The Dilemma
I play haze a lot, and i think she is really fun, and i really hope her current design or playstyle disappears. However, because her ultimate is a huge part of her relevancy in the game, and it's simplicity in execution, even small balance changes can shift her from being useless to OP. It also means the difference between a good hazeplayer, and a bad hazeplayer can be less obvious or entertaining to spot, which usually makes for a good noobstomper.
A really scary ult, that can do a lot of damage, without the need of help from teammates, is generally easy to balance for the late game, but super hard to balance for the early game, as teams are very split up in the early game, which makes it harder to make up for a teammate feeding haze. And in the late-game teams are more grouped up, and haze's ult is more of a teamfight focus/problem, rather than a ganking/feeding problem.
Simplified Dilemma
So, if her ult is too strong early game, she can snowball pretty easily, without there being a lot of skill involved, and if her ult is too weak early, she only has her passive and a CC that can make up for it, which is simply too weak to make her a relevant pick versus many other heroes.
So what is the solution?
Of course, there's always the option to completely rework her, but i really like her core design, and find her really fun to play. Imo, the direction should be towards making her ult have a wider execution gap. Such that a bad execution, is going to have even worse consequences, but a good execution has even better consequences, than what we have now. I'm speaking here from design perspective, and not in terms of math/tuning perspective.
Allowing the use of items during ult is a neat idea, that could be built upon.
Idea 1:
Buff side
Her max upgraded stealth could be use able during ult, or become a part of her ult. So, either when using stealth during ult, or reusing ult while it's active, you can become invulnerable and also dodge CC, pausing ult duration and without being able to do damage.
Nerf side
This should come with the remove of bullet evasion, imo. Bullet evasion is a big part of what allows Haze to keep ult going for a long time, and the buff should be able to offset it, but only if you are good enough at the game.
Result
Hopefully, this would mean a good haze player could initiate with ult on an Ivy for example, and dodge her stun, giving a very clear and visible distinction between a bad Haze player and a good one, and providing memorable moments in the game. It would also allow the Ivy player to have satisfying moments against shitty Haze players. A really good Haze player might even simply skip unstoppable in match-ups where it was otherwise mandatory.
Idea 2:
Buff side
Massively increased damage, and hitting multiple targets once again, and maybe add charges.
Nerf side
Massively reduce range, and maybe massively reduced duration.
Result
Result would be a lack of need for something like Ricochet, allowing haze players to spend more souls on utility items. Slows, mobility items and burst would be much more important. If the change would include charges and reduced duration, it could combo with her invisibility having charges as well. If her ult would have JUST enough damage to 100 -> 0 a hero, if there was a few creeps nearby for Ricochet effect, she would be much more reliant on slow and CC to delete an enemy, which ultimately means she would likely have to use invis/dagger+ult combo TWICE, to get a kill solo.
Something like invis -> silence glyph -> ult -> enemy escapes with something -> hit dagger (skill check) -> ult again.
Again a way to increase the skill gap between a shitty Haze player and a good one, while providing more options for counterplay and memorable moments.
Idea 3:
Buff side
Using the invulnerable from 2/Invis, or re-using ult, makes Haze blink forward a short distance, or on top of a target in a short range. Some way to control who is the target of the ult, either closest available, which increases skill ceiling and adds counterplays, or a way to target by reusing ult or a temporary targeted ability used by left click.
Nerf side
Ricochet doesn't affect bullet dance, reduction of range and if a massive increase in damage, then a reduction or removal of bullet evasion and duration.
Result
The result would be haze players again needing to spend less souls on damage and more souls on utility. They would be more 1v1 oriented late game, which makes a snowballing Haze less Scary, and therefore allows for higher damage output math/tweaks for balancing, while allowing for more counterplay and memorable moments.
My preference:
Personally i would prefer something like a mix of them all, maybe even something like being able to use dagger during ult, and a hit meaning i blink to the target, and it skips creeps during ult or something. I definitely prefer Idea 1, where i can't simply spin once to win, i have to do it multiple times, but also builds on the feeling of being an assassin moving in and out of a fight fast.
Final words
I just had these ideas in my head, and it seemed like most people were more focused on what she has already, and what to nerf/buff. But i feel like it's more that she is lacking more nuances and possibilities for outplays and counterplays, without there being any issue with her design at all. Imo, it's mostly about how simple her Ult is to execute well, and not so much about the rest of her kit.
I play haze a lot, and i think she is really fun, and i really hope her current design or playstyle disappears. However, because her ultimate is a huge part of her relevancy in the game, and it's simplicity in execution, even small balance changes can shift her from being useless to OP. It also means the difference between a good hazeplayer, and a bad hazeplayer can be less obvious or entertaining to spot, which usually makes for a good noobstomper.
A really scary ult, that can do a lot of damage, without the need of help from teammates, is generally easy to balance for the late game, but super hard to balance for the early game, as teams are very split up in the early game, which makes it harder to make up for a teammate feeding haze. And in the late-game teams are more grouped up, and haze's ult is more of a teamfight focus/problem, rather than a ganking/feeding problem.
Simplified Dilemma
So, if her ult is too strong early game, she can snowball pretty easily, without there being a lot of skill involved, and if her ult is too weak early, she only has her passive and a CC that can make up for it, which is simply too weak to make her a relevant pick versus many other heroes.
So what is the solution?
Of course, there's always the option to completely rework her, but i really like her core design, and find her really fun to play. Imo, the direction should be towards making her ult have a wider execution gap. Such that a bad execution, is going to have even worse consequences, but a good execution has even better consequences, than what we have now. I'm speaking here from design perspective, and not in terms of math/tuning perspective.
Allowing the use of items during ult is a neat idea, that could be built upon.
Idea 1:
Buff side
Her max upgraded stealth could be use able during ult, or become a part of her ult. So, either when using stealth during ult, or reusing ult while it's active, you can become invulnerable and also dodge CC, pausing ult duration and without being able to do damage.
Nerf side
This should come with the remove of bullet evasion, imo. Bullet evasion is a big part of what allows Haze to keep ult going for a long time, and the buff should be able to offset it, but only if you are good enough at the game.
Result
Hopefully, this would mean a good haze player could initiate with ult on an Ivy for example, and dodge her stun, giving a very clear and visible distinction between a bad Haze player and a good one, and providing memorable moments in the game. It would also allow the Ivy player to have satisfying moments against shitty Haze players. A really good Haze player might even simply skip unstoppable in match-ups where it was otherwise mandatory.
Idea 2:
Buff side
Massively increased damage, and hitting multiple targets once again, and maybe add charges.
Nerf side
Massively reduce range, and maybe massively reduced duration.
Result
Result would be a lack of need for something like Ricochet, allowing haze players to spend more souls on utility items. Slows, mobility items and burst would be much more important. If the change would include charges and reduced duration, it could combo with her invisibility having charges as well. If her ult would have JUST enough damage to 100 -> 0 a hero, if there was a few creeps nearby for Ricochet effect, she would be much more reliant on slow and CC to delete an enemy, which ultimately means she would likely have to use invis/dagger+ult combo TWICE, to get a kill solo.
Something like invis -> silence glyph -> ult -> enemy escapes with something -> hit dagger (skill check) -> ult again.
Again a way to increase the skill gap between a shitty Haze player and a good one, while providing more options for counterplay and memorable moments.
Idea 3:
Buff side
Using the invulnerable from 2/Invis, or re-using ult, makes Haze blink forward a short distance, or on top of a target in a short range. Some way to control who is the target of the ult, either closest available, which increases skill ceiling and adds counterplays, or a way to target by reusing ult or a temporary targeted ability used by left click.
Nerf side
Ricochet doesn't affect bullet dance, reduction of range and if a massive increase in damage, then a reduction or removal of bullet evasion and duration.
Result
The result would be haze players again needing to spend less souls on damage and more souls on utility. They would be more 1v1 oriented late game, which makes a snowballing Haze less Scary, and therefore allows for higher damage output math/tweaks for balancing, while allowing for more counterplay and memorable moments.
My preference:
Personally i would prefer something like a mix of them all, maybe even something like being able to use dagger during ult, and a hit meaning i blink to the target, and it skips creeps during ult or something. I definitely prefer Idea 1, where i can't simply spin once to win, i have to do it multiple times, but also builds on the feeling of being an assassin moving in and out of a fight fast.
Final words
I just had these ideas in my head, and it seemed like most people were more focused on what she has already, and what to nerf/buff. But i feel like it's more that she is lacking more nuances and possibilities for outplays and counterplays, without there being any issue with her design at all. Imo, it's mostly about how simple her Ult is to execute well, and not so much about the rest of her kit.
