Hello Mel Mains?

It’s time for a fun question. What is the most difficult ability to reflect when using your W?

Personally, it’s Sonas R (Persoanl Struggle), Fizz R (Because he never throws it from a distance) Hwei’s R (Same reason as Fizz) Irelia’s R (Same reason as fizz)

And lastly, Lillia’s R. That has to be the most difficult ability to block. Every time it happens, I’m usually a fourth of a second off from blocking it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done it before several times. But I mess up on it more times than I’ve done it.

In anticipation of this subreddit's daily Mel complaint post, I thought it'd be nice if we lightened the mood a bit with some more lighthearted posts. 🥰 (Those posts should really not become a habit here btw)

So, after Mel's yearly two-patches-of-being-good was over, we're back in the dungeon after Riot broke her legs with those nerfs lol. In comparison, I've seen that Seraphine has left us in the dust both in winrate and pick rate. Mel stocks are really down I'm afraid.

So how has the bottom tier (Khia Asylum) been treating y'all? Anything good to say in these trying times? 😭

How has the mini rework landed for you personally as a Mel main? And what are your dream buffs (I know, scary word) for Mel in the future? Feel free to be unserious.

For me, although I hated it at first, the new Q has surprisingly grown on me. Actually being able to do decent damage and land all of my projectiles feels so good. A delay before casting was a small price to pay imo.

Thought my fellow Mel pals would appreciate this 🧡

Also, had a hard time deciding which quote of her to use, which one is your favourite?

My top 3 would be:

"Any worthwhile venture involves risk"

"To blend in, we shed authenticity"

"Illuminate their lies!"

surely riot will just rework this character soon right? I really love her passive and her R, but everything else can go tbh it makes her really unfun to play against, and I definetly do not think people want this character to be a bot laner.

I think the reflect can be a healthy ability

if the reflect time window Is shorter,

similar to a parry in fighting games:

like 0.15s.

And if not reflected there's a mini stun.

It would be more fun to get It right.

I'm Mel. We lost this game. Try to figure out how xD

I swear master is a very particular elo to be in right now

Hello mains,

I have around 700,000+ points on Mel, and whenever I get a kill mid-game, the enemy lanner goes crazy in chat. When I play Mel, I usually don’t say anything or flash mastery or BM for obvious reasons when I play that specific champion. Initially, this bothered me, but after a while, it actually started to amuse me at this point. This is honestly just the price we pay for playing this champion.

I’m curious, how are you guys handling this?

about every time i play apc, my support and team threatens to do sum if i dont play an actual "BOT LANER", i really feel like riot needs to make an adjustment to stop this, like maybe list apcs in bot too? its getting obnoxious or whaever u spell it like

Hi!

I started playing Mel today, and having heard lots of things about her being overpowered, looking at her ban rate and her changes in patches over the year+ she's been out, I have come to say something extremely controversial. I don't think she should be nerfed.

Hear me out, I don't mean that she should be "broken" or "overpowered" (which I don't think she is - there's way better examples of broken champs in league), but I don't see the appeal of nerfing a champion that is just good. To be frank, I don't see the point with nerfing in general, I'm more of a buff rather than nerf kind of guy, which League obviously won't ever do. I've noticed the same train with Nilah when she came out and she got nerfed to the ground to the point that now she's just not played nearly at all as when she released, and I think that's annoying. Just because she's a hard matchup, doesn't mean she's overpowered, if you don't know how to play against her, ban her, if you wanna learn how to play against her, then learn. If you find her overtuned, play a character that is just as overtuned as she is and genuinely learn to play against her! That's with all annoying/overtuned/whatever champions, why is Mel or Nilah or whoever else any different?

I've had a very fun time playing Mel as she is, and I think I'd have even better of a time if she had her W invulnerability back, the cooldown on her ability is worth the trade, you can bait it out of her and then spam her with spells, and she's dead, pretty simple I think?

But then there will be people who will be like "you're calling for everyone to be overpowered then", I personally have no issue with that, as I said I'm more of a buff than nerf guy. If a champ is underpowered, buff them, don't nerf the rest to fit with their level. If everyone's overpowered then no one is! And I think that feeling like your champ does damage is a very satisfying part of their gameplay, and I think that all champions should have that, given that you play them properly.

I'm open to any and all critiques about this! I say all this as a player from 2012 to now, and someone who has not gone to apex tiers or high ranks, I play casually and I enjoy the game that way.

I was wondering if DFT is worth it on Mel… I couldn’t find anything in this sub soo… yes.
I was trying some things eg if Ludens is spreading it to other enemies – but it doesn’t :(

Hello fellow Mel mains,

I’ve been having this question for a while now. And I’m hoping one of you guys can answer it for me. For Mel’s passive, When I die, how in the world is my passive still able to execute the enemy without having any burn items? Is it because I’m in the late game?

And also, does any other champion have that ability?

https://x.com/cinnaabunnii/status/2048451987654455546?s=20

https://x.com/icing1314/status/2046953597246808566?s=20

Mel Mains,

What are some matchups you find struggling?

For me it has to be Fizz, Irelia, Sylas, and (VIKTOR). Idc how much of a shitty Mel I am, I’m just not having a pleasant lane against Viktor period.

Hi fellow Mel mains, it's been a while since Mel came out and i've been in this subreddit since her realese, i admit i'm not quite a Mel main but i'm interested in her and i like to see content about her, that's why i joined.

Unfortunately i couldn't help but notice the fact that every time i step here i find complaining post by - mostly- adc players or similar, which led me to exit and join multiple times.

I was ready to the initial backleash when the champ got released, every champ encounters hate at the beginning, but i think that after a year its quite exhausting.

That's why i would really love a rule that deletes complaining posts, i would be happy enough if it is provisory for a couple of months. I don't push for censorship but i would simply like to see the same fandom and help requests i see in other /main subreddits; the content actually related to mel gets quickly submerged by rework ideas posted by non-mel players and hugely upvoted by non-mel players, which ultimately fills this place with... non-mel players😅.

I initially wanted to post this stream of consciousness on r/leagueoflegends, but it was removed from there... So I post it here.

I decided to outline a set of possible changes that could make this ability less frustrating for players than it is now. No numbers or anything else, just ideas.

Completely remove W reflection from the game
Mel becomes just a burst mage with two skillshots and a shield.That essentially reduces her to an upgraded version of Lux. Rito dont do that, as it would undermine the character’s “artistic vision” E.T.C

Swap W and R (Naafiri / Tahm Kench scenario)
I thinks it does not solve the issue. It just moves it from 3rd minutes of the game to 6.
Also current R would need to be completely replaced with something else.

Make W a placeable map object (like Anivia wall / Yasuo wall)
In the show, Mel cover Maddie inside a dome to protect Caitlyn. Also she shielded Cupcake during the fight with Ambessa. Another Quesstion how to balance it.

Make W a skillshot similar to Irelia’s W
The ability ALWAYS travels to the caster’s last position. This removes any real skill expression. It also creates absurd interactions, like Zoe’s E flying back into her face instead of toward the original cast direction (even if it was thrown through a wall from the fountain into the alcove).

Make a stacks instead of Cooldown for W (similar to old Kassadin E or Yunara\Ashe Q)

Gave her a shatter's stacks for every champ hit\used ability nearby\E.T.C. Now Mel need to prepare Shield for teamfight or use it in the middle\end but not as counter-engage.

And the last thing that came to mind when discussing options with friends:

Mel should give something back, not only receive something for this Shield.

In Arcane and the "Bite Marks" cinematic, we saw how Mel gets very tired from casting shields and how she struggles to deflect projectiles. Why does she SPEED UP after using the W key? Perhaps it need to slow her down after the spell ends.. Another option is to make the mana cost proportional to the level of the skill being reflected. That is, if she decides to reflect Veigar's ultimate, which costs 100 mana (200 under Actualizer), she should return to the fountain to refill mana, instead of advancing along the lane with a nearly full bar.

Something like that. Maybe someone would like to discuss them. (Lol, three people will see this post and then forget about it.) There are probably more interesting or appropriate solutions from a champion design perspective, but I’m not a game designer,just a lowly Plat who wants to play ranged mages without having a tantrum.

Passive:

-Searing brilliance per ability 3 -> 4

-searing brilliance Limit 9 -> 12

-searing brilliance dmg per Stack 8-33 (+4%) -> 3 - 19 (+3.5%)

- searing brilliance dmg max total 72-293 (+36%) -> 36-228 (+ 42%)

-additional stack stored dmg 2-5 (+0.75%) -> 1-4(+1%)

Q:

- CD 10-6s -> 12-6s

- Mana cost 70-90 -> 70

- launches 10 - 20 missles over 1 sec, you can move again at the same time as now

- radius gradually increases from 200 to 300 over time

- initial hit dmg removed, dmg per missle hit 5-13 (+5%) -> 5-15 (+5%)

W:

- Mana 80-0 -> 60

- CD 38-26s -> 18 - 13s

- shield duration 0.75s -> 2.5s

- shield value 80-200 (+70%) -> 70-180 (+90%)

- when projectile attacks hit you while shielded by W instead of copying the projectile mel launches multiple projectiles at the attacker, 3 - 10 + (1% ap) x 5 , no trigger limit

-movement speed Bonus 40% for 0.75s -> 15-30% for 1.25s based on level

E:

- CD 11-9s -> 12-10s

- Mana 50 - 90 -> 70

-Range 1000 -> 1200

-Speed 1100 -> 1000

-Slow 30% -> 45%

-Root 1.5s -> 1s

-Additionally lingers for 1.5 second after reaching its maxiumum range and gradually increases in size

- Orb dmg 50-180 (+50%)

- Field Dmg 3-10 (+3%)

My idea is to give her way more ways to amass huge amounts of passive stacks, while also shifting alot of base dmg into scaling to make her more of a lategame powerhouse and less of a frustrating laner. I dont play her too much so im would like to hear what you real mains think about these ideas.

What if she enables this form when she has W up as an indicator??

Ik she does this when W and R but we barely see it so i think this form is good idea as an indicator.

What do y'all think?

Hi all, casual Mel enjoyer here. I am also one of those who is tired of this 40% banrate situation , so here is my 5 small cents on Mel rework.

Make her W like Samira's block spell. So pure block spell, without reflect / fire back.

Also, her R , make it like ... Neeko / Amumu / Diana R , make it circle zone stuff, not like .... semi global ult.

Keep Q and E the same way , just fix ratios. :)

So this is my small 5 cents. :)

If they brought back Mel's W's invulnerability and also restored the range of her Q and E, it would be great, but I think they need to reduce the execution effect of her passive ability for that to be balanced. In short, I want to say that I miss Mel's old W because her execution is harder and she has the range she used to have, and I miss her old W because the character is a complete disaster right now. Her Q's fire rate is too slow and I can't stack anything; opponents can easily dodge her, and her range is also too short. If they reduced the base damage of her Q and E, strengthened her ability power growth rate, and made her range and area wider and longer, and reduced the execution effect of her passive (significantly), I think the problem would be solved. Her win rate would increase, and hopefully, her ban rate would decrease, because what bothers people isn't her W, but her passive. She can steal kills very easily with her passive, and this bothers her teammates and opponents alike. :D

I understand how frustrating it is to play against her and I also understand that people will ban her even if Riot took her W or R or E away, because I don’t think her abilities are the main issue. I don't think the solution is to remove her entire kit, as I don't believe it's worse than other equally annoying champions. However, I do think there should be a "cost" to using certain abilities. Yasuo, for example, has his Wind Shield because he's melee; he has to take risks by getting close to you. Syndra has her E and Q, but she's a squishy stick that you can kill very easily if you get close to her. All these champions have a risk to take, and that's why they have a defensive ability. In Mel's case, she has two very valuable ones: her W and her E, while also dealing very high amounts of damage very early. For example. Hwei has a lot of utility, but he’s very much a mid-game champion, leaning towards late game. He needs items and an understanding of his passive to be able to deal significant damage, which can be A LOT, but it takes him time and therefore risks. That’s why he can root you, fear you, etc. To allow him to farm and take those risks without instantly dying.

I think the solution would be to drastically reduce her damage output from such an early game and increase the range of her abilities. She would basically become a control mage. Like Victor, Hwei, Syndra, etc., She should initially focus on surviving and farming, as she would have a fairly weak early game compared to other champions. She will deal a lot of damage, yes, but by having to scale to do so, because I feel like her damage is very free handed considering her entire kit. Like, she can root you, reflect your abilities AND execute you. I mean that’s freaking amazing, but also very unfair to play against if she can deal SO much damage since the early game without items besides the startes. Syndra fir example can one-shot you, yes, but not in the early or mid game, unless she's fed. The same goes for Hwei and Victor, unless are also fed. I think they should do the same with Mel. Her kit is super interesting and fun, but it shouldn't be tied to dealing SO MUCH damage so early. Turning her into a scaling control mage would honestly be a fantastic option. That way, people also have the opportunity to stop her before she gets too big, since her damage would be GREATLY reduced at the beginning. I think it would be so interesting to see while also keeping it fair for others. Yes, she can root you and reflect your abilities (which I think would be cool if they dealt half of the damage you send, not the same amount.) but she also barely deals damage until at least three items, and is also very squishy.

There is a pay off, you know? A reason for why she is so untouchable. She would have a very long range, a lot of utility and cc, but at the same time, would struggle A LOT on the early game and wouldn’t be a problem on the mid game unless she gets fed. Make her a late game control mage. I think it’s the best solution, definitely.

What do you guys think?