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QoL Gameplay Update/Buff Suggestions for Shyvana

TakaDama·3/30/2015, 6:22:10 PM·3 votes·916 views
Dev Blog: Reimagining Sion

"More than anything, old Sion was just confused with no clear sense of identity. Some of his abilities worked with attack damage, some with ability power, and he sort of functioned as a tank. Thing is, no matter how you built him, you’d end up actively forgoing the effective use of a number of your abilities and stats. . . . " -- Riot Scruffy on pre-rework Sion.

A similar set of problems plagues Shyvana, but to a much greater extend. She has a mess of AD, AS, CDR, AP, and Tank abilities, with a variety of damage types between abilities of similar scaling.

Also, unlike pre-rework Sion, she also has no natural CC outside of her ult activation, which is alright for a strong duelist 1v1ing someone, but not alright for such an aggressive champion meant to be in the center of the teamfight.

My intention with this suggestion is to help generate discussion and awareness about Shyvana's pros and cons to improve her viability without overpowering her kit.

First, the mechanics of her ult is in a good spot thematically. In Human Form, she's a strong duelist, while in Dragon Form, she's got a strong AoE presence to make her somewhat viable in team fights. The only improvement I would make to it by itself would be to widen the hitbox of its activation.

Second, her passive: while it's nice to have free Armor and MR while 1v1ing someone, simply doubling that amount while in Dragon Form does not do well in team fights. Something similar to Wukong's Ult would work perfectly:

[NEW Passive] Shyvana gains bonus Armor and Magic Resist. These bonuses are increased by 50% for each nearby enemy champion while in Dragon Form.

So, in a full 5v5 fight, Shyvana would get 350% of her passive Armor/Magic Resist bonus. Maybe a bit too strong though: perhaps a lower ratio would be more appropriate?

Third, her Q and E: they have very nice synergy combined, and, despite being culprits in the lack mechanical identity, they don't need to have their scaling changed due to applications outside of single ability damage. Not much is needed here, but is a perfect opportunity to introduce some QoL CC.

[NEW Q] Shyvana Strikes twice with her next attack, stunning targets marked with [E] for 0.75 seconds. Basic attacks reduce the cooldown of Twin Bite by 0.5 seconds.

Dragon Form: Shyvana cleaves all units in front of her.

Note: this means that with improper positioning, the opposing team is at risk for an REQ combo-stun. May need a Udyr Bear Stance clause to prevent stun-locking though.

Finally, her W: the ability that scales with AD but deals magic damage. For me, this is a perfect opportunity to encourage players of various skill levels to build her tanky, so changing the scaling from AD to Health is a nice, albeit minor, change.

[NEW W Scaling] +0.5/1/1.5/2/2.5% Bonus HP per second

Numbers would need to be tested of course, especially considering the variable duration (at Rank 5, this version would deal between +7.5% and +17.5% of her Bonus HP as magic damage) and Cinderhulk Enchantment (effectively increases her damage output with this version by a little less than 25% while also improving survivability), but it seems like a nice change from a magic damage skill that scales only with AD.

Any thoughts?

4 Comments

TecToNiiC3/30/2015, 6:54:30 PM1 votes

Im always up for shyv buffs and i agree with the mess of scalings and stats that she wants but that e-q interaction would be very broken.

Im in favor of her ult doing something more for durability or possibility changing her passive from armor and mr to % dmg reduction while obviously finding numbers to make it close.

In terms of a quick buff i think either adding an aoe slow at the end of her ult or making the leap uninterruptable would be a nice way to start.

junglerboy163/31/2015, 1:13:12 PM1 votes

First, Shyvana is NOWHERE near as bad off as pre-relaunch Sion was.

Her identity is as a mixed damage carry bruiser. She is unique in that niche, but that does not mean she is a mixed up pile of stats like Sion. She is a half dragon. Dragons use magic along with their natural claws and teeth, so that works.

For her ult, I'd say make her uninterruptible and that ability is all set. She already has a wide collision range on the dash, she just needs the reliability to know she not going to just get knocked out of it by some wimpy little stun, root, or knock about.

Her passive needs a little extra, and I like your idea. Maybe they should make it so that while it gives the flat amount in human form, in dragon form it is increased by 50%, + and additional 20% per enemy champion within ~1400-1600 range (max 150% total bonus in Dragon form)

I'd say the other big thing she needs is more interaction with her fury, but that would require many more changes.

Giving her a small .5 second stun for comboing Q and E is good, but the stun can't be very long because of her naturally high damage.

I like the idea for W, but the bonus health scaling should be more gradual, like +1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5% because early on you aren't going to have enough HP for 0.5% bonus health ratio to have any impact.

Basically, she has to keep her identity as a hybrid damage AS based carry bruiser, and then just emphasize the more durable aspects and making Dragon form better in team fights and human form better in duels.