Good afternoon everyone and welcome to this week's FOTM report. This week's champion, Ziggs hasn't seen a strong spike in solo queue play (yet), but is certainly seeing his fair share of play in the professional scene along with many other champions that benefit from Luden's Echo.
Introduction
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to this week's FOTM report. This week's champion, Ziggs hasn't seen a strong spike in solo queue play (yet), but is certainly seeing his fair share of play in the professional scene along with many other champions that benefit from Luden's Echo.History of Ziggs
Originally a champion renown for being an extremely obnoxious stalling champion that prolonged games to a point where it was extremely boring for spectators to watch, Ziggs received nerfs on his Q - Bouncing Bomb in terms of radius as well as a huge cooldown nerf his ultimate late in Season 4.
In a similar time frame, Athene's Unholy Grail was also nerfed several times, making Morellonomicon a much stronger AP item in comparison, one that favored "burst" champions rather than high mana cost "poke" champions.
Why Is He Popular Now?
Personal Buffs
After a long period of time, Ziggs finally received a mana reduction on his bouncing bomb in Patch 5.6.
Item Nerfs/Buffs:
Nerfs on Morellonomicon in patch 5.1 and buffs on Athene's Unholy Grail in patch 5.6 indirectly reduced the power of burst champions and increased the power of poke champions.
LUDEN'S ECHO
This item brings back much of what Ziggs lost in when the radius of his Bouncing Bomb was reduced. Not only that, but it also allows him to consistently full clear waves using his Q much earlier than usual, as well as continuously providing long range burst damage across enemy teams.
Thoughts on Ziggs
Way, way, way back when Ziggs was first introduced, almost nobody played him except for phantomlord. He was a risky, highly skill-based champion until Season 3, when his Satchel Charge was increased from 275 to 325 radius. At this point, he finally had a decent escape mechanism and finally accrued enough buffs to be a threat.
As he stands now, I think he's very viable and likely sits in the middle of Tier 1 to the top half of Tier 2 where I have him now. As things progress I may start moving him up for the waveclear and poke master he is.