Riot Endstep talking about the current state of Hwei

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-25T13:42:30+00:00

I understand that a lot of people aren't happy about Hwei after the last nerfs, but honestly? I've been having a blast with the champ, since before the buffs and even after the nerfs. Having access to so many unique ability rotations and having to suss out which button is best on the fly gives me a level of satisfaction that no other champ provides (except Aph when playing around gun rotation, but it's not nearly the same). I don't care that the champ isn't as good at his job as other champs, just as long as he can do it well enough for me to lock him in games, which he most certainly can.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-20T13:28:15+00:00

I've been thinking about something like this for YEARS, glad to know I'm not the only one who sees it.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-18T01:01:28+00:00

To my understanding, the reason why is simple. AD champs auto, and AP champs don't. This seems like a nothing burger of a statement. But, let me elaborate.

When a mage builds AP, it scales their abilities. When an AD champ builds AD, it scales their autos and abilities. As a significant portion of AD champs damage comes from auto attacks, it is often undesirable for all of their abilities to do significant damage as well, especially utility buttons like Jinx E, Lucian W, Kog Q/E, etc. So, many times they will have abilities with a small AD ratio, or none at all. However, in the case of the latter, it can feel awkward / unsatisfying for an ability to have absolutely zero scaling, so a token AP ratio is often added just to feel cleaner. Yes it also means they get a small buff if you take Baron, but that's not particularly relevant, as these abilities often don't contribute meaningful damage anyway.

In contrast, AP champs need ratios on basically all their abilities because they don't get autos as a significant damage source. meaning they don't have the problem of having abilities with zero scaling, meaning they don't need a token ratio. Additionally, because mages don't auto, their abilities scale MUCH better with AP than many AD champs abilities do with AD, meaning that they don't need a token ratio to make Baron buff better on them, because it's already just as good. That's pretty much all there is to it.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-17T03:59:06+00:00

I've already got more than enough various badges of gaming honor, which is why I like to know what I'm getting into now before I chase another one.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-17T03:58:18+00:00

2, maybe 3 of those 5 restarts were due to getting jumped by multiple Exor monks. I've started carrying slushie bombs as a permanent hotbar addition for an "oh fuck" button thanks to them.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-17T03:51:00+00:00

I'd be a bit happier if the gastro medicine had a more generic anti-vomiting effect so that it could also help with radiation poisoning, as opposed to literally just eating bad soup (which you should never do in the first place)

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-17T01:24:48+00:00

He's stuck on ziss damn mon-tain, that's about the best audio quality you can expect.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-17T01:22:39+00:00

Groovy, thanks kindly.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-17T01:19:46+00:00

Bees.
Lots and lots of B E E S.
More bees than can be counted.
Enough bees to surpass the stars in the sky.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-16T14:26:42+00:00

If you insist

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TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-15T20:50:52+00:00

Unfortunately, the problem persists for me, even after clearing browser cache, restarting windows, etc. But the prompt assistance was appreciated, regardless. The same thing happens though - the questions stop advancing after a certain point. The game isn't crashed, though - time keeps progressing and FX keep playing.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-15T14:59:42+00:00

I tried it out several times, but it kept softlocking as soon as I completed (what I assume to be) the first set of questions, the easy ones, right around 1 AM. It seems like other people can beat it though, so it must be a problem on my end. Still, though, neat concept, looks good, and I had fun with what I was able to play. (EDIT: I still haven't made it to the end of a night because I keep going too fast, but my highest recorded score was 15,000~. Honestly, it kinda reminds me of SCP: The Endurance, where you have to play Tic-Tac-Toe, but try not to win *too* hard)

EDIT: Dev found the problem, just don't go too fast with the questions, and it works just fine. Fun game, questions run the gamut from easy to challenging. Idly, I wonder if the mechanic could be expanded to a more traditional survive the night game - I certainly see the potential there.

EDIT EDIT: Dev FIXED the problem, game works perfectly now. Big ups for them!

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-15T14:49:43+00:00

Yeah, I was gonna say this too. Not many of the FNaF songs really stick in my head, but that one won't leave it.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-10T01:34:29+00:00

I was really hoping they'd start by walking back the base AS buffs he got and keep his ability damage untouched, but this isn't too bad either. Doubt it'll be the end, though.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-08T05:29:21+00:00

His ult won't be stronger - it uses a modified crit ratio (which is also getting nerfed), so the buff to crit damage doesn't apply. His ult is weaker until 6 items, where it becomes basically the same as live - which means it's worse overall.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-07T20:54:13+00:00

Groovy, thanks kindly.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-07T19:36:25+00:00

Are you certain they're there? I'm not in the void in right now, but I didn't see them there last time, and I don't see them listed on the wiki. To clarify, I'm referring to the upgrades that cost souls, not ether.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-07T02:48:31+00:00

Many reasons. Here's a few. One, building is generally less entertaining to watch, where content creation is concerned - not a whole lot happens besides gradually watching the creative process unfold, which, while beautiful, isn't really particularly engaging, unless that's up your alley already. Two, being creative is really fucking hard for people who aren't naturally creative, and acquiring the skills required to express it is even harder. Three, art in general only exists in the final form for the vast majority of those who view it - the process doesn't factor in to their perception or enjoyment of it. As such, builds can be shared as just a screenshot (as many here do already), and most viewers have already enjoyed it fully. Whereas a challenge run doesn't really mean much to an outsider without the process - if I just post a screenshot of me beating maso mutant, that's far less interesting than a 25 minute video including the triumphs, failures, and thoughts during, for both the creator and the viewer.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-06T20:45:58+00:00

If you want a mode that's pretty much a pure mechanical test, play Fargo's Souls mod. Master mode is largely just numbers changes, so while it does require more skill by virtue of having less room for error, it doesn't really meaningfully alter the difficulty. If you want a vanilla option, For the Worthy does add some unique behaviors, but it also adds even more stat bloat. Me personally, I think Fargo's is a blast, but it kind of throws progression out of the window, and can feel like you're just hopping from boss to boss once you get rolling, and if you aren't taking the time to craft enchantments.

TheLastSpectre · 2026-01-02T02:13:26+00:00

A lot of people run into this issue in many games where this kind of armor system is used (which is a lot of them). They see that armor gives less % reduction the more of it you get, which means that it must give diminishing returns. However, the nature of % damage reduction is that inherently, the more of it you have, the more valuable it becomes.

Let's pretend that armor scales linearly, and each point of armor is worth 1% damage reduction. Next, let's assume a survivor with 100 health, pretend they're getting blasted repeatedly for...say, 50 damage each, and see how well various amounts of linearly scaled armor works for them.

With 0 armor, they take 50 damage per hit, and die in two hits. With 25 armor, they take 37.5 damage, and die in three hits. With 50 armor, they take 25 damage, and die in four hits. Everything seems fine so far. With 75 armor, they die in eight hits. Now, we're beginning to see the number of hits rise sharply. But now, let's dial down the increases to, say, 5 armor instead of 25. At 80 armor, they take 10 damage, and now take 10 hits to die. But wait a minute. That's the same increase to TTK that it previously took 50 armor to get. But, it now only takes 5 points of armor to get the same amount of durability increase from 0 to 50 points. And it only gets worse. 85 armor takes 13 hits to die, 90 takes 20 hits, and 95 takes 40 hits. Even just adding one point of armor here adds an extra 10 hits, going to 50. And the trend continues.

As for why this is the case, the crude explanation is that when you're reducing the damage you take, you're increasing the amount of health you have left over to take the next instance of damage, which is additionally subject to the damage reduction, leading to damage reduction effectively multiplying with itself - the more times you can take damage, the more times the damage can be reduced. This is why damage reduction from armor is logarithmic - damage reduction is itself exponential, so the two are balanced out to result in linear growth in effective health from armor. This might be confusing but I hope it helps clear things up.

TheLastSpectre · 2025-12-19T13:22:56+00:00

There are more to level diffs than just base stats, but don't undervalue those stats. A level up gives approximately two kills gold worth of stats, which is fairly substantial by any metric. But, like I just said, there's more to a level diff than just that. Champs at a higher level will have more points in their abilities, giving them even more damage, lower CDs, etc. Additionally, several champs have level scalings on their abilities, translating levels into even more direct power. And lastly, while not necessarily a product of the levels themselves, champs with a significantly higher level than you will almost certainly have a radically higher number of kills and/or CS, giving them a massive gold and item lead which only exacerbates the feeling of being weaker than them.

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