Champions With Ultimates TOO Good It Makes Them Bad | League of Legends

Check out Petu's video on Shen! • How Riot Ruined League...
"Shen Syndrome" is a term I made that refers to champions with Ultimates that are too impactful it forces the rest of their kit down in power and value, ironically diminishing the strength of their ultimate. Today I want to discuss these champions in more detail and how there is such a thing as TOO strong of an ultimate.
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#LoL #Shen #leagueoflegends

[@xPetu]

Excellent summary on the history of Shen's balance state. Let's see what the impacts of the mythic removal of 2024 are going to be...

[@God_Shen]

Looking forward to it

[@rogerpinheiro9386]

The man is here.

[@franciscolevitureo5549]

The GOAT himself

[@ELDROID_Music]

River Shen 👍

[@gloomish5120]

Hey fellow Shen mains

[@mrshroom2529]

As a Kennen main, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone explain his core issues as well as this video. His ultimate is so mind bogglingly strong that he’s stuck with mediocre SINGLE TARGET damage

[@ed765super]

As a kennen main, what would you like to see outside of a full vgu to equivicate his power budget? Or do you think its about high time for a vgu for him?

[@mrshroom2529]

@@ed765super I think kennen can’t have a VGU for a really specific region, and that’s because his voice actor, Philece Sampler (who also voices Fizz), unfortunately passed away in July 2021. Since I think replacing their VA (at least in league) is disrespectful, I think kennen just needs a mid scope His main issues are that he’s a high damage energy based assassin, with 0 sustain and only single target abilities besides his ultimate, his e (kinda), and technically his W? The funny thing is that those are his weaknesses as a champ, but they’re also just flaws as a design Im no game designer, but I think lowering the power of him ult, and giving him multi target abilities as well as sustain would really help him out. Something to note is that he and akali are the only energy champs without built in sustain, but akali is simply tankier, as well as how she builds riftmaker TLDR; weaker ult, multi target abilities, sustain

[@MidnightHedgehog365]

@@mrshroom2529 As someone who is not a kennen main but likes to play kennen I think even just a small thing would be to just allow his passive to apply with AA's. Like Kai'Sa, Gnar, or Vayne for example. We could lower the stun duration or make it need to be more than 3. Or even just change it to bonus dmg and move the stun to his W when passive is fully stacked. So like the combo would be AA-Q-AA-W for example for a stun. Kinda like how brand has to ignite you before he can stun you. I just think that the commitment level to get the stun off really holds him back when you're playing with ult down. It forces him to have to either really commit or just poke from far away with shurikens that do less dmg than a mundo cleaver. I don't mind if he has single target abilities. But his conditions outside of press R are not good.

[@mrshroom2529]

@@MidnightHedgehog365 yea no I agree with that, and something I totally forgot to mention was he is the ONLY energy champion without any % health damage. He has no mission health damage or threshold, no max health, no current health, NOTHING

[@atsukana1704]

As I looked around through comments I had an epiphany. A good way to fix kennen and shen could possibly be making their ultimates more conditional. Fiddle has a super ultimate that doesn’t make him useless when it is gone because they give it the condition that you must be in fog of war or standing still for it to work. I don’t know what it would look like for shen but for kennen you could easily have him stack up something by hitting attacks until it builds up a “rage meter”. That’s just one idea though there could easily by other conditions. But say we went for the rage meter, then you could buff his other abilities to be aoe and his q becomes a vital part to poking in neutral to prep for your engage. You can make his e an actual ability as well to make up for the fact they will now see you coming even more than normal.

[@miguelsanchez825]

If power budget is so important for Riot why does Yone's kit exists? Checkmate

[@miguelsanchez825]

Honorable mention to Viego and Akshan, tho in those you can see where the budget went but have to many workarounds

[@thepapavulture8322]

35% increased lifesteal is the epitome of powercreeping power budget. Riot: if Antiheal cant clip the healing of your character, theyre probably overtuned in the healing department

[@tminusboom2140]

Okay new champion design. Let's give him Yasuos passive, but take away the shield for mixed damage. That's different right? Hey, let's give him mixed damage on everything, so we don't need armor pen on his ult. Genius. Okay, Q... Yasuos Q, but better somehow. A dash? Genius. W. We can't just give him a windwall, can we? Nah- let's give him the shield we took away, and then some max HP damage. E. Guys, guys. An AoE true damage Zed ultimate as a basic ability. It'll be so hype. Ult? Fuck it, I'm tired. Super Q dash.

[@xxargonautxx9790]

@@tminusboom2140also his w cd is reduced by attack speed if i’m not mistaken. Imagine if yas w was the same. Dude just a better yas.

[@Salmon_Toastie]

I’ve said this since release of multiple champs including yone apehlios and now smoulder it’s fucking ridiculous

[@willemkmetsch3897]

Props to that Kennen in the Aatrox fight for actually backpedaling to allow the Rakan to e to him. Top laner understanding support's kits better than adc players as usual.

[@flameofmage1099]

As a Rakan main the only thing that kills me more than myself is my adc

[@warrun4995]

I actually think there are more top/sup players than adc/sup players so its not surprising to me

[@seanboglio3605]

Taric's ult is POTENTIALLY amazing. If you play Taric you know most games your ult didn't really do much. There are SOME games it can revert a game but it only consistently makes you "win more".

[@yami7805]

I think Taric's ult is really really good for diving/anti-diving, but in a large-scaled combat it usually doesn't do much

[@atsukana1704]

@@yami7805you kidding? that is where it is best! It functions as the ultimate counter dive/engage. Essentially once the enemy burns their important cc and movement you pop that immediately and spam your heal to make sure everyone stays alive until it goes off. I think the main thing nearly every taric I play with messes up is timing. Just the same as shen ult, if you do it too early or too late, its a useless ability.

[@TravMenace]

​@@yami7805wrong. it's great with diving and counter diving, and excellent during teamfights. obj control w a Taric is almost unmatched

[@ceetee3370]

Taric yi funnel was possible ONLY because of the ult.

[@avamaco3357]

​@@ceetee3370 not only that, it was also because Dazzle was a guaranteed stun while Yi was using Alpha Strike. At least before they nerfed it.

[@mythmage8231]

Now we need one for Viego, who's passive has so much potential he's not allowed to have a viable kit.

[@maxomega3]

me when R button

[@chuvits217]

His kit is fine to get possession, but when you can't this is the moment where problems begin

[@maxomega3]

@@chuvits217 I feel like thats just an intended weakness of a snowballing hypercarry rather than a design flaw

[@chuvits217]

@@maxomega3 i feel like his base kit could be better, while still being balanced with passive.

[@darkstar3072]

I love when I’m playing Shen and my ADC walks into the unwarded enemy jungle and dies to their jungle and bot lane and my ult gets pinged because I should’ve ulted to keep him alive just to have us both die when I arrive

[@vindifference]

lol. Ah yes. My policy is: "if they ping my ult, I'm never ulting them again. Period."

[@gr4ve686]

This could also apply to Zeri, cause 90% of the time it's incredibly hard to have meaningful impact without her ult

[@Jibbert]

Zeri (when she's not gutted) is still pretty impactful even without ult. Her ult is more of an enabling factor whereas ultimates like Shen's or Kennen's are completely game-warping

[@quoin3446]

i don't even know what her ult does

[@visionofsolace8961]

​​@@quoin3446Deals damage in a radius and then gives her attack range, and attacks speed also move speed and her basic attacks pass through people, dealing shared extra damage.

[@anthonyfaiell3263]

90% of the time it's incredibly hard to have impact WITH zeri's ult. Zeri is inherently a DPS character. Unfortunately, it's a frontloaded damage meta. If the enemy even breath on Zeri accidentally with some AOE... she's dead. Meanwhile, zeri has to focus fire over a period of time to be useful. . And it doesn't help that there are no good defensive adc items whatsoever to support the dps playstyle. Meanwhile mages get zhonyas to use all their frontloaded damage, go immune, then use all their frontloaded damage again. Assassins get duskblade to use all their frontloaded damage, go immune, then use all their frontloaded damage again... . DPS style adcs are VERY hard to pull off right now. People are literally building things like tri-force on Vayne... because the frontloaded Q damage is more valuable then proccing W repeatedly with attack speed/dps. Ashe is the same thing, tri-force for frontloaded damage and poke. Looking at Zeri, she builds stormrazor and statik shiv as some of her most popular items... go figure, the frontloaded damage versions of adc items...

[@atsukana1704]

That would explain a lot. A while back I fought against one for the first time and said “ok they are level 6 now but we are both here and her support is gone and its only a steroid right?” She proceeded to double kill us in 4 seconds flat after jumping over a wall kayn style

[@PolarisxAndromeda]

Imagine having your ultimate be your only useful ability- This post was made by the Transformer gang

[@hriata168]

In regards to Shen, make it semi global and rework his power budget to his other skills, I would like to see Shen mid if possible for variety sake.... Also cause Petu made him work mid

[@naut7826]

Thats just a galio ult, the joke of shens ult being global is him being top, si he can push lanes and help in tfs across the map, as tops usually do with tp

[@Izigurand]

I think they could just weaken the shield or cast time. Being global is part of Shen’s identity.

[@xolotltolox7626]

They should delay the shield, and have it not be instantaneous

[@karofy754]

as a Shen main no, I like my spirit boii right where he is

[@noobjitsu1743]

​@@xolotltolox7626I wouldnt like that change lol

[@slimthug166]

And then there's Fiddlesticks: Arguably one of the most destructive team ultimates in the game at 750 damage 250% AP scaling ultimate rank 1, but his base kit isn't lacking either. Point and click 2 secone fear; a long range silence, and an aoe damage+heal 😁

[@atsukana1704]

Fiddle is the best example of a super ultimate done right. His ult is comparable to kennen’s but the difference is that fiddle’s is conditional, making it have counterplay. If you have good vision control, he can’t touch you, or at least its much harder. But if you stop being vigilant about wards. Suddenly he becomes the biggest threat on his team. Perhaps a way to fix kennen and shen would be to do something similar, require a condition to be met to use them.

[@jessewilliams3166]

Condition ideas: Ken gets aoe damage in his kit, however he can only ult if there are a certain number of marks. His q does what it does now but goes through, dealing half damage to enemies beyond first but marking them. His w is changed completely to an attack steroid where he gets attack speed and arcing autos for a few seconds. E has minimal movement speed on retreat but he gains massive towards marked enemies and the duration refreshes on hitting marked champs. His ult cannot be activated until he's gotten 4 stacks on champions in a radius. Shen's ult can be made channel based on distance a full global ult takes about as much time as tp. A closer range ult could take 1.5 seconds. His q can deal damage to champs as the blade passes and a small burst around shen on connecting. His w no longer ignores autos, but gives allies a flat 35-50% damage reduction from targeted abilities and autos while around shen and the blade. His taunt cooldown is reduced per enemy hit and refreshes on takedown. His ult shield would also proc half way through the channel and grant his ally a mini cleanse with the shield

[@abdmar5425]

​@@atsukana1704kennen's is also conditional. Fiddle's ult only cc's under the condition hes outside vision, and kennen's ult only cc's under the condition he already stacked his passive to get the stun off instantly.

[@abdmar5425]

​@@atsukana1704kennen's is also conditional. Fiddle's ult only cc's under the condition hes outside vision, and kennen's ult only cc's under the condition he already stacked his passive to get the stun off instantly.

[@slavchems4759]

@@abdmar5425 the thing is kennen's ult stack the passive quite fast, and most of the time you're gonna be targeting the enemy's backline, which usually has shit mobility or no mobility at all, his single target kit also helps him burst priority target, and u don't really need to worry about the enemy's teammates helping the backline, cuz they are most likely stunned as well if they were trying to get to you.

[@joshsolders5543]

I think the main issue is that while you want all champs to feel like champs, if you decrease the ult's effects, then you run into an issue. Taric is the best example. Maybe nerfing the cooldown would help, but you can't really decrease the invulnerability time. Cutting it too much makes it to difficult to actually help. It already has a 2.5 second delay. Even cutting the delay itself, having 1 second invulnerability or something is too easy to wait out and the delay makes it so that you can't just activate it and block an opponent's attack. Taric's ult is probably as weak as it can get, but its still too powerful and ends up absorbing the rest of his kit. He might just need to have more power budget or something.

[@florinalinmarginean1135]

Yeah, this is spot on. Moreover, it's not easy to land a good Taric ult, but it's crazy when you do. Shortening its duration to give more power budget to his other abilities will just make it really hard to use for no reason. However, it's fine for some champions to be like that. And then you have the other end of the spectrum with champs like Thresh: his ult is whatever, but his basic abilities are really strong

[@coasterthekid8867]

“Adcs have comparatively less pronounced ultimates” Jinx, draven, zeri, kalista, ezreal: hold my beer

[@emp_m9686]

Lethality Jinx and Cait Rs have entered the chat

[@hqhuy931]

As a Taric enjoyer, while I love his ultimate in concept because it just makes the most sense for his kit - paladin class, but I can think of a Karma shield ultimate, or a team-wide cleanse (the Millio one) that would do just fine but would make him much more consistent

[@MidnightHedgehog365]

A team shield like an ult version of locket would be great and would almost achieve the same affect. The only two problem I see is guard breaker and the fact that a big shield ult would kind of homogenize him with the other enchanters. Like seraphine or Karma can team wide shield as well on a basic ability.

[@Nixdigo]

Personally I really like Tarics ultimate. I started playing about a year before his rework so he's kind of nostalgic for me. What all of this is ignoring is his only spell is E. His W is utility when you bound with someone but everything else is about getting passives off. Taric isn't a healer he punches you while giving his adc snacks

[@reyalfa18]

I always imagined his ult would be something related to his gem theme rather than a full invincibility ult, thought it would be more like an steroid ult or a conditional shield, pushes enemies away from the one you're connected to and stuns people around yourself

[@hqhuy931]

@@reyalfa18 maybe he immobilizes himself, gain a massive shield for all allies nearby and then erupts dealing damage scaling on resistances? Or just an Alistar ult, gains massive shield, heals more, stacks qs faster like a steroid support

[@MrCrytown]

Taric's ult would be fine if he was somehow reworked to be a toplaner. In fact, his whole kit would be better if he were split into two champions: A Toplane Paladin and a bottom lane buff bot. We could call the toplane champion Baric. Baric would have current Taric's Ult and Passive. His Q would be an auto reset, W would heal taric and his teammates within range every 3 autos (and extra on kill or assist), and his E would be a skillshot dash with a knock up. Taric, the bot laner would have a passive that restores mana and reduces cooldowns every auto. His Q would be a heal for himself and a targeted ally. His W would be an armor buff aura that also could be used to shred enemy armor when activated for decent damage. His E would be a targeted, ranged stun. And his ult would be an aoe area team buff of Defense, MR, and Movespeed.

[@arturfontenele7366]

I completely agree with this and Peru’s video. Shen’s ultimate is awesome, but recently it turned him into a complete support in top lane rather than the lane bully he was supposed to be. For me personally, the tp on it is in and of itself the fun on it. I wouldn’t mind making the shield very small to make the rest of kit more significant

[@polkkakoira]

Really wish they would double down on Shen's Q and the importance on how you position it, even with a cost of nerfing his ultimate.

[@WickyWickyMooseMoose]

Could you make a retrospective look on the durability update? I'm curious if it changed gameplay of league by much and what champions fell out of favor

[@yoisakikanade_]

^^^^ id also be super interested in this

[@loop1789]

1:23 sus zoom 🤨? Otherwise, great video, as always

[@treelayn6292]

Shen syndrome is a term similar to a term I made, Ryzir syndrome: It is a champion that, in terms of function and mechanic is so strong that it will never be statistically (numbers) balanced. Ryze, Azir, Zeri and Akali are examples of champs that if Riot tweaks them a little, they blow up the entire Rift

[@alllan1]

They can buff Kennen Q to be a cone/ triangle kinda skill shot that shoots three projectiles, kind of like an Akali Q or Talon W. The middle projectile deals the most damage but the other two can go through units and stack passive as well. Just an idea, they can play with it and test it.

[@bensparrow3356]

This editing is on point! Really stepped up the game :D

[@drakoz7990]

so idea, how bout a video on the map ang its changes over the years, i`m a new player so dont really know if there is enough to cover on that for a full video but you could also talk about objective changes and gold values on different stuff and how it has impacted the game

[@tioman42]

I have played Taric enough to know that he is too fragile to be melee. And his ult is so frustrating too: enemies see your ulti and flee if you engage with it so your timing must be impeccable. Still like him tho

[@God_Shen]

Nice video! Accurate points on Shen

[@dimitarkolev7594]

1:21 Ayyoooo, what was that transition homie, you thought we wouldn't notice, eh?

[@Squeaky_Ben]

For Taric, I feel like they could buff the rest of his abilities by just making the ult not full on invincibility and instead just a shield with lingering damage reduction. For example: 3/4/5 seconds of 30%/35%/40% damage resistance with a 300/375/450 (+20% max HP +30% AP) shield on top. Far from being invincible, it would still be strong as giving your team decent damage resistance and a respectable shield should still be plenty powerful, freeing up his basic abilities to be strengthened.

[@mysticmuffin2198]

Im so excited for this new season, gonna try everything to make my shen able to duel like he used to

[@destructive_thoughts_]

There was a concept of reworking Kennen I saw being tossed around that did the following: 1. Relocate the stun to a passive part of his W, keeping it mostly the same but making it the only way to apply the Stun. Making it only require to hit one prior ability in order to make the W Stun. And to avoid it being OP you can only stun a target every 5 seconds. 2. Making the passive enhance Shuriken Toss or Lightning Rush after stunning, like for example, making his Q bounce between targets or his E grant him the bonus he used to have in armor and MR. Thats basically it, perhaps some tweeks on numbers and we have the same champion but with expanded gameplay.

[@valimaa1006]

My idea of kennen rework is give him the Tahm kench treatment: Passive roughly the same, applying stacks, 4th stack stuns and deal bonus DMG, or buffs his ult if casted. Make his q charged single targeting spell. You charge like varus q, it's point and click but only on one target and you are slowed when targeting someone. His w should be his ultimate, or mix of his current w and r. Simply put, imagine a single gangplank r barrage around kennen with half second delay, applying stacks. His e should be passively gaining energy by attacking, and activating it will be something similar to vex shield, stunning people around him, giving him small shield and movement speed. His R should be his current buffed E. It will be draining stacks from enemies previously hit around him, giving him bonus movement speed towards them and bonus stats the more stacks he consumes, while it also damages them when he gets close. He can cast abilities during r which are also stronger. Requires minimum of 3 stacks to be casted in range, lasts as long as there are any stacks around him on enemies, which he slowly consumes one at a time.

[@aiyrusu7633]

your editing has really improved lately keep it up

[@user-bv8iy6mx8k]

Pls make a video on darkins I loved the video you made with the void champs

[@Art51151]

Excuse me Mr. Vars, in terms of a potencial lore video, can you group Piltover and Zaun together then apart since their stories are always intersected? I know they have totally different gameplay designs from one another and it might be a 2 hour video, but is that possible at some point, no pressure though take your time but seriously is it possible?

[@chaosityinthemaking7427]

I video idea I would love to see is what champs in each role encourage learning the Macro of that role

[@kivmorth]

Can you make a video about Riven please, would like to hear your thoughts.

[@lignox7570]

I love super ultimate champ. And i have 2 rules on Swain. Don't fight without ult, and don't fight if you can't get back your R on time for the important fight, like drake in early.

[@johnsmith-ol9qj]

I agree with the video but this where the nature of builds helps deal with your champs design. You can make an assassin, burstmage, meat shield, brawler, percent health AA build, or more out of any champ. Heck with heartsteel and collector you can go full tank assassin on zed

[@johnsmith-ol9qj]

The game allows you to change the dynamic of the match up if you can build correctly even if you have a bad match up. Go full cdr farm tank if you are countered sometimes. It’s something other games don’t have that allow every game to not feel like a stomp since your kit can vastly change based upon your build

[@caseykawamura8718]

Ultimates are one thing, but they are in your control. How about things like Akshans passive? or an opposite problem, briar has to be the most insane dualist in the game in order to not run it down every game.

[@makothetako]

I love Taric and Kennen, but tbh I only play them in ARAM both because of how the snowball in the mode ups their potential but also because it's way less of a headache to get a good ult with them. Rumble, however, is a champ I enjoy playing no matter what mode.

[@lucaiozzo8273]

DUDE what was that transition at 1:20

[@mrmangbro6842]

One thing to add was that change to kennen resistances going to his ult instead of e was heavily influenced by the kleptomancy + e max abuse that had decent wave clear and made kennen impossible to kill in top lane. it was meant to be a nerf

[@fajardomanolojoset.2787]

taric ult rework concept, gives buff that gradually over 2 or so seconds gives a fuckton or armor and mr and adds a slow field around the people with the buff

[@jourjour2250]

This feels like a super ultimate video rerun.

[@Fleshpenance]

Hi Vars, the audio is sounding very muffled and deep, might be a bit overprocessed

[@kricketune5114]

To me you are the false swipe gaming of league. These video are almost like the "Pokemon Theorem" videos and i love it

[@holschermarc]

Tarics kit is actually great, the thing that keeps him in Check are his limited Mana. Due to how his Q in combination with his Passiv work he can basicly spam away with enhanced super fast auto attacks while healing himself. Onehit Taric is a DPS Beast u can not fathom, but he will get drained in seconds. Also his Passiv Autoattacks shorten his Stun CD which means a Taric in full front assault mode can stun every 3-4 Seconds in a small AoE area infront of him while having insane Attackspeed, Onehit damage and Healing. P.S.: Yes he has to hit stuff but being kitable aint really a big downer and his E is still great for keeping people in range aslong as they are not super mobile. People love to flash straight away from u means they just get hit by the edge of the E and u are on them again.

[@cloudynguyen6527]

I do aware strengths and weaknesses make a great champion. But in League, everyone has too many strengths and little weaknesses to counter. It's more logical to play other champions to yield better result than Taric. I'm not saying Taric is a bad design but the general design philosophy of League is to make champions that has sustainable kit and that kit only goes bad if the player's skill is bad.

[@holschermarc]

@@cloudynguyen6527 Oh i agree, there are definitly better options. Tarics kit is great but great is the new average. I just really like the dynamic of it. Aslong as u dont go oom u are a Meele-Machine. But without Gapcloser that only gets u so far. Tarics kit and specially his ult is mostly reactive, aka he defends berter than he engages. He only gets dangerous if u step in his range. He is like a Guard Dog on a Leash (literally his W), aslong as u dont get to close u are fine.

[@MrBlueskyrider]

Corki empowerd W kinda also get that problem with being to good that's everything else gas do be kinda bad

[@MekenRyth]

vars i really wish for you to make a video about just sett because he might be in a good state but i feel like he could be balanced better

[@turkenheimer4448]

Would be great if they shift some of Tarci's ultimate power budget to his basic abilities. There certainly are many ways in which you could change the ultimate while still preserving the general concept. Instead of complete unvulnerability it could be shields and/or resistances. Or you could make the ultimate shield only Taric and the champion he is connected with (although this might not synergy well since the champion he is connected with in a team fight is usually a front liner, but would work with squishy fighters though). Or you could make the ultimate only block a certain number of attacks or spells and then you would be vulnerable again (this would still be good for shielding high damage burst abilities and it also enables counter play for the enemy team, they could try to use low value abilities first). Just some ideas I just had ^^ I'm not a game designer

[@jususi71]

the resistances going from kennens e into his r was a very big nerf

[@HomikaGaming]

yes I do love being pinged for ulting when I'm caitlyn ulted lol I otp'd him support for years. I would max E if it was a rough lane, but afterwards the W no longer chaining lightning the same. I'll still play him. Dumpster someone mid, but he lost a lot because of that change.

[@alucard5841]

Hey vars, you're missing the runners class on your videos

[@cusrsedstuff8043]

that elise zoom got me acting

[@hyperN1337]

I think the core problem that results in this is how Riot views the power budget allocation for certain effects of certain ultimates. How does one really compare a 2.5 second invuln or a crossmap 2k shield to Karthus blasting everyone for high amounts of magic damage or a chokepoint/CC comboed rumble ult doing several thousand to each enemy champion.

[@rrteppo]

The issue with Taric is actually Master Yi. If you let Taric have good basic abilities Master Yi will abuse him to 2v8 solo queue, no matter what you do.

[@lisandroiribarne1141]

As a smite player si very funny how taric kit is so similar to aphrodite but she is kinda balance by the fact the ult can only apply to herself and the linked target

[@ragamangos7768]

Currently shen's W its one of the worst skills in the game, along with morgana W and kalista W. Its too rare to get satisfaction after using it, the duration is too short to be impactful, even nilah W has a longer duration and can also protect a teammate. If they bring the power of his ult down, the first thing i would do is transform his W in an actual good protective ability. Also i think the blade gimmick could be explored more, maybe his blade could proc auras like Elder Titan from dota, would fit well with his spiritual theme.

[@Mmoll1990]

Don't forget about the party of Taric's power budget allocated into the INSANE base damage Bravado provides. Lightrocket2 really shows off this fact with his versatile Taric jungle.

[@JingelJjay]

3 of my top5 champs are on the thumbnail. That's a bummer.

[@_Aritus_]

Shen's power budget SHOULD be balanced around strong early game lane dueling and bullying to assist him in getting an edge in kills that helps him stay afloat gold wise when he needs to roam with his ultimate to have his intended function and impact on the game. He isn't able to push towers or crash waves properly, so he doesn't benefit from plating. He scales (quite poorly) off of health so his scaling is passive and static so items don't have the same impact for him as it would say a Fiora or Jax who are active scalers. His function throughout the game should be as follows, Early game: Punish and abuse laners when they don't have their combat ultimate, acquire gold lead though kills and xp through wave punishment post kill Mid game: Look to roam to create advantages for team, still have some sideline viability around 2 items. Late game: Play a support and peel heavy role for carries while still being a solid frontline. I don't expect him to solo duel a fiora 30 mins deep on even gold. But I expect on a baseline his early game window to win lane should be there...but it isn't.

[@Space_Potat]

1:22 o-okay. Okay we see. We see!, There was no need to, uhm, uh

[@taymc5150]

guess its not only riot whos forgetting about skarner

[@MiriamUndertale]

i love taric, i love tarics ult and how it feels to use it right, but if i could change three things about taric giving him an ult thats far more centered in power towards him and his bastion target than his current one would be great. taric functions a lot closer to a juggernaut like illaoi or mordekaiser who WANTS to get into fights where they're outnumbered and while his ult works great for that, its strength is so general purpose that you either spend the majority of the game anxious about getting a maximum value perfect ult all the time or just accept it might hit people besides you and your bastion target and treat it as a 2 person slow kayle ult. honestly i think it specifically keeps some of his awful jank in his kit in play still, since they functionally cant get rid of the useless 5th point in Q/actively wasteful single point in Q, how his intended playstyle cuts him out of early fights in seconds compared to any other support in the game, and how much the cast time on q accelerates his (intended!) weakness of being kitable.

[@chrisdavis8650]

I used to main kenned im glad i switched to zed, either kennen gets a passive re-work or im never touching that champion again.

[@aleks1885]

you can make theme work just look at bard who has in the right time the single strongest ability in the game wile having dicent abilities

[@vunguyenlong5738]

Kennen was changed few years ago that grant his bonus resistance through his ultimate rather than the E, why would you even do that? It was a huuuuge nerf since you used to max his W into his E, the Q doesnt do anything much outside applying one stack passive anyway. You needed that bonus Armor and MR on his E to reposition himself into the enemy team, not when after you cast your R, because how would the enemy attack you if they are stunned anyway? I hope Riot would just revert the bonus resistence back into his E, it will help his dueling and his potioning.

[@leocall7173]

I'd do almost anything for taric to have his ult reworked to something else. It's so hard to get good value out of it, it's too easy for people to just disengage when they see it coming or just all in and kill your squishies before it kicks in. But they balance his kit around you getting full value out of it.

[@sinister7290]

12:35 bet you were laughing while editing this part

[@Sir_L.Wallace]

I wish Pyke ultimate was on this list. Except he is still good since his ult is always off cooldown once he has axiom and a mythic.

[@nightingale8178]

That's also an important point. There are champions with super ultimates that can conpensate their weaknesses with a specific build path, Pyke for example. Problem with Shen (I'm reffering to him cuz he is the only one with SU that I play atm), is that he doesn't really have a good build path. He needs a waveclear item, which isn't bad as a price for his ult, but titanic is weak on him because he does not have any ad scaling. Sunfire on the other hand is a suicide if you face an AP toplaner. So you need to buy bami's cinder and then go for a mythic. That slows down your first item by 1100 gold. Also all mythics are pretty bad on him except Radiant and Ice Gauntlet. First is a support item with no benefits on solo lane, second is only against AD, and the slow alone doesn't make him strong enough to face anyone that has already build Sunderer.

[@desgracainferno]

I dont think pyke deserves to be on this list simply due to him being a hook champ, hooks like his Q are some of the strongest anti carry basic abilities in the entire game

[@Sir_L.Wallace]

Oh I agree he doesn't belong on this list I'm more rolling my eyes at the fact that his ultimate should come at a greater cost to his kit but doesn't like the ults mentioned in the video @@desgracainferno

[@desgracainferno]

@@Sir_L.Wallace honestly his kit is really good for his ult yeah, but the compensation for this is his passive that makes him unable to build HP items, honestly thought this as a really creative way to sway him away from traditional tanky engage sup builds while still being hard to kill with his slippery kit

[@AndreLuis-ri8xd]

Looking foward to the next season, hope it solves some of shen's problems. Dont get me wrong, the last adjustments they made (after the boycott polemic) to help shen become relevant again were pretty good, but I dont really feel thats what our boy needed. It doesn't look like to be enough.

[@5Wolfen5]

Taric I believe is bottleneck by master yi for the most part. That’s when he was most adjusted in my opinion when they both were viable midlane

[@LegendaryPredalien12]

Skarner's Ultimate also disables his E and Auto Attacks when he uses it, which is really awful feeling when you're trying to 1v1 a target.

[@dracotoy]

Isnt this seen in corki aswell? Albiet through his empowered w instead

[@Alone-SF]

I think they should just make the charge time and active time on Taric's ult 25 seconds, that ought to fix it.

[@yung_grino]

I watch your videos on my TV while drinking wine and laying in my bed.

[@klosaftkrieger1027]

Older shen was Strong with His Point to click Q

[@delta_8870]

Zeri suffers from this a lot: Currently her kit has no passive, a skillshot auto attack with no upsides to the risks from having an auto attack that can be bodyblocked and miss (the high AD ratio is to offset her short AS limit and her low base AD), a point and click ability that deals a chunk of damage but requires you to sacrifice most of your spacing to use it, a skillshot ability with a minimal slow and cant really be used for constant harass or would eat up all your short supply of mana and a dash ability that can get you out of combat with ease, but also holds a big portion of your damage and you cant hold onto it if you want to have propper all in damage. Her ult holds the speed to be able to walk in and out to use charged AAs, her ult holds the projectile speed that allows zeri's Q to land consistently on max range targets and the extra effect that lets her get damage on key targets even if a tank or even minions walk through to bodyblock you. E and R hold so much of Zeri's power that they make the rest of her kit be underwhelming and force you to make awkward decision choices of "should I commit this ability now or later?", because a wrong commit will cost you your entire combat pressure for the current fight

[@hugglepuff1]

The problem with Taric and Shen is their superultimates not only allow THEIR kit to perform well, but also allow for the OTHER champions with super ultimates in the game to survive longer in fights. Taric's is a prime example of this. He's picked in pro play all the time specifically to allow other champions to run rampant in teamfights, and drafts are literally MADE around him. Another champion I feel that suffers from the "Super Ultimate" dilemma is Twisted Fate. His powerbudget is so so so small, to the point where the only viable way to play him in higher elo's is to go full attack speed onhit twisted fate, instead of playing AP. Or, you play as a secondary support, buying everfrost and ability haste items to spam goldcards and lock down the enemy team.

[@anthonyfaiell3263]

If they just reduced the damage in the game it would solve these problems... Shen would get better value in trades due to his shielding. Kennen would have more time to get stacks up in duels and proc his stun. Giving him the opportunity to either turn the fight, or get away safely...

[@reyalfa18]

And what do we do about the other champions? Assasins and Burst mages just get erased from the game?

[@valimaa1006]

​@@reyalfa18assassins will be forced to use brain and play smartly instead of diving full hp ADC under turret and oneshoting them and walking away immune with duskblade. Also now everyone can oneshot with the amount of DMG, things like Mundo, ziggs, Ashe or Darius are supposed to outplay enemies with movement and strategy, but the gameplay now is once you get ahead you just yolo all in and every fight is over in under 4 seconds.

[@potatothings7223]

Tanks have been meta for the entirety of season 13 because of the reduced damage. They are not only unfun to play against but have very little counter play.

[@reyalfa18]

@@valimaa1006 Lmfao, you must be incredibly low elo if you think something like Mundo or Darius can just afford to go in and delete someone like nothing

[@jeffquintyn9728]

As a kennen main i agree with the video, I'd love if they would change his Q ability so he does AOE damage around the champion he hits with his shuriken or atleast slows them. Second I'd want them to change his E (lightning rush) to be longer so it compensates for his lack of acces to the backline without flash. In exchange they could make the cooldown bigger or something. His ult is indeed a superult but don't forget people, this is easy countered with the press of an exhaust. That's why in the end of the day this champ is fun to play but hard to gain elo with.

[@goy0551]

kennen needs is untargetable back to his E

[@Fledor.]

Why not include Shen's changes in 12.10 ??

[@olianims]

Then you have Dr Mundo where his entire kit, including his ult, is shit because his lvl 16 ult is so strong

[@minichad5456]

Nah, his passive is always a pain in the butt

[@decidueyezealot8611]

​@@minichad5456^ why is he cc immune 😂

[@katomatic_]

@@decidueyezealot8611 mundo goes where he pleases

[@power0ngames449]

i feel like everytime vars uploads a video theres some rioter watching and being like "WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN". I feel he knows more about all the dynamics of a champion more than riot themselves

[@lightmeme1961]

I feel taric, like rammus is very situational just because of his kit, I have been playing a lot of viego which also means I am getting a lot of taric match-ups, and when I do take him, especially against mostly ranged/low engage team comps he is kind of useless, the only helpful part of his kit is the stun, and having to weave autos that do essentially nothing in-between abilities it doesn't feel fun, but this is coming from and outside perspective, so idk how his whole kit feels but I know it's kind of lack luster without his ult in a poke-centric team comp.

[@4547466]

1:22 editing fun

[@justxander1656]

I know it's not considered one but for adc twitch I would consider his a super ultimate somewhat kinda

[@monstermilk6092]

As someone who played Shen religiously back when he was good, the biggest hit to him was when they took away his Q's high skill auto cancel. Initially, when the Spirit Blade slid to his position, it would reset his auto attack timer, giving him a really reliable, but high skill cap auto reset. Unfortunately, it was so game warping that they removed it, and he's never recovered from losing that auto reset capability.

[@charlychokoneko-chama2768]

I love Shen kit. I just feel like it would be somewhat good if he could rush Heartsteel first. But i dreal of a rework that play with his actual lore of having two blade to fighting different ennemies (ad/ap). And he should not be a tank he is fucking ninja.

[@gregory2611]

I miss old Shen so much

[@rex9412]

1:22 wtf was that transition?

[@tomashruby9349]

The poster child of this phenomenon is Nocturne.

[@LCB_Instituto]

As an old Shen player, I think that the old version was way better. Having changed him changed the gameplay strategy to a meh for me. However, league's diferent today. So I don't know how well he would perform nowadays.

[@thrahxvaug6430]

I think the funny thing about all this. Is these champs with their super ults riot has been so afraid of them for so long that their kits are mega shit. Even their "super ult" aren't even really... that impactful these days. SO many 200 years champs have come out at this point that whole kits even after large amounts of nerfing their kits are more impactful than the super ults. Kennen R is only scary when VERY ahead. Shen R is only really meaningful when you have someone else on your team worth using it on or if when you would need to use it the person doesn't explode faster than you can channel. They are terrified of these champs even though power creep has brought many other champs pretty close to their level. Honestly I'd love to see you do a video or two breaking down the amount of power between older designed champs and new ones in the same class. Between Brand and Vex is the biggest difference in overall power budget.

[@gayboyrari228]

you should do this with other champs that have their power budgets in 1 thing that makes the rest of their kit shit like viegos passive

[@thejedisonic67]

I would say Nocturne, but that's another power ult. Maybe Nidalee since she's so reliant on her Q spears

[@gotnerfed558]

Malphite, Twisted Fate, Veigar, Nocturne, so much massive impact.

[@atticmusicgggg]

Seems new champs doesn't follow the power budget rule. Veigo has a passive of 15 basic abilities, 5 heals, 5 stridebreaker active(prenerf with the dash), 5 zhonyas, basic kit still has ms, hard cc, invisibility %hp damage. Sylus can cast 3 ults in one team fights, with ad ratio compensated with AP, still has high AP ratio, 2 dashes, hard cc that can't be negated by tenacity, massive heal.

[@vincvids7297]

I'd say let Kennens Q go through Minions and he's great, because you can land your stun with basically on skillshot

[@andreasberger4]

Odd choice to choose discussing kennen in this video over Malphite who is the definition of a walking ultimate

[@fawli86]

I'd rather have Taric's ult be a ramping increase in defense up until 100% then drop it off immediately after 2.5 seconds than having him with a gamechanging ult with very weak basic skills. Edit: They could just change his heal into a shield that reflects damage, his W becomes a tether for armor and for his ult and his stun does not have an armor scaling.

[@goy0551]

i wish they give back kennen untargetable on his E

[@victorhansen1028]

So basically Taric is Half ass in his two classes With a banger ult. because if he was good in either one he Would be old Kasadin level of busted?

[@wildcard4358]

Nah, i mean i agree with shen and kennen, taric tho is in a good spot, the abilities arent weak, you always have something to aa when ur doing objectives for example, its just not huge chunks of healing during a fight but rather before one erupts, therefore he counters poke comps well too, not just hard engage

[@popescumircea5389]

Great video as always, but why are you speaking so fast😭😭

[@Kikkouto]

Is the master yi video cancelled?

[@VarsVerum]

Postponed because sponsor is being dumb >_>