Let's talk about snowballs.

I'm going to start with a few posts from various people about their thoughts on the snowball in ARAM.

https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/35z6be/snowballs_ruined_aram/ - "Snowballs ruined ARAM."

https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/34ahn6/remove_snowball_from_aram/ - "Remove snowballs from ARAM."

https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/359k1j/the_aram_snowball_is_currently_in_an_unhealthy/ - "The ARAM snowball is in an unhealthy state."

There are a few posts I've seen about how ARAM was 'ruined' by the introduction of the snowball.

Of course there are posts that show the benefits of the snowball.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/pw1VGG24-snowballs-in-aram-a-troll-free-analysis Like this one for instance.

It shows the very good points about the snowball and all the awesome things that it does bring, and a lot of the points brought out, I do agree with.

What was the reason behind the snowball being added in ARAM?

http://i.imgur.com/KXXdqj4.png

This post here, explains that the snowball was added to give certain champions better engage tools to address the need to give champions the benefits of having an awesome engage. However, this was made a little while ago and since then, a lot of things were changed! http://www.surrenderat20.net/2015/04/410-pbe-update.html

New champions were added, others were remade and rebuilt, we had received the new keystone masteries and other things as well!

So, being almost a full year since the snowball was added to ARAM, how do I feel about it?

OH MY GOD IT NEEDS TO BE ETHER REWORKED OR REMOVED

Ahem... excuse me. But yes. Do believe that the snowball, really, really is an unhealthy, unbalanced, unfair and overall, not fun mechanic that was added to the game.

Does it give champions a better chance to engage? Yes. Now, tell me, what happens if you give champions that DO have an amazing engage, but now you give them another one on top of the one they already have? Well now you just have something that turns them into a monster you can never outrun.

For example let's take with a snowball. So, what is it that Lissandra can do? If she throws a snowball and hits it, she can throw out her Claw, dash to the target, W, Q then instantly warp back to her E. This is almost 100% unpunishable. Even if you have characters like Singed, who can flip you, you can still just warp back to your claw and still have done the damage. It's a really strong way to harass the enemy team and it's amazingly safe. Of course, there are situations that can stop this, such as a stun or a silence, but that pretty much falls under the category of luck and even if you have those things, it's still really hard to punish Lissandra for it.

Now let's take , Leblanc, if she lands the snowball, can jump, then dash onto you, Do a full combo (if she has ultimate), then immediately jump back to her first initial jump. Now, Leblanc was already a safe champion due to her multiple jumps, but the snowball adds so many options to a champion that already has a bunch of options, that it's almost disgusting. It requires ether, very strong coordination from your teammates, or really good reaction times to try and punish her.

And there are plenty of other champions that already have a bunch of strong engages, that can take a snowball and turn the really strong engage, into a godlike engage.

Can snowball in and immediately ult.

....nuff said

Can snowball, ult and immediately run back to the teammates.

Can set up his field, throw a snowball, then immediately dash into it to get an amazing stun on a large group.

.....just Fizz. Just.... Just Fizz.

There are so many characters that can exploit the snowball to the point of being obnoxious, that it makes me wonder if Riot tested the snowball on these champions.

There are certain champions that you just...cannot counter, unless you have the perfect counter to it.

Now some people have said, "Dodge the snowball." And let me tell you something. That's about as helpful as answering someone's question of, "How do I get better at league?" And answering, "Don't die." as your response.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, if the snowball wasn't an unstoppable force of nature.

1. It cuts through Yasuo's windwall.
2. It pierces through spellshields. All of them.
3. It has a ridiculous range.
4. It's really hard to see amongst the flying pillars of flames and flashes of light.
5. It has a really low cooldown, which is even lessened if they jump to it.
6. It can be used both offensively and defensively. There's nothing more frustrating, then being a single hit from a kill, only for them to use that snowball to dash to a minion and towards their allies, ether getting away altogether or turning on you.
7. It reveals invisible targets. As if being stuck with using Evelyn in ARAM wasn't bad enough, now it's even harder to play her with 5 snowballs flying around. It also screws over Akali, Teemo, Vayne, Shaco, and pretty much any other champion that uses stealth as a means of their gameplay.

Now do I really think that snowball needs to be removed? No. I think it really does add an element to ARAM that it does need. BUT. It needs to be nerfed. Here are a few suggestions.

Removing the true damage altogether. Imagine that the enemy team drops on you with a really really good engage. You're just barely living with the skin of your teeth, thanks to the efforts of your teammates and the usage of both summoner spells. You're just a single step from the health pack, before you see a single snowball flying towards you. It hits you, then you die and weep.

Increasing the cooldown to 60 or 90 seconds. The snowball is a really REALLY powerful item. It grants vision to invisible targets, it gives you a really reliable gap-closer. And I honestly feel like it needs to be something that should only be used if you're sure it's going to land. Sometimes when I have it, I'll just randomly fling it in one random spot, and sometimes I'll just get lucky. By increasing the cooldown, it would feel like an actual summoner's spell!

Not allowing it to hit through spell shields and Yasuo's windwall. I'm sorry, but a flying snowball should not be allowed to pierce the windwall and it shouldn't be allowed to hit through spellshields, including banshee's veil.

These of course are just a few suggestions I thought of. The snowball is still a cool idea but it needs to be balanced out a bit.