Rek'Sai, The Desert Huntress Queen

(Discaimer: post is a tad bit long and wordy, but regards some beneficial changes to Rek'Sai's kit)

As we all know, Rek'Sai was a tad bit too strong on her release day, and required some nerfs. Her damage got more inline, but was still quite a bit overwhelming for the poor bot lane squishies so she got hit again.

And then She was a bit too strong in pro play, and got hit again

And again when she got picked in pro play

And again

And again...

And now she is barely anymore useful than a knock up bot, which they nerfed even that to an extent.

The point is that She is in a bad spot now; her damage is subpar, her vibration sight is practically more like long range sonar for the blind, and her ability to fight and sustain herself has all but been reduced to Ammumu levels of bad, except the little sad mummy has a better team fight than even her at the moment. However, after hearing that she is on the list of the midseason tank fixes to become more of a fighter, I was thrilled to hear my dear desert queen was getting the love she deserved. But as we have no idea currently what the main direction they are intending to do with her kit, I have come up with some interesting ideas that could help our dethroned matriarch reclaim her place.

First off, lets address her concept/theme:

She is the known legend and terror of Shurima, a beast so frightful that caravans of pack goods and supplies will bring along extra beasts of burden just for the sake of sacrificing them to her to make sure that she or her children to not come to attack them. She is, without a doubt, the apex predator queen of the desert. One with no equal in ferocity (except for Rengo) and hunger (Cho has her beat in that too). Her design is creepy, yet beautiful. Like the cross between the Scarab, a harbinger of the rising sun, and a Shark, the great jaws of the sea sand.

Her current kit does hold a little bit to her thematic, but can definitely use a tune up at this point. Now I don't want her to return to her absolute Zenith like her release date, even I know that Rek'Sai was too wild of a beast to handle. What I want is to see her return to being a huntress, a predator of the desert that once you see her tell tail signs she is coming for you, you want to run if your are too weak to fight the Queen.

With that, here's the Idea for the changes:

E (Burrowed)

First off, I want to address her underground state. As it is, unless you are among the top players or have a very long history of using Rek, her tremor vision is only useful at this point to tell if there is someone hiding over the wall in the fog of war (if they are moving) or to track invisibles like Kha, Rengo, and Shaco. My suggestion for changing this is to make her playstyle while she is burrowed feel more like an actual sinking beneath the surface of the earth to go hunt unwary prey.

And to this end I would have her actually sink fully underground, back fin and all, when no champions are within her tremor vision ring, gaining additional movement speed while in this state. This will allow her to move more quickly between areas where there are none of her tunnels, and to help get to a lane faster to either gank or counter gank the enemy jger. However, this effect changes when someone or something steps into her ring. She will begin to rise up, revealing her sparking fin and warning those that can see her that the queen can sense you. Along with this, a modification I would like to implement into her tremor sense is the ping speed that shows up when someone moves around. As massive and powerful as she is, Rek'Sai is still a hunter, and she will go after prey she knows will be easy meals (or soon to be easy meals). So, just as a frightened, wounded animal's heart will beat quicker when they know danger is near, so to will the ping notifications increase when a target is low on health. This will really play into Rek's counter-jungling as she searches the enemy territory for the battle worn Graves or Nautilus.

Her knock up will remain the same, but probably will only pop up the target that is closest to the center of impact while slowing those around the spot.

Q (Burrowed)

This ability I would just throw completely out, yes it's Rek's only long range attack and I have picked up quite a few kills by shooting this at an unwary low health Kat and LeBlanc in the mid lane. But the fact that it has an AP ratio doesn't mesh at all into her kit as well as if you miss it by even a hair, you will have to rely on your tremor sense just to guess where the champion you are burrowing after is going.

What I would like to have replace this ability is pretty much an empowered sonar ping, one that covers her existing tremor vision range to give a ghost image of what is around her. Similar to how the ghostly afterimage appears on a champ that has just gone invisible while damage is ticking off on them, letting you see where they are intending to run off to, the same will appear when using this Q. It will let Rek'Sai players get a better grasp of their surroundings, letting them know if the Ashe that was running off into that nearby bush is still there or if there is a massive ghostly lump of something waiting for the queen ahead. The damage numbers will be taken off completely, rendering it as a utility skill. The enemy team will also be able to see the empowered Sonar ping go off, seeing something similar to a purple shockwave passing through the walls of the map.

E (Burrowed)

More or less the same as before, maybe with the possibility of when someone stands on one of the tunnel entrances it only collapses that end, leaving the other open for Rek'Sai to reform. However the reforming of the Tunnel will require twice if not three times the normal burrowing passage transversal time as normal.

Q (Unburrowed)

Keeping it the same, but buffing its base damage number quite a bit. As is a Ravenous Hydra cleave does more damage than her 3 empowered AA's

E (Unburrowed)

This one I would like to add an additional ratio of %health missing into it's damage, acting as the final finisher in the Queen's flurry of claws, tail, and teeth. The numbers could stay the same, or buffing the base damage while removing the additional AD scaling.

R

This one I am unsure what to possibly change to it. As it is, it passively gives Rek'Sai an attack speed steroid to offset her low attack speed base, as well as make her a terror as she zooms across the entire map to whomever is foolish enough to stay near one of her tunnels long enough to see if the Big Queen is in there. So for now I leave it as is.

With these changes, Rek'Sai can once again become the desert huntress that she was meant to be, the land shark that Squishies dread to see, the vicious girlfriend that Cho'Gath dutifully follows to feed her pathetic weaklings.

Leave your thoughts on these suggestions below, and I will be more than happy to read and see them (aslo if someone can get a Red in here to see some of this, I would love you for-ev-ah!)