Why Critical Strike Is Bad For League

Imagine that a champion with a targeted ability could randomly deal double the damage on that ability. That would be "broken", would it not? The lack of consistency alone would cause balancing issues galore. Eventually, the ability would be nerfed until it is useless unless it deals the doubled damage, or it will be reworked to not deal double damage randomly.

It is with that mindset that I approach critical strikes. Now, to be sure, critical strike chance has some unique gameplay with certain champs, like Ashe and Jhin (and to a lesser degree, Caitlyn), but, because it is bound to items and runes (exception to Yasuo and Tryndamere), critical strike chance is a universal thing. This is especially noticable with champions who use it to great effect, but don't necessarily need it for damage: Vayne, Draven, Master Yi, etc.

As I attempted to lay out two paragraphs ago, critical strikes are inherently tricky to balance, because they happen randomly based on RNG unless 100% chance is achieved through the item/rune build. The inconsistency means that things like trades, teamfights, and even farming can be impacted by its effects: a player with 20% crit could get a lucky crit in a trade that could allow them to press their advantage, claiming a kill when it would have gone the other way, or pushing the enemy out of lane by dropping their health too low. Conversely, a player with 60%-80% chance could be unlucky and hit 1/5 with crits, potentially losing their team a crucial teamfight.

I don't know how critical strikes would be replaced, but I think it is clear to me that the chance needs to be removed to better balance the game.