Counterpicks/builds/play

Counterpick: Choosing against the opponent in such a way that your character has an advantage over theirs. Outside of professional play and other such 5 man premade lobbies, the ability to do so is random. Example: 4th pick Teemo counters 1st pick Darius.

Counterbuild: Building an item with defenses or other stats that will help against the opponent. Darius builds SV against Teemo.

Counterplay: Maneuvering or timing abilities to avoid the enemy or beat them in a fight. Teemo walks into the handle radius of Darius' Q. Darius avoids mushrooms he's seen being placed.

These are three very distinct aspects of balance. Unfortunately, the existence of counterpicks can skew champion performance that lacks counterplay. In cases such as this, we see champions who have very few openings losing only in situations where the enemy team has counter-picked them, because in the worst cases there simply aren't items in the game that can be used to counter-build.