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PhreakRiot



25 Feb

Phreak teasing Ashe nerf in 13.5?

Comment

Originally posted by dancing_bagel

Awesome! These changes look exactly like what I hoped for a support Ashe nerf. Although I didnt expect the Health nerf for early, I guess she's a bit too safe in lane?

Two things here:

  1. I don't think Ashe is a problem for solo queue. Players have fun with Ashe support and that's mostly fine
  2. She is extremely too dominant in pro play. I'd feel differently if she was like 70% presence with some picks and some bans, but she's trending toward 100% ban. So we don't even see her in pro play and she's just a tax on bans instead. So, she has to be nerfed enough to change pro behavior.

Because she has to be nerfed enough to change pro behavior, I want to push hard enough that they will actually consider her counterable. She's supposed to be natively be weak into champions like Leona, Nautilus, or Pyke since she can't protect either herself or her ally from being chain CC'd and killed. But she has one of the highest base healths in the game. Her numbers now match Varus.

I think in terms of general frustration, W rank 5 cooldown and R cooldown overall are too low for support Ashe. This ends up being a pretty big n...

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Phreak teasing Ashe nerf in 13.5?

Comment

Current changelist:

Base Stats

  • Base Health: 640 >>> 600
  • Health Growth: 101 >>> 105
  • Breaks even at level 12
  • Attack Damage Growth: 2.95 >>> 3.25

Q - Ranger's Focus

  • Removed: No longer requires Focus to cast
  • New: Cooldown: 10 seconds
  • Attack Speed: 25-55% >>> 25-45%
  • Total Damage: 105-125% total AD >>> 105-145% total AD
  • This is 3-11% more total damage, increasing with AS purchases

W - Volley

  • Cooldown: 18-4 >>> 18-6

R - Enchanted Crystal Arrow

  • Cooldown: 80/70/60 >>> 100/80/60

24 Feb

[Phreak] A Sneak Peek at Azir's 13.5 Changes

Comment

Originally posted by TetBoyzzz

no one gets to have good games on them because of the 0.001%

Only if you're assuming a lower average winrate/rank means lower satisfaction.

I think its important to look at why certain players would main certain champions here and I think there is a (decently substantial) number of players who picked Azir specifically because he's the "Pro Player champion" and find satisfaction from being able to play him.

Sure there will be Azir players that just want him to be better in their soloqueue games who will be happy to see the winrate increase but my problem is that those are the players being catered to by these and many other recent changes and it feels like the former are being treated as though they don't exist.

What I want to say is that I think the game should promise you a certain amount of success for fully learning a champion. I don’t think Azir does that. Not that you can’t win on him or have fun, but that it’s typically not worth trying as the payoff isn’t good enough. He’s tuned very low because of pro.

[Phreak] A Sneak Peek at Azir's 13.5 Changes

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Originally posted by Spideraxe30

Hey Phreak there’s a bug on PBE where Azir’s turret loses resistances if he is untargetable like with Zhonyas as if he were dead or far away

Hmm, I didn’t change any of the logic surrounding when it applies. Likely this affected him before as well?

[Phreak] A Sneak Peek at Azir's 13.5 Changes

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Originally posted by Notingale

High skill ceiling is not correlated to Pro Play popularity. It’s about toolkit, which Azir has in the form of hyper scaling super safe poke machine skill set, which is not good in solo because aggression is more rewarding there.

Yeah, champions like Yasuo, Gangplank, Katarina, Riven... are not pro skewed but require an extremely high amount of mastery to do very well on. (Gangplank is currently overtuned).

If a champion is pro bound, it means no one gets to have good games on them because of the 0.001%. Azir also happens to be high MMR skewed.

The strengths here often overlap but not always.

[Phreak] A Sneak Peek at Azir's 13.5 Changes

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Originally posted by Hirokei

I don't play Azir, so I don't know, but does that 5 seconds cut into the duration? If so I would definitely lean towards cutting the build time, at least in half to match the pre-buff version.

No, the health decay only starts once it activates.


23 Feb

Phreak patch 13.4 rundown

Comment

Originally posted by GalaxySmash

Ah my favorite Balance team member, Galaxy Smash

What a coincidence, Doctor Professor Smash is my favorite, too!

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by xMisuto

In my opinion as a main masters azir otp, i think you are aiming at the right direction. Things i would do that should make him more low elo, less high elo:

!!!!Nerf early game laning!!!!!:

- remove Q base dmg, add alot of scaling (you reduced but can be removed tbh)

- buff W a bit to make last hitting easier

- buff base ad (you did that)

- keep mana at pre nerf, mana is a low elo thing, pros manage it way better (i now just run 1 mana rune and dont feel the mana nerfs...)

- !!! IF POSSIBLE: reduce W cs dmg ~50% BUT add a low hp execute on cs to offset !!!!

Buff lategame scalings:

- buff E and R dmg scaling (you did this as well)

- buff W scaling

- keep W passive atkspeed (!! you can remove the tripple atkspeed buff if you think its such a high elo thing, but with enough cdr getting 3/4 soldiers out is normal, so i dont really see why low elo doesnt/couldnt use this !!)

OR

- new pa...

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Thanks for the write-up! I totally agree with you in terms of his actual laning strengths and the directions to go.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by Twouseacc

ah ,unfortunante.

Also ,what are your thoughts on hitting his early waveclear over base stat nerfs ? (like soldiers having even less AoE early) ,seems like a way to target high elo/pro preformance specifically

I really dislike hitbox size changes. Solders currently deal like 12 damage to minions that aren't the primary target at level 1. Not sure that can go much lower.

In general, he has lower wave clear. Q damage is down, as is his mana pool for pressing it.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by Twouseacc

Honestly would be great if the 3 soldier mechanic stayed ,even if at a lower power to keep your intended goals (like W giving 0 free AS ,but 3 soldiers giving 10-30% extra depending on ability rank).

It gives a satisfying feeling of power when you get to use it ,especially lategame when it's more spammable.

I think 3 solder is a bad mechanic and the champion is healthier with it gone, regardless of the other goals of the changes.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by Jozoz

You're not worried that adding a real passive adds to an already really complete kit with few weaknesses?

I think if his passive is good, this helps bring up his low end a lot. By definition, he has pretty low agency over how the Sun Disk performs, so I believe it'll tend to carry more weight in Bronze than in Challenger.

Now, this almost certainly can't carry the entire burden. Goal #1 is being a fun champion. But right now the passive is really ultra horrible to use and that can get a lot better. So pretty much anything is better than the current state, even if it eats up a little bit of his power budget. Since again, his power level is completely pro constrained and pros are REALLY good at playing around towers, a buff here likely doesn't move the needle a whole lot in pro.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by UNOvven

Wait, so is the logic basically that some champs are just allowed to perpetually be on the strong/dominant side? Is that why Lee keeps getting massive buffs he doesnt need and why he isnt nerfed even when he is extremely broken?

I mean Lee Sin was like 46% win rate and nowhere to be seen in pro. Seems like a pretty safe buff.

Not all champions are equal in terms of player satisfaction, both playing and watching the game.

Tahm Kench had the game's highest ban rate at 45% win rate. People hated playing against him. Most champions are not Tahm Kench.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by ViraLCyclopes19

But I want a dps mage not a burst one with some Utility where it seems he's heading rn with the R and E buffs next patch + this. I think most agree as well, Dps > Burst. Should leave some attack speed scaling somewhere tbh. Don't think base attack speed buffs are gonna justify it enough.

But I'll wait till I see em in action before judging fully.

13.4 was really quick reaction stuff to lower his pro presence. Worse early game, find something not early game to buff.

I think ideally Azir should use both the DPS and Mage halves of his kit. If his R is just a disengage tool, that’s a really flat champion.

The changes here increase his W DPS.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by mikael22

Phreak, what are your thoughts about the Azir keeping shuffle/removing shuffle debate that pops up every time Azir balance is mentioned? Do you think it is fine that a large amount of his power budget is tied into his shurima shuffle?

I think the shuffle is the biggest thing that makes him an interesting pro champion, meaning he is acceptable as a top 5 pro pick, which means we can have a higher solo queue winrate.

I think if we were to remake Azir today, it’d be interesting to see what he’d be like as a shorter range champion. Not sure if that’d be Urgot level or more like Ryze/Cassiopeia. That’s a pretty big change, though, and much more work than the relatively simple stuff here. That’d make shuffle a much more cohesive part of the character, though.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by Hoshiimaru

I have played this champion for three years, got me to masters last season and I'd like to hear how do you think those changes help him to make him not too picked in pro play? As I understand you are nerfing his early game but he can still sit back and farm with W with perma prio.

Eh, he definitely has less overall dps early game. Not certain he guarantees lane prio when he has 70 less hp for all-ins as well.

Not saying the changes are the perfect silver bullet but I think we get gains. Like if he’s 46% for average players while he’s a pro pick, maybe we get him to 47-48. I still think that’s a win.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by Cube_

All I ask is that after these changes hit the live servers please monitor Azir's game health and continue to iterate based on data for the next 4-5 patches.

The worst feeling in the past with sweeping large changes like this for a champion is when Riot does them and then just starts ignoring the champion. It leaves the dedicated playerbase of the champion alienated and dejected.

If these changes miss on the champion fantasy just please keep trying different things until it is solved.

If the follow-up changes to Alistar and Thresh are any indication, I don't intend to ignore projects I've taken up. If this guy ends up being 40% win rate, it's gonna be micropatch buffs the next day most likely.

It's why I submitted this to PBE on day 1: I really want the feels testing. Power's going to be hard to surmise, honestly. But hopefully the attacks feel better and the turret feels more like it belongs to Azir. Real live gameplay is going to be how we figure out if the triple-solder needs much compensation.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by 2th

Phreak, I want you to know that I absolutely love you for how much effort you put into responses like this. Thank you very much for such an explanation.

I got u bae

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by ix-sqt-ix

So the new tower can proc things like luden’s and night harvester but not passives like nashor’s tooth?

Correct. Currently nothing on Azir's kit applies on-hits, which is unchanged here. His W should potentially apply Nashor's on its primary target but that also means it applies Lich Bane and there's just a lot going on there. For now, I'm not desperate to include it, though I think it makes sense for him.

Not sure I'd be comfortable having it apply spells and on-hits, so for now everything applies Luden's, Liandry's, and Rylai's and not Nashor's or Lich Bane.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by Raynal7

f**k yes. Then I think this is amazing work. Nice job with the changes recently, I find it very refreshing as a long time player.

Also, is the W attack speed a mistake as well? I have to assume you arent planning to remove 110% attack speed from max rank W and hope that the new base AS changes make up for it, right?

I intend to remove up to 127% bonus AS from the champion.

Without triple-W this is DPS positive. The value of triple-W can really only be discerned from playtesting. I'm ballparking the compensation.

PBE datamine 2023 February 22: some sort of Azir rebalancing?

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Originally posted by Raynal7

Gonna need context here. What are we missing? These changes just make Azir dog shit. Tower ap ratio doesn't realistically matter, Q base dmg and mana cost changes mean Azir is garbage in lane.

Fine. Nerf his lane phase, but where are the compensation buffs? Instead W loses massive amount of base damage, for 5% ap scaling?

The Q changes are okay, fine, but he needs compensation buffs here or he will be 40% winrate. Not to mention, taking away the W attack speed?? The buffs to his AS ratio are not nearly enough here.

Would like to see more changes here. The direction is good if you are just aiming to gut his early lane phase and allow him to scale into a dps monster.

W damage is incorrect in the scrape. It's 50-200, up from 50-150