Quinn & Valor could do more to fulfill the ranger and pet tag-team fantasy. Here is how:
Valor is supposed to be a companion that helps her fight but his only presence in her kit now is as a single skillshot on her Q and as a glorified taxi on her ultimate. It really takes away from the tag-team concept that is promised by her design and lore.
I've proposed the changes below in an effort to give Valor more of the spotlight, while making them feel more interactive and controllable. I made an effort to preserve some of the "taxi" effect of the existing ultimate, for those of you who really like Quinn as she is.
I used as few numbers as possible because I don't want to get thick into the weeds with details. And I don't want to waste time arguing with nit-pickers about balance. I'm open to discussing it if you feel something is mechanically broken or OP, please feel free to explain how in the comments below.
If I had my way, I'd make the following changes:
Thematically: Make it so that Valor is always present. When no abilities are cast, he can stay by Quinn's side, flying around her.
Passive: Move the W passive onto her actual passive (more on this under "W"). Give her more ways to apply the passive mark with her abilities (see kit below) and take away the randomness of her passive mark so that it can only be applied by abilities. Reason for this being that it will feel more impactful and more like a tag team if you control how the marks are applied. It would feel more skillful, Quinn wouldn't have to wait or play complicated vision games to try to control the mark, and opponents would not have to fear being 'cheesed' by the passive marking them and then getting followed up on by Quinn's undodgeable E.
It may also be needed for balance's sake to remove something from the passive mark. Getting bonus damage, movement speed, and attack speed all at once could be too powerful with the version of the kit that I have proposed below. What to remove really depends on if Riot wants Quinn to be a marksman or an assassin. For assassin you would remove the attack speed or movement speed, they aren't needed for burst, and they serve the needs of a marksman to kite enemies. If going for marksman then I would propose removing the damage from the mark.
Q: Make Valor dash from his current position, be it Quinn's side, or while circling an area during Quinn's W. (See below) After striking a target he returns to her side. Not much to explain here, it's just an update to the Q to make it work with the concept of Valor always being present. Also an update to work with the changed W.
W: Move W passive effects fully to her actual passive. On cast, Valor flies to the target location and then begins orbiting Quinn at that distance. Marking enemies (or the first enemy - for balance's sake) he passes over periodically, and granting vision in an AoE around him. After X circles he returns to Quinn's side. This is a modernization, and a change for the purpose of making the ability feel more stand-alone after moving the passive effect off of it and onto the passive.
E: No change, Quinn's vault ability is the coolest thing ever and it feels really good to use. I wish I could make it available more often but that would be OP. This ability is really fun as is.
Ultimate: On cast, Valor becomes excited/enraged (gains a resource bar) and swoops across the battlefield (cast like a Rumble ultimate), attacking the first target struck, damaging and incapacitating them for X seconds (Something short like 1/4 or 1/2 second) while they reel from the strike. After striking the enemy Valor orbits them at a close distance, looking for his next opening to strike (strikes again after X seconds, repeating until he is "tired"). After taking too many actions, Valor uses up his energy and becomes "tired," retreating to Quinn's side. If more counterplay is needed, it can be made so that Valor's resource bar can be reduced by enemy attacks (like ward health)
- Casting Q during the ultimate will cause Valor to swoop from his current position, but instead of reducing the target's vision, he will simply reapply the ultimate's incapacitation for the shorter duration provided in the ultimate's description above. Dashing will consume a portion of Valor's energy, making him more tired. Important to note, this could be used to move him from an enemy (like an Oriana Q) to attach to another enemy or to reposition him for Quinn to dash to with her improved E (see below)
- Casting W during the ultimate would cause valor to fly upward (and stop attacking his target, obviously), and orbit similarly to the original ability (Maybe it should be allowed to mark more frequently. Circling will consume valor's energy over time, eventually making Valor "tired."
- Casting E during the ultimate would work like normal unless she targets Valor, doing so will cause Valor to catch her and carry her, granting her bonus movement speed for the duration. Valor loses energy as he carries her, becoming more "tired" the farther they travel. If recast, Valor will fling/drop her, causing her to dash in their direction of movement and vault off of any enemy struck. Using the recast will consume a large portion of Valor's energy. Standing still for .5 or 1 second will cause Valor to set Quinn down, ending the effect.
This ultimate gives Quinn a way to use Valor for a defined window of power. It gives Quinn players more meaningful choices in her kit, while also making Valor integral to her playstyle again.
IMO these changes would increase their interactions and make you really feel like a tag-team with Valor.
Thoughts?
