Numbers and Niches - When Should You Play Azir?
Hey guys, trying something new. Would appreciate any criticism for the following article (and it's quite a long one).
With well over 100 champions in League of Legends, why should you ever choose the Emperor of the Sands? With a powerful sun turret, an unrivaled auto attack range, and an army of sand soldiers, the emperor’s zone control capabilities can be nearly unrivaled as he commands the battlefield.
Azir's Passive is Shurima's Legacy, granting him the ability to summon the Sun Disk over the remains of destroyed towers. Because the Sun Disk copies the stats of the tower it is built over, the Sun Disk easily becomes one of the most powerful pets that any champion has access to. It has the most range, hits harder shot per shot sans Heimerdinger lasers and Ghost Dragons, the highest single target DPS, comes with built in Armor Penetration, and has more health than everything that isn't a Ghost Dragon. Sun Disks can't be placed on enemy inhib or Nexus Turrets, however can be placed on your own. Like normal towers, they're only really good at establishing a defensive line the enemy has problems passing rather than setting up an advance for your teammates to push with. Finally, Azir can't really leave his turret unattended without it dropping far faster than it already would. This makes the Sun Disk rather lackluster on the offensive, but that still leaves it as a tremendously powerful defensive tool for Azir to rely on and gives Azir's defensive zoning capabilities that much more leverage.
Azir’s Q is Conquering Sands, and to be entirely frank, it’s not exactly a highlight of Azir’s kit. In comparison to, for example, Vel’Koz, the ability lacks in many areas. Unless you successfully hit someone with all 3 soldiers, Vel’Koz slows for more and for twice as long. Its range is rather short, especially after considering geometry. The damage it does is lackluster, and the 1 second saved at max rank won’t be changing the course of battles. The ability has a lot of unique gimmicks thanks to the Sand Soldier mechanic that Azir is running around with, but the bottom line is that Conquering Sands really should not be a point of focus when you are deciding on when to use Azir.
Another big highlight of Azir’s kit, Arise! has the ability to summon Sand Soldiers, magic damage dealing pets that replace Azir’s auto attacks when they are in range. They give Azir a ridiculous amount of reach, as with an 800 unit command range and a soldier’s 375 attack range, this effectively gives Azir’s auto attacks 1175 range, blowing every other auto attack range out of the water. Unfortunately, it’s a little difficult to operate Azir’s Soldiers at that range while kiting, so it’s probably not as accurate to say Azir effectively has 1175 auto attack range, but the point still stands he’s got a lot more reach than virtually any other Marksman. The cooldown of this ability is also of no hinderance to Azir, as he’ll be able to maintain at least one soldier constantly by level 7. No other champion in League of Legends is capable of consistent magic damage DPS like Azir can at the maximum range he can operate. Ultimately, it makes Azir a powerful member on your team for handling tanks from afar, and grants Azir that much more active zone control that his turrets don’t really execute on.
Azir’s E is Shifting Sands and once again, Azir’s gigantic zones of control are showcased. With a max range of 1100 units, along with the ability to adjust soldier placement with Conquering Sands by 875 units, that essentially gives a near 2000 unit dash. Once again, theory and practicality aren’t always the same, but looking at this from a numerical standpoint, especially because this dash doesn’t require Azir to lock onto an enemy target, this gives Azir the single longest non global or semi global dash in game. As for the magic damage and shield however, well it’s not impressive to say the least. There are many other shields in the game that potentially shield for much more that don’t do something like sacrifice Azir’s fantastic range, and for a skill with such a long cooldown, the damage it does is rather low next to many other single target magic damage skills in the game.
Azir’s Ultimate is Emperor’s Divide. Most people like to talk about its knock back and magic damage upon activation, but to be frank there are knock backs that have more range and utility and ultimates with far bigger AOE that do more damage. If the name of the game is to insec somebody, even as a big aoe effect, you have other and oftentimes better options. So, what about the shield wall built after? Unlike most other forms of player made terrain, Azir’s ultimate can be passed through by allies, inhibiting your enemies but posing no issue to your own teammates. Not only this, but the majority of dash abilities can’t pass over Azir’s wall. This creates yet another layer to Azir’s zones of control, and rounds out Azir’s kit by not only giving him tools to operate from afar, but also when threats come too close.
So, why should you play Azir? While Conquering and Shifting Sands are lackluster in and of themselves, they help contribute to the areas that Azir has over every other champion in the game. The Sun Disk is one of the best defensive pets in the game, slowing down enemy advances and forcing siege scenarios. With the sand soldiers from Azir’s Arise!, Azir has accesses solid magic damage DPS at ranges far exceeding other forms of DPS. Finally, with Emperor’s Divide, Azir can take control of close range battles by separating enemies and inhibiting them from reaching their targets. You use Azir to counter enemies with bad siege potential by forcing them into sieges, to force itemization changes on the enemy team with his long range hyper carry potential, or to cut off and impede melee or dash reliant champions. When you need a champion for unrivaled zones of control, that is when you should play Azir.
