User blog comment:HeresyHorus/Syndra, a tale of a lost potential/@comment-15244341-20131030092305

Riot have stated this a tousand million times, yet no one listens. Let me try for them again: passives such as Syndra's (little to no effect) are there because the champion's kit is so god damn strong that making a real passive will most likely break the campion. Also, 25% more damage on Q is pretty freaking ridiculous since the bloody thing has an AoE, awesome range and is pretty damn spammable WHILE ON THE MOVE (!!!!). It also chunks squishies so hard it isn't funny (which are the ones going midlane, most likely) when maxed. It is not LeBlanc's Q, which chunks you for half of your health with DFG+activation of the Sigil, it is a superpowered Karthus' Q which doesn't need you to stop moving to cast (!!!!). It is WAY better for harass because it is spammable. Up the mana cost and the skill loses it purpose (mid damage AoE spammable harass). I'm not even going to make a comment on a 300+75% of AP magic damage AoE Nuke. It is so retardedly good it isn't funny.

W is abusable and ruins your inmersion. Ok, go blow half your CC on a no dash champion harassing someone when you have one of the best harass spells in the game already (Q) on a base 4 seconds cooldown. Have fun when the jungler ganks. Also inmersion is something that Skyrim sells. LoL sells team based PvP battles. Sorry, but that is no concern you should present on a balance thread. Another 300+75% damage skill is ludicrous for no reason other than "breaks inmersion" and it is CC on a bursty AoE long range (this is the whole point of picking her, since she is a long range offensive AP) mage. The damage and cooldown is fine, as is the range.

E is an amazing spell that gives AN AOE STUN. This is HARD CC on a BURST MAGE (!!!!). No. More. Fucking. DAMAGE. CC=Less damage. Really, it is that simple.

Ok. Let me explain this. Right now, Syndra's ult deals 1260+140%AP with max spheres. This is a retarded amount of damage, considering DFG is pretty much core on her. This ult alone is a dead mid/adc/support if pulled off (even partially, because Q deals a ton of damage). You are asking for 1575+175%AP. That kills anything if added to the whole other part of putting 4 spheres in the field (Q, Q, W first Q, Q, E, Q, R). This is an ideal combo. Not always going to be pulled off, sure. Imagine you do. That is... SEVEN TIMES 300+75%AP plus 1575+175%AP. Also AoE. And a stun and a slow. Which are also AoE. All this while moving except to cast an almost unavoidable AoE stun. On a mage whose whole thing is overkilling the shit out of anything with less than 2000 health. And also with utility.

BTW: Brand has only damage and a single target stun blocked by anything on it's path which he has to combo in the right order with his other skills to get a stun (missing something else in a full rotation). This is his contribution to a teamfight/gank in terms of CC. That is why he can have his passive, because he has damage and nothing else. Xerath's passive is useless since he should never ever be in a situation in which it makes use of it and he has no health to back armor up, so LW will fuck him up. Anvia's is better, but she basically the less mobile champion in the game and her CC is fairly easy to evade (compared to Syndra's, at least). Ryze's passive is the whole point of his kit and he is balanced around it, same as Syndra, or you never noticed the godawful range everything he can do has? Heimer's is outdated ad hell, and getting axed since it is stupid. Sit by a tower, see it heal and... don't farm, push, contest objectives... it's so situational and weak it matters only late game when defending pushes, which he already does like a boss. And fighters do scale with their kit because they are fighters and are supposed to have high base damage/free stats to compensate for a more defensive oriented build. Assassins, ADCs and Mages scale with items and deal more damage than fighters mid and late game.

To end this rant: if a champion's kit is simple, he is not easy automatically. Assassins NEED to snowball, need to get kills and need not to get killed. Ever. Every time LeBlanc gets killed, she gets set further back from where she should be. You need to win early as an assassin. Not as a mage, whose kit might require a lot of skill but lets him or her farm to mid game and be useful late game. As an assassin you are a force to be reckoned up to 35 minutes. From there on, you are honestly fucked or a pro, since teamfights make squishy assassins sad and so do tanky items/GA. Not to mention that as you rise through tiers, people become more aware and better at warding. Good luck roaming when the whole map looks like a Christmas tree (illuminated by wards) and everyone on the other team knows your every move.