Why is Rammus so weak this patch?
Riot- as a Rammus main I do not approve of how his kit is slipping into the assassin role. Please bear with me.
I'm going to just list my concerns with the Rammus rework first.
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A- Making Powerball a channel ability completely ruins his gameplay. Pretty much every champion has something to immediately cancel his engage and disengage tool. Why isn't Garen's Judgement also a channel ability? More favoritism by Riot.
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B- On top of the Powerball nerf- Defensive Ball Curl obliterates Rammus' Movement Speed. So when your engage is cancelled, your only defense is buffing up and dragging ass down river. Using W with Rammus feels like being Withered by Nasus.
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C- Puncturing Taunt was COMPLETELY ruined by granting Rammus Attack Speed instead of cutting enemy damage dealt. The point of Puncturing Taunt was to focus high AD champs into attacking your Defensive Ball Curl and cutting their damage dealt so that the taunt doesn't end up being a suicide attempt. In fact, I've started building Phantom Dancer on Rammus because building any kind of defense is proving futile.
Here's what I think should happen:
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As for Q: Powerball Instead of making Rammus completely wrecked by CC- you should do what I've always proposed- when Powerball is active, Rammus gains Tenacity. It makes sense- the faster you're moving the harder you are to stop... not easier.
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As for W: Defensive Ball Curl reducing Movement Speed makes sense. But the Movement Speed reduction in place is overkill. Like I said- it feels like I've just been W'd by Nasus. Let Rammus move a little quicker.
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As for E: Puncturing Taunt revert the effect back to lowering damage dealt by taunted champion. This mechanic is what made Rammus the champion he is. With the amount of Lifesteal players can stack, on top of items such as Black Cleaver and Lord Dom's, the Attack Speed buff is useless on Rammus. Toe to Toe he should be relying on his ability to avoid damage- not try to trade in more damage than people building items meant to destroy you.
