So nullwave is an item I’ve seldom ever used, or seen used during recent patches. It has some decent base stats, providing a chunk of health, cooldown, energy recharge and a sizeable chunk of DMG 50-100 plus 15% max health (CP) and is on a reasonable cooldown (35sec). If you can land this ability it’s like having an additional ult, it can be that effective.
Personally I was on the receiving end of a nullwave (I’ve not seen it for so long that I wasn’t expecting to have to block it) and it was immensely powerful. If it’s not blocked having no abilites as a roam for 4 seconds it’s an eternity. I realise top end VG roams will block this ability regularly making it somewhat redundant, but even if blocked it provides nice base stats and forces the enemy to consider it when team fights break out.
Guess my question is, do you think it’s potato, if so what can be done to improve it. If not is it a situational item or could you use it as part of a roam build?
You answered your question yourself - it’s high skill tiers item. In soloq poa and below it is just not that great… you need a team, a plan, a skill and whatnot to use it effectively to the point it’s more viable compared to other t3 item. This also depends on enemy, strategy and so on.
See I actually see it being more effective in tier 9 down as VG level roamers will reflex block it.
In lower tiers ppl struggle to reflex block anything so your chances of landing it are increased. If you do manage to silence a captain during a fight their potato for 4 seconds which is very useful. It also provides suprise burst DMG to finish ppl off with (tested this recently) which is more useful than a storm crown.
below t9 your team can’t utilise effectively that window of time. There you need to babysit them as they are weaklings that blame you for everything. I am main roam and it’s really “fun” when you have two-three players that can’t hold their lanes and ping you constantly with blaming style that you are not there. Fun…
Edit: I am talking about 1vs1 situations, when they are pressured I am there, the problem is that they lose really fast their lanes when they are solo… this while I rotate. The thing is, they are so weak that you CAN’T rotate, the moment you leave the lane in good health… moment later the laner there lose it.
Mmm see I don’t think they need to utilise it, this isn’t a team wide silence, it’s a focused silence usually used on enemy roams to nullify their team abilities (I think it’s better in 3v3 personally as it’s far harder to target roams in 5v5).
Sure you can use it on squishy targets, but then it’s down to you to determine how best to utilise the ability. Silencing a fleeing squishy for instance usually results in a death as your team will quickly tidy them up. Equally silencing someone who is about to kill your ally is immensely powerful.
Thing with using at tiers 9+ is that the enemy are simply better at reflex blocking. However at these levels it gives you something else to think about. For instance I had to chose between blocking a Baptiste roam fear or saving my block for the silence. Tough choice… something which you need to make very quickly.
This might be a dumb question,but since it does max HP crystal damage,can I use it for offense?Since storm crown is basically useless now I would love to have another +health/cooldown reduction item
Agreeded, however it has the added benefit of giving you a further 400 health which is useful on hero’s like Lyra, Ardan and Phinn. Plus it gives a nice chunk of DMG and energy and cooldown effects.
I think you’re right, vast majority of the time a CW is going to be more useful, probably supercam as well for the vision control. Which is a shame since this item can be an effective tool.
Do you think it needs rework? Or is it just a situational item?
Right after typing my comment I went ahead and tried it out on a taka.Gotta say that it went better than I thought it would.Big improvement compared to stormcrown/aftershock,plus the item silence stops enemies from blocking my x-retsu with reflex block or they waste it to block the item silence
That’s a 27% hit in a second with a silence from two items. That’s got to smart a little… not even factored in base DMG or CP ratios from abilities or any other items.
I think this is the real value of it. Most roamers aren’t buying a crucible and a separate reflex block, so they’ll have to choose… either block the Nullwave for yourself, or block the AoE CC that’ll be coming next. Nullwave’s great for baiting the reflex out, or ensuring your silence/hook/stun will land.
That said, I don’t think I’ve ever used Nullwave all that great, personally. It’s best when you can engage with your team, predict the flow of damage, and force the reflex decision before their Fountain is activated, but not too late that they’ll want to activate Fountain after they’ve blocked the Nullwave. Too much coordination for me lol
Exactly. You know what’s the most hillarious moment for a support? When in a middle of a raging teamfight where nobody even notices that cheeky nullwave, ally is dying and roam has to fountain or do whatever, but as he looks down on the buttons and sees they are silenced. That’s the biggest " Oh shit " moment of all time.
Happened to me with adagio. That bastard nullwaved me and i missed it. He initiated ult immediately and i pressed that crucible but oh wait…
