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"Let's just throw more mobility at the problem"

doubleguac·1/30/2015, 12:55:21 AM·30 votes·2,792 views

It feels like, recently, Riot's solution to balance problems has frequently been to just throw more mobility at it. -Lucian too strong? Nerf his range but give him way more mobility! -Ahri losing DFG? Give her a huge MS boost when she uses Q! -Katarina bursting too fast? Nerf her damage, massively reduce the cooldown on shunpo! -Azir having trouble shortly after launch? Remove the max range on his dash!

That's on top of all the recently released champions like:

Gnar "So how’s he different? Well, Mini Gnar’s one of the most mobile champions in the game." -Gypsylord RekSai "Rek'Sai's a unique champion with... piles of strategic mobility options" -5.1 patch notes Kalista Martial Poise. Free dashes that have the same cooldown as your attack speed as long as you are in range of someone. Don't really need to say anything else.

Riot says they are aware of mobility creep, and they think it's a problem. They keep saying this, but they also keep injecting more and more mobility into the game.

I've recently started playing Sion. I'd say that, in about 50% of my games, I have almost no chance of ever interacting with the enemy carries. There is no way I'm ever going to land a spell on Kalista or Leblanc unless they screw up horrifically, or someone else CC's them first.

I trust that Riot understands the game better than I do, and that they put a lot of thought into every major champion release or kit rework they make. At the same time, I'm a little concerned by the exponential increase in mobility recently. In S3, people would have laughed if you had told them that Riot would ever release a champion with a dash on a sub-1-second cooldown. Now we have Yasuo and Kalista.

Maybe it's that players find high mobility kits more fun. That wouldn't surprise me at all. But it's starting to have pretty serious consequences. Point and click CC has been getting systematically phased out at the same time that mobility has been exploding. This is a double whammy that makes it incredibly difficult to interact with certain ultra-high mobility champs (like Kalista or Leblanc).

42 Comments

KnivingDude1/30/2015, 1:04:59 AM11 votes

El See Ez LeeSin Ezreal

TheKingDodo1/30/2015, 1:09:01 AM8 votes

To be fair... reksai's pretty RekSai's pretty immobile while out of burrow, same thing with mega Gnar. The only thing is, they added in darius level damages to these guys while they're in their "kiteable" mode. It really is just a trade off between damage and mobility. If rito made everyone on the same level of mobility and/or damage, the game will be pretty stale. However if rito gave specific champs too much of both LeeSin Zed or trash level of either Urgot (no mobility), then they are OP/UP. All in all, mobility is not a huge issue if they keep champs in a relatively fair range. (too much mobility would give too much safety, too little would be Urgot )

Auryiel1/30/2015, 8:12:27 AM5 votes

The main problem is that champions with high mobility DO NOT pay for it in their kit's power budget (something Rioters like to rant on and on about, but that doesn't seem to apply to mobility).

I'd say that's maybe not as true as it was a year or two ago (Release Lucian is a perfect example of a champ that doesn't pay for his mobility), buuuut... It's still a problem.

mi ramfan1/30/2015, 6:14:35 PM5 votes

##THE PROBLEM WITH MOBILITY CREEP IS NOT NEW CHAMPIONS BEING MOBILE

The problem with mobility creep is that mobile champions don't give up enough damage/tankiness/other utility for their mobility.

I mean, if we made a new Riot design rule that said "In order to counter mobility creep, our next 10 champions are not allowed to have any gap closers or movement steroids whatsoever", that would be a ridiculous handicap for the design team.

That being said, mobility creep is still worth talking about, but not from the confrontational angle you're looking at it from. We need to look at it holistically by asking:

  • Numerically, how do the mobile champion's damage values and bulk compare to that of comparable immobile champions?
  • Thinking about utility, is there any utility unique to comparable immobile champions that the mobile champions cannot access without a significant investment in the form of gold or otherwise?
  • Are the advantages of comparable immobile champions worth the decrease in mobility as compared to the mobile champion?

Looking at it this way, we can see that calling Lucian an example of mobility creep is fairly disingenuous. Yes, Lucian does have a dash on his E and movement speed buff on his W. However, compared to Jinx (another champion in the same role with some AD caster attributes), Lucian loses in DPS against the minigun, range against the rockets, and has a significantly less useful ultimate ability.

Is this decrease in range, utility, and DPS worth Lucian's mobility? Each individual poster can make their decision for themselves.

Mobility creep really only applies when champions with mobility have all the same power as immobile champions while also being mobile. Think about something like choosing between LeBlanc versus Syndra for a mid lane. Both LeBlanc and Syndra have large amounts of both base damage and ratios, and can kill isolated single players extremely quickly. The difference is that LeBlanc doesn't really lose any burst, utility, or bulk for being mobile, so she's just Syndra but better, and therefore there's very little reason to pick Syndra when you could be playing LeBlanc. If LeBlanc wasn't released 3+ years before Syndra, that would be an example of mobility creep.

Cloud2731/30/2015, 1:01:37 AM5 votes

More movement=more plays. Because LCS is all Riot cares about.

DynamiteGazelle1/30/2015, 6:31:31 AM4 votes

Actually I'd say Azir is an example of a mobility mechanic done right. He is a generally slow and squishy fellow, and his one mobility spell requires him to use all 3 of his basic skills to be useful, and even then it can be blocked if someone is in the way. Nothing overpowered about it.

Darmonic1/30/2015, 4:20:35 PM2 votes

Ehh I think you are just a bad Sion, I never have your issue.

Bresn1/30/2015, 1:10:56 AM2 votes

Laser turrets are overnerfed to slow champions and those examples explains why laser turrets are utter crap.

chumbler1/30/2015, 4:34:24 AM2 votes

No this year is totally the year where mobility creeping harder and further nerfing cc that isn't directly countered by mobility skills will solve mobility creep!

Am Riot! Am gud duh-zine-er!

Ariel the Cruel1/30/2015, 4:55:07 AM2 votes

Just to prove we're making a return to powerful ADC's that lack mobility/safety and need protection... We're releasing a champ with a super long range slow with true sight, an AoE Root, and ENORMOUS move speed boost on tower/champion kill or assist.

. . . Sorry, we may have overshot that a little. We'll replace the true sight with normal sight.

Jinx

SnackieCakes1/30/2015, 7:55:29 PM2 votes

I really like Kalista's mobility in that it can be super powerful or super weak. I mean, if you do catch Kalista out, or you're chasing after her, or you're fighting in the jungle, there's little she can do with her jumps - and that's where a huge portion of her overall kit power is tied up.

I do see what you're saying here, though.

What are the major sources of power for a champion? Damage, mobility, CC, sustain? There aren't many, I don't think, and I'm not I'd prefer to see extra CC or Sustain given to champions to balance out their losing damage. But maybe I'm thinking like Rito, and maybe that's wrong.

GummyBearWookiee1/30/2015, 9:22:09 PM2 votes

Be honest....you guys just live to bitch don't you?

Sypher The Poro1/30/2015, 6:41:40 PM1 votes

I just want to point out as a Yasuo player, is while his dash is only 0.1 seconds at max level, you can only do it once per six seconds to each enemy or neutral monster. Kalista on the other hand, can just hop hop away like a some kinda rabbit as long as she's in AA range, and even then she can also use Q.

kitcat3001/30/2015, 7:50:30 PM1 votes

The Kat change DID NOT GO THROUGH.

Learnding1/30/2015, 7:53:43 PM1 votes

Easy way to let Riot know they are retarded. Just stop playing. Dip their numbers, they will have no choice but to listen.

junglerboy161/31/2015, 12:07:43 AM1 votes

It's sad how many people think Sion is an initiator still. He is a follow up tank who takes a single ally CC and turns it into a one man wombo combo. Seriously, have a TF gold card somebody as your charge in and you can CC lock them for almost 5 seconds straight. His ult is incredibly easy to miss—when you try to set up a fight on your own. As soon as ANY other CC gets thrown in, his engage power is unparalleled.

alaskaneagle1/30/2015, 9:05:38 PM1 votes

54367

Mobility is more exciting and looks better in the LCS and lets face it, riot doesn't give a sh it about their players other than the ones in the lcs. The thing I find the most humorous is the trend goes against their marketing mix and is a short sighted strategy that will hut them in the long run.

It is horrible for the game and it's players but will make the lcs seem more exciting and they are just trying to increase their profits from the e-sport market.

Drunk Rummate1/30/2015, 9:12:14 PM1 votes

less burst and more movement gives people more time for decision making and more room for mechanical success or error. it increases the skill gap from top to bottom for players. its their choice if they want to design the game this way, but if they're going to commit to that then they need to fix a lot of old champions like brand to compensate.

Luna Loves Lulu1/30/2015, 4:13:54 AM1 votes

Delete Ezreal from the game

Kitten of Evil1/30/2015, 2:40:46 AM1 votes

You hit the nail on the head here

Maybe it's that players find high mobility kits more fun. That wouldn't surprise me at all. But it's starting to have pretty serious consequences. Point and click CC has been getting systematically phased out at the same time that mobility has been exploding. This is a double whammy that makes it incredibly difficult to interact with certain ultra-high mobility champs (like Kalista or Leblanc).

This is 1000% the problem with mobility creep. Point-and-click CC is almost the only way you can reliably stop some of these champions, assuming the player is any good... the other option is surprising them and 100-0ing them in one burst (why do you think assassins are so popular? Well, also assassins are all mobile, but the fact that an assassin or a burst mage is the only way to kill an even marginally competent Kalista doesn't help).