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Lissandra (Minor) Rework

Chrysi7·2/8/2018, 11:42:11 AM·2 votes·458 views

Lissandra is a very.. Interesting champion. She's got a lot of hard Crowd Control, with her Roots and Stasis It's simply great. Add with her slow, and her AOE from her W and R, and she could be very good.

If not for her utter lack of a passive, and rather boring kit. Her ultimate is her saving grace, but it still doesn't redeem her. She is the Ice Witch of old, of the Freljord. She is the Speaker of the Watchers, their Seeker, she is the last Iceborn known to exist. So why does she not feel like one?

I propose a (small) rework, to an extent.

Passive: Iceborn currently is a less interesting Manaflow Band. Even Manaflow Band is more noticeable on champions, unlike Iceborn which you get the tiny glowing visor. Make Lissandra the Corrupter of Nature she was meant to be, and to do that, I propose a new passive: Seeker of the Watchers.

Lissandra seeks out her frozen masters, and gains movement speed when she damages enemy champions, monsters and minions (with a high max around 400 we'll say, which totals at a high movement speed, maybe 400 or 435 idk I'm just bouncing ideas around here), but which resets on death. Lissandra passively leaves behind a trail of frost, which slows enemies down.

Q: Utterly boring, truthfully. It's still her primary damage tool, however. Make the spear actually LOOK decent, like her other abilities do, for starters. Change it so instead of what it is, Lissandra fires off a spear of ice, which she can reactivate to splinter into numerous smaller shards in an AOE wide direction.

W: Shift this ability's focus around, so it's not around Lissandra by default. Make it so she can target someone with this ability, and it happens to release a circle-AOE of this. This makes it so Lissandra's zoning capability is far greater, and she can still cast it on herself to get out of potentially highly dangerous situations easier.

E: The only thing I think that could make it better is if Lissandra could choose where along the path she appears. Make it so if it lands over terrain, she has vision of it prior to jumping over there.

R: Make it so that when Lissandra casts her ultimate upon an enemy, they are susceptible to more damage. Make it so whenever her ultimate is cast, the surrounding area of damage is (slightly) bigger, but more importantly, does more damage! Have the ice shards rise even higher, impaling her enemies in a horrific display of power! The cooldown and cost may need to be higher as a result.

What this would make is Lissandra, instead of being a burst mage with some decent CC who is rather boring, she becomes the zoning queen. Lissandra's theme has always been, in my opinion, creating zones of ice. She's the "darkness" Volibear, Anivia and Udyr sense. She is corrupting the ice of the Freljord, tainting the world. She is seeking to bring about a new Ice Age, as well as bring back the Frozen Watchers. Initially I wanted her to interact directly with terrain, but felt that took away from her true theme too much. She is rewarded for engaging combat with those who seek to prevent her masters return, or who seek to foil her other plots. The Ice Witch moves swiftly to find her masters, and to bring about the ice age of corruption. She's very AOE centric, her theme of holding a frozen citadel, a dangerous area enemies dare not wade into, of a different variety than what Zyra might do. Zyra creates a bunch of plants which will punish you at any point, but Lissandra will punish you for daring to come NEAR her.

I'm aware her passive is somewhat loaded, but not as much as some other passives we've seen.

4 Comments

TheLandShark2/8/2018, 4:17:47 PM2 votes

I've been playing since the end of season 2 and Lissandra is one of my mains and I'm going to throw out some of my own input on what you're saying :)

  1. The passive I also feel is very lackluster now because of mana flow band - and a change there could be awesome. Leaving behind a trail of ice would feel a little strange though in my opinion. This would give her more kiting potential that I don't think she needs - her Q slows already and is on a very short cool down - and if they get too close you have E to root.

  2. Casting W on an ally sounds extremely interesting - but maybe too strong - only being able to cast on yourself allows some counter play - either she has to come in auto range to deal that damage, or you get to her and she has to use it as her defense. Being able to cast on an ally makes it so she can stay even farther back in fights and to be great as Lissandra I think you should know how to move well within the fray of a fight.

  3. "Make the spear actually LOOK decent" and "can reactivate to splinter into numerous smaller shards in an AOE wide direction". Her Q looks fine as is - the animation looks fluid, and the shattering when it hits something looks good too, but maybe that's just me. Changing her q to be able to burst into a cone whenever feels like a Anivia Q attempt - and knowing how to hit a first target to splinter it into the targets behind is also an important skill to know on Lissandra. I feel that her Q is completely fine as is.

  4. In regards to her E you said "could choose where along the path she appears". As of right now, you do choose where you appear, depending on when you recast the ability, and I don't think giving more vision is something that should be freely tacked onto abilities. Her E animation allows for counter play/outplay from both whoever is attacking Liss and Liss herself - Lissandra can throw it out and not take it at all - and the opponent could take the bait and you are out. But if you literally always take it then you should be punished for being predictable - you can also cast it early, or at the very last second of its animation. I feel like her E is fine where it is now.

  5. As for her R you are saying "susceptible to more damage", "deals more damage", and "bigger range" - and then you say "instead of being a burst mage" - but all of these changes to her R make her more a burst mage - nuking people with R harder and upping the cool down (hello Veigar 1 shot) makes her a burst mage haha.

  6. I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but I looked up your op.gg and you don't seem to have any games played on Lissandra. Maybe this is an alt account of yours or something, but I feel this makes you lack room to suggest a rework for the champ. I have played quite a few games of Lissandra, ranked and normals, and I feel that she could use a little tune up - but not a much of a rework like you are suggesting.

Overall, in my opinion, her passive could change - since mana flow band exists now - and her ult spread speed could increase, maybe a damage buff (very small - or change ability scalings slightly), but that's it from my stand point. Lissandra is not a terrible pick, and she isn't brokenly strong - you need to master elements of her kit, such as juking with E, how to position in team fights to maximize your Q splintering, and her ult can be extremely powerful when you use it in the right ways.