The Q / On Hit Issue

The single biggest issue with this rework is the fact that her Q double on hit / AoE on hit were removed and they didn't do anything innovative with her kit to fill that gap.

Yes, there are other issues but this thread is about the Q on hit issue.

This on hit functionality was the "cool" thing that this champion was allowed to do that made her distinct from other bruisers and they didn't replace it with any other "cool" innovative hook like they have with these style of reworks in the past.

I'm going to give a couple of examples - it doesn't necessarily mean that I am (or am not) a fan of a given rework but it's an example of the innovation we've scene in the past - it's an example of a reworked champions "hook":

* Akali: **True stealth shroud**. Sure it was turbo broken and got a bunch of changes but even now her stealth mechanic remains a powerful and unique mechanic - a reason to be excited about Akali mechanically.

* Katarina: The Katarina rework took her reset mechanic and dialed it up to 11 at a time when there were only a small handful of reset mechanics in the game. It was a strong mechanical *hook* for players to latch onto.

* Mordekaiser: New Morde is a completely different beast than previous iterations and that stung for old Morde mains but god damn if Death Realm wasn't a completely sick and innovative mechanic for players to get excited about.

* Volibear: His ult shuts off fucking towers!

* Ryze: Got the first and only team mate moving global mobility ult.

* Gangplank: Barrels, yo.

* Aurelion Sol: Got an extremely rewarding stacking mechanic, the games first persistent slow pull mechanic and increasing AoE size with his stacks all of which have "wow" factor (even if I personally miss old A Sol - RIP, sweet prince).

There's tons more of course but I'd run out of space trying to list them all. By and large the champions who didn't get a new and innovative "thing" got their "thing" built upon, like Sivir who got to keep her very strong AoE ADC fantasy, or Aatrox who got to keep his massive combat sustain fantasy.

Shyvana's mechanical "hook" was always the way her Q interacted with on hits and when you remove that... which mechanic is supposed to make me excited about Shyvana specifically as opposed to any other bruiser?

Certainly her Dragon form is *visually* cool but at the end of the day it's a straight forward diving skill shot. Being a big ol' dragon is a cool *fantasy*, but it is not a mechanical "hook" in it's current implementation - her other abilities don't really have much going for them either in terms of having a mechanical "hook" that makes her distinct from other bruisers.

Her new passive *technically* could be a a satisfactory "hook" in that infinitely scaling defenses is both unique and cool, but Riot **clearly** isn't comfortable with that kind of scaling defensive - and honestly, maybe they're right not to be, this isn't a criticism of them not wanting to make the passive actually worth chasing the way a Smolder or Veigar would chase stacks.

*I get it* - meaningfully infinitely scaling defenses probably leads to unhealthy game states, but it leaves Shyvana without a "hook", without a mechanical reason for choosing her that isn't "well, she's numerically powerful".

Recently Riot Yelough responded to a request to bring back the AoE on hits with a flat "I can not". This leads me to believe that the decision to remove this came from on high - it was a mandated part of her rework.

And to that end, in the olden times rioters did used to talk about how things like the early iterations of the Hydra items were dangerous explicitly *because* of Shyvana.

But I mean, Riot... it's been in the game for **15 years** at this point (and in that time Shyvana has only rarely gravitated to Hydra items, generally without an upset in game balance!).

Are we saying we can't buff BoRK because of Shyvana? Surely that can't be true.

Is it Navori? I can see why AoE Navori procs would be problematic but why are we letting a niche crit item decide Shyvanas fate instead of just changing it to an on crit effect (like it *should* be, frankly)?

Or are you guys saying that there's on hit itemization space you want to explore but can't because of Shyvana? Because it's really hard to see what existing on hit items she's making problematic - especially if we don't also think that the new Dusk and Dawn would be making those same items problematic.

This is doubly true when we look at how much raw *stuff* is in the game now compared to when you used to see Rioters talk a lot more about Shyvana Q being potentially problematic. It feels like an opinion that was formed 10 years ago and never updated with the increasing kit creep in the game.

And if you're telling me, "no, really - Shyvana's on hit interactions were keeping us from experimenting with on hit itemization that we'd really like to experiment with"...

... Well, then you need to give her an actual mechanical hook - a mechanic that has some "wow" factor.