User blog comment:Care Level/An Elise Though/@comment-5556439-20130923135823

The whole problem with Elise. The one that is STILL lingering, is her Current/Missing damage component.

That makes a world of difference as opposed to having damage off of just a Base+Ratio and enables her to stack Penetration rather than worrying about itemization towards damage. Most champions with those characteristics of "durable but powerful" have to itemize very carefully. Vlad comes to mind as someone who works off the same Tanky/DPS formula but has been nerfed in response to such a strong concept.

It makes sense considering the ability to survive/kill/repeat with next to no punishment outside of high mana costs(solves itself with levels) and CD's, really, really creates an anti-fun environment to play in. And when theres not much to do against it outside of Botrk/LW or Lyandrys/Void your really at a loss. Counterplay against Elise only TRULY exists after laning phase, and by that time she has either lost hard or won hard. So the counterplay is kinda, meh. Its wasted to be frank and theres not much to do about it because she has Rappel. Rappel is what makes Elise in general so powerful after the early game I feel.

I dont think Nidalee and Elise losing passive tankiness solved anything. Having their passive resistances removed simply because they "recieved less punishment for making mistakes" doesnt mean too much when they already have bigger issues in their kits to address. Nid needs her Javelin/Takedown looked at and her resistances added back since shes FORCED to go melee to make any kind of play. Elise needs CD's and damage balanced (not nerfed), her mana costs I think are perfect.