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Solocarry potential is a major problem

ReshiKillim·6/21/2018, 5:17:50 PM·25 votes·9,807 views

The ability to solocarry on any champion requires a tremendous amount of snowball and damage potential. And the amount of demand for the ability to solocarry is exactly why damage is so high. A very vocal portion of the playerbase demands the ability to solocarry, which in turn demands tons of damage and snowballing to be able to solo carry.

Because being able to solocarry means you have to have enough damage potential to burst down enemy squishies before they can do any serious damage to you. Be able to shred tanks regardless of their resistances. Push quickly enough that the enemy can't mount a strong defense against you.

Seem familiar? Towers are weak. So a Solocarry can have pushing power. Tanks feel weak. Solocarrying capability at work. Squishies die in a blip. Solocarrying! Because solocarrying means you need to be more impactful as 1 player than the enemy 5. And if tanks are tanky and towers are strong, there's much less solocarrying potential available.

Solocarrying potential in of itself is not inherently a problem as a mechanic, but the majority of champions absolutely should not be able to solo carry. Ever. Any spectrum of solocarrying potential for a champion that's not specifically designed to excel in a fight against multiple enemies (EG: Illaoi) is usually toxic.

A Yi/Yasuo/KaisaAny other DPS slaughtering an entire team is perfectly fine, IF said DPSer has an assisting team actively enabling it the whole way through. A Kaisa shredding a team from behind the protection of a Braum, with Sion and Swain leading in front as a deadly vanguard to prevent enemies from reaching her? No solocarrying there.

What's not fine, is when outliers begin to solocarry when not designed to excel against multiple enemies. Which is why the gold funneling strategies are bad for the game. It's built on pushing an outlier into an abusive state, it's not fun to play against. Should it be competitively viable? I'd personally want to say, yes, since it's cheese strategies that can be countered.

But realistically, no, it should never be viable. It's designed to leech player agency from the game, and funnel it all into one player so they can solocarry. It's not fun for most of the team that does it. It's a strategy designed on invalidating eight players so that one player will decide the game. (Sounds an awful lot like when a handful of marksmen snowballed ridiculously, doesn't it?)

It's not fun to play with for many. It's not fun to play against for many. It's not fun to watch for many. And it's a solocarrying strategy. A perfect example of why solocarrying when not designed to excel against multiple enemies is a problem.

And the champions that excel against multiple enemies have a common rule. They're immobile. Velkoz, who can obliterate an entire team in a rotation if they misposition, is slow, telegraphed, and squishy. Illaoi, telegraphed, slow, melee, easy to kite. Their solocarrying potential is situationally limited, and has plenty of counterplay.

What solocarrying in general lacks, is counterplay. Because it requires high enough damage to obliterate squishies. Shred tanks. Snowball out of control. Turrets have to be weak enough/have enough ways to take them down that it becomes extremely hard to stall out the game. Many of the current problems are symptoms of solocarry potential.

Note, I don't consider a player being able to exploit a messy and disorganized team as solocarrying, but rather, tactical play.

30 Comments

GigglesO6/22/2018, 1:02:00 AM9 votes

{quoted}

What solocarrying in general lacks, is counterplay.

Thats because its pushed through high damage, and high damage alone...

I really wish armor and MR meant something again. Being blown up in .7 seconds is not counter playable.

Ulquiorra01236/22/2018, 2:25:49 PM6 votes

Lol, this whole post is BS. Solocarrying was applicable on most champions in the game back in S4, but since then they have ramped damage and it has disappeared because anyone can blow anyone up. I'm sorry but the issue is 100% the amount of damage in the game, and if they just toned it back as they did to ADCs, except to every single class of champion, the game would have solo carry back in it as it did before when damage was nowhere near this level.

How much do you wanna bet that they buff Crit ADC's instead of taking the proper route (but more work) to nerf everything down to their level? Powercreep for the win!

Tomoe Gozen6/22/2018, 11:07:01 AM4 votes

Solocarry potential is not needed in League. I'm sorry but the ability to solocarry is always attributed to damage oriented champions and snowballing (that leads to solocarry potential) usually means they're uncounterable if they reach this point and that only multiple people throwing their CC around is the only means of surviving such a fight, if the player in question isn't stupid and squandering their lead because they're chasing more kills.

dogehkiin6/22/2018, 9:16:28 AM4 votes

Solocarrying isn't related to this high-damage meta, to solocarry a game you have to get fed first and doesn't matter how fed you're and how many resists or hp you buy, with this meta you'll die quickly even if you're fed and won't be able to fight, you either kill the 5 enemies before they can touch you or you die maybe killing 1 or 2.

Flawless Fetus6/22/2018, 5:51:09 PM3 votes

The ability to solo carry has been gone for years. I'm glad to see it coming back. Granted, league is a team game - but still. If someone totally decimates their laner, the should have a stronger impact on the outcome than anyone else, no? I understand both sides of the argument. Solo carrying has been neigh impossible for years, though, so I'm not mad if people get to carry for a little bit.

Jerry SeinfeId6/22/2018, 1:45:25 PM2 votes

Not really tbh, you make it sound like SoloCarrying is 1v5 teamfights and nothing else.

let's say our solo carry is Yi 15/2/8 perfect CS.

yi spots a lone straggler a tad bit far from his team, not too far out of position but just enough for yi to catch them and finish them. After this his team, let's say top and support were tanks but all of them are pretty much feeding, they can still be used as a meat shield and his tanks will still offer CC. They 4v5 putting them at a natural advantage.

Did yi 1v5 solo penta them? no he didn't, but he was the only one doing any carrying there. If he hadn't been there his team would get slaughtered even 4v5.

IMO Solo carry =! 1V9

it's you pulling your team through a game THEY were losing.

Sire Hippington6/22/2018, 6:29:07 PM1 votes

Many of the current problems are symptoms of solocarry potential.

I'd rather say that solocarry potential is a symptom of the current problems. Powercreep, way to high damage, weak objectives, snowbally and poor vision...those are all issues that exist regardless off funnle-strats while beeing reasons why funnle starts became a thing Also, i think the term 'solocarry potential' is a poor choice, cause on the boards it more often than not is used as a synonym for 'player agency' rather than in a literal 1v5 sense as you do...

EvilxUndertonez6/22/2018, 6:36:12 PM1 votes

until a WORKING system is in place to deal with trolls/afks/feeders solo carry needs to be a thing...I cant always rely on my 2/12 bot lane 1/8 mid lane and 3/7 jg to do well enough to secure a victory

X Devil Hunter X6/22/2018, 9:52:20 PM1 votes

i mean u can carry as well, u just need to improve buddy. now everyone can do something considerable in game, u can carry urself aswell, dont cry l2p

Critmaster Garen6/23/2018, 1:51:45 PM1 votes

snowball is a problem. solo carry potential isnt.

those two arent neccessarily the same.

Nea1046/22/2018, 8:54:08 AM1 votes

Then make this game a 1 vs. 1 ^^

dogehkiin6/26/2018, 5:48:16 PM1 votes

Also solocarry isn't (or wasn't before this damage bs) about being a very fed Yi and killing everyone too fast in a 1v5, solocarrying can be applied to tanks and more supportive roles too.

Take Shen as an example, he gets fed in lane and now he's tanky as hell with low CD pretty early, he does damage too but that's not how he's going to win the game, he will use his advantatge to help their allies getting fed and making his team inmortal in TF, engaging and taunting the enemy adc while constantly slowing him, protecting his own damage carries with items like Solari or his W/R, etc...

You could solocarry like this when surviving was a thing.

Pika Fox6/22/2018, 1:05:55 PM1 votes

Of course its a big problem, it should be impossible. Its a 5v5, not a 1v4v5.

Ahris6/22/2018, 1:04:56 AM1 votes

Riot continously nerfed Ahri's solo carry potential till it was garbage tier.

Sistrom Shock6/22/2018, 4:39:20 PM1 votes

You actually have problems with solocarrying? For me its been the opposite in which 1 dude can completely ruin a game because he would refuse to work with us lol