What to look for in (Pre) Season 6?

    With the end of Season 5 quickly approaching, it is almost that time of the year again, the preseason. This time between the end of the season and the official beginning of the new season is a hectic time where Riot typically introduces many extremely new ideas to the game. 

    In preseason 3, there were huge changes in the jungle with the addition of the Hunter's Machete and introduction of the "Spirit" line of the jungle items (Spirit of the Spectral Wraith, Elder Lizard, and Ancient Golem). There were also many reworked items (Morello's Evil Tome -> Morellonomicon) and new items (Statik Shiv, Iceborn Gauntlet).

    In preseason 4, the major changes went towards the support role with balance changes on all of the supports as well as the addition of the support starting items (Ancient Coin line, Spellthief's Edge line, Nomad's Medallion line). There was also the huge change in how vision worked with the 3 ward limit per champion and the addition of the trinkets.

    In preseason 5, we once again see huge changes to the jungle with the removal of the "Spirit" item line, but the addition of different jungle items and the ability to have different Smite effects. The jungle itself received monumental changes with the addition of Smite effects on camps, the Rift Scuttlers, changes to the Baron buff, and the addition of Dragon buffs.

    Now that preseason 6 is quickly approaching, it is the time to wonder what changes will be brought to Summoner's Rift. The first question that should be asked is what should be changed. The things that have an option to be changed that I see are:

• Runes
• Masteries
• Summoner Spells (specifically TP)
• Champion Mastery
• Jungle items and camps
• Support items
• Marksman and general AD itemization

Runes

As of right now, runes are not too problematic as there is great variation within the different kinds of runes. 

• Marks can be Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Armor Penetration, Magic Penetration, Hybrid Penetration, and even Armor for some supports.
• Seals can be HP, Armor, and the per level versions of them
• Glyphs can be flat and per level MR, flat and per level CDR, flat and per level AP, and Mana Regen
• Quints can be anything

This currently fits Riot's ideals of having the Marks as the damage runes, Seals as the defense rune, Glyphs as the magic rune, and quints as overall runes. Of course, just being in a good spot might not always be enough. While I personally don't see runes as being problematic, it does not make them invulnerable from being changed.

Masteries

Historically, masteries have received changes in every season, and there is no reason to believe that there would be an exception this season. Looking at each section of the tree, the offense seems extremely solid. Every point in the offense tree has its uses and the flow of putting 21 points into it feels fine (the flow for 9 points can be slightly awkward). The defensive tree has some things in it that I think could be buffed or changed, namely Second Wind and Swiftness. I think Second Wind is weak as a mastery while Swiftness is good, but there are things that are better to get. The utility tree has more issues than the other two. Expanded mind, Strength of Spirit, Vampirism, and Inspiration are the ones that I see as the weakest or underused that should be removed or reworked. Riot could keep a large majority of the masteries and alter the tiers instead. I like many of the masteries currently in the game and hope to see many of them stay for the next season.

Summoner Spells

Summoner spells are something that is likely to receive changes. The specific offender here is Teleport, but I'll look at all Summoner Spells. 

Currently, the most used summoners are:

• Flash
• Heal
• Teleport
• Smite
• Exhaust
• Ignite

Ones used occasionally are:

• Barrier
• Cleanse
• Ghost

Ones almost never used are:

• Clairvoyance 
• Clarity

Out of all of these spells, I think Heal, Teleport, Clairvoyance, and Clarity are the most problematic.

Heal is an extremely powerful spell in the bottom lane as it has the healing for a second person as well as a quick movement speed burst. Unfortunately I think it is too potent. Right now, marksman have almost no other options besides heal. In a 2 v 2 fight bottom, the side without heal is at a large health disadvantage for both members. The other options for marksman would be barrier or cleanse, and while cleanse does see very occasional play for marksman, they are still in a weaker state because cleanse is not a pure combat spell. 

Teleport is becoming a problematic spell. As league is transitioning away from pure mechanical skill to more team/map oriented play, teleport is becoming much more important. Previously, it was only top laners that ran teleport, but now the summoner is creeping into mid lane and having two teleports on a team is becoming the norm. The problems with current teleport are that it makes laning dull, makes plays more risky, and generally completely changes the game. 

Clairvoyance and Clarity are legacy spells. They were around when the game first existed and have their uses, but are outclassed. Clairvoyance is a good spell, but the issue I see with it is that you can not replace any of the other summoner spells with it. Before, supports typically ran Flash Clairvoyance, but nowadays supports run Flash Exhaust or Flash Ignite. Clairvoyance can not take the place of Exhaust or Ignite here because there is no combat effectiveness to it like Exhaust or Ignite. The same is true for all other roles, they can't give up a summoner spell for a Clairvoyance. It also doesn't help that Clairvoyance exists in the game as the Blue Trinket.

Clarity conceptually makes sense as a spell, but its application is next to useless in League. If you run out of mana, you just back and if you have Teleport, you teleport back to lane. There is no real heavy mana gating that would warrant the use of Clarity, especially over a different summoner spell. 

Champion Mastery

Now this is not balance related, but I do hope to see some changes occur with champion mastery. Riot introduced this on May of 2015 and was generally well received by the community. The biggest issues with it were how the points were accumulated and the ease of getting champion mastery. What I'd like to see is more levels, as well as possible bonuses for getting to high mastery on a champion. Something small like unlocking a chroma for a champion would be great. Riot has the start of a great system here and I hope they expand on it.

Jungle Items and Camps

The jungle typically receives changes every season. Different things like camp difficulty, camp experience, and how "healthy" the jungle is are typically tweaked. The new mechanic that can be changed in the jungle is the camp specific buffs when Smite is used on it. In its current state, the Smite buffs are great and all have their very clear-cut uses, but changes in strength and duration could still occur.

The other thing that will likely see a change is Poacher's Knife. By itself, it is a fine Smite upgrade. The reduced Smite makes it so that you can take more camps, while the movement speed really makes it feel like an in-and-out mission. It has a clear cut use, but the issue is that all of the other Smites are just better to get. Each Smite is put into one of four different jungler categories, Blasting Smite for farming junglers, Chilling Smite for ganking junglers, Challenging Smite for dueling junglers, and Scavenging Smite for control/counter-jungling junglers. One thing is that the pure counter-jungling style is not that strong and not that popular. Options are to buff Poacher's to make it more attractive, or to change the jungle to make counter-jungling more valuable.

Support Items

The support items have been extremely successful so far, we have seen Zeke's Herald, Mikael's Crucible, Locket of the Iron Solari, and Banner of Command see play, as well as the Ancient Coin, Relic Shield, and Spelltheif's Edge lines of items, and of course, Sightstone. 

One thing that is for sure being changed is Sightstone. Riot Meddler has brought up Sightstone in some posts and Riot is apparently adding more upgrades for the Sightstone instead of it just being Sighstone -> Ruby Sightstone. With this in mind, I do wonder what kind of approach Riot takes with the Sightstone upgrades. Do they give different upgrade paths with different small items to make upgraded Sightstone a ball of stats, or do they give it utility boosts like boot enchantments? The criteria that Meddler has stated for Sightstone upgrades is that they want to avoid making Sightstone appealing for too many positions and to make it so the Sightstone upgrades don't feel like must get upgrades. Either way, I am excited to see what Riot will do with Sightstone this upcoming season.

Marksman and AD Itemization

Marksman has become an increasingly stagnant role. While other roles have large variation in what to build depending on situations, Marksman stick with a single build with very little variation. Champions usually have a specific build that is dictated by the usual first item, so we have the Infinity Edge Marksman, the Blade of the Ruined King Marksman, the Trinity Force Marksman, and the Bloodthirster Marksman. Afterwards, there are almost no variation. The questions a Marksman can ask themselves are should I go Statik Shiv or Phantom Dancer, and should I go lifesteal item or get Last Whisper. I hope that something similar to the AP Item changes that happened in patch 5.13 happens for AD Items, as well as trying to introduce some more items that can be legitimately considered as options.

While I'm excited for the upcoming 2015 Worlds Finals, I'm just as excited to see what changes will be brought to League of Legends in Season 6.

What Can Be Done With Aatrox?

Aatrox- The Darkin Blade

Stats:

HP: 537.8 (+85)
HP Regen: 6.59 (+0.5)
Resource: Bloodwell
Resource Regen: N/A
Range: 150
AD: 60.376 (+3.2)
Attack Speed: 0.651 (+3%)
Armor: 24.384 (+3.8)
Magic Resist: 32.1 (+1.25)
Movement Speed: 345



  

TL;DR: Aatrox is boring to play, make him interesting to play by letting him gain things on minion kills (like AD or healing), letting him gain things on champion kills (like resets or size), or by rallying teammates (give lifesteal and spellvamp).

Aatrox has some issues and has not seen play for over a year; he has not been picked competitively since Season 4 EU LCS playoffs (although he did see bans in the Season 4 World Champions and IEM Season IX Cologne). While some believe that his problems are in the stats and that he needs rebalancing, others believe that Aatrox himself has issues in terms of identity.

Issues
In a recent post by Meddler, he agrees with the original poster that Aatrox has some issues, but he does not think it's a matter of balance. "He does ok, nothing special, but pretty middle of the pack." What Meddler thinks is the issue is that "[Aatrox] doesn't have a distinct enough gameplay identity." Meddler draws from other champions in the same "class" as Aatrox (diving fighters) and notes their specialties: Nocturne can dive from far away, Vi has guaranteed and uninterruptable dive. In his eyes, the solution for Aatrox is to give him that specialty.

Now that we have an issue at hand, the first thing we should look at before trying to fix a champion is the champion themselves. We need to know Aatrox's background and lore so that anything that is changed makes sense thematically. 

Background
In his Lore, Aatrox is stated to be a legendary warrior and is said to have played a part in many wars across time. Some interesting parts in his lore are:

"With each foe felled, Aatrox's seemingly living blade drinks in their blood, empowering him and fueling his brutal, elegant campaign of slaughter."

This statement gives ideas of having some sort of bonus when fighting and killing enemies. Now while this is already slightly in place (Blood Well Passive fills up when hitting things), he has no extra bonus for when he kills something. For a legendary warrior who loves to just murder people, it would make sense that there would be an extra bonus for killing champions or minions. 

Another interesting part is:

"With but a few words, he urged the soldiers to fight to the last before throwing himself into battle. His presence inspired the desperate warriors. At first, they could only watch in awe as this unknown hero cleaved through their enemies.... Soon, the warriors found themselves imbued with a potent thirst for battle."

To give some context, there was a fight going on between two factions called the Protectorate and the Magelords. The Magelords were winning these fights handily, leaving the Protectorate army in shambles. "On the day of their final confrontation, the Protectorate army found themselves outnumbered, exhausted, and poorly equipped." Aatrox then appears, rallies the troops and wins the battle for the Protectorate. The most obvious thing that comes to mind is the rallying of the troops.

Now from that background, we have two possible solutions

• Mechanic for gaining something on kills
• Mechanic for rallying allies

Riot tries very hard to make sure that no two spells are the same and that no two mechanics are the same (ex. 3 revive passives, but all very different). This means that in order to fully delve into these ideas, we have to compare them to what is already in the game. I want to explore these ideas separately and compare them to mechanics already in the game.

Gaining On Kills
There are a good amount of options regarding actions on kills. We have things like Nasus which gain damage permanently on a spell on kills, Katarina who gets her skill cooldowns lowered on kills, or Jinx who gains movement speed on kills. This is a list of the most relevant mechanics:

• Cho'Gath's Passive (Carnivore) restores health and mana on kills.
• Evelynn's W (Dark Frenzy) cooldown is reset on kills.
• Fiora's R (Grand Challenge) creates a healing zone on kill or by hitting all 4 vitals.
• Jinx's Passive (Get Excited!) temporarily grants movement speed on kills.
• Katarina's Passive (Voracity) reduces all cooldowns by 10 seconds on kills.
• Kha'zix's Evolved E (Leap) cooldown is reset on kills.
• Master Yi's R (Highlander) reduces his skill cooldowns by 70% on kills. It also extends the duration of Highlander by 4 seconds on kills (while it is active).
• Nasus's Q (Siphoning Strike) permanently increases damage on Siphoning Strike on kills.
• Nidalee's Cougar W (Pounce) reduces cooldown to 1.5 seconds on kills.
• Sion's W (Death Furnace) permanently increases health on kills.
• Tristana's W (Rocket Jump) cooldown is reset on kills.
• Varus's Passive (Living Vengeance) temporarily grants attack speed on kills. 20% bonus attack speed for 3 seconds on killing minions/monsters, 40% bonus attack speed for 6 seconds on killing champions.
• Veigar's Q (Baleful Strike) permanently grants AP on minion and champion kills.

In my head, Aatrox thrives in the midst of real battle against champions, not lame battling against minions, so I don't think minion kills should be a part of it, but I will still entertain the idea. In the lore, it seems that he just gets stronger and stronger with kills during battle, so I believe that is the route that should be taken. 

For something gained on minion kills there are a couple of options:

• Aatrox W (Blood Thirst/Blood Price) permanently gains healing/damage on minion kills. 
• Aatrox permanently gains attack damage on minion kills.
• Aatrox evolves a certain thresholds of minion kills (similar to Cassiopeia).

All of these options are definitely something interesting and new for Aatrox and fit the feel of Aatrox. These would be some interesting mechanics if going to the minion kill route.

• Permanent gains to healing and damage on Blood Thirst/Blood Price could work, but the issue would be that with this scaling, Riot would have to inherently weaken his early game. Nasus has this mechanic essentially, so they made him weaker early in order to compensate for the late game strength. 
• Permanent gains to attack damage could work, but it would have to be implemented on a very small scale, for example +0.1 AD per minion kill. The issue is that it won't give Aatrox that individual feel that Meddler was talking about. Passive stat gains like this don't feel extremely impactful.
• Thresholds could work as you can see what it has done with Cassio. The evolution could also be well done aesthetically to make Aatrox look and feel more powerful. The issue is that this would almost certainly pigeonholed Aatrox to the lane instead of jungle since he would need to get minions. Having the jungle monsters give more as compensation wouldn't work because that would not stop top Aatrox from taking jungle monsters and getting extremely powerful.

Now, with the minion kill ideas done, we move on to champion kill gains. What immediately comes to mind is attack speed because that is mostly what Aatrox utilizes and would make sense considering his lore. Unfortunately, Varus has that passive already and would be way too similar of a passive. Instead, some options that come to mind are:

• Aatrox temporarily gain's size on kills during fighting.
• Aatrox Q (Dark Flight) cooldown is reduced by 50% on kills.
• Aatrox temporarily gain's attack damage on champion kills.
• Aatrox temporarily gain's attack range on champion kills.
• Aatrox gain's increased healing on kills.
• Aatrox extends duration on R (Massacre) for 4 seconds on kills.

My picks would be increased size, reduced Q cooldown, or extended duration on Massacre, and I will say why I don't like the other ideas.

• Increased size would be noticeable in-game and would definitely give Aatrox a more powerful feeling in fights, it could even make the knock-up size for his Q larger. The size increase I have in mind would be temporary and would proc on kills in fights. After he is out of combat for some time, he will shrink. The issue is that increased size is something that is usually made for tanks which Aatrox is not.
• Reduced Q cooldown would really reinforce the diving and fighting mentality of Aatrox. After picking up a kill, you can just jump again afterwards, making him the fighter version of Kha'Zix or Tristana. The issue with this is just straight up balance. While this mechanic would be nice, it would need some definitely balancing around.
• Gaining attack damage on champion kills would be interesting, but like with the minion kills, there would be no big impact that makes you feel stronger. It'd be a nice additional mechanic, but still does not give Aatrox a specific feeling.
• Gaining attack range is an option, but I don't like that as the path for Aatrox. He should not become like an ADC when he kills things, he should very much be in the middle of battle, hacking and slashing at his foes.
• Increased healing (like spirit visage passive) would give him some extra synergy to those with heals on his team, but Aatrox would only really feel it on his Blood Thirst. Getting a kill and then being able to heal a lot if using Blood Thirst would feel good, but he already has a similar mechanic for when he drops below 50% HP. 
• Another version of increased healing is just getting %hp back (like dangerous game). When I think about it in game, I would realize that it would be a frustrating mechanic to play against when losing because he just won't die if he keeps killing. Very snowbally feel.
• Extended duration on Massacre has potential as it allows him to fight in his empowered form for longer, which would definitely fit his lore. Pop on some cool visuals to Aatrox when he picks up the kill to show that he got a kill and that Massacre is extended and this can be sold. The issue is that it is very similar to Master Yi and it might not feel as impactful as the others.

Rallying Allies

Rallying to me is having a boon that is centered around a certain object or champion. So while Jayce and Karma both have AOE Movement speed boosts, Karma's feels more like a rally than Jayce's. The mechanics that are already in the game for rallying are:

• Alistar's E (Triumphant Roar) heals allies around him.
• Ezreal's W (Essence Flux) temporarily grants allies attack speed when hit.
• Fiora's R (Grand Challenge) creates a healing zone on kill or by hitting all 4 vitals.
• Gangplank's R (Cannon Barrage) can gives allies movement speed when in the zone.
• Jarvan's E (Demacian Standard) temporarily grants allies attack speed.
• Karma's Mantra E (Defiance) temporarily grants allies movement speed.
• Orianna's W (Dissonance) temporarily grants allies movement speed.
• Sivir's R (On the Hunt) temporarily grants allies movement speed.
• Taric's W (Shatter) grants allies Armor.
• Taric's R (Radiance) temporarily grants allies AD and AP.
• Warwick's W (Hunters Call) temporarily grants allies attack speed.

For rallying, it would make the most sense if it was implemented on his R (Massacre) as it is typically used in conjunction with his Q (Dark Flight). The dive in and ult is typically what Aatrox does. As for what happens in the rally, there are some interesting options

• Aatrox grants allies attack speed.
• Aatrox grants allies AD and AP.
• Aatrox grants allies movement speed.
• Aatrox grants allies armor and MR.
• Aatrox grants allies lifesteal and spellvamp.

Attack speed, AD and AP, and movement speed do not work as well because they already have very similar counterparts. The attack speed rally would be too similar to Warwick, the AD and AP rally would be too similar to Taric, and the movement speed rally would be too similar to Sivir. This leaves either armor and MR, or lifesteal and spellvamp.

• Giving armor and MR would be an interesting and somewhat new mechanic for a champion (Taric and Aegis are similar). An issue is that it does not give any umph to Aatrox. Instead of his team pumping out more damage, which is what his rally seems like it should do, it makes his teammates not die as fast.
• From all of these options, one stands out as the most interesting and definitely the most unique, the lifesteal and spellvamp. This fits well with his lore as the people he rallies shares the same bloodlust as him. The biggest issue is that it could easily be overpowered.

These are my proposed solutions to Meddler's issues with Aatrox. No balance changes, just some interesting things that can definitely give Aatrox a stronger feeling as a champion.