Why only 10-12 champs in pro play?

jaguarondi·5/14/2016, 7:59:50 AM·2 votes·1,533 views

Are these 10-12 champs the only viable ones in Esports? I really want to know. I just don't understand why the pros use literally the same ~10% of the champion pool. It seems as though Poppy has an abyssmal win rate in Esports.

TBH, it's incredibly boring for me to watch when the same champs are always played, even those that have losing reputations. It really turns me off of competitive LoL. Is there going to be any changes anytime soon? Rito, any answers? Someone? I don't want to have to watch the same champions over and over again.

7 Comments

Jamaree5/14/2016, 8:03:11 AM4 votes

Even if they nerfed the top ten, the pros will just move onto the next top ten. Pros only play the absolute best to try to win as well as play champions that are the most team centric.

Yuumi or Lose5/14/2016, 8:42:30 AM4 votes

Well CLG just played Sona so woohoo. :)

Dr Poro5/14/2016, 8:46:36 AM1 votes

The pro players probably just trained with these few champs so they are not comfortable to switch over. In best of 1, it's safer to make cheesy picks because one flaw can be the end. In best of 5 you usually have to adjust your strategy, which often includes picking different champions.

But I believe the gap between these champs and the next best is a little too great, which is even enlarged by pro players only focussing on these champs.

Shadowatom5/14/2016, 10:05:07 AM1 votes

Most of the time it will be the same champions as others have said, because the champions they pick have been proven to be extremely viable, even if they lose in competitive play, they're better than picking something that isn't viable at the time. This isn't to say that strange picks don't pop up every now and then, but they usually only come up if the team has a plan for it or the player is extremely confident they'll be able to win with whatever pick it is. Either way, Riot really can't do much other than force the wheel of champions to turn onto a new section atm, which will come when they move to the next patch. They could balance, to make a few picks more viable, but balancing will always create a ripple effect throughout the champion pool making some champions less valuable compared to others.

JMoormann5/14/2016, 10:09:22 AM1 votes

The thing is, it's basically impossible to perfectly balance the game. And as long as some are even just a tiny little bit stronger, they will be picked over anything else. No matter how small the difference is, a 50.01% win rate champion is better than a 50% win rate champion in most cases.

Also remember that the game isn't balanced around pro play. Some champions are a lot more powerful in pro play because of things they offer to a organized team (Sivir with ult, tanks provide strong TP flanks) and because some champions have such a high skill cap (Azir, Nidalee, Ryze, etc.) that they will always be stronger when played by the best players in the world than when an average soloQ player plays them.

Technically Riot could balance around pro play, but the balance for 99.9% of the playerbase would be completely skewed.

Glaedr5/14/2016, 11:05:37 AM1 votes

43 champs have been played at MSI. Now League has seen better days in Champion diversity with 2015 Worlds having 74 champions played throughout that tournament, but the amount played is still pretty impressive. 33% of the champions being seen as competitively viable is not an awful statistic considering how there are quite a few that are simply out-dated and out-classed by their counterparts. That's still a problem, but one that will be solved with time as long as the community gives Riot meaningful input on what should happen with certain champions.

With that said, I believe the mid-year update will definitely help that statistic in creating more diverse team-comps that benefit more from the new dragons, turret buffs, and even just the minor jungle changes.

Kal Vas Flam5/15/2016, 5:19:11 PM1 votes

A lot of it is tunnel vision. Spamming Poppy to a fault, playing tank supports because (for some reason) no one but NA knew that ranged supports were still viable. The MID and ADC roles are a little different as teams usually just play champs with the highest math, whether it be for gauging burst or DPS. I do feel like jungle is the most versatile role right now and most teams are failing miserably at utilizing top and jg champ diversity.