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The downsides of Senna

iiGazeii··68 votes·16,292 views

People seem to be caught up on all the things she can do, but fail to realize that she has a ton of negatives in her kit to balance it out.

First of all, her autoattacks are slow. The cast time on her autos is 0.5 seconds, where most ADCs have a cast time of 0.2-0.3 on their autos. She hits like a truck, but her autos leave her vulnerable to skillshots.

Senna may get free AD from picking up mist, but her AD doesn't go up per level. She gets free crit chance, but her crits do reduced damage.

Her Q is dodgeable. It's just like Lucian's Q. The cast isn't instant, and you can get out the way. The zone that damage enemies is actually quite thin. The cooldown is also long and requires her to push the wave (with no mobility) in order to get the cooldown back faster. It also costs a TON of mana, and her mana pool is very small. Despite her long cooldowns, she has mana issues.

Her W is easy to dodge. It's a slow-moving projectile, and even if you get hit, you have a moment before you get rooted to react. It's less consistent than the CC of other marksman like Jhin or Xayah.

Her E has a long cast time and a long cooldown. It shows the enemy exactly where Senna is standing and roughly where her teamamtes are standing. Entering the zone reveals all the people. It isn't a moving Akali shroud.

Her ult has a huge, telegraphed windup, and the damaging zone is small. It can be easily walked out of if she drops it right on top of you. The cooldown is also ferociously long, and the damage is lower than other global skillshot ults like Jinx or Ezreal.

Senna does a lot of things other champions can do, but her tools are less effective than the specialists and on longer cooldowns. She is a generalist, and will get creamed in a straight-up fight if the enemy plays to their strengths and not to hers.

39 Comments

Makarakarn47 votes

Wow, it's almost like people were overeacting and making a giant hate train that was completely unwarranted..why am I not surprised..

AquariusGine20 votes

The champion screams counterplay.

ZackTheWaffleMan1 votes

{quoted}

The champion screams counterplay.

And her E screams CoUnTeRpLaY

Axxuka17 votes

And most of all : She got no ''Real'' self-sustain outside high mana cost Q (Looking at pyke pre-nerf W...), no escapes and no peels.

Her dmg potential is strong late game, but everything about her is slow and with no escape or self peel she will pop like a kog'maw if played poorly.

Probs feeding13 votes

I think they went genuinely out of their way to ensure this wasn't another Pyke situation (Who, god honestly, compared to other overtuned characters really wasn't that bad).

And you know what?

I think they nailed it.

ImTheJuggernauty1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Betty McPetty,realm=NA,application-id=yrc23zHg,discussion-id=4bAtsJbo,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2019-10-31T04:38:54.196+0000)

I think they went genuinely out of their way to ensure this wasn't another Pyke situation (Who, god honestly, compared to other overtuned characters really wasn't that bad).

And you know what?

I think they nailed it.

I wanted to upvote you until I read your interpretation of the pyke conundrum. At which point I shall abstain from upvotes and downvotes alike

Mr Dalloway8 votes

All I can see is that she is going to be hella fun in ARAM and that is all I care about. New champs always look OP as hell because the people we see playing them are streamers who are generally very good players playing on the PBE against random bad players.

FelixFurry7 votes

She is exceptionally well balanced for a new champion, and the Marksmen/Support duality works well because there isn't a lot she can abuse from the opposite kit when she is playing the other. The only thing that I would change is how fast she can collect souls early, because with the games I've played against her, she can get 60 souls by 10 minutes or earlier, and that is a lot of power.

Posui Gart7 votes

She has too much safety and mobility for an "immobile" ADC. Don't even compare her to kogmaw. Kogmaw has no bonus MS after EVERY AA, has no camouflage with extra ms, he can't heal or shield himself and he has no hardcc

WTBeGirl100EUhr2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Posui Gart,realm=EUW,application-id=yrc23zHg,discussion-id=4bAtsJbo,comment-id=000c,timestamp=2019-10-31T10:56:14.674+0000)

She has too much safety and mobility for an "immobile" ADC. Don't even compare her to kogmaw. Kogmaw has no bonus MS after EVERY AA, has no camouflage with extra ms, he can't heal or shield himself and he has no hardcc

Senna is not safe at all and is not mobile in the slightest. The movement speed on AAs brings her in-line in terms of kiting potential due to how long the wind-up on her AAs are. Her camouflage obviously doesn't do anything without making distance, and unlike Rengar or Pyke she doesn't have a good way of creating distance to use that camo. Yes, she has a slow, delayed root with decent duration. Yes, the shroud gives a small amount of movement speed. Neither of these are going to stop any champion from killing her if they get on top of her.

Think of how difficult it can be trying to kill a Lulu or a Janna as a diver. Even champions who are supposed to excel at killing squishy backliners like Vi or Camille can really struggle to take these champions down even if they catch them isolated. They will murder Senna very, very easily in the same scenarios.

If you compare Senna to Jhin, you'll find that Jhin is much safer.

Posui Gart1 votes

Sure, Jhin is safer. And Ashe, Kog, MF or Varus are less safe. She is somewhat middle in terms of safety. ADCs are supposed to die if enemies are on top of them, thats why they are allowed to deal huge sustained damage and thats why they go botlane with a support instead of solo laning. But it looks like there will be no "unsafe" champions anymore.

big boi edri2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Posui Gart,realm=EUW,application-id=yrc23zHg,discussion-id=4bAtsJbo,comment-id=000c00000000,timestamp=2019-10-31T12:33:48.581+0000)

Sure, Jhin is safer. And Ashe, Kog, MF or Varus are less safe. She is somewhat middle in terms of safety. ADCs are supposed to die if enemies are on top of them, thats why they are allowed to deal huge sustained damage and thats why they go botlane with a support instead of solo laning. But it looks like there will be no "unsafe" champions anymore.

What do you mean? She seems very unsafe. Her whole shroud thing only helps against ranged champions (and only ranged not counting skill shots and AoE). If I'm playing MonkeyKing or something and invis to her, shrouded or not she's dead. Any movement speed burst won't help either, especially with any champion that can gap close or just simply runs item 3142 .

I've seen a lot of people complaining about her shroud for some reason, but most divers and assassins won't have an issue with it. As well, supports like Thresh Leona Braum Karma Morgana Taric Zilean Zyra Brand , etc etc most likely won't have issue either.

Her bursts of movement speed will help in positioning and kiting when possible, and her shroud will allow to possibly make some cool plays - but let's not go as far as to say she is safe. She isn't safe from over half the roster. The only truly "safe" ADC's in the game have been there for years, and that's just Tristana and Ezreal

WTBeGirl100EUhr1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Posui Gart,realm=EUW,application-id=yrc23zHg,discussion-id=4bAtsJbo,comment-id=000c00000000,timestamp=2019-10-31T12:33:48.581+0000)

Sure, Jhin is safer. And Ashe, Kog, MF or Varus are less safe. She is somewhat middle in terms of safety. ADCs are supposed to die if enemies are on top of them, thats why they are allowed to deal huge sustained damage and thats why they go botlane with a support instead of solo laning. But it looks like there will be no "unsafe" champions anymore.

I would argue Ashe is safer. I would also argue that Senna will do the lowest damage by far of all of these. Late game crits on Senna are some 700 against a squishy with no ability to build attack speed.

Leetri1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Posui Gart,realm=EUW,application-id=yrc23zHg,discussion-id=4bAtsJbo,comment-id=000c,timestamp=2019-10-31T10:56:14.674+0000)

She has too much safety and mobility for an "immobile" ADC. Don't even compare her to kogmaw. Kogmaw has no bonus MS after EVERY AA, has no camouflage with extra ms, he can't heal or shield himself and he has no hardcc

He also doesn't have to root himself in place for half a second to auto attack. By the time she's auto attacked twice Kog'Maw has already killed her.

HoldMyPlank5 votes

I think the only thing broken about her is that her R and Q can be casted at the same time, in any order.

The Stripy Bag1 votes

{quoted}

I think the only thing broken about her is that her R and Q can be casted at the same time, in any order.

To be fair you technically do something very similar to that combo with Lux.

Yets42401 votes

{quoted}

I think the only thing broken about her is that her R and Q can be casted at the same time, in any order.

You can also auto during Q animation.

Shad0wCrusher1215 votes

that's why you are not supposed to compare her with ADC's, she's a "Support ADC"

ZaFishbone5 votes

To be fair, people were saying she could be broken pending the reveal of her exact numbers.

Rockman3 votes

I'd say the biggest is when she goes to collect mist. She's stationary for a decently long time.

WTBeGirl100EUhr2 votes

{quoted}

I'd say the biggest is when she goes to collect mist. She's stationary for a decently long time.

This is because she actually has to auto-attack the ghouls. It's the same AA animation as on her damage proc against champions. That AA does feel faster (it's not uncommon for empowered autos to be faster, Kindred's E has a faster wind-up than her other autos for instance) but it's still her slow-ass AA.

Rockman1 votes

{quoted}

This is because she actually has to auto-attack the ghouls. It's the same AA animation as on her damage proc against champions. That AA does feel faster (it's not uncommon for empowered autos to be faster, Kindred's E has a faster wind-up than her other autos for instance) but it's still her slow-ass AA.

I think its actually longer, because you can't cancel the backswing.

WTBeGirl100EUhr1 votes

{quoted}

I think its actually longer, because you can't cancel the backswing.

You might be right. It certainly comes out faster which can matter when that AA is the one that kills which is probably why I'm picking up on that side of things.

jama6553 votes

Is this guy using his brain on the boardS??? BAN HIM!

King Braum2 votes

Some notes.

"First of all, her autoattacks are slow. The cast time on her autos is 0.5 seconds, where most ADCs have a cast time of 0.2-0.3 on their autos. She hits like a truck, but her autos leave her vulnerable to skillshots. " She's a support, even when using slower auto attacks within lane phase she's going to have more freedom to poke using her Dump Truck of a gun simply because of the freedom of not having to farm allowing her to freely position and focus on catching the enemy ADC off guard.

I do agree with many of the other points though.

GelsominoKiller2 votes
  1. Her autoattack are slow, true, but they also deal bonus damage, speed her up, and have huge (and scaling) range. Overall I'd say her autos are different, but not weak whatsoever. This does make building attackspeed on her suboptimal, though.

  2. Her bAD is tied with the mist, and that's a tradeoff. She gets free crit, but her crits deal less damage. This pushes her away from building crit items, but free crit is still free crit (at 25 minutes, she can reach 80% with one crit item) and there are other build options for her, like lethality or triforce.

  3. Her Q is as dodgeable as a Lucian Q, and has huge range. The damage zone is not thin whatsoever, it's average. The mana problems and the big CD are a limitation only in the laining phase (that's good, but many many spells are mana and cd gated in the early game), while in the lategame the Q spam is absurd: she can Q every two autos, and its range scales with her attack range.

  4. Fair point on the W.

  5. Your statement doesn't really cut away a lot from her E power. While Senna's position might signaled, it's still team-wide camouflage with solid extra bonuses for those ones exiting the area. You don't know how many and which enemies are in there. Getting in there gives vision on the whole pack, but it is akin to facechecking a bush, can you afford it? Not always. Maybe several people were mistaken into thinking it was a moving, team-wide akali shroud, but the reality isn't so different: it's still an incredibly powerful, unique and versatile spell slapped on an already overloaded kit which promises nothing but balancing problems for the years to come.

  6. Her ultimate has INSANE travel speed, and it is just as wide as a Lux R, which is the most comparable skill. Anything you can hit with a Lux R, you can hit with a Senna's R, roughly.

Jaspers1 votes

{quoted}

  1. Her ultimate has INSANE travel speed, and it is just as wide as a Lux R, which is the most comparable skill. Anything you can hit with a Lux R, you can hit with a Senna's R, roughly.

My biggest concern of her is her ult. In the original R teaser we saw the travel time was non-existant over the entire map and it showed little in the way of where the damage section was going to hit. Lux has an very obvious (if not sometimes buggy) hit zone which doesn't damage until 1 second later and gives enough reaction to for someone to dash or flash out of it. Which is why she combos it with her Q.

Even though I've watch preview videos I can't tell if Senna's ult has the same 1 second or more delay, it looks like .5 at best and no obvious indicator, (Lux is bright colours, Senna is blue green against a green map). For a global Lux ult as well, it doesn't seem to deal any less damage really as it also offers shields to people. It's 250 with 1bAD level 1, while Lux level 1 is 300 with 1AP. For a global ult, I'd say it should deal less than that.

MaskedMadness2 votes

in theory these are all true but when you play senna you realize shes still overloaded strong

The Fearcrow1 votes

With her attacks doing more damage base even with reduced crit damage she only loses 1% damage on crit

Champion Skin1 votes

First of all, her autoattacks are slow. The cast time on her autos is 0.5 seconds, where most ADCs have a cast time of 0.2-0.3 on their autos. She hits like a truck, but her autos leave her vulnerable to skillshots.

Can't you just cancel the auto attack? I mean yes you lose damage but if it means avoiding a skill shot it is probably worth it right

Vlada Cut1 votes

Keep in mind that her Q + item 3812 is the only burst healing that outsustains a +2.0 Attack Speed adc with item 3153 or item 3072.

She can 1v1 Jinx without a problem.

She is Jhin, but more rewarding due to her built in sustain burst and utility.

RussiaKitty1 votes

I think she was, in some way, meant to be a glass cannon type champion. I mean she is holding a cannon, it would be weird if she didnt do damage. But I think her pure lack of mobility outside her E makes up for it. Also from what ive seen you can still CC her in her mist form so she isnt completely unstoppable. All we can do now is just wait for her to come out. But im actually excited for this kind of support as theyr making the role more interesting and put thought into this champion design and made it fun and interesting.

General Esdeath 1 votes

OK but who is gonna step into her mist to see her team? That seems risky unless you're a 6-0 Darius

asamu1 votes

Uh, sure, but she scales super hard because of her passive, has CC and a movement speed steroid in her kit. Has insane range on her AAs (If you don't have 80 stacks by 20min game time, you're probably not playing her all that well, and 80 stacks means you have 60% crit and 700 range). Her crit scaling is relatively poor, and her AS scaling isn't great, but her overall scaling is quite good because she's able to stack armor pen without losing out on the multiplicative scaling altogether like other ADCs, and scales harder with raw AD because of her passive 20% bonus damage per attack and multiple reasonably strong AD ratios.

Her auto attack speed scales with attack speed just like every other ADC, if not as well, and because she has such a slow attack rate to begin with, moving between each shot isn't as punishing. Take a shot -> Move -> take another shot, and her E works with duskblade, since you can pop in and out of the camouflage by attacking. Kog'maw has 710 range with max ranked W active; she gets more AA range than his max if she gets to 100 stacks, while also having multiple movement speed steroids, a heal, and a root. Once she gets to 775 range - 140 stacks, which isn't unreasonable to get in longer games, she out-ranges towers.

Yeah, she gets wrecked if a malphite or someone flash ults onto her, just like any other ADC, but she can kill pretty much anyone squishy in an Auto+W+Q combo with a high AD/lethality build.

If you think Kog maw will kill her before she can kill him, you're mistaken. Her ult also does around 1k damage late game, and hits a large area, and she can't even be targeted until she attacks with her E active unless someones within ~400 range of her. So she's pretty much guaranteed to hit him first.

Have you even played her yet? She's pretty mobile for an ADC, does great damage safely, and scales hard. She may not have quite as much DPS, but she makes up for it with strong burst and range, a cheaper build, and a stronger mid-game than most ADCs.

She's not much of a support though. She pairs way better with engage tanks/supports like Leona, thresh, alistar, Taric, etc... because she can combo her W on their CC, make their aproach safer/easier with her E, and both heal them and damage the lane opponents with her Q during trades.

ImTheJuggernauty1 votes

I still think her E is a little bogus, but the OP makes some solid points. Time to wait and she how she does. Oh, and I think some of her passive permanent stats need to be slightly toned down.

If she has an uncapped amount of potential AD, and MS boost on E, and permanent, uncapped increases in range, then she either shouldn't have any bonus MS for simply auto-attacking an enemy, or it needs to be cut in half at a minimum. If not, then her bonus range and bonus AD needs to be capped after a certain number of stacks, like say, 60 or 80 stacks of mist. Because someone with 700 range or more (80 stacks), 80 bonus damage (as opposed to the approximately 63 base damage growth for most adcs), 60% bonus crit chance (albeit, reduced in power), 20% bonus AD on hit damage, and even bonus lifesteal for overcapped crit chance, should ABSOLUTELY NOT BE ABLE TO GAIN 10-20% movement speed from simply auto attacking enemies, even if her AAs are slower. That's just absolutely bonkers. Like, as a juggernaut main, I understand that juggers need to be kiteable, but she would be beyond simply kiting juggers, she'd be farming them. They'd have zero chance if they didn't already have flash (a 5 minute cd sum that she will also have) and or ghost (she will get faster when auto-attacking them based on their movement speed boosts anyway). and of course, they will be easy targets for her W, and in the worst case, she pops E for added time for outplays, CDs, etc, plus MS.

Yeah, on second thought, her concept is neat, but she is almost certainly overtuned. Remove the bonus MS on her passive entirely, she already has enough tools and stats, she doesn't need to be a power hitting, long ranged, generalist.

Sexy Jack Rabbit1 votes

I think a lot of people are so used to Stashu and CT champs they kind of forget that some designers are decent.

Outside of number tuning which literally every champion goes through August/Jinxylord champs have always been pretty fine to deal with.

WorstNightmareD1 votes

Honestly, I was watching the videos thinking of her as being a support, not an adc, as she seems like a pretty week adc especially in the early game. At least that's where id play her.

Daddy ReTaric1 votes

So what? People still can be happy to play a new champions. Every champions have downside. Should we stop play the game entirely because every champions have downside? No . Exactly, let people be happy and want to try new champions instead of being so pessimist.

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