of these mages’ waveclear advantage over other mages would not be wrong and help them in healthy ways.
However, restoring all their waveclear would not only defeat the purpose of the mana changes but also make these mages unmatched pushers. Where waveclear restoration would not put enough power back, we would need to consider pulling other balance levers. These levers should be chosen with the intention of preserving their respective champions’ playstyle and identity.
Here are my ideas for both waveclear restoration and those other levers. To restore wave-clear, we could simply reduce the mages’ mana costs, especially on abilities used to clear a wave with an ‘all-in’. Anivia’s Flash Frost, Cassiopeia’s Noxious Blast, Taliyah’s Seismic Shove, and Malzahar’s Malefic Visions all count. Since gaining the benefit of these reductions would require the mage to put all their abilities on cooldown, it would leave them vulnerable to their opponent, effectively requiring them to win lane and then waveclear.
With their waveclear restored as much as reasonably possible to restore as much of their strength as possible naturally, these mages could then be tweaked to function with less waveclear. Stronger laning and late-game for the scaling mages would help them reach their powerspikes more often and be stronger once there, even though they might be pushed in more often. A shorter cooldown for Taliyah’s Weaver’s Wall would help her have it ready whenever she does roam. Malzahar’s Voidlings could receive health buffs to let them withstand more basic attacks.
Of course, Anivia and Cassiopeia are sitting above 50% winrates on op.gg, Taliyah can become a prized pick in professional play when her roaming and clear are reliable, and Malzahar was nerfed partly because of his waveclear.
