Thoughts on current balance.

THESE ARE REFLECTIVE OF THE OWN GOLD V TIER VIEWS I HAVE ACCUMULATED THROUGH LOOKING THROUGH THE CLASSES FOR LEAGUE, AND LOOKING AT THE META SHIFTS THROUGH THE SEASON.

Edit: I added a TL;DR

Second Edit: "Irelia Abuses Herself" was not a good summary of what I was trying to say

TL;DR: Master Yi abuses Item combinations, while Irelia abuses her own kit combined with overtuning.

So obviously there's quite a bit of controversy over damage, assassins, Yi, etc. right now, and I was wondering if Riot could maybe divide the lines a little more.

(A)DCs should be late scaling heavy damagers, and they fulfill that role well right now. The only issue is a lack of any discernible "late-game", but that's fine, because ADCs are working as intended. I guess they could also be called Damage Carries, but are usually attack damage oriented. However, they often die too quickly before late game (and sometimes during) to the...

Assassins, whose powerspikes are usually be dependent on the champion. They are typically champions that are capable of dealing massive damage in a short amount of time. Ideally, this makes sense in the AD/HP triangle of ADC > Tank > Assassin > ADC. The only issue is that Assassins are the ones who can kill the fastest. Therefore, take out one chain on the enemy team, and lead to a win the teamfight. This is why the big name assassins, like Zed, are so hard to deal with. They manage to kill either mid or bot, and proceed to repeatedly delete ADCs in teamfights and then still get out alive. Of course, there is counterplay to the assassin issue right now, and that falls under...

Tanks, who should be able to control the damage diversion of enemies as well as manage the team's defenses. However, with the current state of the game, tanks are just there to secure a kill for an assassin, and are unable to frontline with the multitude of assassins that can disappear behind the backline of a team and delete the ADC. Defending the ADC often falls onto reliance of the...

Supports, who had shields to help them with anti-deletion. However, they'd often abuse this with shield stacking. Luckily, that's no longer an issue, so that's a wrap. They also have forms of cc, which is why assassins (LIKE ZED), are so strong sometimes, and also so weak others. A good Lulu polymorph makes a Zed of equal skill want to delete themselves instead of the ADC. Supports can either be pure supports (supports that focus on protecting damage dealers and controlling battle), or Tank Supports (Supports that focus on taking damage for the ADC rather than mitigating damage already dealt to the ADC). The main supports at the moment are dependent on what the bot lane carry goes, and the new meta is shifting focus onto the...

Bruisers, who should be good at a little bit of everything. Of course, this often leads to some problems. Exhibit A: Irelia. Someone who has Mobility, Damage, CC Prevention, Damage Reduction, AND CC. Of course, there are some parts of Irelia's kit that are very healthy, such as her ability to break shields very quickly with Ionian Fervor. Those passive and niche uses of a champion should be the cornerstones that add up, eventually resulting into a solid foundation of a champion you can build items onto. However, Irelia has too much mobility, in addition to being tanky, in addition to doing damage. Overall, bruisers are a mix of Tanks and ADCs, in the sense that they deal consistent damage and have the ability to survive damage, and are in a nice spot with the introduction of the Conqueror rune, with a few key exceptions.

Of course, there's the little oddball category called "Mages". I'm seeing less and less of these, and there's good reason why. Mages are champions that put reliance onto abilities in order to deal big damage at range. The problem is, why even bother playing a mage, who is supposed to deal damage to ADCs THROUGH frontlines, when you could just play an Assassin, who can go BEHIND enemy frontlines? Mages tend to have less mobility, and are more focused on teamfights while dealing AOE damage. They also have a limiter in the form of Mana, which ADCs typically do not. Of course, a good mage can control a teamfight, but will it have as much effect as turning a 5v5 into a 5v4 instantly? Mages tend to be a mix of (A)DCs, Supports, and Assassins, because they are able to deal massive damage in a short amount of time, but are also able to deal consistent damage, and at range to boot, and usually have some form of crowd control, but relies on the ability to actually land abilities.

Personal suggested changes:

ADCs are fine.

Assassins have a few key offenders, like Talon, Zed, and Quinn. Being able to delete champs coupled with massive mobility isn't very beneficial towards those ADCs who are huddled

Tanks should probably get more ways to alter a teamfight outside of Locket of the Iron Solari, and single target defensive items like Knight's Vow.

I cannot make a judgement on Supports yet, because botlane meta is weird rn.

Bruisers are fine, with the exception of a few key offenders. glances at Irelia

Mages are also fine. They're being overshadowed by Assassins, but aren't actually way out of the meta right now, as some people proclaim. It's just easier to land a skillshot at 200 range than at 800 range, and that is where the power divide of assassins and mages are right now.

So where is the problem if most of the individual classes are doing ok?

1. Those champs that can abuse specific item combinations.

2. Those champs that have the ability to fulfill multiple roles at once without tradeoff.

Butbutbut Bruisers and Mages are already mixes

But, Mages trade mobility for cc and damage, while Bruisers don't excel at taking damage OR dealing it, but focus on doing both.

Two champions that illustrate the two key problems with the game right now:

M a s t e r Y i. I'll currently categorize Master Yi as a Bruiser that goes in and stays in, using Meditate and Alpha Strike to both lock down targets and mitigate damage dealt to himself, being able to deal consistent damage to any range of characters. This is what I see Master Yi as. Problems with Master Yi don't originate from within his kit, but rather in the items that are in the shop. Guinsoo's Rageblade with Essence Reaver and Bloodrazor make for a mobile Bruiser/Assassin that has mobility and can mitigate damage to himself while melting down tanks. Basically, he can fulfil the role of ADC, Bruiser, and Assassin all at once, without any weaknesses, other than being extra weak to cc that mitigates auto-attacks, and that's a really small cast of champs that have such cc. For example, Fiora is someone who is considered "really fukin op" by anyone that she stomps in a game. Why? She has lots of mobility, teamfight potential in her R and W, and can deal damage to both squishy targets and tanks, and has so much Lifesteal she's basically a tank. Where does Master Yi outclass this goddess of balance? Master Yi's ability to self mitigate damage and usage of BOTRK is comparable to Fiora's lifesteal, in that both make each champion tankier. Essence Reaver and Guinsoo's make Master Yi an untargetable nightmare, ensuring he not only gains mobility, but also mitigates skillshots and other forms of targeted damage. His Ultimate increases his damage and his mobility, and his E increases his damage. Fiora has a Q that boosts her mobility and damage, and her passives grant her greater damage towards ADCs AND Tanks, increasing her ability to kill both. Looking at their kits alone, Master Yi can deal damage to a squishy and survive, while Fiora can deal damage to squishies AND tanks, while surviving. In theory, Fiora should be better than Master Yi right now, right? Well, not quite. That's because Fiora can't abuse Essence Reaver + Guinsoo + Master Yi's Passive (no duh) + Bloodrazor + BOTRK the way Master Yi can. This combination of items makes Master Yi an Assassin and an ADC, combined with ridiculous Mobility and Damage removal in the form of 2 second CD Qs. Add in Highlander, and now you have an Assassinating ADC that's hard to kill and is able to get in and stay in and kill everyone, rather than one or two targets.

Solution: Change Yi's cooldowns, and take a look at that 70% cdr on Yi's Highlander. In all honesty, Master Yi shouldn't be too bad, just looking at his kit, but adding that 70% cdr turns Master Yi from someone who can kill an ADC and chip away at a Tank to someone who can zip around the backline, killing everyone, then finishing off the tank alone. To make matters worse, using a support that can negate Master Yi's damage on an ADC greatly isn't always beneficial. If you're going someone like Soraka, you'd better be building full tank AP Soraka or else you're going to die before being able to heal anything on your ADC.

Irelia. Irelia is a Bruiser who is also a Tank who is also an Assassin. She has a lot of ability to influence a teamfight with cc, she has lots of mobility, she has lots of damage, and she has lots of tankiness. The problem lies in being able to do all four things effectively and extremely well, while most champions cap out at being able to do one or two of them, and occasionally 3. Take your typical Vayne, for example. She self-mitigates damage by utilizing her stealth, buffs her AD at the same time enabling her to deal damage and take it, and is able to dash around like Sonic if she weaves her auto-attacks well. What are the problems? Vayne only has one E, which is usually used as self peel. That's her life support. She fails to influence most teamfights with that single E, and she doesn't tank hits very well. Irelia outclasses Vayne in CC, Mobility, and Tankiness, only failing to outclass Vayne in Damage, and she still gives Vayne a good run for her money.

Solution: Take away SOMETHING, or reduce her effectiveness at EVERYTHING.