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Problem with new champs (looking at you ekko)

Sojuorn·6/3/2015, 2:13:41 PM·2 votes·971 views

I am confused as to where Riot is trying to go with these new champs. It seems like they are giving new champs overloaded kits without any thought at this point. By that I mean compare the kits of recent champs (ekko is an easy example as he is just out) to those of old champs. Ekko has high burst, a AoE stun, 3 different slows, a speed boost, a shield, a dash, a blink (both can be used to get over walls), a heal (waaaay to much heal), a second blink (ult'ing away) that drops turret agro. Now look at older champions. Garen, for example. He has a shield, silence, movement speed increase and that is it (utility wise). Ashe has a slow, a stun, and a global sight ward. Annie has a stun and shield. Jax has a stun, a gap closer, and a damage reducing modifier. Morgana has 2 roots, and a shield.

Now I am just looking at utility here, as I know each does a varying degree of damage. My issue is why are they giving new champs SOOOO much in their kit in comparison to champs that already exist. Now do I think Ekko is broken atm, yes. The question become is it because his damage is broken, or more so because of the fact that his kit is way to loaded in comparison to other champs.

This is a problem because riot can always tone down damage numbers, but from what I have experienced they are very reluctant to remove abilities completely. Because of this the problem seems to be they are giving new champs too many abilities (Yasuo, Rek, Azir, Gnar) in comparison to the majority of other champions. Some prior champs also had kits I would argue hold too much utility (nid) but these should not be looked at as the norm.

10 Comments

disregardable6/3/2015, 2:30:45 PM1 votes

The older champions also have much stronger and more consistent utility in the game to make up for that. Yasuo's passive barely blocks anything, Reksai's knockup is only one second, Ekko's shield is almost Thresh level useless and he almost never hits his stun, etc. They're kits that feel really good when you play well with them and not as well when you don't.

Neutronic16/3/2015, 2:46:16 PM1 votes

Unfortunately there are now 125 champions so there isn't much room left for simplicity as we already see many different versions of "simple" in earlier champions (WW, Garen, Xin, Annie, Singed etc). I don't think Riot will "allow" themselves to release another simple champion (some of it may be pride but I don't think that is the primary reason). Riot is always looking for creative and stylish game-play in order to keep the game fresh so that people want to continue playing. If the game was dull then it opens up a large risk that their audience and market base would could drop off - not good. Game are games and are for fun, but in the end developers can't keep their games going without funds, and fresh creative game play is an effective way to attract and retain the largest possible audience.

Vistha Kai6/3/2015, 2:51:28 PM1 votes

They should give him actual revive passive, an attack speed buff and make him ranged. Then he'd have everything.

Centuros6/3/2015, 2:56:55 PM1 votes

don't forget the OTHER extra skill effects he has: a 3 second delay, a permanent special visual for ult, squishiness while melee... all things riot doesn't do too often that counteract his strengths (sometimes quite hard).

Morgana: longest snare in the game, aoe stun, shield, cc protection, supreme waveclear, spellvamp (which there is hardly any itemization for)... not quite as many data points but still a lot.

Annie has far more than "merely" a stun and a shield. She also bursts at range (at least as much as Ekko bursts in melee), has a point-and-click skill (which can stun, so she can zone you just by being there), and her ult makes a pet which can tank turrets or skillshots (and can aoe stun).

Kal Vas Flam6/3/2015, 4:09:58 PM1 votes

I would love some new simple champs. I don't really want to have to play a champ 200+ plus games just get average-to-good with him/her. Pros and hardcore gamers might not mind so much, but that's too much of an investment for me, and lately that seems to be how all the new champs are designed.