This being the Champion Feedback forum, I figured I'd give some feedback on Sejuani, the newest Champion of the League. Keep in mind that these are only my opinions, and I am not an extremely hardcore player. It might also seem like I'm pointing out the obvious a lot, but I suppose it's a good place to start explaining what I like and dislike.
Ever since Sejuani came out, I've bee playing her in the jungle nonstop. It's a little obsessive, but it helps me learn the ins and outs of being a potent jungler: I don't typically jungle. I'm not the best at it. But, playing as Sejuani, I've found multiple degrees of success.
Sejuani's strength lies in several things:
1. Clearing minions quickly. Gradually, during the start of the game, Sejuani gains an increasing ability to kill creep camps and minion waves with each of her first three levels. Starting with Northern Winds (W) is a no-brainer, as it enables her to deal damage to minions without attacking them. Following up with Arctic Assault (Q) at level 2 makes it even easier, as she can dash through many creeps and apply Frost (her passive) to them, so that following up with Northern Winds (and eventually Permafrost [E] at level 3) can take advantage of its extra damage. This combination makes her a little slow starting in the jungle, but eventually she tears through neutral camps and minion waves with ease.
2. Utility. I've never been the kind of player to go all out and get kills and all sorts of big scores and whatnot. I usually play supports (like Janna or Sona), and I enjoy being useful to my teammates. Sejuani's passive (Frost) might not slow a whole lot later in the game, but earlier in the game, that 3-second 10% slow can be very useful in ganks or in lane, punishing anyone who went out too far. With Permafrost activated, the slow gets even larger and makes team fights even better, preventing escapes or attacks, depending on how it is used. In addition, being a tank means absorbing a lot of the damage for the rest of the team to pound on your enemies, and that 5-second Area of Effect ability helps chip away at them. Not to mention her Ultimate, Glacial Prison, which is one of my favorite Ultimates in the game. The area-of-effect stun is devastating in team fights, and the fact that it adds Frost makes it even easier to cut down the team by stacking Permafrost onto them.
3. Gank Potential. I'm not the best ganker in the world, and most especially not when I'm needed everywhere at once, but my favorite thing about Sejuani is her ability to gank. To have a tank come flying out into the lane, hit and slow an enemy, and then further slow or stun them becomes a great tool for your team. Because of the wide radius on Glacial Prison, missing slightly will not always result in failure, as the stuns on the outside edge still fall nicely into place when pouring the heat onto an unsuspecting enemy. I don't always gank well, but when I do, it typically forces someone to leave the lane or nets my team a kill, and that's always nice to have.
These three strengths are no-brainers to see, but they're easy to put to good use. Sejuani's place is definitely more in the jungle rather than a lane simply because it makes using her abilities more potent. However, she does have a few flaws...
Sejuani's flaws, as I have seen, are as follows:
1. Weird Scaling. There is no point to building any Ability Power on Sejuani whatsoever because her abilities don't scale very well. Amumu, an AP tank jungler, has the potential to hurt a whole lot more than Sejuani does while having a stun and a snare in his skill list. Sejuani's only hope for damage is mostly through Northern Winds because it scales off of her maximum health. Because of the scaling, she does not have the potential to be built in many ways other than as a Health and Armor/Magic Resistance-stacking tank. By the looks of her, Sejuani should be capable of being successfully built as, say, a bruiser or something, when she simply cannot be. 'Meat Shield' doesn't seem like a suitable role in team fights for Sejuani early in the game whens he doesn't do a whole lot of damage.
2. Survivability. Sejuani may clear camps fast, but early in the game she comes away from her jungle often due to being hurt. This is not a very good quality in a Champion designed to mainly be a jungler because it leaves her unable to perform crucial early-game ganks. Perhaps giving her more starting Armor or Health Regen would fix this, but otherwise she begins to lag behind because she needs to go back every once in a while. (Granted, later on her ability to keep alive is perfectly fine in the jungle.) At the middle parts of the game, Sejuani also has difficulty keeping alive in 5v5 team fights, mostly because she relies heavily on items to keep her from melting and her damage doesn't often keep enemies from killing her.
3. Speed. Sejuani, keeping in good form with most of the icy Champions, is painfully slow, even with her Arctic Assault, as its cooldown early in the game is fairly long and prevents a lot of crucial escapes. Even with Cooldown runes I find myself never having my escape mechanism when I need it the most. But, more to the point, her standard speed is nothing to be desired. Riding on a boar seems like it would make movement fairly easy, but with standard Tier 2 Boots (I use Ninja Tabi a lot) her speed is definitely lower than 400. This makes traveling across the map to gank a major issue as she rarely gets to where she needs to be in time. I haven't yet tried to see what Boots of Swiftness will do for her, because sacrificing the defensive bonuses is not much of an option with Sejuani.
4. Item Reliability. Sejuani is heavily reliant on her build, meaning that she needs lots of gold to keep up with her duties as tank, and that, in turn, means she needs a lot of assists, kills, or farm, and it is rarely a good idea to take gold from the carries. In addition, with a lack of significant Magic Resistance items, she can still be picked apart by AP carries. Madred's Bloodrazor will destroy Sejuani easily, as she won't be entirely capable of stopping the damage in progress.
With the right playing style, however, Sejuani can definitely be devastating, but she needs a little more to keep up with older tanks like Rammus and Amumu. I find that a combination of Health, Mana, Magic Resistance, Armor, and Cooldown Reduction can go a long way on Sejuani so long as her teammates are there to beat the other team into submission before they force their way through her. I find that an endgame build of Ninja Tabi, Banshee's Veil, Frozen Heart, Frozen Mallet, and most other defensive items will definitely go a long way on her. She is, however, still going to need the support of her team to keep alive while slowing the enemy team.
Sejuani is quickly becoming my main jungling Champion, for whenever I may need to take the role. I am very pleased with the Sejuani so far and I only think she needs minor changes to be a significant force on the Fields of Justice.
I encourage other players to use her, as she will fit nicely into many team compositions!
Good work on Sejuani, Riot. Love her. ;3
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