@Meddler- Is Azir still being kept in mind?

CameronM94·May 14, 2017·2 votes·2,434 views

Posting to ask for some peace of mind with news on Azir.

Not throwing idea's out or suggesting changes, I would just like to know if Azir is still being brainstormed and that he hasn't been forgotten

12 Comments

RiotMeddlerMay 15, 20174 votes

Still likely getting some changes in the second half of the year.

HOT BEEF May 15, 20171 votes

so next month?

AptestMay 15, 20171 votes

I am still of the mind that reducing his ranges will cause all his problems to be solved.

You've done the exact same treatment to another proxy-caster (Oriana) who had very similar problems and she turned out ok.

TheSingularityMay 15, 20171 votes

Agreed. One small gripe I have though is his soldiers vs wards.

Given they can hit them azir can instakill a ward without the need of a sweeper, which often requires an adc with a hell load of atk speed to acomplish.

Just a small issue that gives him a massive edge if you abuse it

AptestMay 15, 20171 votes

not familiar with this.

this requires several soldiers already prepped on the location?

TheSingularityMay 15, 20171 votes

No, most azir's have 2 soldiers out on average.

They watch as you go to bush to ward, send their soldiers over (granting vision) and killing a ward if it's there, which is often the case.

One soldier is never an issue even if it was there waiting as it can't hit fast enough, but 2 soldiers and it's easy pickings.

Gets even worse when contesting vision around barron or dragon with azir killing wards the moment they appear

ErockandrollMay 15, 20171 votes

{quoted}

I am still of the mind that reducing his ranges will cause all his problems to be solved.

You've done the exact same treatment to another proxy-caster (Oriana) who had very similar problems and she turned out ok.

Even though his Soldiers are not technically AA's, he's still AS focused. I'd think he's more similar to Kayle than to Ori.

Because of his DPS focus, I should think he'd be classified as a Battle mage. Though I'm still wondering what this battle mage should do. Unlike Ori, he probably won't have the burst potential to Zone anyone that gets too close, so he would have to rely more on Tankyness if you wanted to cut his Range. On the opposite end, you could make him more kiting DPS. (Like the Markman hybrid they originally envisioned) Though if they did that, I would like to see a return of his turret sieging abilities that they stripped out.

AptestMay 16, 20171 votes

Even though his Soldiers are not technically AA's, he's still AS focused. I'd think he's more similar to Kayle than to Ori.

Absolutely not. Kayle plays purely like a marksman. Kayle is a marksman. Kayle plays like Cait and like Jinx and like Teemo. Azir does not.

Azir may have his AAs integrated into his kit but he doesn't sacrifice his own positioning to AA. Nor does he get to constantly AA. His AAs are focused purely on the static location of his assets and can only be re-positioned once every couple of seconds. Whereas a marksman like Kayle can orb walk.

Azir is most similar to Ori in the sense that he puts down an asset on the field and that asset acts as a threat source.

In the case of Ori if you approach the ball you will eat a dissonance. If you are generally close to the ball you will eat very hard to dodge command attacks.

Unlike Ori, he probably won't have the burst potential to Zone anyone that gets too close, so he would have to rely more on Tankyness if you wanted to cut his Range.

Azir definitely has comparable burst to oriana who is btw ALSO lacking in burst damage compared to other mages. She can only do comparable damage to other mages if she closes to AA range and abuses her passive.

So since their damage is overall similar, maybe even to Azir's advntage, I don't see how this statement of yours holds water.

In the case of Oriana, the bulk of her nerfs were the reduction of her command attack range from 900 to 825 (not a huge lot) and a reduction in command attack missile speed from 1275 to 1200. The rest of her changes were numbers tweaking and QOL.

I hope you read between the lines that the range changes to Oriana were MINOR and that they were sufficient to balance her.

For instance in the case of Azir if you change Arize range to 750, conquring sands range to 800 and shifting sands range to 1000, basically a 5-10% range reduction I think this solves Azir's problems completely but still keeps him at the higher range side of being a medium range champion (he's not supposed to be lux or nidalee with off screen snipes).

On the opposite end, you could make him more kiting DPS.

Overall I believe Azir can be solved without requiring a full re-work. I think there's a lot of "azir needs to change" opinions around and I disagree. Azir is fine, you don't need to think what to do with him. just make targeted nerfs that make his high point less abusable and his laning less bullshit then him being a more or less generalist won't hurt as much.

4GLTEMay 15, 20172 votes

{quoted}

Still likely getting some changes in the second half of the year.

cmoon. It's been a year ...

Deity SetMay 16, 20171 votes

Thats what Im saying. I feel like they are just pushing it off till later, or till enough people complain about it. But the think is there isn't enough people to complain about it because Azir is unpopular. If yas was in Azirs play best believe the problem would be fixed in weeks.

XhynadiahMay 16, 20171 votes

I just want to throw out there that many many fullblood Azir players, including myself, are quite happy with the spot Azir is taking right now, despite his winrate being quite poor. It is a niche champ right now, as he is hard to master, but potentially very rewarding. Taking away his very characteristics, like good poking range and shining shurima-shuffle plays, and making a meta champ out of it, with a more consistent but crippled skillset, would make many Azir players very unhappy. I really hope you consider what hardcore Azir fans are enjoying right now on the champ and dont mindlessly remove it, just to make him more accessable to the more casual target group and players that switch from one champ to the next every game.

On a side note, I find this whole 'his skillset does too much' topic quite off considering how incredible unpopular and statistically poor performing the champ is. Hell, i sometimes get flamed for just picking the champ in the select window. its not uncommon to recieve messages like "Azir in 2k7 LUL" after picking it. Yet, he does more than fine if you put effort into the champ.

TLDR Please dont mess him up, you will break many hearts from current Azir players.

PS to developers: Azir recieved an incredible nerf when adaptive helmet was released, I wonder if this side effect was considered.

Arbiter TrioMay 19, 20171 votes

"He just does everything."

Except be reliable. Landing W-EQR to essentially AoE Blitzcrank pull is one of the hardest things I've ever tried to do. Pressing E on a soldier doesn't walk you to them, and you aren't given range indicators. Often Azir is an inch out of range, and by a wall so he moves sideways, and can't escape/dies because pathing. E into enemy is suicide. E slamming into enemies for shield gets me killed more often than it's useful. I wish I would pass through them/untargeteable/knockaside. I can't 5-man ulti because I stop on the first guy, and my ulti is very shallow. I have to burn my flash to position even deeper, and then I have no escapes, assuming I haven't already died. Damage early is pitiful. W cast range is pitiful. E is difficult to chain with Q, or use after Q because pathing. You can hardly dash away from enemies you were just attacking because your soldiers are on them. You can not just change your mind, that takes enough time for you to get flashed on and die. Ulti interaction with Shurima shuffle is pure luck to pull off. Your free tower passive is pitiful. Honestly a silly gimmick. It never felt rewarding to use. No opportunities to use early, mid it just doesn't protect you enough, late it just does no damage, and gets pushed in too fast. R is freakishly unreliable, especially in any kind of combo.

W AA does so much damage that everything else is stupid and useless in comparison. All I can do is W, on my enemies, walk away, and hope my enemies stay there while my team whales on them, because that is the only time they are likely to stay there long enough to die. All the other spells are saved for disengage, save maybe Q, and that's the problem.

Make E pass through enemies, and smoother to shuffle with, buff W cast range, nerf scaling W damage, buff W base damage, maybe make ult a lot more reliable, and maybe a score of 8/11/6 wouldn't win me an S-.

Also Nashor's tooth passive wasted on soldier attacks. How stupid. Maybe W-AA shouldn't be an AA, just automatic and just target whatever Azir targeted last, so that maybe that slower attack animation and pitiful early damage won't ravage my dueling potential, and CS.