The problem with Rammus

[quote=Sinjustice]I like your changes. I agree, that would probably bump him up in viability. He wouldn't be as common as others, but he might actually see some light in ranked games. He's never, ever banned anymore. He's just not that good anymore. Easy to avoid now that his [[Powerball]] speed is lower, and just overshadowed by much better junglers/gankers. I really like the idea of buffing [[Tremors]], especially on the ratio. With other tanky DPS filling in the role he used to have, he needs some damage output to compensate. Encouraging him to build a little AP would do wonders for his viability in teamfights. By putting out more damage, he becomes more of a threat, and thus more viable. :)[/quote]

[quote=Searz]Ye, his "old" ratio is really low.[/quote]

[quote=JunSupport]I personally think Rammus' [[Tremors]] should slow. You should not be able to run away properly when the runeterra beneath you is shaking. [[Anivia]], [[Corki]], [[Gragas]], [[Janna]], [[Karthus]], [[Kassadin]], [[Kayle]], [[Malzahar]], and [[Zilean]] would all get special immunity... :P[/quote]

[quote=Temzilla][quote=JunSupport] I personally think Rammus' [[Tremors]] should slow. You should not be able to run away properly when the runeterra beneath you is shaking. [[Anivia]], [[Corki]], [[Gragas]], [[Janna]], [[Karthus]], [[Kassadin]], [[Kayle]], [[Malzahar]], and [[Zilean]] would all get special immunity... :P [/quote] That's a bit silly, considering most of those champions (Read: All but malz) have slows or escapes that would counter tremor slow anyways :s.[/quote]

[quote=Searz]I just wanted to give a better reason to build Rylai or Abyssal (damage overall) by giving his Tremor ratio a big boost. Still, I wouldn't mind Tremor slowing.[/quote]

[quote=Dotter]I really like your suggestions, which could bring Rammus back to being a viable pick. He simply doesn't have enough sustainability to be good atm. He is way too predictable in lanes and his ganks is not nearly as strong as they used to be. What you suggest could give him better sustainability and a few more ganks during laning phase. + rep :)[/quote]

[quote=JEFFY40HANDS]I had considered the same idea of buffing Tremors. It's such a weak ability minus the fact that it can help bring down turrets. Issue being there that it's an AoE and likes to aggro turrets when an enemy plays hopscotch on it (The Tremor's AoE) for a moment. However increasing its damage would be a solid buff to Rammus, reducing some of his mana costs or increasing his MP5 HP5 also would be a big help in making him a viable pick.[/quote]

[quote=Searz]Ye, my change would give him about 4.5 more MP5 in lategame. Almost 50% more than his current base. Sooooo shitty >.> I increased the damage on his ult again. Now it's 5 higher on all levels (compared to the current).[/quote]

[quote=JEFFY40HANDS]Yeah, the coef needed a buff too. Granted he shouldn't be a viable pure AP tank, but it needs something to be threatening imo.[/quote]

[quote=EvilDice]It's funny, because pre powerball speed nerf, rammus was considered OP. Now, he's a very weak jungler. As a former frequent rammus player, I've always known that he wasn't as strong as everyone made him out to be. His ganking was good, for sure, but his jungling really sucks, there's no way around it. Later on in the game, even if you pop your ULT to kill blue buff/red buff, it takes an extremely long time to kill them. You pretty much have to build wriggles if you want to be a sustainable jungler in all phases of the game, and we all know that wriggles isn't exactly the best item on rammus. You really hit his biggest issue right on the head. You hit the issue of why rammus was never OP and should never have been nerfed, his mana costs and his absolute DEPENDENCY on blue buff. If the other team picks someone like Lee Sin or Nocturne, who counter jungles rammus(who has a very obvious route with very simply timings), and is able to net a kill on him, Rammus is pretty much now so far behind in his jungle that he can't recover. He absolutely DEPENDS on blue buff to be able to jungle. This also makes him a weaker jungler, because when you get to your second and third blue buff(which begin to take longer and longer to kill, I might add), you are going to want to give this blue buff to your AP carry(at least in my ELO that's how jungling works). Almost every jungle is capable of doing this, yes, even Amumu. The fact that Rammus HAS to take blue buff makes him even less useful to his team as a jungler. You pretty much have to gank 24/7 to succeed as Rammus, and while he is one of the stronger gankers, there are a lot of strong ganking junglers, who are also much stronger in other areas of jungling than Rammus. Now lategame, he's fine and makes for an awesome tank. However, due to his very annoying jungling, it's really hard to get the farm rammus needs for his items in order to be tanky. So, like I said earlier, if he is counter jungled, his jungling is basically fucked, and so is his cs, exp, and items. My solution? As Searz suggested, he needs mana cuts across the board. He also needs something to make him more versatile in the jungle. This could be DBC reflecting double damage to minions, or Powerball having a chance to deal bonus damage to minions, like Yi's [[alpha strike]]. The biggest issue for rammus is getting counterjungled very easily, so becoming a more versatile jungler with multiple paths would be very helpful to him. If Rammus would be able to start with regrowth+ a health pot, he could rush a Philo, which could really help his mana pool out, as well as his late game farm. I've actually seen HSGG pull this route off a while back, though I forget how he did it. If someone could replicate that, it'd be very useful. I think his lategame damage is fine. If he gets his farm and gets to a thornmail, he can absolutely devastate AD carries. His 3 second taunt is a big threat IMO, and a damage buff might go a little overboard.[/quote]