User blog:Care Level/An Elise Though

On Elise
Elise's been the target of a relatively-recent string of nerfs. We can probably agree that nerfs were well in order, but I do have questions as to how well those nerfs were executed. Straight to the point, then, I'm not quite in love with the removal of resistances from spider form; I don't believe that that was exactly the treatment that she needed.

If I recall, the issue was that she was too tanky for the amount of burst damage she provided, and I agree wholeheartedly. A super-bursty AP champ shouldn't be super tanky. However, nerfing that tankiness leaves her with the glaring problem of being a squishy caster with two AA steroids and just as many gapclosers (which screams to me "designed to brawl"; I'm not sure if we all get that vibe) that deals damage in melee.

In order to fix that small inconsistency, I'd recommend giving her tankiness back and, in exchange, reworking some of her burst. I don't think she should deal less damage; I think she should deal less bursty damage, and that means playing with her Q:
 * Change the %health component of her Q in both human and spider form to a damage-over-time effect. Notably, the total damage on them should remain largely unchanged, so the total damage dealt would have to be established on cast rather than each second.

This change accomplishes several things:
 * Fits thematically: how many spider venoms do you know of that just instantly chunk your health?
 * Adds counterplay where previously there was none: you don't die immediately, so you have time to do things. That said, if you would've died before, you'll still die without some form of heal.  You simply get an opportunity to retaliate, at the very least.
 * Forces Elise players to commit more: because of the above point, an Elise has to do more work to be positive of kills; it's not just "instagib and rappel away".
 * Indirectly reduces her overall combo damage if applied in the same fashion as it is currently: because her spider Q is based on %missing health, using it immediately after her human Q will cause it to do less damage because the health won't be missing until the DOT finishes.

Overall, I think that this change would be healthy for Elise (%healthy, even?); what do you think?