A Question: High Skill vs Low power

BronzeDriver·6/9/2018, 4:20:14 AM·3 votes·1,948 views

I will not claim to be the highest skilled player, but i do have something on my mind that came after looking up some guides for Riven, one common line that i heard was that you needed to play 100+ games with her to be at least "ok", but once you have gone thought all that practice you would turn almost any lane in to a skill match-up. When i read that my first thought was of old Urgot who's kit was so bad he got a rework, but there were still mid-high players that one tricked old Urgot and just had more match up knowledge than their opposite.

please note I'm not saying that Riven needs a rework. I just thought about it and I haven't been able to see the difference for myself.

and that is why i chose to make a forum post

So, what is the difference between a champion requiring a high amount of skill vs a champion having low power?

8 Comments

Astorine6/9/2018, 4:29:33 AM1 votes

Skill cap and power level are not the same but are still related in most circumstances, i see riven as a strong champ and i have been wrecked by rivens that knew their matchups with my toplaner well and got feed before roaming and eating. I have also ruined rivens top that only spammed Q and nothing else.

Hencho1016/9/2018, 4:49:01 AM1 votes

Skillful champs(such as Zed Riven Yasuo ) are champs that can ALWAYS have a chance at winning the lane no matter how bad of a match up it is, and can snowball out of control and solo carry games almost. While things like match up knowledge is things that can just help you in a match up. I understand how to play Lucian VERY well, my top played champs and prob my favorite. But the thing about him is, i can know how to play in any match up, but if i face a REALLY good Leona, i'm kinda fucked. I can try and play around it, but she knows what she's doing and outplay me, so i get fucked. While champs like Yasuo(who i play here and there) and after going 1/8, i can pick up a 1v4 quad and snowball from there because of my outplay in my kit that takes time to master! TL;DR: Skillful champs can do well no matter what, Game knowledge can help, but can be countered if the other player is good enough

Hügö6/9/2018, 10:29:29 AM1 votes

Champion with "high skill cap" are not even that hard to play. Sure you need 5 more games to learn the champ then for example a Annie, but those "high skill cap" champions are overloaded with damage and other things it doesn't need that much of skill.

Teridax686/9/2018, 3:49:14 PM1 votes

A high skill champion is a champion whose power is low, or at least much lower than its maximum, until you reach a certain point of mastery, whereupon they begin to open up and become a lot more powerful. Azir is a high skill champ, for example, because in spite of his terrible general win rate, his win rate among players with 150+ games on him is over 50%. Riven similarly has a high skill floor, as her win rate is below 50% on average, but above 54% among players who've spent more than 50 games with her. It's worth mentioning that high skill champions are not necessarily underpowered when you start with them, as some of them are tuned to be very strong even as a baseline.

By contrast, a low power champion is a champion whose power is simply just not great, regardless of skill level. Mordekaiser is a low power champion, for example, because despite being mostly played by hardcore mains right now, he still doesn't even win half of his games. There is usually still a mastery curve to champions like these, only they're just less likely to succeed overall.

TL;DR: the two are completely different. High skill champions are difficult to pick up and succeed with immediately, low power champions are just weak. A champion can be both.

Aptest6/9/2018, 8:04:30 PM1 votes

Champions are balanced around having a similar amount of power, when the champion is correctly used by a skilled player.

A champion that is difficult, is generally not correctly used. Therefore it appears to be weaker - but it is not weaker, it is the player who is at fault. The power is simply only accessible to the trained player.

A weak champion doesn't have that accessible power.

Some analogy: Annie has a bad game when her Q does less than X damage. Morgana has a bad game if the player is not able to hit her snare. In one case, the weakness is tied to the champion. In another, it can be overcome by the dexterity of the player, willingness to flash-Q, etc.

The situation has to be like that, in order to keep all champions viable in all elos. Otherwise, there will develop a situation where some champions are played at high elo, and others at low elo, and merely learning a champion will result in gaining mmr.