By the Numbers: Namei's performance at Worlds
Riot··1 votes·15,982 views
In last week's By the Numbers, we examined damage dealt to champions (DPM) and damage taken (DTM) for a few outliers amongst the ADCs at Worlds. But we didn't mention one particular player.
Namei. One could argue him as the successor to WeiXiao’s ADC throne. His precise positioning in chaotic teamfights helped carry two teams (Positive Energy and Edward Gaming) to three LPL titles combined. He was one of the most touted carries coming into Worlds. And while fans may nitpick a couple Death Sentences that hooked him, we are once again going to skip the analysis of his gameplay and break down his stats. Do they support the hype?
Note: We have combined the bracket stage games with the group stage numbers.
Namei is 6th in DPM (541): not the worst, but not the greatest either, especially considering the Worlds average is 546 DPM. However, there's a notable drop between Deft, Imp, and Uzi and the rest of the ADC's at Worlds (over 100 DPM between No. 3 Uzi and No. 4 Bebe). For being argued as world-class player, Namei needs to be up there with that trio. In fact, there's only a 23 DPM difference between No. 4 Bebe (554) and No. 9 Zefa (531). Most people probably didn't expect Namei to be placed as a middle-of-the-road ADC, but that's where he ended up.
However, one could argue ADC's that average longer game times tend to have higher DPM; because that's when an ADC really gets to shine. The key power spike for a late game ADC occurs after picking up Last Whisper.
And we calculated that the average buy time of 3rd-item Last Whisper for ADC's in the group stage was 30.1 minutes. Any match that ends before that mark (or those that end shortly afterward) will restrict an ADC's late game damage potential since they need the armor penetration to shred through stuff like Randuin's Omen, armor runes, and even natural champion armor.
Namei's average game time (36.2 mins) is slightly below the Worlds average (36.8) and of the No. 1-9 DPM ADC's, only four of them (Deft, Imp, Sneaky, and Uzi) are close to the Worlds average. There's a good chance that Namei's DPM is lower because of his quick game times.
Namei's wins are in red and Imp's are in black. Each point is an individual game.
Overall, it's a valid argument. We're going to take it a step further and investigate the outcome of matches. This is because DPM tends to be higher for the winning team, who snowball leads into faster and more items. In wins, the average DPM for all the ADC's was 630 and only 463 in losses. EDG closed games out the third fastest of any team at 33.7 minutes per win (only SSW and TSM won faster) and Namei managed just 620.3 DPM; he literally didn't get enough time to deal damage.
But again, we need to compare him with the best players who win just as quickly. In this particular case, Imp's winning even faster at 30 minutes (716.1 DPM) and still crushes Namei. The other members of the trio, Deft and Uzi (35.7 and 36.4 minutes respectively), are at least quicker than the Worlds average win time and of course, have higher DPM's than Namei. The story's the same in losses; Namei falls to 6th in DPM during losses (471), barely holding above the Worlds' average. But Deft and Uzi's average defeat time is faster than Namei's, and still eclipse him in the damage department.
Against Imp, the addition of Namei to the ADC pool improves the differential between DPM and DTM by 117%. Meanwhile, against Uzi, the story is quite similar with a 90% differential. This is a good indicator that Namei is still a dramatic improvement compared to a normal ADC, but we have to go back to the initial question of the article, do the stats support the hype?
Namei didn't hit the standards set by the best at Worlds despite being hailed as one of the strongest ADC players to ever play competitive LoL. Stiff opposition is not an excuse, people were expecting more than just average numbers from a world-class superstar. The elite carry failed to show up big and his stats from this tournament certainly didn't depict "one of the best ADC's in the world."
Simply Average?
Namei is 6th in DPM (541): not the worst, but not the greatest either, especially considering the Worlds average is 546 DPM. However, there's a notable drop between Deft, Imp, and Uzi and the rest of the ADC's at Worlds (over 100 DPM between No. 3 Uzi and No. 4 Bebe). For being argued as world-class player, Namei needs to be up there with that trio. In fact, there's only a 23 DPM difference between No. 4 Bebe (554) and No. 9 Zefa (531). Most people probably didn't expect Namei to be placed as a middle-of-the-road ADC, but that's where he ended up.
However, one could argue ADC's that average longer game times tend to have higher DPM; because that's when an ADC really gets to shine. The key power spike for a late game ADC occurs after picking up Last Whisper.
And we calculated that the average buy time of 3rd-item Last Whisper for ADC's in the group stage was 30.1 minutes. Any match that ends before that mark (or those that end shortly afterward) will restrict an ADC's late game damage potential since they need the armor penetration to shred through stuff like Randuin's Omen, armor runes, and even natural champion armor.
Namei's average game time (36.2 mins) is slightly below the Worlds average (36.8) and of the No. 1-9 DPM ADC's, only four of them (Deft, Imp, Sneaky, and Uzi) are close to the Worlds average. There's a good chance that Namei's DPM is lower because of his quick game times.
Namei's wins are in red and Imp's are in black. Each point is an individual game.
Overall, it's a valid argument. We're going to take it a step further and investigate the outcome of matches. This is because DPM tends to be higher for the winning team, who snowball leads into faster and more items. In wins, the average DPM for all the ADC's was 630 and only 463 in losses. EDG closed games out the third fastest of any team at 33.7 minutes per win (only SSW and TSM won faster) and Namei managed just 620.3 DPM; he literally didn't get enough time to deal damage.
But again, we need to compare him with the best players who win just as quickly. In this particular case, Imp's winning even faster at 30 minutes (716.1 DPM) and still crushes Namei. The other members of the trio, Deft and Uzi (35.7 and 36.4 minutes respectively), are at least quicker than the Worlds average win time and of course, have higher DPM's than Namei. The story's the same in losses; Namei falls to 6th in DPM during losses (471), barely holding above the Worlds' average. But Deft and Uzi's average defeat time is faster than Namei's, and still eclipse him in the damage department.
The Imp and Uzi factor
It’s not all bad for Namei though. We need to factor in his competition since tough matchups may limit damage numbers. In Namei's 12 games, he was matched up against Imp and Uzi -- 2 of the top 3 DPM ADC's -- a total of 7 times. No other ADC had a tougher schedule on paper, especially facing off against the ruthless aggression that Imp and Uzi present in the lane phase. They both feature extremely high DPM and DTM metrics, yet come away with a massive differential between the two stats. So how did Namei stack up relative to the other ADC's that played against Uzi and Imp?
Against Imp, the addition of Namei to the ADC pool improves the differential between DPM and DTM by 117%. Meanwhile, against Uzi, the story is quite similar with a 90% differential. This is a good indicator that Namei is still a dramatic improvement compared to a normal ADC, but we have to go back to the initial question of the article, do the stats support the hype?
Namei didn't hit the standards set by the best at Worlds despite being hailed as one of the strongest ADC players to ever play competitive LoL. Stiff opposition is not an excuse, people were expecting more than just average numbers from a world-class superstar. The elite carry failed to show up big and his stats from this tournament certainly didn't depict "one of the best ADC's in the world."
