@Riot: Lissandra is bad. Here are my proposed buffs.

I posted this in GD some time before and I decided to post it here to see if I can get some Reds to respond.

Before I start, I'd like to point out that these numbers are not absolute. They are highly subject to change. If you dislike some of these number changes, please provide some suggestions on what they should be in your view. The main purpose of this post is to introduce ideas on how Lissandra should be buffed.

Lissandra as she is now, is bad. She's designed to be a utility mage, and yet her utility is too lackluster to compensate for her outclassed damage. She has incredibly short range for a mage and yet she has worse base stats than most long range mages. Unless she builds tanky, she pops like a balloon after she jumps in with claw. Build tanky, and she deals mediocre damage. The only form of inherent survivability she has is using ult on herself. As it stands, Lissandra is outclassed, underplayed, undervalued, and underpowered. She needs buffed damage or buffed utility. Since she's supposed to be a utility mage, buffed utility will be the overall focus of this rework.

Some the stats on Lissandra from lolking in the attachments below:

Lissandra is currently 96th in pick rates.

Lissandra is currently 97th in win rates.

Lissandra is the 2nd least banned champion.

Passive: Iceborn

STATIC COOLDOWN: 18

Every 18 seconds, Lissandra's next ability costs no mana. Cooldown reduction does not affect Iceborn, but the cooldown is reduced by 1 second whenever Lissandra impairs an enemy's movement with an ability (does not apply to movement-impairing effects from items).

Lots of people have complained about Lissandra's mediocre passive. The only thing I find wrong with this is that Lissandra doesn't apply enough CC in order to make the 18 second cooldown seem reasonable. With the slow changes on Q, I feel that Iceborn's cooldown can drop fairly quickly, so I don't feel any need to add a massive change to her passive, but it could still use a small buff. I've decided to increase the cooldown reduction when Lissandra roots an enemy.

Change:

COOLDOWN: Iceborn's cooldown is now also reduced by 2 seconds instead of 1 when Lissandra roots and enemy.

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%

Let's face it, Ice Shard is fairly lackluster. It's cooldown is great and the damage is decent enough, but the range is fairly short and the mana cost is too high for what it's worth. But what really irks me about Ice Shard is the slow. With a design centered around impairing movement, why is it that Ice Shard only slows the initial target, and for a pretty poor amount. Lulu can slow multiple enemies by 80%. I know it decays over time, but it has a longer range, similar damage output and it can fire two bolts in different directions to cover more area. So, I decided to increase her slow and add a slow on shattered targets to increase her utility while keeping her damage the same. I've also increased the range on the shattered shards to complement this change.

Change:

RANGE: Increased to remaining Ice Shard distance + 275 from remaining Ice Shard distance + 100

SLOW: Increased to 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% from 16 / 19 / 22 / 25 / 28%

NEW UTILITY: Now slows units hit by shattered shards by half of the original slow (10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20%)

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

For a mage who's playstyle revolves around being in the thick of fight, Lissandra's ability to take damage is incredibly poor due to her terrible base stats. This causes her itemization to be fairly awkward. Build tank and she does mediocre damage. Build damage and you pop like a balloon. Sticking to her utility centered design, I've decided to add a shield to help her take damage more effectively. To compensate, I've also nerfed her damage slightly. This should help players build damage on Lissandra without having to blow up after she jumps in.

Change:

COOLDOWN: Rescaled to 14 / 13.5 / 13 / 12.5 / 12 from 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10

DAMAGE: Decreased to 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+ 65% AP) from 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 60% AP)

NEW UTILITY: 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.

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

E: 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)

This spell as it stands currently, is incredibly mediocre on Lissandra. Sure the damage is nice until you realize that you mostly use this for mobility. "But you can just hit enemies at the same time." That's nice, but considering that it's projectile speed is awful and enemies can clearly see where the claw will arrive, unless your enemy is held down by CC or is suffering from brain damage, this spell won't hit much. As such, Lissandra loses out on a large portion of her damage. I've decreased the damage from Glacial Path and added a projectile slowing effect as it hits champions to not only add more counterplay, but to also have the player make a clear decision whether to use it for mobility or for damage. To compensate, I've increased the projectile speed on Glacial Path, as well as added a movement speed buff at the end to help her stay mobile when initiating.

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

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

NEW: Each champion that is hit by the claw slows down it's projectile speed by 25% and reduces Lissandra's bonus movement speed by 50% 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/2.5% bonus movement speed / 4 hit - 316.4 speed/1.25% bonus movement speed / 5 hit - 237.3 speed/0.625%).

Suggestion by Bubboy on page 3 of the GD post:

NEW UTILITY: Glacial Path now grants vision in an area around the claw as it moves.

VISION AREA: 200

R: 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%

Frozen Tomb is incredibly mediocre for an ultimate. I can understand the damage being fairly poor as Lissandra was designed to be a utility mage, but honestly, the only unique utility this spell provides is a free Zhonya's. I really like the idea of Frozen Tomb being castable on allies. This would give her the unique utility that she needs to differentiate herself from other utility mages and compensate for her low damage and lackluster CC. Alas, too many people think that this would be OP and abused. So, I "Riotized" it and added something like Thresh's Lantern combined with Orianna's Ball, where the ally has to decide if and when they want to be frozen. EDIT: Since I did nerf her damage by quite a bit, I will do what every Lissandra main wants and revert the 3.8 damage nerfs on her ulti.

Change:

NEW UTILITY: Lissandra can target an ally with Frozen Tomb. When using Frozen Tomb on an ally, an icy sigil will appear above them. The ally can then double click the sigil to activate it, freezing them for 1.5 seconds and dealing magic damage in an area. The ally will then be slowed for half of the slow applied to enemies. During the time an ally is marked with the sigil, Frozen Tomb will be disabled, but not go on cooldown. If the sigil is not used within the duration, Frozen Tomb will go on cooldown for 10 seconds.

ALLY SLOW: 10 / 15 / 20%

SIGIL DURATION: 10 seconds

DAMAGE: Reverted 3.8 patch damage nerfs. Increased to 150 / 300 / 450

Hopefully, these buffs accomplish what they're intended to do, that is: buff her utility while keeping her damage within reasonable levels.

Please, feel free to discuss, provide feedback, and/or make suggestions.