[Feedback] Tentative Syndra Changes
Hi, I'm Tabor Hoxsey I've been a league player for about a year and a half now. I play mostly mid lane and just recently made it to Gold, so I am by no means an expert or high caliber player. I've loved Syndra since release and played her lovingly since day one. I fell in love with her design and the cohesion I felt her character brought. Draven is often heralded as the pinnacle of a champion executing a theme, but for me that is Syndra. From her VO work to her splash theme she feels like a mage wrought with power seeking to exert her influence. She is without a doubt my favorite champion so I want to take the time to thank Meddler and everyone else who helped bring her to fruition.
With that said I want to discuss why I feel Syndra already is in a really nice spot, and why I feel potential changes to her must be seriously brought into consideration. Again I will state that I am by no means an expert on the game, nor do I have experience with the task of attempting to reasonably balance 116 independent hero's, so I do speak with only respect and restraint towards those more knowledgeable and better at the game than myself.
Syndra is a high skill cap, medium to high risk mage with an emphasis on assassination. Her passive augments her abilities at max rank. Her Q provides her a low cooldown ground targeted aoe nuke that deals increased damage to champions with a .69 scaling at rank 5. Her W provides an additional ground targeted aoe nuke with a medium cooldown that provides vision of an area, and slows for 1.5 seconds, 2 at rank 5. In addition its allows the manipulation of her Q, as well as enemy and neutral creeps, monsters, bears, plants etc. An entirely unique aspect of the champion. Her E is an instant conical skill shot on a medium-high cooldown that knocks back all enemies and any summoned Q's, enemies disjointed will deal collusion damage to subsequent targets hit, in addition any target struck by a displaced Q's will be stunned for 1.5 seconds. This stun will pass through multiple enemies and the cone will increase by 50% at rank 5. Her R is a champion targeted ability that gathers, then launches 3 plus any summoned Q's at the target enemy up to a total of 7 Spheres.
Syndra is a dominant laner that with proper spell casts will exert great pressure on the enemy laner. Care must be taken as she has high mana cost and lacks any escape and must instead use her long cooldown E-Q combo to thwart ganks. However the reason I believe Syndra is at the very least strong enough is the sheer range of her stun potential. The listed ranged of Syndra’s E is 550, her Q is 800. It is possible to summon a Q at maximum range and still strike it with E without the need to move Syndra. In addition the Sphere will fly a set distance of approximately 500 units, this means Syndra can perform an aoe stun at 1300 range, to exacerbate that with max CDR this can be performed every 8.4 seconds.
If the proposed range buff were to go through an additional 100 range would be added to E, her E already will strike beyond that range, this will increase it to roughly 900 units, and therefore her potential stun range to approximately 1400 units. Is that sort of power really necessary? This coupled with the fact that since patch V1.0.0.150 E will strike Spheres before they arrive means Syndra already has limited counter play if she chooses to stun, an increase to her range is just adding unnecessary power to her kit. As a Syndra player I bring this up just to avoid what is being experienced with Ahri currently, we’re in a position where people are left wondering how so much free power was left in her kit with little need for skill based play. And as a result her power is being re-prioritized to better reward players that land a Charm, and remove free damage and utility from her Foxfires and Spirit Rush. Syndra has since her release received multiple quality of life, and direct buffs to her kit, and I want to present this to argue she is entirely fine from those, and if anything already presents too much power. I urge that further examination be given towards the strengths she already is in possession of before she in buffed once more in any regard.
Thank you so much for your time, I know it was a long read but I feel that the depth is necessary to truly demonstrate my beliefs, I hope this proves at the very least informative and can lend insight onto a players perspective of Syndra in her current iteration.