Orianna, the Lady of Clockwork Review

Hello all, I apologize for the delayed post but I’m here to bring you another review of the newest champion released by Riot Games.  Orianna, the Lady of Clockwork previously known as Orianna, the Clockwork Girl, however some legal issues arose there so the naming had to be changed a bit.  Orianna is a magic casting support/nuke champion.  She is capable of bringing a lot of support as well as nuke potential of a mage depending on how she is built.  Orianna is a bit different from your typical mage and adds a bit of a new gameplay experience and mechanic to the game.  Orianna’s abilities revolve around her “ball” as it is named, which isn’t a pet by any means.  The ball is like another champion that can’t be targeted in a sense or a pet you have to keep an eye on.  Wherever the ball is, is where Orianna’s abilities will occur at, which adds a bit more to your gameplay experience by making you pay attention a bit more to not only your own positioning but the ball as well.  This adds a bit more of a intuitive gameplay experience and one where you have to focus a bit more then normal.

The fact you have to pay attention more allows Orianna to be a fun and unique champion despite some of the abilities being similar to other current abilties or a small new spin on older ones.  Overall it makes Orianna different from a typical support and mage as its not all about point and click with her.  Orianna also can be considered a range DPS of sorts for a mage as her passive allows her auto attack damage to scale a bit higher then a typical mage.  Her passive is effected by ability power and the amount of times you auto attack the same target within a certain time period.  This allows her to auto attack and synchronize well with a hybrid build path or a lich bane/sheen build path opening up unique builds to take advantage of certain abilities and her passive that comes with her kit.  Orianna’s first skill allows her to move her ball which thankfully is on a relatively low cooldown once you are rank the skill up allowing for almost constant movement of the ball.  Orianna’s second ability allows her to have a speed boost and slow area of effect, which takes Nasus’s Wither ability and makes it used here for enemies and the opposite in a speed boost for allies.  This is one of the abilities that I mentioned earlier that takes a small spin on older abilities and makes them a bit different.  This ability however has a small radius and I believe it could be enlarged a bit but I don’t know for sure how balanced that would make it or not.  The radius seems awfully small for it though, I believe the range is a mere 200 radius if that.  Overall the ability is not bad and I like the design of the bubble that is created to show the area of effect of the skill because it is shaped similar to a cog in a clock.  Orianna’s third ability allows her to recall her ball to herself or put it on an ally giving them increased armor and magic resist while on them and a shield for a brief period of time.  Shields seems to go hand in hand with support as it seems like no new champions are being given any kind of heals lately as it adds to passivity of gameplay.  This move is pretty neat as it requires positioning to be useful but the shield and travel time of the ball can make or break a save, which makes Orianna a little less of a desired shield support champion as compared to those that have instance shields like Morgana, Janna, and Karma.  Orianna’s ultimate is the most unique ability that adds a bit of flavor to the game and takes a new spin from other similar abilities.  This ability is similar to a gravitational pull in a sense where Orianna can pull enemies towards the ball similar to a suction effect.  This is a nice AOE ability and takes a spin on older abilities such as Blitzcrank’s grab and Urgot’s ultimate as a pull and swap effect.

Overall, Orianna is a champion that is both fun as support and as a mage.  Riot adds a bit of a twist to the gameplay of this champion by adding in the ball mechanic and how it revolves around her skills.  Orianna is still new and there are some bugs retaining to her gameplay, but overall its not an unpleasant experience by far and is a champion support and mage players should give a try.  Orianna is also a good champion for new players to learn in order to grasp a better understanding of positioning for other champions that require it to be effective.  So all in all nice job Riot on a well done champion that is fun despite using old mechanics and could still use some minor tweaks at least from a player’s perspective but is nonetheless fun and enjoyable to play.