The Question Concerning Parallax

[ginosaji]

Parallax is one of, if not the most, meta-game defining items in the game. It determines the fundamental relationship between CC and mobility. It also has an exceptional effect on casters and initiators.

 

I'd like to hear people's thought's on how the item could be balanced properly, as I think it is improperly balanced at the moment. Others have mentioned the Chilling vs. Parallax issue and the the fact that stuns can break channels even with Parallax. Both issues should be fixed, but that's not what I want to discuss here. I'd like to look at what types of heroes the item is most viable on and how it favors them.

 

Old Parallax

The old Parallax ticked every 7-8 seconds or whatever, debuffing and giving cloak for a short duration.

 

New Parallax

Gives debuff immunity, lasts 2 seconds after a debuff is applied, with 20ish second cooldown.

 

The old parallax was more globally viable. By that I mean it could be used on many heroes effectively. This was the case because it ticked more often (had shorter cooldown) and gave cloak (which was nice for anti-targeting). The new Parallax is less viable on most heroes than it was before. It is strongest on gankers and initiators because they are the ones that need it at the very beginning of a teamfight. In most teamfights, your parallax will get proc'ed nearly instantly, meaning that if you don't have a use for it in the first few seconds, it usually won't be helpfull. It's less viable on most classes of heroes as a result. Obviously it's stronger on some heroes than before, because it gives a full two seconds of debuff. Ling, Cat, Grunty, Micro, and others I can't think of benefit more from the new parallax.

 

Basically, I think Parallax isn't viable on most heroes because you get almost no use out of it as a counter cc item since it's proc'ed at the beginning of teamfights so easily.

 

Possible Solution

One idea I've had is to make the item an active. The period of debuff immunity could be adjusted to balance it properly of course. The cooldown may also have to be adjusted as well. Maybe a 1-1.5 sec debuff immunity with a 45 second cooldown? It would still be approximately as powerful on gankers and snowball AAs like Ling, grunty, leo, etc. It would be about the same on initiators like Micro and Jackson because you could rely on it being up when you needed it, but wouldn't be able to use it as often as the current version. It would also become viable on casters, support, and AAs because it could be used at key junctures in teamfights instead of being wasted right away like it is now.

[Moo]

I agree with the above and think that change would be great.

[Lios]

Umm... Parallax also heal a bit after the debuff apply. But how long is the debuff immune when you active exactly ?

[zeeeend]

The problem with it being active (which it was in the past).

Was that its total useless, someone gets a taser and you can't use your debuff item anymore.

This is why i suggested in every post about changing paralax. Make it passive silence removal cd low(25 secs) and active debuff immunity cooldown high (1 minute)

[Spooky]

U forget that current Parallax healing u up to 300 health on tick. Once enemy Raynor saved my ass because he tried to Mark me at wrong moment.

 

If Parallax get fixed to not proc on aura debuffs (Chilling Artifact) it will be much more viable. Then before someone may stun u, silence, lockbox they will have to apply some other debuff like slow. Idea of not-active Parallax is to give heroes chance to counter stuns at the moment when they are applied. So it works in similar way to Linken's Sphere from Dota 2. And I think Parallax should stay this way. U can't create item which provides active debuff immunity for specific time in AoS, because it would be impossible to balance well. If debuff will stay for too long it would be OP on Leo/Crackling, otherwise it going to be barely useful on most of the heroes. So current Parallax is fine, but it needs few fixes - to not break channeling spells and to don't tick on auras

[Jaysi]

What about once you use the active, you will gain debuff removal/immunity for 2 seconds like 2 or 3 seconds after activation. Such that you can use it before an engagement or as an oh-shap item when things look bad. Hopefully you'll do this before getting silenced.

 

But you're right, it was OP before and now it's very limited in its use to initiators.

 

Or possibly go back to the old version, remove the cloak, jack up the price, make an active version that builds into the non-active version that periodically removes debuffs.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Jaysi

[ANARCHY]

parralax's core design is to provide you with the ability to clear debuffs.

you cannot clear all debuffs if it is an activate

it will never be viable if it doesn't give immunity for more then the time that is required to try and escape that enemies initiation or engagement (this obviously shouldn't be the case if you decide to dive in 5v1 at a t3 tower with no team support)

Edited December 4, 2013 by ANARCHY

[Hogwarts]

What about once you use the active, you will gain debuff removal/immunity for 2 seconds like 2 or 3 seconds after activation. Such that you can use it before an engagement or as an oh-shap item when things look bad. Hopefully you'll do this before getting silenced.

 

But you're right, it was OP before and now it's very limited in its use to initiators.

 

Or possibly go back to the old version, remove the cloak, jack up the price, make an active version that builds into the non-active version that periodically removes debuffs.

 

i dont think thats the case at all, i find my self buying paralax on a lot of different heroes for different reasons all the time.

 

 

parralax's core design is to provide you with the ability to clear debuffs.

you cannot clear all debuffs if it is an activate

it will never be viable if it doesn't give immunity for more then the time that is required to try and escape that enemies initiation or engagement (this obviously shouldn't be the case if you decide to dive in 5v1 at a t3 tower with no team support)

 

All that has to be done is allow you to use the active on paralax while stunned and or silenced. It really shouldn't be that hard to code.

[highdrater]

I think if chilling and nulls passive don't remove it anymore then it will serve its purpose and will be fine. I don't think it's possible the way the mechanics are set up to use an item when silenced or something. And minus stun knife the stuns aren't really a big deal on parallax not removing it in my opinion.

[Adamantium]

I think if chilling and nulls passive don't remove it anymore then it will serve its purpose and will be fine. I don't think it's possible the way the mechanics are set up to use an item when silenced or something. And minus stun knife the stuns aren't really a big deal on parallax not removing it in my opinion.

 

I believe it is possible to arrange it so you can still use items while silenced, though aside from parallax I wouldn't be in favor of this.

[EterNity]

My thought reading this thread was "Why not just buy a Chilling Artifact?" Haha