The Mage Tool Trinity, and why certain mages end up being so strong and over-bearing.

In League of Legends, there's plenty of points to cover and levers to pull if you want to buff or nerf a character, but whenever a mage becomes strong, it's usually because they're not abiding by the rules of the Mage Tool Trinity.

Burst/Utility/Zoning (otherwise known as The BUZ)

Mages should either: A) Be very good at one of these things Or B) Be good at two of these things But never C) Be good at all three of these things

When Mages are good at all three BUZ categories, you get characters like Syndra, Orianna, Ziggs.

When these champions enter the rift, even though some of them aren't picked all the time, you know you're in for a bad time because they will:

Deal astronomical amounts of damage and have combos that are strong enough to 100-0 you (Burst) Use their abilities to keep you at bay, protect themselves and their allies, or punish you for going in to fight them in the first place (Utility) Hit you from where you can't fight back and prevent you from going to where you want to be (Zoning)

So when a mage can do all three of these things well, that's when they become a problem champion.

Some examples of good mages (mages that abide by two of these rules) are:

Ahri (Burst/Utility with minimal zoning) Katarina (Exceptional Burst with utility that depends entirely on her surroundings and the only way she can zone you is by placing herself directly in harms way) Akali (Exceptional Burst) Veigar (Burst/Zoning. His utility is tied to his zoning and it's delayed and gives you ample room to counterplay it) Twisted Fate (Burst/Utility)

I would love to see Riot re-balance a lot of problem-mages to fall under that category to help level them off as not being such power-picks when they're good and being mediocre at best when they're not.

Orianna would lose a lot of her burst damage because she can put out consistent damage already and has insane zoning and utility potential as it is, Ziggs is in the same boat. Great utility already and incredible zoning potential. He doesn't need his Q to deal a quarter of someone's health and his ult to deal half of it to be good.. Reduce the damage on that but increase the damage to minions so he doesn't lose his role as long-range zone mage with strong wave-clear.

Other characters are a little more difficult because their kits are tied so closely into abusing all three categories. Syndra can only really get reliable combos off if she stuns (her utility) but her stun is also her best zoning tool (which keeps you far back in lane) but if she lands it or if you get close to her, she can one-shot you.

But I think with some changes, characters like this could really be able to solidify themselves and allow Riot better ease of access to tuning them to be consistently good picks instead of being ridiculously strong or too weak to bother picking. Please share your thoughts on the matter!