User blog comment:GutsyTick/CC: Hayase, the Bringer of Solace (CB1)/@comment-533780-20150328220122

That's a very complicated kit there, but trying to work it through, she essentially has two different dashes, a parry which performs a little AoE counterattack that applies one of two types of crowd control, a mildly slowing skillshot, and a charged-up strike. There's then a whole complicated chain of stancing back and forth which determines exactly which of those skills is on each button at any particular time.

Am I right in thinking that until you press W, you can't press any other move (as it's the only one that doesn't have a stance requirement)? Activating R from either stance shifts her into the other stance and makes her next auto deal a chunk of extra damage, but it's not entirely clear whether the extra damage is because you pressed R, or because she's in the new stance - does flicking into a stance from one of her other abilities come with the same benefit? Likewise on the parry from pressing W, it's not clear if that is because you pressed W, or because that's just what Veto stance does. On both counts I *think* the benefit is unique to the ability rather than the stance, and the stance itself merely modifies Q and E (and technically R I guess)?

I like how her Venge stance feels bigger than her Veto stance (what with her abilities gaining 1-second windups and more damage) - I imagine the idea is to click W, then R, hit someone with a big Venge move, then a little Veto move, then auto until you can press W->R again, with the occasional W->Veto move inbetween?

I like that she feels very technical, she reflects Yasuo even more because of it. I'm not entirely sure there's a lot of point in the Veto stance though. I would have thought that having the Veto versions of Q and E be the normal effect, available at all times, with W being a parry, and R being an empowerment a la Heimerdinger/Karma which turns Q and E into their Venge versions, would be basically the same only a huge amount more straightforward to play.

Likewise her passive just feels needlessly complicated and difficult to understand, and I don't think I get the point of it maybe. It seems like a waste of an ability slot and a whole lot of words just to let her Venge Q and E be cancellable. If there isn't much more than that happening, why not just say on Q and E that they are cancellable (recast for mini-version like Sion Q maybe? Just interruptable with the Veto versions?) and get a tidier, more significant passive? Mostly I'm not going to be clicking W and then changing my mind about it within the milliseconds before it casts, but maybe I'm missing something important. The damage bonus from pressing R could just as easily say "next basic attack or ability" as well.

Balance-wise, my only criticism would be that I think her parry (W) is too strong - a 4-second cooldown parry that blocks autos *and abilities* is pretty crazy, without even thinking about the solid AoE+CC counterattack. I think maybe the cooldown is so short because as I said above, it's the key to being able to cast any of her other abilities? If you changed the Vetos to defaults, that would let this have a more reasonable cooldown I guess.

Flavour-wise, she's a very dynamic Samurai with a tiny bit of wind theming - she's girl-Yasuo, which is fine by me and a huge improvement in my opinion, but something a bit more original would be nice, and I eagerly await your lore update! The stance theme is nice, especially for a Samurai type, and all the "sunderer", "omit", "abate" stuff makes her feel defendery (yes I see that she's a guardian!), and slightly Voidy (hmmm... Voidy...  guarding a certain Ionian Elder...  hmm...) and for uniqueness should probably replace the slight bit of wind theming going on (Veto-E), to differentiate her from Yasuo. (He is supposedly the only one of his generation to master the Wind Technique, after all.) Finally, I'm not sure how "Cadence" fits in, she has no other musical theming.

As far as fulfilling the competition criterion goes, all I can see is that the Parry counterattacks a basic attack with a knockup, and counterattacks an ability with a slow? I guess it's a difference, but I really can't see anyone counterplaying that, it's just a parry she will use reactively to soak up one move long after the enemy decided what move it was going to be. If anything, the simple fact that she counterattacks at all is just as much a fulfilment as the change in the CC-type.

Overall, I think she has a lovely (if not totally unique) theme and she seems like a dynamic, technical fighter, all of which would probably make her some people's favourite champion to play (I personally would definitely be buying her at 6300!), but I think a lot of people would consider her to be too complicated and too much like Yasuo to bother with. Her kit is effective and interesting, but lacks 'wow' factor, and besides her parry is well balanced, but probably does a bit less than it feels like it's trying to.