User blog:YourPrivateNightmare/Thoughts on the new Cassiopeia

Ahoy, it's me again, this time talking about Valoran's most awesome (and only) Snakewoman,. Since I've been already spamming her page with semi-useful comments I decided to dedicate a whole blog post to her.

As a short introduction: I've always been a fan of Cassiopeia's design and her abilities (especially ) and I've always been trying to make her work for me...sadly i never made it...until now. When the Gameplay update was announced I was really happy, especially after i saw her passive and her updated E.

Now a short rundown on her new kit: Cassiopeia is supposed to be a strong late game carry now. Her passive makes her reach 1000+ Ap with standard Ap items only, which is insane. Given that her general playstyle aims towards low CD DPS it seems even stronger. However, in order not to break her completely, Rito tuned down all her ratios and pretty much gutted her early game presence in order to force her into a farming role, getting last hits and stacking her passive...and I'm completely fine with that.

I love champion such as and  which focus on getting last hits with their abilities to stack offensive power. It's a really calming task to just focus on farming with maximum efficiency and disregarding everything else. Now, Cassiopeia is exactly that. You have to manage your Q W and E in order to last hit as many poisoned minions as possible with your E. E also gives you INCREDIBLE mana sustain, which is another thing i really love, since I'M usually bad at managing mana and hate running out of it ( is one of the champions i love playing but really screw up at using spells cost-efficiently). Now, Cass never runs out of Mana if played correctly and even if you screw up you can always get back up by correctly using Es (sweet sweet 3% mana restore).

To sum up, laning phase is quiet and usually safe if you play it right.

Now, as some of you might have noticed, Snakelady still feels kinda weak...easpecially early. While her lategame is actually really powerful, since squishies won't really stand a chance as long as they're in your range, her early game is PATHETIC. Her new kit encourages spamming E on poisoned targets...however, E's damage is SO small, that it really just turns into a waste of mana. While they still chunk for good amounts early, they fall off quickly midgame since you'll have to deal with semi-bulky opponents who can all outdamage you. Additionally Cassiopeia is very squishy....and I mean, VERY squishy, which forces you to get at least one HP item. Be it or  or sometimes even  (thought that one only makes sense if you're facing a lot of tanks}}. Fact is, Cassio needs to stay alive in order to release her full damage potential, otherwise you'll get off one ult and possibly 2 fangs..and then you're getting squatted by burst damage.

What I'm getting at is: Cass needs a lot of items really fast. This is hard to achieve if you have so little lane presence. Pre-rework i could play agressively in lane by hitting Q and then spamming E on the enemy, forcing them under their tower. Now, as said before, it's simply more efficient to focus on farming instead, since you're most likely not going to kill anyone solo. And that's a bad mechanic imo...I wanna be rewarded for hitting my Q by being able to follow up with a pain-train. Now the only reward for hitting Q is 3 stacks of your passive.

I really wished they would up the base damage on her E again. I mean, they basically gave it a 5% bigger ratio at rank 5, while taking away 35 base power at max rank. In other words: you're not gonna do much unless you have AP, which is technically a good philosophy, considering she#S supposed to be hard scaling (no pun intended). However, it makes your damage so insignificant early, that it's really frustrating. I mean, currently, there's no reason to pick Cassio over Orianna. Both have insane lategame with low cooldowns and a powerful ultimate. Orianna, however, spikes way more easily, while also having real lane presence. My last game with Cassio went pretty well actually, given the fact that i reached full build. However, i didn't do SHIT before haveing finished 3 main items, and in the end, the enemy team was strong enough to simply overpower us in teamfights (have fun trying to kite , and  at once when your only engage is ). What I noticed was: My damage was powerful, Seraph's shield was keeping me alive, helped too, and rylai's let me 1v1 a Jax due to the massive kiting potential. I also noticed...Orianna could have done all that..but better.

Conclusion: Riot needs to give her snowballing potential...I really mean it. You should be able to outplay your lane opponent and get ahead, therefore reach your items faster and stay relevant before everyone else starts to outtank your DPS. I also would like Riot to increase her tankiness a little bit. A little bit more base armor and HP would be nice...also scaling HP. For shmock's sake, she even says ''"I do love getting up close and personal." ''so give her means to do that and not blow up as an AoE casualty.

Finally, something a little less ranty. Her new splash is GORGEOUS. I love it so much that i made it my wallpaper. I can't get enough of it. The artist did an amazing job. Her posture, her eyes, her face...and even her...well...boobs (finally somewhat realistic and not -style push-up jugs). her new ingame model is also super sweet. So sweet that I bought the Desperada skin, because they improved the colors so much. NOw i've got two...(Jade Fang sucks tho, I was really bored when i decided to buy it).

Anyways, to finish this, I have high hopes for Cassio's future. She still might not fit the meta, but she feels a lot more playable, regardless of lane opponent. Also, Riot said that they would watch her performance and respond with buffs if necessary. Let's hope for the best.

Peace. the f*ck. out.