Conqueror needs to go
Let's be real, conqueror is broken and needs to be removed or reworked.
Very few champs use it and for the few that do, they take it in all match ups, defeating its purpose. The initial intend for the keystone is for bruisers to deal with tanks. Because back then, tanks were actually viable and they used to stack bami/bramble/tabi to render any melee bruiser useless. lets not forget the whole point of keystone rune reforged is to give players flexibility and customization, instead of "we design specific runes for specific champ for every single game"
Champions that use it become extremely oppressive. Again, defeating its purpose as solution for bruisers to deal with tanks. When it was finally released, it pushed Aatrox to become tier 1 top laner. Jax, another conqueror abuser and stat check by Riot's definition, is also tier 1 top laner. Other than Jax, it's being heavily abused by a few champs as well, namely Irelia, Yasuo, Tryndemre, Yi, Riven, Darius, Fiora, Draven. What's the impression you get when you think of laning against most of these champs? Oppression.
If you are not a ranged champion, it's extremely frustrating when laning against above champs while they have Conqueror stacks up. It doesn't matter if you are a tank or another conqueror user. You know there is no way you can trade with them. They control the flow of the lane and pressure easily by just having Conqueror up. Notice a lot of the above champions don't even need Conqueror to deal with tanks. Yasuo Yi Darius Fiora have built in true damage/armor pen, irelia tryn riven jax are picked to blow up squishy carries & split push. Right now Conqueror is being picked to deal with tanks, blow up squishy enemies AND split push. ADC shouldn't be taking it and Last Whisper exists for a fucking reason. Most of these champs can do with or without Conqueror.
The reason why Conqueror users are so oppressive to play against is because of its instant availability and constant up time. Ever walking up to a jax/tryn/irelia hitting your tower and you see his conqueror up due to it being constantly refreshed? and you know if you walk too close you get jumped on and instantly blew up. Speaking as old Aatrox main, I knew Conqueror was bonkers when it got released. I kept quiet and abused as much as I could. Now that he got reworked so screw everyone else that still abuses this keystone; Conqueror gives lots of AD for no reasons at all and on top of that, it's very easy to proc it. Every other damaging keystone has some some kind of cool down, like comet, electrocute, grasp. PTA requires 3 autos on a single target. But for Conqueror, all it takes is 4 seconds of hitting minion to proc it like grasp but the only difference is that you can use its effect infinitely as long as you stay in combat with champions (except ranged user). It makes trading with Conqueror users impossible...but wait, what's the intended purpose of Conqueror again?
**Changing Conqueror is potentially a solution to balance many champions, but unfortunately Riot doesn't care about player experience enough to do anything about it. **Remember the pathetic 5 MS nerf to irelia as Rito's response to her high performance at worlds of 58% win rate? It did absolute nothing and she is still obnoxious to play against. And guess which tank busting keystone are people still taking to play her mid lane?
A famous Irelia main IreliacarriesU said that
Her problems definitely stem from conqueror. It has perfect synergy because it adds true damage to the mix on top of everything that she has. It makes it impossible to itemize against her in lane and makes her laning phase MUCH stronger. If you try playing her with PTA you will instantly notice the difference. It also allows you to burst much harder in team fights when its procced (which is easy to do because all u need to do is just auto a little or hold W before going in). It just makes her THAT good
Again, ICU is talking about a tank busting rune like some kind of 1v5 black magic
Tanks are gone and Riot has no intention bringing tanks back. Because they prioritize viewer experience at the cost of player experience. Riot doesn't care about competitive integrity anymore. They are going full HoTS and want a damage heavy meta as discussed in another thread, because in their opinion, clownfests are more fun to watch. I don't even need a proof for this, just look at how late game champs like Karthus is dominating games in the early games. Look at what they are doing to bring tanks back, by buffies Sejuani's DAMAGE to bring her back to meta? how little does Riot care about strategies anymore?
I'm not going to criticize without giving my take of solutions. I also believe by changing the way Conqueror works, it will promote diversity to keystone choices as well as shifting away from the mid top bruiser meta ever so slightly. My 2 takes on what can happen:
- Remove Conqueror
- Rework Conqueror: It still takes 4 seconds to get it ready. Bonus AD removed. True damage conversion from 20% flat ---> scaling (5% to 30%), conversion rate goes up for each stack earned in combat with enemy champion each second, max stack at 6 seconds in combat with champions. Stacks begin to drop each second if out of combat with champion for 3 seconds. Ranged champion cannot use this keystone.
The numbers or the mechanism are up for debate but the core idea is to make it a "tank busting keystone for bruisers and encourage prolonged fights" instead of the abomination we have right now. Thanks for reading
TLDR: in the bold sentences of each paragraph. Conqueror is busted and few champs take it in all match-ups. Riot forgot it's original purpose as tank busting rune.
