[2020] Upcoming changes to Anivia

https://media.tenor.com/images/dbbee0a3df32ea6a7b670c21c4ebaf8d/tenor.gif

Oh, I missed a line in the text version of the list. I can't check the exact numbers atm, but ult cost is also down a bit as well. It'll show up on PBE shortly, though.

Main focus is to make Anivia feel better to play in modern League without much change to her core identity or skill-tests. This is meant to be a large buff, because Anivia was hit by a large systemic nerf in 10.23. Also, the reason we didn't hotfix Anivia is because I already happened to be partway through an Anivia modernization pass when she dropped precipitously in the preseason patch, so I wanted to use that extra room to find more buffs with long-term value for the champion instead of hotfixing in generic power.

For those concerned that this is too large of a buff—if it's too much, we'll nerf her. I think a lot of these changes will make the character feel better to play without significantly eroding counterplay, though, which is the important part that will stick around when she's balanced.

I tested this in the first iteration of the changes (because responsiveness up was a core value). Playtest team felt it was pretty notably counterplay down and it generally felt cheap when she was able to pretty reliably CC you while she was CC'd, so I pulled the change.

So, I definitely sympathize with the health decrease. Ultimately I looked at it as: I have X amount of power to work with to make Anivia feel like a functional modern champion. Where do I put it?

If I had extra room left-over, or if she's still too weak after these buffs, I very well might consider some sort of base health or health per level, but it just didn't make the cut over any of the changes I thought were most important (and I had to decrease R damage somewhat to even make room for what's here).

I think removing the cast time on her wall would be a bad change for the champion. Being able to consistently stuff movement skills would require her to be weaker in other areas of her kit and would also be most powerful in support, because that utility doesn't scale with gold, along with encouraging her to hold on to her wall to use it reactively instead of proactively setting it down to define the battlefield.

If you have specific reproduction steps for people walking through the wall, then I can take a look, but I haven't seen it myself.

Ah, I see. That's unfortunate, but I don't really have the capability to fix that as a designer (or to know how difficult it even would be to fix, I think). Thanks for the info.

Did think about passive. Didn't feel like putting power in it would help as much as the other places it could go, especially when we're looking for play-feel improvements.

Nautilus’ next release will be in the second patch of 2021.