League of Broken

Over the past just-over-a-season League has been in a trend that I could describe with any number of words; infuriating, depressing, disheartening, etc. When I joined back in late Season 3/early Season 4 (the first big patch I remember was health/mana pots getting their icons updated and trinkets being added) League was one of the most incredibly fun games I had ever played. I was addicted immediately. The various modes, colorful characters, and good lore drew me in, and I loved learning to play new Champions and roles. Learning and growing until I was successfully outplaying other newbies felt rewarding because I knew I was getting better and my effort was paying off. Season 5 rolled around with the big jungle changes and a tank meta that led to the game slowing down and becoming more methodical which pretty much exactly fit my playstyle. It was my favorite season because decisions mattered and outplaying your opponents, not only in lane but across the map was the most surefire way to win. Playing well meant winning games.

Then it started. Gangplank got reworked and became a monster who devastated entire teams solo from any range and took the entire season to bring into line. Fiora got reworked and became a monster who ripped apart tanks, squishies, and towers with ease while being nigh unkillable and took the entire season to bring into line. The Juggernaut patch hit and Skarner and Mord went from straightforward immobile bruiser to gimmicks that were broken in both the overpowered sense AND in the "literally doesn't function right" sense. Ryze has gotten like 3 reworks and all of them were unbalanceable, leading to the next rework. Then finally preseason 6 brought us the Marksman class update. The last big push League needed to start speeding downhill.

I start up a match as Lucian bot lane (Lucian didn't get changed at all really) and was against the new . At level one she Love Tap/minion-kill-Q-bounce-auto'd me for thunderlords and literally oneshot me from full hp instantly at level one the second we both got to lane. I had never been so furious at a game or felt so insulted by its devs. I actually rq'd and uninstalled right then during the match. "But obviously you're back and you're still here, right? So that means you were just overreacting and it got better." No. That's what I thought at first. That's why I cam back. I thought, surely Riot won't let something like that continue to be a thing. Oneshotting people super early in the game and creating a zone of influence they can't interact with. But I was wrong. Over the course of Season 6 and now Preseason 7 that's become the game. Oneshotting and being 100% untouchable to your opponent. Snowballing leads that can't be come back from.

These days the most surefire way to win a game has nothing to do with tactics, decision making, or any gameplay based skill really. It's about picking the most broken Champions that synergise well with the most broken builds and instantly bullying the enemy team into a loss faster than they're even allowed to forfeit. A team comprised of mid adc top support jg should realistically lose against an enemy team with a few damage dealers and a couple cc-heavy supports/hard tanks. But they don't. The high base damages in all their kits combined with how freely that damage can be amplified in Masteries (and to a lesser extent Runes) mean that they'll devastate the early game, gaining a huge snowballing lead, snatching all the early objectives, and stomping the enemy out with their gold lead before a comeback is possible.

"But if you hold out long enough you'll outscale them!" Again, it should work that way, but it doesn't. Because damage based Champions nowadays not only have huge base damage to let them dominate early, but huge scalings to let them devastate late as well. "So tank against them and cc them!" Tanking is worthless because pen is just as readily available as damage right now, and even if you maintain 50% reduction from stats, 50% of several thousand still means you die. Furthermore, cc is ineffective against many snowballers and facerollers because low cooldowns, readily available cdr, and the commonness of Champions not really needing to care about resource management mean that even if you land that stun, 1.5s later that or will be right back to blowing apart all 5 members of your team solo. Playing a tank that isn't or is actively being a detriment to your team because your cc is useless when compared to being able to just kill them faster. That's what League has come to. "Kill them faster." The higher upfront damage team will win in almost all cases. is quite literally a free win unless you're just inexcusably bad or have no hands.

So I ask Riot: Why? Why has League come to the point where picking a Champion with higher upfront damage is more important than playing better than your opponent? And why should I keep playing?