Im sick and tired of people using winrate to justify a champion's balance

OHminus·11/21/2019, 3:31:32 PM·7 votes·884 views

Title. Winrate is only ONE of the factors that people should use when factoring into an argument about a champ's balance. There are other statistics as well, such as banrate, winrate with 50+ games on the champ, play rate, as well as eyeing the champion's stats per game. If a champion is constantly high on the damage charts without any actual damage items, then yes, it's fair to take a second look at the champion.

I'm looking at YOU, yuumi players. People keep bringing up her winrate (omergod her winrate is at 30 percent sweet babee jeesus she is weak REEEEE) but fail to take into account that a. her pick/ban rate still rank top 10 amongst supports b. her winrate increases significantly for people who've played the champ a large number of times c. for people who did play yuumi, the average number of games played on her was so low to rank bottom 10 amongst supports. d. said people are playing her wrong and eating croissants while playing her e. her dpm and heals per minute are stupidly high - she can deal as much as a carry in teamfights while also healing/shielding more than a sona, nami or janna f. she's an enchanter that cannot be focused down due to her stupid attach mechanic (seriously, she cancels delayed ccs and targed abilities by just latching onto someone else) and is STUPID when paired with a garen, master yi, or tryndamere

8 Comments

WalkingInACircle11/21/2019, 3:34:06 PM5 votes

Correlation does not equal to causation.

arowin24211/21/2019, 4:04:46 PM3 votes

winrate was always a terrible way to balance champions, riot admitted to it back on 4.21

even ignoring winrates/pickrates and banrates some champions just are not allowed to be viable:

old Akali is a perfect example of this, she was kept overnerfed on purpose, because her kit was simply unfun and too snowbally

Kalista is another - if she is even remotely viable she will take over the game.

Quinn, another one.

old eve as well, she was NEVER ALLOWED to be viable: one-shotting someone from stealth was simply said Overpowered and broken. she was overnerfed and kept in that way for YEARS.

once we leave the 'can never be viable' zone we can look at ACTUAL overpowered champions (who's stats, kit or playstyle are straight better, or cancerous to fight.)

another bad example of balance is 'oH bUt LoOk At PrO pLaY!' which is effectively en entirely different game, where consistency and options are chosen over niches.

honestly looking at yuumi i don't even know where to start with that trainwreck of a champion... her W alone is problematic enough, add the other things......

Jamaree11/21/2019, 4:06:02 PM2 votes

I personally use win rate because it isn't bias, you can't fake the numbers over the hundred and thousands and millions of games and players have. No conjecture, just the numbers that can't even be maniuplated really because of the amount of games played. Where as most people just whine about something with no real experience about it except losing to players who are able to push past a champion's weaknesses.

More often then not, when people whine about a champion being too strong it comes from a player who doesn't have a single game with them, recently lost to them, while usually not itemizing against them at all and ignores any feedback on why they might be wrong.

While I do agree that win rates don't paint the full picture, I think they paint a far better picture then most players do.

Edit: Also, I find it really funny how you talk about win rates not meaning anything when talking about why a champion you don't play needs changes/nerfs, yet use win rates to say why a champion you DO play shouldn't getting nerfed, but not bias though right? :^)

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/r0hrveZm-bye-bye-rakan-its-been-fun-playing-as-you

Inkling Commando11/21/2019, 4:22:15 PM2 votes

not just champions but players too. you cannot judge someone off winrate alone.