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Azir Nerfs

banksgg··4 votes·2,506 views

This post is probably already somewhere on the board but I wanted to write one myself. So as most of you know Azir was nerfed in the recent patch (5.14). These nerfs removed the cooldown reduction to attack speed conversion on his passive, added the attack speed to his Arise! (up to 60% at max level) and removed the champion knock up on his Shifting Sands. Riot have introduced these nerfs because in professional play he was able to dominate. The only problem with this logic is that he has a 40% winrate or there abouts in soloque with a less than 10% popularity. The reason he dominates in the professional scene is because of his extremely high skill cap (probably one of the highest in the game) and high reward if you can play him right.

Another reason for Azir being so strong is because the meta is very tank heavy which is great for Azir's sustained damage in teamfights however when the meta returns to assasins like in s4 Azir will be completely wiped off the map again and the knock up will be needed to help him catch up to the assasins and even then he will be left behind.

So thats the knock up discussed now to the attack speed nerfs. Previously for every 1% of cooldown reduction it would give azir a 2% increase in attack speed. That means with 40% cooldown reduction (which is quite useful on azir) you would get 80% more attack speed which helps since he has one of the lowest attack speeds in the game. Now as you scale Arise! you gain attack speed with a max of 60% (down 20% from before.) On top of this normally you would max Conquering Sands first. This means that you are getting attack speed even later than usual with a small early game attack speed boost if you level your abilities.

In conclusion the Azir nerfs aren't as bad as the absolute destruction that yasuo got and don't make him completely useless until the assasins take over meta again but they do make him harder to play with less reward and I would have much rather have seen riot invest time into fixing some of the massive pile of bugs that he has or giving back graves his cigar. Graves item 3070 item 3070 item 3070

18 Comments

Abyssphere2 votes

Well, the AS thing is at least not totally accurate. His old passive was 1.25% AS per 1% CDR, so he maxed at 50% AS. So he does have more attack speed than before, but yeah it's still probably a nerf considering when you get access to that attack speed.

Can't disagree on the knockup, but I think part of the reason the knockup was removed was so there was one less thing to play with in his kit. Simpler kit means lower skillcap, which means he can be nerfed a "bit" but it'll mostly affect the people who were really good with him, while letting the worse people do better.

banksgg1 votes

Thank you for the clarification with the attack speed. The only place I could find information on it was from his pbe days. But the point about removing the knock up to make him simpler is kind of pointless. His mechanics are still the same apart from something doesn't happen now. You still stop moving if you hit an enemy champion and you still get a sheild and it still works the same.

Abyssphere1 votes

{quoted}

Thank you for the clarification with the attack speed. The only place I could find information on it was from his pbe days. But the point about removing the knock up to make him simpler is kind of pointless. His mechanics are still the same apart from something doesn't happen now. You still stop moving if you hit an enemy champion and you still get a sheild and it still works the same.

I think regarding making him simpler, it's a bit like "Lee Syndrome". If Lee Sin didn't have the ability to make big plays by diving right into the middle of people, but had more power elsewhere instead, he'd probably do a lot better at lower levels. This is because his kit would have more power in stuff that isn't easy to mess up. By taking away Azir's knockup they've de-emphasised his Insec play, which is one of the hardest things in his kit to do well mechanically and also choose to do at the right times. I'm sure a ton of people trying Azir have dived onto people at horrible times and just got blown up repeatedly.

The removal of the knockup won't make him easy to win with or anything, and it's definitely a flat nerf, but I think it's a good idea to take power out of stuff like that and put it into parts of his kit that are less easy to screw up with. Right now the balance team's problem is that they can't seem to make Azir viable without him being in every single LCS game, so reducing the power he is at his skillcap but giving him more power at his skillfloor seems like a good idea. And streamlining his kit will do that.

Erockandroll1 votes

{quoted}

Well, the AS thing is at least not totally accurate. His old passive was 1.25% AS per 1% CDR, so he maxed at 50% AS. So he does have more attack speed than before, but yeah it's still probably a nerf considering when you get access to that attack speed.

Can't disagree on the knockup, but I think part of the reason the knockup was removed was so there was one less thing to play with in his kit. Simpler kit means lower skillcap, which means he can be nerfed a "bit" but it'll mostly affect the people who were really good with him, while letting the worse people do better.

Let examine the power curve here. And yes, I'm pretty sure it was 1.25 per 1%.

Azir now gets 20% AS at level 1. I honestly don't know what most Azir players take for Runes. Personally, I don't use CDR runes. And 5% CDR from masteries. 5% is only 6.25% AS, So Far a buff to his Early game. That being Said, You do lose 12.5% AS that would have come from Blue buff. (a situational nerf.) and are now missing 25% AS from when you have your core Mana item. From the time you complete your item, until about level 12 or 13.

But here's the Rub. This assumes that CDR, is still the best thing in the world to build on him. Otherwise, it's a major buff that opens up his build options. Similarly, were also assuming that the AS on his W, does not make it a possible max first. Cause if it does, You will get that AS by level 9. And possibly have more AS than any other time before.

banksgg1 votes

CDR is probably a good thing to build on him because it allows you to spawn MOAR SOLDIERS. But I agree. Now we can build rod of ages on him and now stinger isn't required on him because of the extra attack speed (if you ever built it never saw a point in it). But all of this is irrelevant buff or not he didn't need it. There are many other champions in that game that are either under powered or overpowered. Hey maybe the could have used the time to fix some of his glitches!

EffectFX2 votes

The attack speed being moved to his W isn't all that much a nerf. It allows you to be more flexible with your builds and not be locked into purchasing 40% CDR (which is still good on him, but not required anymore).

banksgg1 votes

I agree with it being moved to the w isn't too bad and it does open up the ability to build a rod of ages to make him more tanky but you get that attack speed in weird points in the game. Plus he has one of the lowest attack speeds in the game so factoring in the 20% extra attack speed at the start of the game you are probably still not even anywhere close to the attack speed of your lane opponent.

Mªrshall1 votes

SEE ACTUALLY ASSASSINS ARE NEVER ACTUALLY IN META SO BUT THIS LOGIC I THING YOU ARE A BRONZE 5 NOOB. KAPPA

Taeyeon Fanboy1 votes

Well you see, Azir needed to be turned into KFC. Somebody had to do it at some point. He had this coming. "The Order was Given" item 3078

banksgg1 votes

Ty dfg its all your fault!

Dracid1 votes

i think it'll be enough to make him not picked in competitive play now. The knockup removed on his E destroys that as he cant go in for the E - R combo as easily now making his laning phase a lot harder

Acciente1 votes

azir is actually stronger at level 1 through 4 when he probably hasn't recalled yet, and his w is giving him more attack speed than his old passive would have given with the 5% in CDR masteries

straight up nerf otherwise

banksgg1 votes

Yup and even then its not very noticeable IMO.

Vistha Kai1 votes

Ah, right. "Azir's skillcap".

I had more problems learning Zed, than playing Azir with one hand.

banksgg1 votes

I do agree zed now after all of the nerfs is a completely different champion to play however azir does have a high skill cap. You might have found him easy due to your opponent (not an assassin). Also comparing azir to zed is not a great comparison. They both have two very different play styles. Zed goes in does as much damage as possible without getting killed and then jumps out. Azir sits in the backlines using his soldiers to deal damage over time and when someone jumps to him he ults to get rid of them. I had a look at your rank and you are gold 1 so you will probably find azir quite easy to play at that level. Also good job on gold 1 nice elo ;)

Vistha Kai1 votes

I'm actually very mad for being only Gold 1. I've spent nearly whole last season in Platinum 3+, but right now I just keep getting AFKs or people going 0/5 in lane every other game.

As to Azir vs Zed learning curve, I still think Azir's much easier to play.

His whole play pattern is basically W->Q->right click, with Insec-like ult once in a while.

Zed on the other hand requires management of his shadows - One wrong step and he's done for or screws an otherwise free kill - and actually has limiting resource. Plus he can't really harass good without the use of all his basic spells and unlike Azir's you can dodge Zed's poke, unless you're in like melee range of him.

HentaiTilliDie1 votes

https://youtu.be/RK7Z8t5ET6o?t=18s

Stats say a lot >.<

Ice Birb1 votes

R.I.P Azir mains

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