@Live Balance: A Pseudo-Rework of Lissandra

Disclaimer: This will be a lengthy post consisting of various changes to all of Lissandra's active abilities with explanations for those changes and why I feel they are necessary.

Introduction: Hello Riot. Lissandra is, in my opinion, one of the more unique champions in the game and as she is one of my most favorite champions, it saddens me that she is very underplayed. Why is this? She is an utility AP mage that seems to be outclassed by other strong picks like Gragas or Orianna. While they do not provide the large amount of CC that Lissandra is able to dish out, Lissandra is required to stay in close quarters to enemies in order to make full use of her spells. This coupled with her squishy nature makes her playstyle fairly risky which in turn causes her itemization to be a little awkward. To compensate for her squishiness she needs to build items that allow her to tank damage in fights, however, since Lissandra isn't the highest damage dealer, building tank causes her damage to be fairly lackluster. This would be fine if she had sufficient utility to compensate for the lower damage, but as it stand Lissandra's utility simply isn't enough. If she goes a more damage oriented build she is easily bursted down in teamfights. Not only that, but her damage output is outclassed by other, more popular AP mages. In short, Lissandra requires either more damage to compensate for a more tanky item build, more innate tankiness to compensate for a more damage oriented build, or more utility. In this post, I will attempt to lower Lissandra's overall damage output while increasing her tankiness and utlity without changing her base stats.

TL;DR: Lissandra suffers from a close range playstyle while having a squishy nature. She is outclassed in terms of damage by other AP mages but her utility is not enough to make up for it. This post will focus on lowering some of Lissandra's damage while increasing her tankiness and utility.

I will first post the original spell as is and then post changes beneath.

Q: Ice Shard

RANGE: 725

COOLDOWN: 6 / 5.5 / 5 / 4.5 / 4

COST: 85 MANA

ACTIVE: Throws a spear of ice that travels in a line and shatters when it hits an enemy, dealing magic damage and slowing its movement speed for 1.5 seconds. Shards then pass through the target, dealing the same damage to other enemies hit (but not slowing them).

MAGIC DAMAGE: 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 / 215 (+ 65% AP)

SLOW PERCENT: 16 / 19 / 22 / 25 / 28%

Change:

Ice Shard also deals bonus 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 true damage to minions and neutral monsters. This damage will affect champions if they are hit with the secondary shards. (This plays off of the shattering mechanic of Lissandra's Q. The same damage that the initial target took will be applied to other enemies hit meaning is Lissandra hits a minion with Q and hits an enemy champion with it, they will take the extra true damage and vice versa.)

Reasons for change:

1. One of the many complaints I have seen is that of Lissandra's laning. She is unable to trade hits very well with enemy champions due to her low range, slow movement, and squishy nature. This change allows Lissandra to better harass in lane without having to increase the base damage or ratios, and thus not affecting her late game too much.

2. This change, along with the change to her W, allows Lissandra to fulfill a jungle role. I'll discuss this once I get to the W change.

3. This change compensates for the damage nerfs on W and E in terms of wave clear.

Potential Buffs:

1. A change to the range or a rescaling of the true damage.

Possible true damage rescale: 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 / 75 from 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75.

Potential Nerfs:

1. Again, a simple number change to the true damage if it proves to be too strong.

Possible rescale: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 from 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75.

W: Ring of Frost

RANGE: 450

COOLDOWN: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10

COST: 50 MANA

ACTIVE: Freezes an area around Lissandra, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies and rooting them for a short time.

MAGIC DAMAGE: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 60% AP)

ROOT DURATION: 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 / 1.5

Change:

Cooldown rescaled to 14 / 13.5 / 13 / 12.5 / 12 from 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10

Damage decreased to 40 / 80/ 120 / 160 / 200 (+ 50% AP) from 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 60% AP)

New effect: Lissandra encases herself in a veil of ice when using Ring of Frost creating a shield that absorbs damage for 1.5 seconds. The cooldown on Ring of Frost is reduced by .5 seconds for every enemy champion rooted and .25 seconds for every neutral monster rooted.

SHIELD: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 35% AP)

Reasons for change:

1. Lissandra's playstyle requires her to be in the thick of battle to make maximum use of her spells. With her current squishy nature, this makes her heavily reliant on defensive items, restricting her itemization. This change allows her to stay in the fight while also freeing up her options for itemizaton.

2. This change, in conjunction with Q, helps Lissandra in laning by buffing her ability to trade harass.

3. The damage nerf is to compensate for the added ability of a shield.

4. The .5 second cooldown reduction synergizes well with the shield change. In a teamfight, Lissandra will look to use her shield has much as possible. Rooting champions rewards Lissandra players by allowing for more shield uses.

5. Given Lissandra's abilities, she looks to be a very good jungle since she has abilities that are excellent for ganking, however, the current Lissandra does not have the proper tools to be able to effectively jungle (mainly no form of sustainability). The shield change in conjunction with the Q change allows Lissandra to effectively jungle by providing increased damage with Q and built in sustain in the form of the shield.

Potential Buffs:

1. Rescale cooldown.

Possible rescale: 12 seconds at all levels from 14 / 13.5 / 13 / 12.5 / 12 seconds or use original cooldown scaling (14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 seconds).

2. Increase shield duration.

Possible duration change: 2 second duration from 1.5 seconds.

Potential Nerfs:

1. Decrease base shield or scaling.

Possible change: Shield reduced to 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+ 30% AP) from 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 35% AP).

2. Increase cooldown.

Possible change: Cooldown increased to 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 seconds from 14 / 13.5 / 13 / 12.5 / 12 seconds.

Glacial Path

RANGE: 1050

COOLDOWN: 24 / 21 / 18 / 15 / 12

COST: 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 / 100 MANA

ACTIVE: Casts a claw of ice that moves forward in a line, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit. Reactivating this ability transports Lissandra to the claw's current location.

PROJECTILE SPEED: 850

MAGIC DAMAGE: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 60% AP)

Change:

Damage decreased to 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 (+ 50% AP) from 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 60% AP)

Projectile Speed increased to 1000 from 850

Lissandra gains 20% movement speed when arriving at the claw.

Each champion that is hit by the claw slows down it's projectile speed by 25% and reduces Lissandra's bonus movement speed when arriving at the claw (1 hit - 750 speed/10% bonus movement speed, 2 hit - 562.5 speed/5% bonus movement speed, 3 hit - 421.875 speed/0% bonus movement speed, 4 hit - 316.4 speed, 5 hit - 237.3 speed).

Reasons for change:

1. A complaint about Lissandra's E is that it is primarily used for mobility but consists of over a quarter of her damage output (With this change and the additional damage from the ultimate change, Glacial Path will now consist of less than 20% of Lissandra's damage output. Without factoring in bonus damage from AP, Glacial Path is only 17.5% of Lissandra's full combo damage). This change seeks to promote its use as a mobility skill by buffing projectile speed, providing Lissandra with a movement speed buff, and lowering damage, while also leaving the damage option open but at the cost of reduced mobility (which provides increased counterplay to Glacial Path).

Potential Buffs:

1. Increase projectile speed.

Possible increase: Projectile speed increased to 1250 from 1000.

2. Decrease speed penalty from hitting champions.

Possible decrease: Projectile slow upon hitting champions decreased to 20% from 25%.

3. Rescale movement speed decrease upon hitting champions with Glacial Path.

Possible rescale: Bonus movement speed reduction upon hitting champion rescaled from 50%/75%/100% to 50%/60%/70%/80%/90%.

Potential Nerfs:

1. Revert or decrease projectile speed.

Possible change: Projectile speed reverted to 850 from 1000.

2. Decrease or remove bonus movement speed upon teleporting to claw.

Possible change: Bonus movement speed decreased to 15% from 20%.

Frozen Tomb

RANGE: 550

COOLDOWN: 130 / 105 / 80

COST: 100 MANA

ACTIVE - ENEMY CAST: Freezes target champion solid, dealing magic damage and stunning it for 1.5 seconds.

ACTIVE - SELF CAST: Lissandra encases herself in a glacier for 2.5 seconds, becoming untargetable and invulnerable but unable to take any actions.

Dark ice then spreads from Lissandra's target dealing magic damage to all enemies in the area as it expands. The ice lasts for 3 seconds and slows enemy Movement Speed.

MAGIC DAMAGE: 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 70% AP)

SLOW: 20 / 30 / 40%

Change:

Deals an additional 75 / 125 / 175 damage to the targeted champion (still only deals 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 70% AP) to champions in the area of effect.)

Lissandra can now also target allies with Frozen Tomb. Allies will be frozen for 1.5 seconds, becoming untargetable and invulnerable but unable to take any actions. The ally is then slowed by 20% for 3 seconds after the freeze duration.

Reasons for change:

1. The ability to freeze allies provides Lissandra with the extra utility that she needs. This change buffs her amazing counter initiation power while still keeping it within reasonable power levels. Using it on allies trades the extra damage to primary targets and 20% slow on said ally for 3 seconds in exchange for potentially saving the ally and wasting key spells from the enemy.

2. The extra damage to primary targets is to compensate for the lowered damage on Ring of Frost and Glacial Path.

A note on ally cast and trolling:

I have seen so many suggestions nowadays shot down due to the possibility of abuse by trolls, including ally cast with Lissandra's ultimate. I do not believe that potential abuse by trolls is a good reason to keep interesting mechanics out of the game. Trolls should be dealt with through punishment systems. Creativity and design should not suffer because a few idiots would abuse it. If trolls are running amok abusing abilities due to their mechanics, the punishment system for these trolls should be the first thing to look into, not the ability itself.

Potential Buffs:

1. Increase base magic damage.

Possible buff: Revert 3.8 patch ultimate change (Damage reverted to 150 / 300 / 450 from 150 / 250 / 350).

2. Ally slow diminishes over time.

Potential Nerfs:

1. Increase slow on allies.

Possible increase: Slow on ally increased to 40% / 30% / 20% for 3 seconds.

2. Decrease additional damage for primary enemy champion.

Possible decrease: Additional damage to primary enemy champion decreased to 50 / 100 / 150 from 75 / 125 / 175.

Please post your feedback, suggestions, and comments on these changes.