He is not Bad and doesnt need further buffs, most people are just too agressive
The main reason most players are doing bad with him is because they are not used to his playstyle yet, even challengers are not playing him right if they dont have the right playstyle, i have seen people doing real good with him in high elo, but all of them already had this reactive and passive mage playstyle in them, comparing him to viktor, ori, etc... is not really fair since he cant afford to duel someone in fair terms, but that doesnt mean he is bad, the way i see is that he is a xerath with more utility and flexibility, trying to go for solo kills with him most of the time will get you killed, heck, even passing the middle of the lane will get you killed, people need to realize that his position is in the far back everytime.
plus theres a lot of things that is pushing his win rate so low, i will try to list the points i think are the most impactful.
- building ludden on him is straight down trolling, even if he wants to burst (and he can, he can both do good dmg with AoE and Burst) you need to do so by comboing skills.
- soloq is really focused on early game, so people tend to have an agressive playstyle, that does noe mean being reactive is bad, but requires more macro to be sucessful than just kill enemy, you needd good wave control, good farmin, successfully capitalize on smalls trades etc...
- most people are just picking him without even reading or testing the skills... this one doesnt even need explanation
i actually thinks that in the right hands he is at least an tier A midlane, but i would also add that his blind pick is actually really good since its actually impossible to freeze against him ( QE and QW can just clear the wave from distance), but think that he is bad against assassins but thats just because they are trying to trade fair with them, stay close to your turret, clear waves from afar, the place where hwei really shines are in teamfightes, where most people cant afford to dodge all your abilities.