Boards›Gameplay

Let's Just Make Blitzcrank a Heat-Based Champion

The Yetii Rider··19 votes·1,371 views

Seriously, it's thematic, and it will allow Riot to put drawbacks into his kit that feel better than a slow that just comes off for using his ability. Have his Rocket Grab generate 100% Heat, reduced to 50% if it hits a target so that he still has his combo but he's also heavily punished for missing a grab. If Grabs are too toxic in lane still then just make the duration of the stun/displacement based on rank.

You could also finally give Blitzcrank some bonus for leveling his E, by making the Danger Zone part of his E scale with rank. Here's my suggestions:

While in the Danger Zone, Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab silences enemies grabbed by it for 1 second after the stun. While in the Danger Zone, Blitzcrank's Overdrive gives him 10/20/30/40/50 magic damage on-hit for the duration. While in the Danger Zone, Blitzcrank's Power Fist reduces the target's armor by 5/10/15/20/25% for 2 seconds.

And then you remove the silence on Static Field and replace it with the ability to disrupt channels, like you did with Viktor's Chaos Storm, because a 0.5 second silence is just weird, especially on AOE, and it's really only supposed to stop Nunu and Fiddle from being annoying anyway.

26 Comments

Epsilaun9 votes

An interesting concept, part of me likes it, but part of me also has concerns

  1. what happens to his mana shield? This is also a core identity of Blitz, being able to bait or make risky moves cause of that deceptively large emergency health, as a heat champ you are locking him out of this mana based defense as a whole. Also items like Frozen heart, Iceborn, muramana all become unusable on him and for those who go a more direct path with him (less support items more tank/bruiser) a flat level based shield wouldnt be nearly as satisfying, plus it removes the balance of him managing his mana to make sure he has that large shield

  2. how do you plan to counter his massively increased pressure when no longer limited by mana? his Q costs 120mana for a reason, cause at all stages of the game a pull is DEVESTATING. and he can only cast it 2-3 times early game before he is oom. This means he needs to pick his moments and have good aim rather than fire off every chance he gets. Even with the overheat thats just going to be 5 seconds he cant cast other spells, far shorter than his Qs CD. Unless you propose to drastically increase its CD, which also doesnt feel fair

Mind you the "feeling" of a heat blitz does sit well with me, but balace wise/changing how he played would probably be too great

Leti the Yeti1 votes

heat affects distance of his pull hows that? ;l

qetzel5 votes

You really shouldn't change the range of spells, particularly in the middle of a fight. If the enemy can't read your threat, they can't act appropriately.

Leti the Yeti1 votes

yeh but it makes sense 3 more heat, more pressure, the farther he~~ jizz~~ launches his fist

and learning blitz range will be pretty simple so long as you know his max range - .-

qetzel5 votes

But what about the poor Blitzcrank... He uses smartcast... He can't accurately predict his range...

Face it. Range changes suck.

GaleWinUnleashed1 votes

Range indicators ftw!

qetzel1 votes

It still sucks...

GaleWinUnleashed1 votes

Oh definitely. Range changes are extremely difficult to adjust to.

Leti the Yeti1 votes

kay, back with more ideas I was thinking of making it like varus arrow longer the charge, longer the range, higher the heat cost... only problem is I really dont wanna give it a wind up (veigar tier nerfs), just the longer range = higher cost part unless the range is like bullshit long to compensate... idk

The Yetii Rider1 votes
  1. I am not of the "Manaless champions can't build mana items" pack. Frozen Heart still gives you 100 armor and 20% CDR for not much more than Thornmail costs. Iceborn Gauntlet gives you CC, AP, Armor, CDR, and damage that all synergize very well with your kit. These items will continue to be good on Blitzcrank even without the mana. In fact, they'll be better, because instead of adding to the resource, he just won't have the resource, so he'll effectively have infinite mana!

As for the mana barrier passive, it is a boring passive uninteractive effect, unlike most other support's passives (Power Chord, Gemcraft, Sunlight, Concussive Blows, all of these encourage strategic gameplay rather than simply providing you with extra health when you get low). Something like "Blitzcrank gains bonus armor and MR that scales based on how much Heat he has. For the first second that Blitzcrank is silenced while Overheated, this armor and MR is doubled, then for the rest of the time it is removed". Idk, he would need a new passive. Something more interesting.

  1. I do plan to drastically increase the CD early, actually. Thresh's Death Sentence has a 20 second cooldown at rank 1, and rightfully so. Rocket Grab is faster and deals way more damage, so it's fair that its cooldown is just as long and scales down with rank until it's bearable at level 9.
BaelorTheBold1 votes

I do like that idea for the new passive you mentioned. But for the overheating aspect, you could play it out like this. Blitzcrank pulls someone close to him (add 50% heat) he then hits them and knocks them up (add 50% heat). He is now overheated and the passive kicks in which grants him extra armor and MR making him more of a tanky/fighter support that can stick around in a team fight rather than use all his abilities and then hit W and run away. I also feel like if he has these changes, he would need a new W and R but I am not sure what they would be. Just throwing out some ideas.

Grouchy Poro1 votes

{quoted}

An interesting concept, part of me likes it, but part of me also has concerns

  1. what happens to his mana shield? This is also a core identity of Blitz, being able to bait or make risky moves cause of that deceptively large emergency health, as a heat champ you are locking him out of this mana based defense as a whole. Also items like Frozen heart, Iceborn, muramana all become unusable on him and for those who go a more direct path with him (less support items more tank/bruiser) a flat level based shield wouldnt be nearly as satisfying, plus it removes the balance of him managing his mana to make sure he has that large shield

  2. how do you plan to counter his massively increased pressure when no longer limited by mana? his Q costs 120mana for a reason, cause at all stages of the game a pull is DEVESTATING. and he can only cast it 2-3 times early game before he is oom. This means he needs to pick his moments and have good aim rather than fire off every chance he gets. Even with the overheat thats just going to be 5 seconds he cant cast other spells, far shorter than his Qs CD. Unless you propose to drastically increase its CD, which also doesnt feel fair

Mind you the "feeling" of a heat blitz does sit well with me, but balace wise/changing how he played would probably be too great

Agreed. That mana shield is beautiful when you itemize for it, and honestly I feel like it still fits Blitzcrank thematically. He's a steam golem, sure, but there's something different about him and that's his mana :P.

Blitzcrank "The magic calls to me"

While I can see the OP's point in that blitz is a little weird with his balance in lane I think turning him to a heat resource with new scaling on how he levels might make his support path very feast or famine. Lane blitzcrank might end up being something that comes out of these changes but I think in the end it'd make him a very niche pick in the meta just like Trundle is now.

Best Darius KR2 votes

Have his Rocket Grab generate 100% Heat, reduced to 50% if it hits a target

How the fuck does that work?

Drunk Rummate2 votes

I think the mana gating on his pull is absolutely necessary for his lane phase. It's also a pretty big aspect of his mana barrier.

I think Blitz needs a largescale rework though, he's very binary with the pulls and his lightning passive is extremely annoying.

SaltyToplaneGoat2 votes

Well he IS a "steam golem" after all...

lightdragoon881 votes

But then they are going to have to give him a new passive.

DrCabes1 votes

Not sure about numbers & abilities specifically but the idea sounds interesting.

arcinex1 votes

How about no.

Grimspeake1 votes

how about we just take that stupid fucking slow off him and put him back to normal. blitzcrank is shit now.

DotEleven1 votes

I would love to have blitzcrank work with heat for the sole fact I want a non-mana support.

Meep Man1 votes

Hey this came up again! Agree.

Drukyul1 votes

I like the heat idea, I don't like the copy/pasted "Danger Zone" idea. There are a lot of ways you can work hot/cold into a kit.

The Yetii Rider1 votes

Well..the point of the Heat system is to represent a machine overheating. The Danger Zone bonus is the reward to couple with the risk of Overheating, otherwise you would just never use spells while you were heating up.

Saianna1 votes

0,5s silence is exactly for disrupting channels.

There were few similar ideas. But yours would be the worst tbh. 100% heat if he misses his grab? Then he'd have to wait, right? But it's exactly the same now... If he misses, he can't do much..

Your idea would make him better duelist, but far worse teamplayer. So no.

The Yetii Rider1 votes

Actually 0.5 seconds is generally far more effective at delaying an enemy's Flash as soon as they are pulled and knocked up, which is not an intent of a 0.5 second AOE silence (it's there to interrupt channels, we've established this with the Viktor and Kassadin reworks). So it needs to be changed.

In case you've forgotten, let me remind you: Blitzcrank was INTENDED to be a top lane fighter, and it's generally good for game balance when a champion can be in multiple roles as long as that champion's self-healing is not oppressive. Blitz does not have self-healing, so there's nothing wrong with making him a better duelist to allow him to be an effective top laner/jungler as well as a support.

Saianna1 votes

Vik and Kass use new mechanics for disrupting.

Back in old days, when game was MUCH MUCH slower 0,5s silence was used as a disrupting skill. And remember that Blitz is (checks lolking...) 33rd champion relased. He doesn't need change, really.

In case you have forgotten, let me remind you: When he was relased there was no INTENDED roles for lanes nor 1/1/2/+ jungle. So don't give me this crap like "blitz is top, cause i say so".

Champions with great dueling skills rather suck in teamfights. Blitz is just OK the way he is. Oh by the way, how was he supposed to be top if his kit lacks real damage? He'd grab, then power fist and.... what? Run?

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by The Yetii Rider

The Trinity of Botlane and What it Means for Supports
Gameplay144 comments
129
votes
PSA - Master Yi's Highlander Grants him Immunity to Attack Speed Slows
Gameplay151 comments
124
votes
If There Ever Was a Champion who Deserved a Mirror Interaction...
Story, Art, & Sound41 comments
121
votes
League of Legends is One of my Favorite Games of All Time
Gameplay51 comments
119
votes
Meddler, Any Plans to Nerf Thresh?
Gameplay196 comments
118
votes
"Violence is a Key Aspect to Warwick's Theme, and We Want to See How Far We Can Push That"
Gameplay119 comments
110
votes