@Gypsylord and riot and Diana lovers.
TLDR: Make Diana ult do no damage, but let her use it many many more times per fight as a maneuver and damage avoidance tool.
Awhile back Gypsylord came into a 
Diana thread and spitballed some changes. He didn't say those changes were happening or even really being considered. It was just a thought exercise. I feel the need to make that double clear. :(
But it got me thinking, how can you fix Diana? I have a solution to propose, but first need to express how I see the character.
- I see Diana as thematically an assassin. Just not in the professional sense of Akali, Zed, and Katarina. Champions of the assassin class tend to have the play patterns that imply professionalism. Which is to say they care about making it out after they kill their target.
- Diana is an assassin in that she thematically goes after targets that are not necessarily prepared to fight back. Her big in lore fight was against a group of unarmed old men.
- She fights primarily through passion, hacking her opponents to pieces and blasting them with magic. She doesn't have the staying power of a professional soldier
, or the subtlety of a professional assassin 
.
Diana should have strong ability to tear apart lightly armored squishy targets like marksman or mages but should crumble when confronted with a seriously tough bruiser. Someone like Garen or Trundle should beat her in general and someone like Miss Fortune or Varus should lose to her in general. I think we could emphasize the offensive aspects of Diana while letting her maintain her halfway between style. She enters fights but doesn't leave them. She kills squishies but bruisers can beat her. I think she should survive in a fight by maneuvering quickly but not have an easy time getting out of a fight. In short I propose Diana play like a "Light Fighter".
The changes I think could work are....
- Remove the damage from Diana's ult. Remove the incentive to use it as a damage tool, and let it just be a tool to get close to targets you plan on hurting. This removes the "Double ult OMG THATS BULLSHIT" burst style of fighting.
- Keep moonlight on enemies until Diana ults them. Currently when Diana ults the moonlight debuff is cleansed from all enemies that have it. What if it only removed it from who she ults to? This would mean when Diana hits 4 targets with ult she can theoretically dash 5 times before ult going on cooldown. This lets Diana enter fights the way she does currently and lets her switch to another target quickly when targetted. It lets her avoid damage through dashing much as Master Yi can through alpha strike.
- Put the damage from her ult into her passive. Maybe giving her a base on hit in addition to a large burst every 3rd hit. Maybe not. Just increase her damage from autoattacks in general in exchange for the lost ult damage.
I believe this could create the play pattern of dashing into a fight onto a desired target, doing damage. Killing the target if not dealt with, and when attacked or successful dashing to another target to repeat the process. When pinned down or confronted with a durable enough enemy she lacks escapes, in a full on teamfight, you need to stay on her and keep her off of ALL your VIPS, though she lacks the ability to instantly delete any of them. I was inspired by how Teemo plays like an AP marksman. I visualize Diana as an AP melee carry, and wanted a healthier playstyle that didn't sacrifice damage for durability.
What do you think? Did any of what I just typed make sense? Posting this on General Discussion as well as the Community Beta board.
