So, with the upcoming new season of League of Legends comes a variety of changes for a class archetype, much like the Mage changes we saw earlier this year. This time, it’s Assassins! Yeah! Woo! I mean. . . Damnit! I mean, looking at it from a Support standpoint, I’m not worried because Assassins will just get banned in any mode that allows for it, because that’s how this game works. New champ? Banned. Mage rework? Banned. While I’m all for shaking things up and making them fresh and new, there’s always going to be that element. You know the element. I HATE IT. IT IS NEW AND DIFFERENT AND EVERYTHING IS OP AGAIN. And I hear you! I understand! There’s a part of me that dreads that in their zeal to make things more balanced, it’ll only get more ridiculous! We’ll just have to see. . .There’s some genuinely interesting stuff being offered up and some stuff I feel is absolutely damned ludicrous. Like I said last time, the goal is for the Assassins to not just leap in immediately and delete people, as has been happening. Akali, Fizz, Leblanc, they’re infamous for that. And let’s not forget Rengar and Talon, to a lesser extent. I’m going to highlight a few of the changes and what I think:
- Talon: Cutthroat is no longer a blink/flash. Now it’s more Parkour I believe. From what I’m led to believe it’s now a leap and can leap over walls now? I hope you guys are ready for jungle Talon. It’s coming.
- Katarina: She still will want to be getting as many free Pentakills as she can possibly can. But her lane phase will be less about just throwing Bouncing Blades on cooldown and that’s it, until you can instant Shunpo+Sinister Steel. It’s said she’ll still get some kind of reset, but it’s not confirmed for her ult. Maybe Shunpo. I love the idea of her not being able to reset her ultimate forever.
- Fizz: Let’s go fishing! I hate Fizz. But I do think it’s interesting that the farther the fish goes for Chum the Waters, the bigger the Shark that leaps out! That’s kind of cool. Not necessary but definitely cool.
- Leblanc: What’s going on with Leblanc seems pretty unclear to me. Same mobility, more deception. Probably more ludicrous clone mechanics. Distortion will likely lose some waveclear though, and have a Zed-style component in the form of delay-snapback. I hope this will make her more complicated and tricky instead of “Hey I made a clone! Hey! You’re dead now! Wheeeeeee!”
There were one or two other little things spoiled [and Rengar], but I won’t lie, I’m not a big fan. I’ll reserve actual judgment until pre-Season. It could be amazing, but it could also be just another thing that people will complain about. Though to be honest, nothing they do will be good enough. Because League. What do you think about the forthcoming changes?