Champion Skill Floors

ZeichiVos·5/11/2017, 9:04:29 PM·1 votes·415 views

I scroll down gameplay, and I see a thread saying that Lee Sin is broken in competitive and LCS play, and that that is really frustrating. However, the dude becomes weaker the lower you go into the rankings, to an entirely reasonable winrate in silver/gold.

The previous day, I saw a thread saying that Reksai is kept way too weak in lower elo play, and that that is really frustrating. However, if we give her a reasonable winrate in lower elos, she dominates LCS and high elo play.

You could argue that these are both champions that require a high level of skill to play optimally, and that the problem must therefore be high skill cap champions. However, considerably lowering mechanical input would significantly change the playstyles of a number of champions that, based on playrate, people seem to enjoy playing.

You could argue that every other champion should be brought up to the high skill cap level. The downside is that suddenly, we have an even harder time introducing our new friends to a game that already has a learning curve approaching 90 degrees, and that people who prefer the macro game of league have no champs to fall back on.

So, my question to you, great and powerful Tilt Masters, Scions of Salt, Lords of the Boards, is this: is there too much variance between champion skill floors and skill ceilings? Is there something systematically wrong with having, say, Lee Sin/Xerath/Zed in the same game as characters like Trundle/Morgana/Garen? Or is this perceived dichotomy between "skill floor" and "playability by rank" a non issue, or even a point in the favour of the game?

I hope at the very least, that you take a moment to think about your own stance, and the implications thereof.

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