@Meddler From an Anivia Main

RyanTheRat·4/20/2016, 12:11:13 AM·11 votes·1,677 views

http://i.imgur.com/MAQEFGS.jpg

Dear Meddler,

As you know, Anivia's ult now grows over 3 seconds, according to the just released mid year mage update.

I have a question about this change as an Anivia main who cares deeply about his favorite bird.

Will Anivia receive range compensation for the smaller starting ult?

What the update page didn't mention was that her ult now starts at the size of her Q (roughly) and SLOWLY expands over 3 seconds. This severly hurts her ability to land E+R or R+E combos in terms of range, weakening her laning phage significantly. I totally get that you want Anivia's R to be more than "use this to proc your E" in teamfights and lategame, but I don't see why it should come as a huge expense to her early game.

Sincerely, A struggling Anivia main

(Credits to my friend for the PBE photo)

EDIT: Apparently the attack speed slow is also gone.

16 Comments

Derpy Mike4/20/2016, 12:27:38 AM7 votes

What the update page didn't mention was that her ult now starts at the size of her Q

Wow what the fuck, seriously? That's a rather fucking important piece of information to neglect mentioning.

JerulEon4/20/2016, 4:28:13 AM3 votes

Oh damn. I was expecting a size more akin to Aurelion Sol's Q or it would start at the original size and it would get as Zyra's ult.

Kinda thrown off by the huge trade-off Riot is implementing.

MEMEME6704/20/2016, 5:33:47 AM3 votes

Honestly, I think the stun duration buff and the ult effect at 3 seconds are pretty fair tradeoffs for the initial size nerf.

Sure, you lose R>E combos, but honestly those were fairly dumb to begin with. If an enemy was in the range of e he just took the doubled damage and it cost you basically nothing, which isn't how Anivia or her E is designed to work.

LostFr0st4/20/2016, 12:44:52 AM3 votes

OP, I'm not certain but did they also remove the att spd slow?

Derpy Mike4/20/2016, 1:03:44 AM2 votes

Here's a full list of the Anivia changes.

Basic Attack -Particle cleanup (mostly just smaller, less noisy) -Missile speed:: 1400 >>> 1500 -Cast bone updated! (This only affects her second attack animation. Should come out of her wing now instead of center of body)

Q -AP ratio reduced:: 0.5 >>> 0.4 -Base damage reduced:: 60/90/120/150/180 >>> 60/85/110/135/160 -Stun duration scales:: 1 >>> 1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5 -Slow increased:: 20% >>> 20/30/40% But scales with R rank -Improved damage display type on Q2 to better differentiate it from the pass through damage. Impact damage display type. -Q stun particle now visible to everyone (power hidden behind low clarity is bad)

E -Missile speed:: 1200 >>> 1600 -Particle has been improved (better "hitbox," slightly smaller, twirls so it's pretty) -Cast range increased:: 650 >>> 600 but edge to edge (matches AA - Roughly 35 range increase)

R -Now has a cast animation -Now expands from 150-400 radius over 3 seconds -MS slow increased:: 20% >>> 20/30/40% -Cast range increased:: 625 >>> 685 (matches AA) -AS slow removed -At max size, damages and slows by an additional 50% and Chills for 2 seconds

Copy-pasted from https://www.reddit.com/r/AniviaMains/comments/4fj5dz/midyear_mage_update_mentions_incoming_buffs_for/d29nmju

Revali4/20/2016, 12:17:48 AM2 votes

Blackfrost, no respect.

Kitten of Evil4/20/2016, 3:54:40 PM1 votes

From the Dev Corner:

Anivia

What we’re happy with:

Strategic niche as a zone-control mage with R and W feels well-defined. Feels very thematically tied to Ice

What we’re less happy with:

Effortless waveclear makes her hard to interact with when strong ‘Feels old’ from a usability standpoint. Anivia’s one of our first champions and it shows.

What we hope to see coming out of the update:

Focus her strategic niche by increasing the power and game health of her zone control Improve her usability so she feels crisp to play

This ult change doesn't really increase the power of her zone control (unless she can burn 250+ mana to sit with it active for 3 seconds) In contrast with the other changes that do make her more usable and crisp, this ult change actually seems clunkier. It's already got some pretty serious drawbacks (mana hungry, can't be moved once placed, is channeled and can be interrupted) that this does not address. I guess it does fix the "effortless waveclear" problem, but it really seems to be a misfire in terms of their design direction.

I could see it being 2/3 the original size and scaling up, or something to make it a bit harder to drop and forget, but this starting AOE is pitiful and telegraphed so that anybody can easily walk away.