A Blitzcrank remake suggestion

The great steam golem built from Zaun, Blitzcrank, is a powerful support who for many will split opinion on whether or not he's overpowered or not. One thing that people have to accept is that no other support champion affects the bot lane like Blitzcrank does.

With his signature ability, Rocket Grab (Q), Blitzcrank immediately puts the opposing team on the back foot at level one. His grab will pull enemies/minions towards you, this makes him amazing for invades as you can pull an enemy towards your team for first blood or pull their buff and deny their jungler, it doesn't just stop there though.

Image courtesy of fanup.com

As he levels up, Blitzcrank only gets better, his Power Fist (E) will let you knock the enemy into the air, Overdrive (W) gives you mobility and attack speed and at level six he gets his ultimate Static Field (R) which is a huge 1200 range AOE silence. Hitting Q>E>R is an amazing combo and with Exhaust to go with that, it should be a kill nearly every time.

This is a terrifying combo and it's one of the main reasons he's so hard to play against as it lets him effectively zone out the enemy bot lane, as the AD Carry and support worry about their positioning in order to safely farm. Another reason Blitzcrank is so effective is that it doesn't matter if he misses a pull or five, if he hits that's sixth one, the potency of his combo will force you out of lane via death or narrowly escaping with no summoner spells.

What can be done about Blitzcrank at the moment by the enemy? Not much. Aggression and good positioning will help you in lane but one mistake can easily be punished and although, Alistar and Taric can supply their own powerful combo but at level six you can silence and run if you hit one of them with a pull.

Somehow... someway...

So, what do I propose to solve a problem like Blitzcrank? Well I'd change his abilities around in order to balance his early game but retain his bully like presence in lane.

The main change will be to make his Q, Rocket Grab, into his ultimate. This change would neutralise the severity of his game at the start and change him more into an aggressive support like Leona, who gains her full combo at level 6. I would also shift other things around, shift his passive onto Q and make it an AOE shield with around 1000 range. With less fear coming at level one, Blitzcrank will need some defences. I think this is a fair trade that will let him protect his carry as well.

Finally, I'd give him a new passive - Static Shock. Every time an enemy is hit by one of Blitzcrank's abilities, they will be silenced for 1 second. This gives him a two second silence with his R>E combo. Since I plan to change the cooldown on his R, this will help him be more viable as a missed pull would be a huge problem.

Passive - Static Shock - Anytime an enemy is hit by one of Blitzcrank's abilities, they will be silenced for 1 second.

Q - Mana Barrier - Blitzcrank emits a wave of electricity that shields all allies in a nearby area for 50% of his max mana.

Cost - 50/55/60/65/75
Cooldown - 12/11/10/9/8

R - Rocket Grab - Blitzcrank fires his right hand at a straight line to the target area. If his hand encounters an enemy unit it will pull the target back to his location, dealing magic damage and stunning it for 1 second in the process.

Damage - 250/375/450 Magic Damage (+1.0 per ability power)
Cost - 150/125/100
Cooldown - 30/25/20

While I feel these changes would be fairly heavy nerfs to his early game, post-level six he still has his signature moves and utility and he gets stronger late game, while also trying to be defensive with his new Q so it's a fair trade and he's a bit more balanced than everyone being scared to heck and back of Blitzcrank.

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think in the comment sections.