Quinn and other Form-changing champions

To start off we'll define what we mean by "form-changing". Form-changing champs are ones whose ultimates give them new abilities and change their appearance, though the second one is not as important. For this analysis I've selected Nidalee, Shyvana, Jayce (Hammer form!), Elise and Quinn, and will be comparing all their basic abilities as well as how their ultimates affect their playstyle, with a specific emphasis on Quinn. Additionally, I'm splitting the group into ones that start with their transform (Jayce, Elise), and the ones that earn it at 6 (Nidalee, Shyvana, Quinn).

From recent tournament play, as well as standard solo queue, we can see that Elise, Jayce, and Nidalee are the more highly valued picks in this unique collection of champions. But why? Upon comparing these champions against their underplayed counterparts, some trends emerge. For starters, these three have unconditional form changes. In addition these skills are also costless (Shyvana's is too, but all her skills are costless so it's a less impactful statistic). Comparing that with Quinn's ultimate which has a considerable cooldown, 100 seconds at max rank, and costs mana to cast. This is considerably worse than Elise/Jayce/Nidalee, with their almost lack of a cooldown on the shift.

Moving on to their basic skills in human form (I’m considering Jayce’s ranged form as his ‘human’ one because it reinforces my point) another trend emerges that Quinn once again falls short on. The respective Q abilities of my supposed form-changing trinity do, at max rank and not considering scaling, over 230 damage each, the lowest of that being Elise’s Q that scales off their current health which guarantees it will do more. This is significant compared to the 230 base damage of Quinn’s Q. Comparing the W’s shows that this is arguably Quinn’s best skill, with passive attack speed and an active reveal.

The reveal is situationally pretty useful, and could be argued to be better than Nidalee traps, Jayce attack speed buff or Elise spider, but not by much. The E’s tell a similar story, but showcase one of Quinn’s biggest flaws: Vault. Elise’s rappel can be used offensively and defensively, the same as Jayce gate. Nidalee heal gives an attack speed buff and can be cast on allies which is great utility. Quinn’s E flings your AD carry into the enemy, a place they should almost never be.

When we look at their alternate forms the form-changing trinity shows its might again, with each of them gaining three new abilities whereas Quinn and Shyvana only have their abilities extended. Elise and Nidalee get the added bonus of having their abilities become costless as well. When I looked into Quinn’s kit what I’ve gathered is all it does is turn your ranged AD carry into a melee. That sounds terrible! All of her skills as Valor have the same mana cost, same damage and scaling, but reduced effectiveness due to her becoming melee. When we stack such a lackluster ult up against other champions like Varus or Miss Fortune, we begin to see why Quinn has not been seeing much play.

 

I’d say the final nail in the coffin for Quinn is her form-change makes her less effective, which is not the norm for other form-changing champs. Elise, Shyvana, and Jayce’s change to Hammer form all give them bonus armor and magic resist to compensate for their loss of range. Even Nidalee gains some movespeed in cougar form in addition to her new costless abilities, but all Quinn gains is some movespeed and bonus attack speed from W, at the cost of her range. And as an AD carry your range is one of your most valuable assets.

For the time being I think Quinn is outclassed by most other AD’s out there, but there is something crucial I haven’t mentioned yet that might be Quinn’s saving grace. On Elise’s release, no one gave her a second look until she started running toplanes into the ground. Nidalee and Jayce, our other two form-changing heroes, also fit quite well in the toplane. With some minor buffs I could definitely see Quinn becoming a viable toplaner, especially with the recent trend of putting AD carries in absolutely every position (jungle Ezreal?). As it stands though, she just doesn't stack up with other champs.