Alpha Strike comparison over the years
With the reversion of the AH-scaling in 26.19, I had an idea to compare Alpha Strike over the years across different major milestones/reworks. Note that for 12.5 and 12.13, the hot-fixed values were taken instead.
Initial observations:
The current version is considerably weaker early given its base damages have been nerfed throughout the years, but scales better at higher levels and when factoring in items. The damage ceiling is much higher right now with critical damage scaling at 200% (modified to 230%) with IE and being able to apply on-hit effects when compared to the first version.
The QoL additions of cast-time removal and repositioning enabled better skill expression, and made him less clunky to play. Though the removal of the cast-time did mean disjointing CC's is no longer possible.
In a vacuum, this is probably the strongest iteration of Alpha Strike to date. But of course, other things like items and runes also play a huge role, so it should not be taken purely at face value.