Introduction
So I finally got a chance to mess around with Azir after witnessing a rough 0% win rate in ranked and normals from other people playing Azir and a 38% overall/39% ranked win rate according to Lolking.
Despite the rock bottom win rate, I gotta say, I'm a big fan of the guy!
He's super fun, and definitely has some potential, if not the numbers to back it up.
Pros
- Can build tanky as he's not a simple burst mage;
- Abilities can make some real cool plays involving wall jumping, spot switching, and his ult wall;
- Could potentially have good zoning ability if his soldiers lasted a little longer and attacked the closest hero as soon as they spawn.
- Currently VERY buggy (see bug section below);
- Fairly squishy before he gets some items, and his range/damage is a bit too low to burst down most mages before getting hit himself;
- Ultimate requires Azir to be in very close range, essentially requiring you to cast all four spells to get there, which has a quite a bit of lead time;
- Poke and escape are both with the same spells, and require two to be effective for poke and three to be effective for escape.
- Passive is almost completely useless except when defending an inhibitor;
- Passive also tends to go off when trying to walk around a downed turret just walking by (or maybe I've just got twitchy fingers).
Bugs/Glitches
While not extensive here are a few common bugs:
- Q and R are used, but icon does not show that it's not available;
- Soldiers sometimes do not attack when in range;
- E sometimes does not activate when targeting soldiers even when in range;
Conclusions
Although Azir is extremely fun to play and I look forward to playing him once Riot gives him some number/quality of life buffs, I don't think he's viable right now simply because he's not reliable nor strong enough even when executed.
However, I may be wrong, what do you new Azir mains have to say on the topic? Comment below!
He look very fun and interesting but I feel that he doesn't fit in the current meta.
ReplyDeleteI've played him top a few times, and i've found a couple things:
ReplyDelete-His base attack speed is awful. I feel like even with 40% cdr his attack speed is just hitting slightly above what most champions have.
-Nashor's tooth is a huge bait item. The passive doesn't proc when your soldiers attack. The attack speed is better off as flat ap and you can get CDR elsewhere.
-He can be really bursty. The late game scaling on soldiers is nice, since the ap ratios are pretty high. Just one w, q, auto attack will do half of a squishy target's life bar later on.
-playing him top is more fun, but that might just be because he's difficult to use and i get to practice his w mechanics a bit more freely.
psa to hopeful azir players when buying items: ap > cdr > health >>>>>>>>>>>> attack speed
Hey Norbert
ReplyDeleteHey Norbert :)
ReplyDelete- As mentioned above, his builds can be quite versatile. Attack speed, bursty, and tanky Azir all work quite nicely.
ReplyDelete- Nashor's Tooth is a bit controversial. There's no argument that the gold efficiency is through the roof, but I feel that every time I purchase it, I see no real power shift. My soldiers attack a little faster, really. His base attack speed is awful so perhaps it's safer buying some damage. They hurt a tiny bit more, but they don't proc the passive magic damage either. It feels like wasted time. There are more attractive items with CDR that I would be happy to use.
- What the soldiers DO proc is anything that says "spell damage". Liandri's attacks burn! Rylai's attacks slow! Will of the Ancients' attacks will provide Spell Vamp!
- Spellblades don't work. I cry.
- So far a tanky AP build works well for me. Working on purchasing AP but only if it comes with a health or resistance buff tied in, like the aforementioned Rylai's. The CDR passive effect is attractive but isn't necessarily the best focus. I choose to see it as situational.
- There's videos and tests on it, but the general rule of his ultimate is that only blinks and unstoppable ultimates can get past it. Dashes and even jumps, like Tristana's or Kha'Zix's, won't cut it. This makes Azir a pro at disengage the moment he enters the jungle.
- MID OR TOP. He can EASILY run both, so don't listen to meta-heads who tell you that mid is the only way to go!
- Banner of Command doesn't buff his soldiers. Man, could you imagine? It'll be a viable item one day. :(
Totally agreed to what I read here, i use for more than twenty match this Champ and actually is even difficult to define his position during a fight.
ReplyDeleteFew damage, can be tank but there are much better tank champ and is not able to give utility as suppose to do.
I don't understand, before riot was release new OP champ now weak, ok that the champ should be fun to play but if is not strong there is no meaning to use it during a ranked match... mha
He does have big burst...the problem is the bugs...
ReplyDeleteI only saw him once, and our team used him and his soldiers to pop enemies spell shields, thats about it. :D
ReplyDeleteYah, I haven't been overly impressed with what I've seen, but I am still intrigued by his kit. As someone who only plays normals, I've got other champs to master before I keep adding to my stable of options really. Still love his look but I'm bronze/silver at heart (and I know it) so his skill floor is probably too high for me to ever use fully.
ReplyDeleteGot him day one, and even though he met my "fun" expectations, the guy could use some tweaks and buffs. Sure, the guy is a player, one of the most fun champions I've ever played, but I totally agree on the cons you addressed, and I might add his biggest problem is that his sand soldiers do not attack on sight, you need to command them. A huge buff would be to make them to auto target champions as soon as they spawn, so the harass is more reliable.
ReplyDeleteOf all that I tested, I feel like the most optimal build would be to rush either cdr item (athene or morello), finish lucidity boots, and then work towards hourglass or deathcap. Tanky builds can work, but take a lot of time to be effective (think RoA)
All my issues with him have just been bugs. Especially with his R not knocking back and his W not dealing damage.
ReplyDeleteNahh man, you can play any champion even at lower tier. I believe so anyway. Just takes some practice. I always assumed higher level players were just better with game mechanics rather than individual champion mechanics for the most part.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't really understand why he's not considered a top laner rather than mid. Or a mid laner gone top like Heimerdinger or something. He's more DPS than burst. He's a much better lane bully. He's really safe from ganks... He just never sounded very mid-ish to me.
ReplyDeleteI think... W should attack the nearest champion, W should be a basic atack (building nashor on Azir it's a juke). Moreover, soldiers should last more than now.
ReplyDeleteAzir on paper was everything I wanted in a champion. A tough-as-nails midlane bully with poke for days, cc up the wazoo and a dominating presence in teamfights. What I got in practice was subtly but significantly different. His poke damage is low in the early game when you need it the most, his functionality is slightly broken (somewhat forgivable given his recent release) and overall I've found his impact on games to be... lacking.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping that Riot quickly give him some love to make him up-to-scratch, because he could easily be a favourite of mine once he works properly.
Azir was rushed to release too fast. Rito messed up on this one. Imo his ult should do a bit more damage.
ReplyDeleteHis ult isn't necessarily meant as a damage source. It's a peel source. If it did a huge amount of damage while also knocking people back, that would be OP in terms of what it does. Part of Riot's philosophy is to have counterplay. If one spell knocks your whole team back PLUS takes half your life points it makes it so that you basically can't engage on a team without dying. Look at Nami's tidal wave, they do basically identical damage. Where the tidal wave provides a slow, Azir's ult provides a wall. So in terms of utility they would be very balanced.
ReplyDeleteHe also got a bug i and my friend experience he can have more than 2.5 AS and 40% cdr ty to his passive, we got 70% cdr and shit tons of AS
ReplyDeleteYou should spell out the words two and three, or any number ten and under for that matter
ReplyDeleteFair enough, I'll keep that in mind :P I'm leaving 0% the way it is though; I like the way it looks.
ReplyDeletein my opinion he doesn't have very much synergy with many other champions. Also his ult is terrible in my opinion, it seems more like and anivia wall or something, so for an ult this dreadful. Just my opinion but most of the people playing azir in game i have beaten
ReplyDeletebiggest most annoying bug: Ultimate sometimes does not knock back target....happened 5 times now...
ReplyDeletethat aside after playing him a few matches, including some were i fed to bots... i got better and i love that he has the best poke in the game. he has a few counters but he decimates most of the popular champs in my country's meta... Kitkat Ult? Get bumped Akali Shroud? Get BUMPED , Fizz? Out ranged...and bumped...Kassadin? Get Bu- How did you get over the wall? 0_0 ...You have been slain
Yasuo...also most assasins since his combo brings ADCs down to half health...
ReplyDeleteReally? I've seen the bug that knocks you up twice... annoying.
ReplyDeleteazir ult knocked meup four times once :/
ReplyDeleteWhat's a decent build for him?
ReplyDeleteAzir is fun, but definitly needs some buffs, and if rito does that good, it will be a tonload of awesomeness for the azir players
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dowa
With the bug fixes that Azir has had in the most recent patch, he is incredibly viable in high level play. Every match mid is favorable apart from xerath, in which he easily gets out-poked. In his current state he is GOD Tier, or at least Tier 1.
ReplyDeleteHis w gives him the ability to poke and cs freely, pushing wave quickly and poking under turret easily without any danger. The fact that he has two charges on his w means that he is still able to escape when being ganked.
He can also gank effectively and insec both the adc and support back in the bottom lane with his Ultimate, which is no longer buggy as hell.
Lastly, this guys late game is insane. 3-6 item Azir is incredible, easily getting an enemy squishy under half health with a w-q-auto-auto combo which takes less then 1.5 second if executed correctly.
All-in-all he is similar to Orianna, incredibly high skillcap but INSANELY strong.
I am currently in Platinum and have 150+ games of orianna, and I can see this guy being just as strong, if not stronger.
Come along on the free Azir elo train :D
Azir is viable. he just requires extreme positioning. Hes best when you have a tanky engage jungle and top laner. Because they can peel and or cc much more. Azir can be built full burst to stupid amounts of OP, tanky is okay however it doesnt offer the potential i believe he needs. I know he needs hardcore positioning (Bloodslusts) i play him in ranked. Because he's fun and people don't know how to play against him.
ReplyDeleteAzir is something between slightly OP and plain broken, it's just extreme learning curve keeping people away from decent results with this champ. To be useful for your team you need to:
ReplyDelete* Kite like an ADC.
* Manage your attack range (soldiers), moving them over the place and attacking. Azir has movable very short AA range in which he wrecks people.
* Position well and know when to all-in for knockup/shield or ult in teamfights.
* Manage your mana and cooldowns (without soldiers or mana he's useless).
Azir is something between Orianna, ADC and short range sustained damage.
Well, after 2 months , i feel i can safely say that the double knock up has either been fixed or has been made so rare that i no longer witness it, the bug that cancels the knock up though is still frequent albeit much less than it used to.it seems to happen on specific champions though, fizz, yi, wukong and rammus...
ReplyDeleteTier 3 "requires higher skill/knowledge than usual" is the correct placement. All the top tier champions are faceroll (Katarina anyone?). Azir needs way too much concentration, needs a team built around him, and even then struggles against mobile comps.
ReplyDeleteTier 3 is fine u need A LOT of practice with him , but when u know how works his mechanics and the matchups , it's almost unbeatable , i'm currently main Azir , (actually on Diamond V) and win 8/10 of my games , is maybe the most fun champion i find out in the game..(besides riven ofc)
ReplyDeleteAzir is extremely difficult to play. He probably is the hardest champ to play in the entire game. I have never had so much trouble with a new champ before. I was feeding in almost every game I played with him and it's almost impossible to play from behind while in laning phase with him. Of course, if you get ahead even 1 kill. you are basically fed. Much like Katarina, Azir can 1 burst KO people without having too many items. Once you get ahead, your opponent might as well not even show up to lane.
ReplyDeleteI am now playing Azir as my main since 2 months and I can say he is
ReplyDeleteincredible strong if he is played right. At the beginning I fed at every game,
but once I was able to get the "trick" to play him, I win nearly
every matchup with him, even if I play against a diamond player (I am gold 2
atm). In conclusion I can say his early game potential is weak compared to some
other champions, but once you got your Morellonomicon and Nashors Nooth you are
nearly unbeatable and your zone potential is just ridiculous. The last and only
chance, left for your enemy is a very good jungler or he gets completely out
farmed, underleveld and killed as soon as he gets one step to close to Azir.
Haven't been fed after 5.3 pach, idk all the time I am fine (a little bit ahead, or equaly strong to my oponent), or just get behind and stay all game there felling useless, cuz it is hard to get back, once you are behind.... I dont know, maybe I am doing something wrong, but I love this champ, but still just can't carry by myself.
ReplyDeleteI love this champ and i love him playing him while being nerfed i can carry and i like that he is nerfed because noone expects him now ^^
ReplyDelete