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Barrier in Need of a Buff

Lvl 18·7/20/2014, 12:01:02 PM·8 votes·6,889 views

I feel as needs a buff since can heal 2 people and late game heals for more than can even block. This leads to only being useful early game, but still lacks because of mobility the main stream right now.

Barrier right now blocks 115 flat and 16.66 per level (115-450) for the next 2 seconds. right now gives you a flat 95 health and 21.11 per level(95-475) and also gives you 30% move speed for the next second.

There are two different option for buff that I have in mind.

Option 1 - It should block a flat 125 and give 25+/- per level (125-575). Since it does lack mobility it still won't be picked more, but is better for the more safe champions that already have a bunch of mobility. This would be more fit for midlaners since their trades are so small and burst is so high. More made for small engages and needs to block more.

Option 2 - It should block the same about it does right now (115-450) but give you 35% move speed for the next 3 seconds. Since it is not giving you flat health back I believe you should get more mobility since you only have 2 seconds to block everything.

67 Comments

Riotricklessabandon7/21/2014, 10:06:19 AM10 votes

not sure if this is relevant or not, but heal is potentially getting nerfed in the 4.13 patch (the changes should be in the next pbe update).

i also have a change to exhaust, but that's it for summoner spells in 4.13 (and again, they're candidates—like anything else on the pbe, they will be subject to change/removal).

Teridax687/20/2014, 3:16:10 PM6 votes

Barrier in its current form is always going to be in an arms race with Heal. Whichever one soaks up more damage than the other on stats alone is going to win, and currently Barrier is outclassed in almost every respect by Heal. Increasing the shield strength runs the risk of making Barrier overwhelmingly strong, regardless of its competitivity with Heal, and giving it movespeed would just turn it into Heal v2. There's already a lot of overlap between the two spells already, which is why I think Barrier can't be made viable with number changes alone.

There was a suggestion a few months back that proposed having Barrier grant complete immunity to damage for a short duration. I feel this would be the right way to change the spell, along with merging it with Cleanse: both are defensive spells used in very similar situations, and both are currently outclassed by other spells simply because they don't do as much as the rest. How about this? :

Phase: Removes all debuffs from your champion, rendering them immune to damage and crowd control for 1 second. 300 (conservative) / 240 (maybe?) / 210 (optimistic) second cooldown.

This is very likely to be overpowered, but it would at least have a clear identity and gameplay that would differentiate it from Heal: whereas Heal would be the best for performing saves and/or for a short burst of movement speed, Phase (i.e. Barrier + Cleanse) would offer one second of complete immunity, which would work best for clutch plays (e.g. dodging an important ability, activating it while being bursted or focused, making a very risky engage) without providing any long-term bonuses. Rather than a 2 second shield, you get one second of guaranteed damage mitigation, and instead of 3 seconds of 65% CC reduction you just get one second of CC immunity.

Cuttles7/21/2014, 4:23:29 PM3 votes

I think it would be cool to give heal and barrier their own distinct benefits in order to give the player more options in terms of summoners' spells.

Currently, heal outclasses barrier in almost all situations. It actually gives the player (and an ally) x amount of hp back. It makes them move faster. Barrier only TEMPORARILY shields someone. So, in a drawn out duel, heal almost always wins due to the fact that the hp is given back, whereas barrier can be waited out.

By giving heal and barrier their own benefits, you must clearly define what traits make each spell.

Heal: • Gives HP back • Heals ally • Makes people move faster • Sound like a defensive pick

Heal currently has a lot of utility for not only yourself, but an ally. Honestly, heal has been nerfed pretty hard over the past patches, and I think it's in a good spot. Barrier just needs to be buffed. Since barrier is only single target, it needs to at least have a stronger shield.

Barrier: • Shield lasts 2 seconds. (Can be easily waited out.) • Pretty weak shield when compared to heal, which GIVES BACK hp. • No movement speed. • Single target.

Proposed changes: • When barrier is used, cleanse all cc off of the user. (Why? Because if a person, ex: adc, is cc'd, he/she is probably gonna die. Barrier is supposed to help them survive the burst and whatnot. Allowing it to absorb some of the damage and give the person a chance to stay alive/ kite/ fight.) • Stronger shield. • 3 second duration. (Giving hp BACK is almost always going to be better than just having a temporary shield that can be waited out, but this can allow more plays to happen.).

tl;dr: Define which traits make each summoner spells and go from there. Buff Barrier, so that it is chosen over heal during some situations. Heal should be picked when you and an ally needs it, whereas barrier should be chosen when the player needs to stay alive against a strong enemy team. "You cannot weaken the strong to strengthen the weak." ~ Abraham Lincoln.

Meep Man7/20/2014, 1:28:42 PM3 votes

How about making it to where Barrier gives some armor and magic resist during the shield? This way the change is counterable, but is still a buff for where it is commonly used (Bot Lane, Some But Very Few Mid Lane Assassins). This way, it really is a shield of great proportions. Also, I think the same can be said for many summoner spells. Others need buffs and changes too.

GhastlyGhoulMan7/21/2014, 7:38:11 PM3 votes

lol I'm sorry, but as I quickly glanced at the title I first read, "Baron in need of a buff".

Buff Baron 2014.

Worgslarg7/20/2014, 1:16:33 PM3 votes

Make barrier a spell shield.

Blocks next 2 enemy abilities that hit it.

This would make it competitive against heal. Facing a mid like xerath? take heal as his spells have low cooldowns. Facing a malzahar? predict his all in and barrier his ult.

JackYAqua7/20/2014, 12:22:41 PM2 votes

I agree that Barrier needs a buff, but simply replicating the mobility of Heal doesn't seem like the appropriate solution to me.
Heal is somewhat UNIQUE now, Barrier shouldn't steal that away.

How about something else, like increasing the duration to 2.5 second and then reducing Barrier's cooldown by 30 seconds if it is broken?
This would promote going deep into the fight and timing the barrier correctly.

Stacona7/20/2014, 9:44:46 PM2 votes

not really, but barrier should be stronger at all levels compared to heal

JP38857/21/2014, 5:08:16 PM2 votes

I think that if it just had a lower CD than heal it would be viable, Heal gives speed and health to 2 people. Barrier only affects 1 person and doesn't give speed, its duration is also too short against DoT's so even with Anti-heal barrier is generally weaker.

The easiest measure would be just to make its CD like 40% lower than heal's so that it can be used more often than heal to iron out the difference in output.

NameIzSecret7/21/2014, 5:39:55 PM2 votes

Wouldn't barrier be more in theme with it's summoner spell if it also gave you extra resistances for the duration of the summoner spell? You need extra resistances versus burst, but not versus sustained damage, so it wouldn't be that bad to let heal heal you for more, as lon as barrier gets it's nice pick as a counter to burst, because of the resistances. This could potentially be offset by a shorter duration and/or barrier temp HP amount, but with more resistances.

Cerbearus7/20/2014, 5:49:46 PM1 votes

So we are talking about bringing barrier back before {{summoner:2}} summoner 1 summoner 13 ? Barrier was the big spell before heal was, and clease was before that, so I think cleanse needs another turn to be on top.

IAmEternall7/21/2014, 8:05:02 PM1 votes

I think increasing the cooldown of summoner 21 slightly, but also making the cooldown reduce by a percentage if the is broken would be a nice change. This would add some interesting counterplay to the use of the ability. Do I attack this guy once he's activated his ? Of course if you can burst through the barrier and still get the kill you would do so. But if you are unable to kill them through the barrier, it will go on a reduced cooldown.

You could add a buff that activates 10 seconds after the shield is broken. If the champion lives for 10 seconds after the summoner 21 is broken, then goes on a reduced cooldown. In other words, the getting the reduced cooldown would be conditional on that champion surviving the engagement.

I think these changes would make the ability more interesting and would add some good counterplay/more skilled usage.

my name gif7/22/2014, 7:54:35 AM1 votes

here's an idea, why not, when the shield part of barrier is broken, the champion receives a small movement speed buff, instead of getting it while the shield is up. any thoughts or opinions?(don't appreciate flaming, but constructive idea building is appreciated)