New Classes/Subclasses List

ProfDrDeath·May 24, 2017·57 votes·23,398 views

Taking another look at subclasses

TL;DR version.

Disruptors retired, subclass too diverse
Catchers added, offensive side of Controllers - tools to catch out enemies without necessary having the damage to outright kill.
A lot more champions with unique styles

Full classification:

Tanks

Vanguards: Mega

Wardens:

Fighters

Juggernauts:

Divers:

Slayers

Assassins:

Skirmishers:

Mages

Burst Mages:

Battle Mages:

Artillery:

Controllers

Enchanters:

Catchers:

Marksmen

Marksmen:

Markswomen:

Marksthings:

Unique

MIA

- A Diver, by Word of ~~God ~~ Meddler

266 Comments

AzteryzMay 24, 201752 votes

Garen in lore is a demacian vanguard. in game is a juggernaut

Sion in lore is called the undead juggernaut. is a vanguard in game

lul

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 201735 votes

Yep. We want to minimize cases where gameplay and theme/lore clash, if forced to though we'll prioritize gameplay over lore however.

AzteryzMay 25, 20178 votes

alright did not expect meddler to reply to my shitpost comment

hope you have a good day mate :)

https://media.giphy.com/media/3oKIPuPr3O3XIM6a5i/giphy.gif

RalanrMay 24, 201711 votes

So why is Nocturne considered an assassin? He has no escapes.

smrpguhMay 24, 20175 votes

As a nocturne main (who would of thought right?) I think an escape might make him OP. As a burst assassin he does quite well(in talking warriors,PD,deaths dance,IE) he is a deep diver with (imo) the best engage in game. Oracles into an R on a carry has won me too many games. I'm sitting at 70% winrate on him and as far as escapes go for him, I make very liberal use of flash and guardian angel. GA is not an escape I know but I'll dive in blow up a carry and hope my team can last long enough for me to be back up

RalanrMay 24, 201725 votes

I know but I'll dive in blow up a carry and hope my team can last long enough for me to be back up.

See that just screams diver to me.

undesirable teamMay 24, 201710 votes

no renekton gg do think some uniques could be classified tbh

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 201717 votes

Welp, we're bad. We'll get him added to the Divers section.

Edit: Oh, uniques wise our feeling was that trying to push them into other categories resulted in less clear definitions for those categories if they were only rough fits and didn't really describe them accurately enough. Can certainly say that Azir has marksmen like elements for example, but it's not very representative.

LordOfTheLeagueMay 24, 20177 votes

Why azir is not a battle mage ? Even if I think it's messy, I imagined that battle mage were the counterpart (all in one, ranged and melee) of marksmen and skirmishers for AP.

SickAntoMay 24, 201710 votes

Rengar now is a diver?

Funny see Skarner change class for the third time.

ProfDrDeathMay 24, 20174 votes

Yeah, wondered about that, too.

Thought he was supposed to be a Vanguard?

JuvensMay 24, 20179 votes

Will this be updated in the client as well?

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 20178 votes

Unlikely. We talk about these definitions for anyone interested in understanding how we think about the different types of champion, it's not something that really drives champion selection or anything in game though.

Chromatic EagleMay 25, 20179 votes

I'd like it just from an organization point of view. Fighters list is huge in champ select.

AzureeeMay 24, 20179 votes

So after ruining LeBlanc she is now a "burst mage" and not an assassin because u shifted her power to her point and click whilst gutting her most iconic ability (Distortion). Nice.

Blood MefistMay 24, 20179 votes

Why is Taliyah a battle mage and Lissandra a burst mage? I feel like they should be swapped since battle mages thrive in close quarters and have ways of staying there, which Liss' kit does well with W and R. Burst mages want to stay a bit further away and pick off a single target, which Taliyah's kit does well with W+E combo.

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 201718 votes

Taliyah - Meaningful sustained damage output, especially once Q is max rank.

Lissandra - Longer CDs, and dependent on her ult for kill pressure usually, so less of a sustained output.

Taliyah's certainly got some burst elements, W pick potential especially, and Lissandra does have some tools to be closer to the fight battle mage style. Overall though those were the categories we felt best fit their playstyles.

LankPantsMay 25, 20173 votes

Taliyah - Meaningful sustained damage output, especially once Q is max rank.

Then why is Zyra a catcher? She has a very similar pattern to Taliyah in terms of everything, she's a high damage output/distruption threat just like Taliyah.

Xenos von FaneliMay 24, 20179 votes

Jayce just chillin with the mages despite being AD

Malicious MetalMay 24, 20179 votes

Honestly, Mordekaiser would fall more into a Hybrid category between Juggernaut and Battlemage in my opinion.

I am totally happy with them changing Skarner to a Diver though.

RalanrMay 24, 20177 votes

Poor Skarner. Riot can't make up their minds.

Chromatic EagleMay 24, 20173 votes

At least he has less reworks than Ryze.

CatastropMay 24, 20179 votes

{quoted}

Mages

Burst Mages:

"Assassin Rework" [zombie-nunu-bummed]

AhmChaMay 24, 20178 votes

Sooo...Rengar isn't an assassin anymore, after the changes he received as part of the Assassin class update. The fuck?

Frozenplayslol7May 25, 20178 votes

Marksthings:

i guess she does mark things

Cream GravyMay 24, 20177 votes

For Meddler (if he sees this)

I'm noticing you mentioned Eve Evelynn being in the Assassin category because that's where her VGU is going to lead her, but Urgot Urgot however is still in the Unique category. Is this categorization for Urgot just for his pre-VGU, or are you aiming to keep him Unique post-VGU. Not to delve too deep in of course. I understand if you can't say anything regarding him, I was just curious. Thanks!

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 201713 votes

That's reflective of Urgot's current kit. Might or might not still be in the unique category post update (we're pretty sure as to the answer, but it's too early to talk about his kit).

AHarmlessTacoMay 24, 20175 votes

What makes Nautilus a Vanguard and not a Catcher? On that note, who had the final say in Alistar being a Vanguard instead of a Warden? That is a hard toss up.

BenParadoxMay 24, 20174 votes

Nautilus is a lot tankier, has more initiation potential, and has more CC.

I'm guessing Alistar 's new E finally pushed him into being a Vanguard first, Warden second. He has a lot of peeling potential, but his new E encourages him to stay in the middle of a fight instead of just getting enemies off his teammates.

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 20179 votes

Big distinction between Vanguards and Catchers is that Vanguards go in with their initiation and then tank a bunch of damage. Catchers more often fish for picks from a safer spots further away (Rakan's a bit of an odd one there, though his ability to get out via E fairly reliably still gives a pseudo ranged fishing pattern).

Alistar wise power of the WQ combo was the key argument. He can peel, no argument, but he's always been scary to play against because of his ability to get onto and CC enemies aggressively.

JbelsMay 24, 20173 votes

So Nocturne is an Assassin and Ahri isn't? Bulllllshit.

SolideusMay 24, 201717 votes

Might be that those are the subclasses Riot would want them to be; like how currently Evelynn should be an Assassin but in reality is played like a Diver.

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 201722 votes

There's a bit of that going on yeah. Nocturne's not exactly an assassin at present, though when we do see him effective it's generally with a really bursty assassin like build. Long term we expect he'll move more in that direction as a result.

Ahri's certainly got assassin qualities, some of that's that there's pretty significant overlap between Burst Mages and Assassins though, with both trying to kill specific targets quickly. Adding mobility to a burst mage gets them pretty close to an assassin generally as a result (Ahri/LB/Lissandra all having some degree of assassin style flank/pick potential).

Evelynn's update should make an assassin playstyle much more sensible on her (less build tanky and grind people down diver style required).

ProfDrDeathMay 24, 201713 votes

Would you mind elaborating on Skarner as well? Last I remember, he was supposed to move more into the direction of Tank-Vanguard...

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 201711 votes

Looking at Skarner at present we concluded he was playing much closer to Jarvan, Vi etc - fighters with some initiation capability who are still pretty focused on a particular target, rather than team initiation as a whole. His builds and playstyle match that, with a mixture of damage and defense. Can still see some arguments for making him Vanguard like, that's a could happen rather than something we're confident will happen though, in contrast with Evelynn. Nocturne's a best guess situation, overall we figured Assassin was the better description than Diver however.

Yes on Renekton (still a Diver).

KoboldMay 24, 20171 votes

Quick Question on this is he (Skarner) still slated for a future rework? And second from what you are saying here is that you are classifying him as such due to current build/style and not intended, correct or is that to change if he receives changes?

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 20177 votes

We think Skarner would benefit from changes larger than just balance ones. We don't have a rework currently on the books for him however. We are classifying him based off his current state as a result, since we don't have a clear enough expectation he'll change.

SolideusMay 24, 20176 votes

While you're here, do you have a rough opinion on what champions currently has this kind of mismatch between intended- and in-practice-subclass? What others are there?

RiotMeddlerMay 24, 201716 votes

Evelynn and Fizz (when bruiser build dominates) are the two that leap out for me.