In what way are off-builds detrimental to gameplay?

SirShakes·2/28/2015, 6:25:39 PM·1 votes·467 views

With the recent changes to Mordekaiser, trimming out a portion of his ult that nobody really capitalized on, I have to wonder why "AD Mordekaiser isn't a thing," or rather why the developers are completely ruling it out (though I realize they included a buff to AP Mordekaiser). You've got a lot of almost-usable setups out there, like AP Miss Fortune or AD Twisted Fate, that definitely seem like they could be supported without buffing their "intended" builds. Gragas could even be a fun bruiser now that he's tanked up if you hadn't removed the AD ratio on his body slam. Off the top of my head, the only champions I can think of with multiple viable builds anymore are Corki and my boy Mundo, and having that versatility makes them genuinely fun characters to play. So where's the danger in leaving other options open?

14 Comments

Fauxfire2/28/2015, 6:27:04 PM3 votes

Three words to support off-builds.

Attack Damage Fizz .

BluePolarizer2/28/2015, 6:33:03 PM2 votes

I love offbuilds!

AD Fizz, AP Ezreal, AD Bruiser Nautilus (I think he's almost there), AP Trist (sigh), AD Jungle TF, etc. are so cool. I really liked the flex picks and off builds and being able to bait out picks from the other team.

Durzaka2/28/2015, 6:40:42 PM2 votes

Builds that are completely opposite to a champions main build makes balancing that champion absolute hell.

Just look at AP Tristana. Her balance was all over the place.

Or look at what has happened to Fizz when his AP got nerfed trying to fix his problem of being an assassin. People built him AD and negated the entire nerf.

thinking man2/28/2015, 7:10:40 PM1 votes

It's harder to balance around both so they just gut one to nerf both.

SmokingPuffin2/28/2015, 7:18:17 PM1 votes

Off-builds are only a problem to the extent that they are broken in some way (e.g. old AP Tristana) or make it more difficult to balance the main build (e.g. Blue Ezreal).

You are really underrating the number of champions with off builds that work. You seem to be thinking that builds can only be "AP" or "AD". There are dozens of champions that afford reasonably viable secondary playstyles.