Hey all.
Long delayed update here and a change of plans. My original hope had been that we'd be able to rework Urgot's gameplay without needing substantial art support. That's proven to be too optimistic however, with the sort of changes we'd like to make including some new skills and other functionality changes that need animation, spell effects, sound and potentially model changes. Urgot is on our list for such a full rework, that's a ways off though (Sion's up next for major reworks, and we've been tentatively discussing Poppy as an option for after that, though that's not yet certain). As a result the new plan's to do some much shorter term work on Urgot that, while it won't fix everything, should help out on some of his issues and get him into a better spot until we're free to do larger scale work on him.
That shorter term work's potentially going to be split into a couple of patches. The first (and I'm guessing that would be around patch 4.15, though not certain on that yet) focusing on some general cleanup and quality of life, with a possible follow up set of changes to add in a bit more power if appropriate.
Tentative list of changes we're looking at for that first patch (note, not yet in testing, so may well change):
General
Basic attack missile speed increased to 1600 (from 1300)
- Given Urgot's short attack range a more responsive auto attack's appropriate for the risk he's often putting himself in
Recommended item update
Some minor visual effects clean up
Q
Acid Hunters now check for Noxian Corrosive Charge on both start and end of Acid Hunter cast
- Currently only checks at start of cast, penalizing swift follow up shots after firing the E at long range and attempts to sneak in a final homing shot as Noxian Corrosive Charge is close to expiring)
Mana cost increased to 50 (from 40), half mana cost refunded on kill
- Primary goal here is to punish Urgot less for last hitting with Acid Hunters when he needs to. Slight increase in cost to maintain a bit more harass cost, though still aiming to have this be a net buff to Urgot's mana usage.
R
CD reduced to 120/110/100 (from 120)
- Adding a bit of late game power, without increasing his potential lane bully case
Mana cost reduced to 100 (from 120)
- Standardization with standard ult mana cost
FAQ
Just need a clarification here--will the mana cost refund even on minion kills?
Yes, minion killing's the intended use.
great job buddy, maybe those buffs will bump him up to a 42% winrate.
As above this is an initial set of changes targeted at feel and clean up more than power. Assuming these don't spike his power substantially (think it's unlikely they will, but been wrong before) we'll then look into whether there are some other safe buffs we can throw his way too. To be clear however Urgot's still got some substantial game health issues in his kit so we're not going to just keep throwing raw power at him until he's back to his previous problematic state.
What build is recommended for Urgot now? Is there anything to make Urgot... Viable?
Just some minor changes aimed at convenience for existing Urgot players/better starting point for new Urgot players (Last Whisper in, Doran's Blade start, Mercurial out, Brutalizer/Tear/Glacial Shroud in explicitly not just as components etc).
That...zombie thing is next? I called the next work wrong? OUTRAGEOUS.
Next major rework (so full visual update, really big kit changes, lore update etc). Might well see some smaller reworks and/or visual updates first though, not certain on the timing of those off the top of the head.