Clarity on ability ratio colours

Tuss·Aug 25, 2014·3 votes·2,733 views

In the tooltip brought up when you hover over a stat next to the champion portrait, such as attack damage or magic resistance, under all the calculations have a footnote saying something like "Values in abilities that scale off this stat are coloured (insert name of colour here, which would also be coloured the same as its ratio colour) I'd give a better example if coloured text was supported on this forum.

Health and mana don't really need to be cleared up since the ratios are always stated in abilities that scale off them, and the dark blue for Nasus' Q can be figured out easily enough.

16 Comments

Fusion322Aug 25, 20142 votes

Another thing, new players need to be taught that, Ap and magic damage are not the same thing.

TussAug 25, 20141 votes

That's just more about reading the fine print.

Lumus AvatarAug 26, 20142 votes

But that's the point. CLARITY, which is one of their design pillars, means less fine print reading and greater at-a-glance understanding. You can't expect a brand new player to understand how their stats affect their abilities and are affected by items, inherently. Color coding is an excellent at-a-glance indicator of related ideas. I kind of wish they would make the stat boosts in the tool tips for purchased items color coded to match the code used in the scaling notes for ability tool tips. Then you could directly coordinate your Champ's ability and its power level to an item you're purchasing. Perhaps even color code the stats on your champion info bar. I've been playing a few months and I'm still never entirely sure why a stat on my info bar is blue versus green versus white. Right now I just assume blue means I haven't got anything boosting that particular stat (it's at base) and green means it's gaining numbers from an item or ability. I don't know the difference between blue and white, even now. Does white mean the stat is being boosted on a per level basis while blue means the stat still reflects a first level champ due to zero scaling and zero item/ability modification?

I actually want answers to these questions and am going to go search the boards for these and other answers.

TussAug 26, 20142 votes

Coloured numbers on items would be a good idea! Though it would be a bit confusing for stats that don't scale anything directly, such as movement speed or crit chance.

Blue stats are their base value with no items or runes adding to it. Green stats are ones increased by runes, masteries or items. I believe by white you mean the numbers indicating a separate cooldown in abilities such as Teemo's ult, which are the rate at which ammunition recharges for that ability.

Lumus AvatarAug 26, 20141 votes

I could be wrong, but I thought the numbers next to the Champ portrait, indicating your current total stats (AD, AP. MS....) could show up in white as well. Is it only green and blue? I swear I see white Move Speed sometimes when it isn't blue or, I thought, green. Maybe it's only blue and green?

Thank you for the rest of the info. :)

TussAug 26, 20142 votes

It might turn white if the value goes below the base amount, such as when you're slowed or debuffed. I've never noticed it turn white myself though, so I'm just guessing. I'm glad my explanation of the blue and green helped though!

YouLostMeAug 25, 20141 votes

As an older player, this wouldn't be necessary for me. But I'm interested in the opinions of new players to see if this would help.

bbbbatesAug 25, 20141 votes

I agree that experience deffinately helps here.

I would think that this would be a great thing to explain in the tutorial (if it isnt already) as I know Riot has been working on onboarding for awhile and I havent played the tutorial since I started really.

TussAug 25, 20142 votes

It's not something currently mentioned in the tutorial. Perhaps in a separate, advanced tutorial it might work. "Now, buy an item that matches the ratio on one of your abilities. Orange ratios scale off attack damage, and green numbers scale off ability power." though I suppose "ratios" would need to be replaced with something else.

TussAug 25, 20141 votes

It is indeed meant more for newer players, though it could also help for forgetful people (What do the purple numbers mean again?) It's mostly since what scales what isn't always stated like health and mana ratios are, so a newer player could buy an AP item and wonder why the orange text didn't change.

WorgslargAug 25, 20141 votes

I'd love to see the actual scaling % on abilities.

Very few abilities actually show with what % of a stat they scale. ( all i know atm is % health scaling)

TussAug 25, 20141 votes

Agreed, though I would think adding words to it (Deals 100 plus %30 of your ability power (XX) as magic damage, as opposed to just Deals 100(+XX) magic damage) would make the tooltips a bit unwieldy, but I couldn't see how they could be shown otherwise, since some abilities even have multiple parts of them that scale.

WorgslargAug 26, 20141 votes

Deals XXX + YYY magic damage on hit.

Deals XXX + 0.3 AP( YYY) on hit

Lumus AvatarAug 26, 20141 votes

Don't forget the damage type on the second one!

What does the purple text for scaling mean?

TussAug 26, 20142 votes

Purple text represents ratios that scale off of magic resistance.

Lumus AvatarAug 26, 20141 votes

Ohh! Thank you! ^_^