why are the defensive runes shards half the value of offensive runes shards? response from Riot

woody25837·12/3/2018, 5:21:40 AM·33 votes·14,373 views

im not going to name that person

Hey there,

Thanks for writing in! We've been pretty backed up lately.

In all honesty, I'm not sure why. I imagine the dev team are trying things out especially since it's preseason. If I had to guess, it's possible they're doing this because they didn't want the tanks to be too tanky.

I recommend forwarding your feedback to the development team on the Boards. The team is always looking at the Boards to get a feel for things players think could be improved.

You can find the Boards here:

NA Boards: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/

Thanks again for sharing your feedback! Please let me know if you have any other questions.

34 Comments

IronFiveSupport12/3/2018, 2:44:56 PM23 votes

It's almost like runes and masteries used to be a thing

Binding Eclipse12/3/2018, 5:31:54 AM18 votes

From where I sit, it reeks of the whole "well would you prefer not having X ?" sort of conditioning - get people to concede that they tried, and it's better than nothing when it's really just a big tease of an improvement. Sure, maybe they do just have one pinky toe on the pedal in case things get skewed, but where was that sort of foresight with say...dark harvest? It's awkward, if nothing else.

SanKakU12/3/2018, 7:34:45 AM10 votes

I feel like the rune shard system is one of those things that they let come out even when it's not in a good spot. Hopefully it will get improved soon.

EmperorFang1512/3/2018, 5:21:27 PM4 votes

The new runes feel underpowered honestly.

DragonShea12/3/2018, 6:07:03 PM3 votes

Because Riot are too obsessed with Damage runes and want their game to be overstated with damage.

Oleandervine12/3/2018, 8:41:57 PM3 votes

I don't think we should really be taking the word of some random support agent as word of law in terms of balance and other things. The fact that they're referring you to the boards to give your feedback, and their note that they're backed up indicates this is a support team member and not in fact anyone with any kind of knowledge or balancing information. The people in support probably work in like a call center or something. So let's not take this comment as anything remotely close to serious since this person wouldn't even be dealing with anything other than handling tickets and other account related issues.

Like I'd get it if Meddler or Reav3 said this, and yeah, you can rail into their comments, but not some random support center guy. They're just as in the dark about some of these balance issues as we are unless they personally know someone who could tell them inside information.

Warlord Rhinark12/3/2018, 2:05:29 PM2 votes

Source?

ProfDrDeath12/3/2018, 10:08:47 PM1 votes

Because you can't compared a primary stat (AD/AP) with a multiplicative one (Armor/MR) like that?

Flagrant Zed Ego12/4/2018, 1:29:34 AM1 votes

Uhhh if armor was a flat reduction to damage this would be a reasonable line of thought, that couldn't be more wrong though. 6ad isn't 6 damage on an ability for the most part(very few 100% ratios exist), and 5 armor isn't 5 less damage received so maybe you should go more in depth to the actual percentages and compare the actual effectiveness of 6ad to the armor shard. I find the armor %dmg reduction somewhat complicated to discuss because it is heavily influenced by the level of your champion and the overall amount of armor you have. What I can say is that having flat armor from runes when im into ad matchups is incredibly effective and I find the rune shards pretty effective for getting the defense and offense I need for specific matchups.

Jashindo12/4/2018, 2:04:06 AM1 votes

Testing should be on the PBE. "Preseason" should not be an unbalanced shit-show for what is essentially a toy. Yes, a toy. League of Legends is a toy. A game to be played for fun. Why is there this grace period where Riot just throws any semblance of trying to improve the game out the window?

Again, "trying things out" should be on the PBE. The PBE should not just be a glorified "early access"...

imfoolish12/4/2018, 3:20:30 AM1 votes

u and ur tank buddies need to go back to the cave that u guys beliong and stay there because its time for us damage dealer to take the front seat for once. u fools rule the scene for 15 seasons so go away and ;let us carry and stop crying like a bunch babies.

Baconmaster11612/3/2018, 1:11:42 PM1 votes

Imagine if leona could use shield bash on her w or prock her own passive.

Ahris12/3/2018, 5:38:27 PM1 votes

Because early armor or mr itemization offers a good amount of % to block the offensive.

Mael Jade12/3/2018, 6:25:14 PM1 votes

The rune shards helped Diana become good again but yeah, the defensive options are basically useless. My way of making them better: If you take Resolve or Inspiration they become stronger, so instead of 15-90 hp it would be 30-180 and instead of 6 armor/mr it´s 10. That way tanks get to use them in the best way possible for them: As something defensive and others still get some defense without getting to much defense for the "balance"

Anei Neko12/3/2018, 6:53:27 PM1 votes

But they're not exactly half? You get 6 AD or 5 armor, 10 AP or 6 magic resist? Magic is closer to half but they don't scale at 1:1 either.

TheyCallMeShed12/3/2018, 8:44:01 PM1 votes

attack/ap are very different from armor/mr 10 AD just adds 10 flat dmg, whereas 5 armor adds a certain % dmg reduced offensive stats and defensive stats are calculated completely different

Jeanne fan club12/3/2018, 8:59:09 PM1 votes

ok, so in terms of gold efficiency ur right. The way the stats translate into the game is really weird. for instance, 5 extra armor correlates to 5% extra hp in terms of physical damage. Lets just say for a champion that has 600 hp lvl 1, it will have 30 extra effective hp. The ad rune gives like 6 ad, meaning that if no abilities are used, the armor rune will technically be be more efficient for several autos. But like, damage is too fking high so this comparison is completely fking worthless since u will get 1 shot regardless what defensive runes u run. These fragment runes don't really address the issue of insane burst damage from every class. We need a %damage nerf across the board before we can start having meaningful discussions like this imo.