League of Legends: Quinnconceivable!
By Jason Harper (Hhean), OnRPG League Reporter
Quinn is a ranged carry with high single target damage, granting her exceptional duelling potential. Unlike many ranged carries, she may be better suited to going top lane as a solo rather than the usual carry position of going bottom with a support. This is due to how she can completely shut down melee enemies in her lane, while she can struggle against ranged opponents. Due to this, she’s likely going to feel more familiar to Teemo players than people who prefer traditional ADs.
Pros:
Her AoE blind will win her many damage trades
Very strong chasing and kiting power
Monstrous damage output in the early levels
Destroys melee characters early game
Cons:
Short attack range
The damage steroid from her passive is AI controlled
Very situational escape tools
Her ultimate puts her at extreme risk
All of her abilities become significantly worse in team fights
You have to look at her ugly splash art in the loading screen
Ability Summary
[Passive] Harrier: If both the enemy and Quinn can see one another then her pet bird, Valor, marks a nearby target. If a marked enemy is struck by an auto attack, Quinn will deal some absolutely ridiculous damage on a single hit, consuming the mark. She loses this passive while in bird form.
Since this skill is automatic and requires mutual vision, it can be a great way to let you know the enemy has a nearby ward (or invisible champion) in vision range of yourself before they can capitalize and counter-gank you. Though you may give up the element of surprise when you are the one that has a ward in said bush and Valor marks your would be ganker before your team is fully in position to take advantage.
[Q] Blinding Assault: Linear skillshot that explodes into an AoE blind after hitting its first target. Hits hard and shuts down autoattacks in damage trades. Unfortunately becomes less useful in teamfights, as tanks frequently take the blind instead of the enemy carry. This can be a real nightmare if the tank relies on their abilities more than their autoattacks, like Amumu or Cho’Gath. When in bird form, this ability deals damage around Valor. It’s pretty garbage.
[W] Heightened Senses: Grants Quinn vision in a large radius around her, while also granting bonus attack speed. Useful for both scouting and winning prolonged fights. In bird form the attack speed bonus is doubled, so it can be worth holding back in fights just to use when she transforms. By far her best bird form ability.
[E] Vault: Quinn leaps forward to targeted enemy, then bounces off to land at her auto attack range. Slows, deals damage and counts as movement for Statikk Shiv. She is not immune to damage or CC during this time, so enemies can pull her back or stop her before triggering the bounce. As a bird, you lose the bounce back, making this ability a targeted gap closer. Great for chasing, bad for just about anything else.
[R] Tag Team/ Skystrike: Quinn leaves the battlefield and is replaced by Valor. While playing as Valor, she switches from ranged to melee, and gains a massive bonus to her movement speed that slowly degrades while in combat. After a limited time, or a second activation, Quinn will return to the battlefield, dealing damage in a wide area around her. Good to use in duels or chases, but utterly worthless in teamfights, where you’re going to get nuked immediately for trying to get in close.
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Combos & Shenanigans
In the lane, Harrier forces her enemy to either commit to a hard engage, or avoid her completely. The passive will always prioritise nearby champions, or targets with low health (to help with last hitting), so if an enemy tries to come near the minion line and nothing has already been marked, Valor is going to give them a little present. Once marked, bully your lane opposition, forcing them to either back out, or eat a chunk of damage. If against someone with a lower attack range (most likely melee characters, but there are a few others like Teemo and Thresh) you can hit them with a basic attack, then reapply the mark with Vault before attacking again. This high threat, low risk, low cost combo will make even the most durable characters rethink going in attack range while Harrier hasn’t already marked a target.
If you need to, staggering this combo against melee characters with gap closers can be highly effective. Hit them with the autoattack, wait for them to dash into you, then hit them with vault for a free escape. Smack them with one more shot while they’re slowed. Even if they can make up the ground a second time, or they stop vault from getting you out of the way (remember to keep track of enemy CC, since vault can be interrupted), you can make use of Blinding Assault to make any further attacks be completely useless now that they’ve used all their abilities just getting to you.
Due to its long range, Blinding Assault into Vault is a great way of closing ground on longer ranged characters, preventing return fire while getting in range for a damage trade. If the enemy aren’t scared by Quinn’s initial burst and go for a hard engage, make use of Tag Team to close out the fight. If your Vault is down, you can use her ultimate to back out of a bad fight, or make use of Heightened Senses to finish off your foe.
In team fights, you’re best off coming in as late as possible, usually after your mage has dropped their burst. Quinn is best at performing cleanup in a fight rather than trying to slug it out with the big boys. Even if a (hopefully now weakened) bruiser leaps through the front line at her, she should have the tools to get away, and also act as an unorthodox peeler for the rest of the back line in the process. If the enemy mage drops their burst on her though, she’s going to melt immediately.
Conclusions
Quinn’s a niche ranged pick that makes up for her terrible kit with absolutely gratuitous numbers. She hits so hard in the early levels that she’s simply no fun to fight against, granting melee characters no options to deal with her. This is made even more infuriating with the red elixir start that is becoming popular on top lane at the moment. As the game progresses though she will have less and less of an impact, which is really not what you want from a ranged attack damage character. Her only saving grace in this area is that she can easily get fed from repeatedly murdering her lane opponent in the early game, snowballing so hard later on that she simply uses her massive level and gold lead to crush the opposition.
She’s much weaker in a duo lane, since her low attack range makes her trade unfavourable against most ranged characters. Additionally, her vault damage combo only lets her burst down one target, which is often useless if the second person in the lane can smash her face in. Ranged opponents can also simply hide behind the minion waves or their own support during damage trades to completely ignore her blind. The added sustain and shielding offered by most supports also means she’s less likely to convert her high early game damage into a kill, which she really needs in order to be ahead enough to be worthwhile later in the game.
The absolute worst case scenario for poor Quinn though is if the enemy team is coordinated enough to do a lane swap when she’s intending to go top, which preys on her every weakness. Dealing with both a 2v1 against up to two enemy ranged characters means she can leverage neither her duelling power, nor her melee punishment. Her lack of durability means she gets forced out of the lane quickly, and ultimately has to force her team to lane swap as quickly as possible.
Final Verdict
Good choice if you’re looking for a top lane counter pick to melee characters. She’s poor as a normal ranged carry. Highly advise waiting on her free week before picking her up.
To discuss Quinn yourselves, post in the massive League of Legends thread in the free to play MMOs section, or post in the comments section below. If you haven’t tried League of Legends yet, you’re missing out.
