Zoe Rework Concept

With the recent complaints about Zoe is became pretty clear that Zoe's playstyle of "jump in, oneshot" is very unfun to play against. The same playstyles could be found in LeBlanc and Nidalee, and they were promptly changed to something "healthier".

In my opinion, Zoe plays like a burst mage / assassin. She jumps in, kills, jumps out. Often she will have to set up her E for this. The reason why it is hard to balance Zoe in her current state is that her Q combo holds pretty much all of her power.

Her E damage is irrelevant without Q. Her passive doesn't really proc without Q. Her W is very situational to use for damage.

I believe Zoe's playstyle should represent the fantasy of a mobile dps mage. She should be hopping over the battlefield, hitting enemies with Q from interesting angles, and should be properly managing her spells.

I have put the entire kit below, but I will quickly "TL;DR" it for you: Passive removed and changed to W passive. Q first cast is multi target. Second cast is single target. Q damage massively reduced. W can be used more in fights and is less situational. E is less frustrating. Lingering zone activates after a delay. R is now optional to jump back.

Reasoning for all this can be found at the bottom of the post.

More Sparkles!: INNATE: Casting a spell summons three bubbles that orbit her for the next 3 seconds. The bubbles bubbles autonomously hurl themselves at the nearest enemy in range, prioritizing her attack target, and dealing them magic damage.

MAGIC DAMAGE PER ORB: 25 / 45 / 65 / 85 (+ 25% AP)

Paddle Star: FIRST CAST: Zoe hurls a star in the target direction that collides with the first enemy hit, dealing magic damage in a small area. The damage is increased by 0% - 100% (based on distance traveled).

If the star does not hit an enemy, it lingers at maximum range for 1 second.

SECOND CAST: While the star is out, Zoe can reactivate Paddle Star to redirect it to a new location near her, resetting its damage modifier on cast. If Zoe moves with the redirected star, it will keep moving until it reaches Paddle Star's cast range. The star will only damage the first enemy hit.

Only the initial cast will prime More Sparkes.

MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 50% AP) MAXIMUM DAMAGE: 120 / 190 / 260 / 330 / 400 (+ 100% AP) TARGET RANGE: 800 COST: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 MANA COOLDOWN: 7 / 7.5 / 6 / 5.5 / 5

Spell Thief: PASSIVE: Whenever enemy champions cast a summoner spell or item active they drop a corresponding Spell Shard on the ground. Spell Shards last for 20 seconds. Some enemy minions spawn with random Spell Shards that drop on death. Zoe can collect these Spell Shards by walking over them. If Zoe is already holding a Spell Shard it is replaced.

ACTIVE: Zoe mimics the active of the collected Spell Shard and gains bonus movement speed. If Zoe is not holding a Spell Shard she only receives the bonus movement speed.

The cooldown of Spell Thief is reset upon collecting a Spell Shard

COOLDOWN: 30 / 25 / 20 / 15 / 10

Sleepy Trouble Bubble: Active: Zoe kicks a bubble in the target direction that bursts on the first enemy hit, else forming a trap at maximum range for 2 seconds that arms after 2 seconds. The bubble can only move through terrain once but may do so indefinitely, can only move up to 650 units once outside terrain, and will fall short if it would enter terrain again.

The bubble deals magic damage on contact with an enemy and renders them drowsy for 2 seconds, which gradually slows them, after which they fall asleep for 2 seconds.

Champion damage taken by the sleeping target is increased by 30%.

TARGET RANGE: 800 COST: 80 MANA COOLDOWN: 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+ 40% AP)

Portal Jump: FIRST CAST: Zoe targets a location and then dives into a portal that she opens beneath her, blinking to the target location. She remains rooted in place for 1 second.

SECOND CAST: Zoe falls back trough the portal and blinks back to her location.

If Zoe does not jump back the cooldown of Portal Jump is decreased by 50%.

TARGET RANGE: 500 COST: 50 Mana COOLDOWN: 20 / 14 / 8**

So you read it all? Good. Now let's try and explain.

Zoe's current passive is simply a sheen. It does not take much skill to use, and is often activated after Q, just granting it extra power. Replacing it with her W passive allows there to be a limit to a power, and will require players to time their skills properly for maximum damage.

Zoe's Q can clear waves with ease. Changing it to be single target on second cast will force Zoe to use a short Q for killing minions. It also forces her to extend a bit more.

Zoe's W is, as said before, very situational. These changes will allow her to activate it multiple times even without a spell shard.

Zoe's R will allow her to quickly blink over the battlefield. She is rewarded for blinking and playing aggressive.