Why are Viktor's augments not tweaked and updated like regular items?

The Anagram King··6 votes·824 views

Augments item 3196 Power and item 3197 Gravity have been in an arguably awkward place for a while now: suffering from a severe case of "little brother syndrome" in the wake of item 3198. Though the two passives are generally considered effective, they provide no scaling options; no late game edge. And, as a result, they often fall flat.

Each season, regular items will be reassessed; they will be modified and balanced for competitive play where necessary. The exception to this rule, however, appears to be Viktor's augmentation options, which two years removed from the Machine Herald's debut have yet to enjoy any balance or tweak attempts.

I get that Viktor may not be a priority, but he most certainly has a playerbase. And at this moment, that playerbase is essentially guilted into picking Death Augment due to its viability as a late-game option.

Would it be too much to ask that his augments receive a brief moment of attention during the pre-season? Even if the result is a collective 'our hands are tied'?

This is not a suggestion thread. I'm not lobbying for a full rework, or for specific stat values, and I'm not telling you how to do your job when you get there. What I am asking, here, is that Viktor's augments receive the same attention that standard items have otherwise enjoyed.

If the True Evolution Thread is any indicator, feedback would fly in if only a suggestion of a tweak were hinted. If this is too high-exposure, then a value change could always be implemented without public discussion on the topic.

Viktor's secondary augments have remained nothing less than an afterthought since his release; heavily contributing to the champion's unpopularity. These items need to see some attention, if only for one fleeting moment.

@Riot

9 Comments

BlazingSalvo4 votes

I like to bring this up in most Viktor threads.

Copypasting:

A problem I highlight in every thread is that his Augments are not buffed/tweaked whenever other items get stronger. Given current efficiency of season 3/4 items, Augment Power should give more Health or HP5 than it does, Augment Gravity should give 20% CDR and a at least 10 mp5, and Augment Power (or all 3) could honestly get an additional 20 AP@18 and be balanced.

Season 3 all health items got better. (Sunfire, Warmogs better than season 2). Season 3 all CDR items got better. (Nomicon and Athene's didn't exist when he was released). Season 3 all big AP items (DFG, Zhonya's) got a bit more AP.

RasCaelestis3 votes

I couldn't have said this better. I cannot understand how it's so hard to simply upgrade the Augments in a manner similar to how other items are balanced. It just looks lazy on Riot's part. I do not intend to start Riot-bashing, but with how little they've done to help with Viktor, it's getting hard to ignore. The Glorious Evolution is starting to look like The Mediocre Stagnation from the lack of attention it's getting.

I know that a lot of people that are better at the game than me say that Viktor is fine, and doesn't need buffs, but he can be so much more. He SHOULD be so much more.

As things stand he's okay if you know what you're doing and your opponent messes up, but he is outclassed by other champions that can burst harder or provide more utility. Viktor can do both things well, I will not deny that, but with the high-mobility/high-sustain mids that are becoming common, Viktor is countered pretty easily. Most of his damage is slow-moving AoE, and if your opponent can just dash/blink out of it or use a shield to absorb most of it, Viktor's in trouble. It takes way more skill to do well with Viktor than it does Gragas or Ziggs or Yasuo for example.

The Anagram King1 votes

This is precisely it. Other items change over time. AP items have increased and dropped in power as time has progressed, and health has become more affordable. HP/5 is also cheaper, ever since around the time of removal of Force of Nature.

I'm not sure about the CDR% - I could swear that CDR is becoming less available, but nonetheless - there's a glaring absence of attention being given to Viktor's augments. It's only fair that they receive the treatment normal items receive - for better or worse - and I, for the life of me, cannot comprehend why his 3 items are ignored the way that they are.

A value change or two could drastically improve viability.

Desmond Law2 votes

Remember we don't just want his passive upgrades to be stat sticks, but also fit his themes with the spell names. Make his Power Augment steal move speed or armor. Make Gravity Field speed up allies. The thing with Death Augment is that it super charges his Death Ray, making it extremely useful. The other spells, aren't so much as supercharges, but things that make your life... easier, for a lack of a better term. With Gravity Augment, you get bonus range on it, but the next game you play, if you don't have it, you forget the smaller range on it and miss a few drops. Yeah, that extra range is nice, but if you don't have a team with lock down, nice try getting someone stunned in it. Power Augment is nice with it's little move speed, but it just doesn't scream "I'm a tank item, buy me, buy me!"

The Anagram King1 votes

I would adore more diverse augment effects, or more fleshed out role-influencing passives, but the poor things suffer, at this moment, from being wholly ignored by the balance team.

Personal gripe, though: I love Power's passive effect. It's... not exactly a tank augment effect, but it makes for an awesome kiting ability. I feel that Viktor could really benefit from a more diverse set of augment choices. Either that, or a serious re-tooling of his augments in general.

At this moment, Power and Gravity are just suffering due to late game efficiency. And this could really be addressed by the balance team. Why they have not done this yet, I'm not entirely certain. :P

jwf9991 votes

item 3197 Is used for viktor support item 3196 Is used for viktor top, or if its a really hard mid lane but afterwards is sold for item 3198 . Alot of other champions have other presisng issues to fix and Viktor isn't really at the top of that list.

The Anagram King2 votes

item 3197 Is used for viktor support item 3196 Is used for viktor top, or if its a really hard mid lane but afterwards is sold for item 3198 .

Viktor can not sell his augments to switch to death. If he picks one, then he's stuck with it.

Though having the ability to sell and switch augments would be a solution, sure.

The view that Viktor's 2 year itemisation feedback isn't a pressing champion issue is completely unjustified. His unpopularity stems almost entirely from the perception of his 'weaker' augments. A moment spent addressing his lesser used augment options - the way normal items already see attention - is well overdue.

Bonaparte1 votes

I'm pretty sure one of the Rioters has made a post about this. They're in the process of looking at Viktor and his augments.

RasCaelestis2 votes

No. The most recent thing we heard was:

"This is the first that we are exploring the idea of a unique character trinket. If it works out well for Rengar we may think about if it could also be a good change for Viktor. The two situations are not exactly alike, so there will probably bee some differences in our approach for Viktor. For now no work is happening on Viktor's item but don't count it out for the future."

Source: RiotScruffy's post here.

It was not even said in a thread about Viktor. We had to dig through a Rengar one for any information. The true evolution thread has been seemingly abandoned by Riot. We haven't seen one in months, despite the thread reaching over 400 pages.

EDIT: And before Scruffy's comment the 'best' we heard was from the Rioter that started the Viktor thread in the first place, Solcrushed. This time in a thread about the 4.1 turret changes.

"I will acknowledge it, but this issue has been out there for far too long for me to comment on just now. I would rather bring concrete info rather than hopefuls"

This one just gets me annoyed. IT'S BEEN TOO LONG BECAUSE OF YOU! Don't try to push the issue off even more. Also "I will acknowledge it" comes off as really rude to me. I don't know if that was the intention, but what I'm getting from it is that you've not done anything, then are mad that we brought it back up again. You're saying that you're aware of our concerns and the issue, but you just don't want to deal with it.

Solcrushed, I don't want to seem rude, but YOU were the one that got us excited for this possibility, then you abandoned it. We have heard no reason why, and until Scruffy confirmed it we didn't even know if the issue was truly scrapped. We've had to resort to scrounging for news in threads for other champions and even then it's not much. Please, just come back to "The true evolution". We've missed you.

This 'Beta' forum is supposedly where to go to get Riot's attention. I hope this works...

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