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Is there a reason Anivia's "mage rework" consists of nerfing everything about her?

Birdamus Prime·4/21/2016, 10:15:45 PM·7 votes·2,740 views

As title, I don't recall seeing Anivia getting chain picked in LCS, and maybe saw her banned a handful of times on my way from Silver to Platinum. I'd consider myself an Anivia main, and I definitely feel comfortable against most match ups when I am playing Anivia, but there are still plenty of very popular champions that are kryptonite to Anivia (Zed, Leblanc, Diana[though I don't see her middle anymore for whatever reason]) that I can only "beat" by being absolutely better than they are. Otherwise it's triage city.

Magic resist and AP item costs have already made mages in general kind of questionable. Then as an overall nerf, they are gutting mana regen (because it would be totally overpowered if you didn't have to choose between using abilities to wave clear, and using abilities to harass! Zed . Anivia's "weaknesses" currently revolve around her having an older champion design, where mana costs were high, and mages didn't have a way to recover mana (and the good old, must be able to look 10 seconds into the future to last hit with her auto attack, in contrast to newer champions that have no wind up, or travel time on their auto attacks).

Q is getting it's base damage AND ratio nerfed, in exchange for a .5 second extension on a 1 second stun at max level. At max Q rank, and 200 AP, you are losing 80 damage on a double Q. at 500 AP (my full build tends to hover around here depending on what I built), Q is losing 140 damage.

E I'd argue is getting a quality of life change, and fixing a discrepancy between R and E's cast range that made for some very frustrating experiences when you try and engage someone at maximum range with an R+E combo.

R is another thing on the nerf block. It's radius was cut by over 50%, but then over the course of /3/ seconds will return to normal size. Because people are stupid enough to just bake in ultimates for 3 seconds. Anything with a dash will be functionally impossible to keep in her ultimate for more than a fraction of a second, unless you somehow land her Q (which is impressively hard to land if your opponent isn't stupid, or slowed by her R).

R /could/ be a weird super situational buff, if the "-At max size, damages and slows by an additional 50% and Chills for an additional second (2 seconds)" is on TOP of the damage/ratio it currently does. I'm really skeptical they won't just nerf it's base/ratios and claim that it's still doing the damage it currently does, you just have to cook it for 3 seconds and then convince someone to stand in it.

The above is a moot point however, since even building tons of mana items in the current version, Anivia has enormous mana issues. Even with blue it's hard to use her kit for more than short bursts.

So ya, TLDR: I think the upcoming changes to Anivia are nerfs, and I see nothing in her play statistics to justify this. Another "mage change" that really is just a big fat mage nerf.

6 Comments

ItLooms4/27/2016, 9:58:25 AM2 votes

Brand is being gutted as we speak. 25% total nerf on his kit with a "new passive" which should compensate when you can get it off in a teamfight. Riot basically said that they don't want to see certain mages mid. Malzahar goes into the jungle, Brand will be reduced to a support role (or not even that) and I see they are doing the same to Anivia.

I made a post about this on Reddit only to have it downvoted by people who do not like criticism or critical thinking.

Brand had a 50% win rate and a 2.57% playrate....just like Anivia..not exactly chain-picked. The mage rework is a scam, it is a culling. Brand/Xerath/Lux had a similar kit (aoe, stun/root, long range) so they decided to nerf Brand. Annie can still point and click and have 80% AP ratios.

Fovere5/6/2016, 2:01:02 PM2 votes

A lot of the mage reworks did the same thing to their champs, its sad

PrinceSeiker4/21/2016, 11:53:25 PM1 votes

This man is a genius

Abyssphere4/22/2016, 12:26:35 AM1 votes

and the good old, must be able to look 10 seconds into the future to last hit with her auto attack, in contrast to newer champions that have no wind up, or travel time on their auto attacks

They're increasing the missile speed on her auto attacks. Her last hitting will be easier once you get used to the new speed.

Q is getting it's base damage AND ratio nerfed, in exchange for a .5 second extension on a 1 second stun at max level

I don't understand how you think so little of a 0.5 second increased stun duration. Elise's Cocoon went from 1 to 1.6 seconds and her win rate rose by 12%. CC duration matters. Damage nerf is a pity but there's a real trade-off here. Also, slow is stronger as you go into the late for what that's worth.

E I'd argue is getting a quality of life change

Range and missile speed increases are not quality of life changes, even for a point and click ability. Even a small amount of extra range on her E increases the safety at which you can combo people, and the increased range combined with the increased missile speed means your burst combo is happening appreciably quicker as a whole. Small buffs but not QoL changes.

R /could/ be a weird super situational buff, if the "-At max size, damages and slows by an additional 50% and Chills for an additional second (2 seconds)" is on TOP of the damage/ratio it currently does. I'm really skeptical they won't just nerf it's base/ratios and claim that it's still doing the damage it currently does, you just have to cook it for 3 seconds and then convince someone to stand in it.

R changes are the hardest to argue as buffs, but given the slow is being improved (even before you get the 50% increased effect after three seconds) and the range has been increased by a significant amount, there's at least some good here. They clearly haven't nerfed the damage on the ability so I don't know why you'd bring conspiracy theories in here for. Argue based on what's actually happening, not on what could happen that you'd dislike. Personally I think her R is nerfed overall but even here there's stuff to be happy about.

I mean the title of your thread is just wrong. Her Q lost some damage in exchange for a much stronger stun and a moderate improvement to its slow, her E is quicker and has longer range and while her ult has taken some significant hits, it's also got some nice buffs. They haven't nerfed "everything about her" at all. And if you're worried about mana then congrats, Tear is a significantly stronger item than it was before this update.

It's possible they nerfed Anivia but if they have then they'll buff her and you'll still have all the great changes that make her feel better. There's no point complaining about something that COULD be a nerf (could well be neutral or a buff given how many things are changing) unless you actually dislike the gameplay direction and I don't think there's anything to dislike her outside of the R size change, which is something Riot clearly think she needs in order to be healthier.

Stormy Dark5/6/2016, 1:09:35 PM1 votes

FKIN HATE THE CHANGES, THEY'RE STUPID