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League of Legends is completely situational

googleeman·7/30/2016, 7:14:07 PM·2 votes·560 views

You ever love something that just doesn't love you back? That's how this game feels. Recently I have been losing a lot and there are three main reasons as to why this is happening and it would be unbelievably nice if some issues could be corrected.

First and foremost, I'm finding that League is more luck based than skill. Every champion is so situational that if they find themselves in a bad situation, they're useless, whereas if they're in a good situation, everyone spams how OP they are.

My last match, I fought against Riven while playing Trundle. She was completely shut down by me and I received no ganks as I did not need any. Our teams mid laner, Yasuo was doing excellent against Malzahar and our bot lane Ashe with Nami did excellent as well. After the 20 minute mark however, the enemy adc Vayne, steamrolled everyone. Our lead of 20 kills and objectives (turrets and dragons) meant nothing. To me, this is disgusting. I understand that each champion has their own strengths and weaknesses but we were outplaying the enemy team so magnificently only to eventually lose because the enemy had a Vayne and we had no champs who have target lock on gap closers or heavy CC to counter her.

Two things about this. First, I believe firmly that late game champions should actually be late game champions. Vayne should not be able to steamroll so quickly. If a champion qualifies as "late game", usually that means they'll have a hard time until the 20 minute mark and unless a team surrenders, games nine times out of ten always go past 30 to 40 minutes. Consequently, a "late game" champion being played by a half decent player will be rewarded disproportionately in a game. Secondly, just because nobody picked an excellent counter to a champ in a game shouldn't mean that that champ should get 3 penta kills while 1v5ing the enemy team. That's not balanced. We shouldn't be forced to pick a champion like Akali because the enemy picked Vayne. That's damming our game options and restricted us from having fun if we also want to play a good game or, god forbid, win the match.

Second thing which is terrible is how the matchmaking system works. I understand that the ratings people gain from regular matches is different than points gained in Ranked matches, however, I have recently found myself on several teams with silver players (which is fine) fighting enemy teams with plat and gold players. In general, a players rank shows how skilled they are. It's not fair to pit a positive win to loss ratio silver player against a positive win to loss ratio platinum player. So, the matchmaking system needs an overhaul as once you get out of ELO hell or MMR hell, the matches are not fair as they are completely random. I know that theoretically I have the same chance of being on an overpowered team or having the perfect situation to steamroll a game due to team comp, but that's not a fair match. It's not fun, it isn't strategic, it isn't appealing. It's a bad system.

Finally, I consider myself a terrible player. I'm awful. Just awful. I get that. I want to improve and I think I have gradually since I started playing. That one is on me. I'm not just complaining because I think the world is out to get me without also acknowledging that I have a long way to go to be a decent player first. Having said that, the consistency of matches in terms of how fair the match ups are regarding player skill and team comp is so completely out of whack that it ruins the game.

Riot, please please please fix this. Also, so many people are toxic. Hire some extra employees to police matches... Make your product what it once was again. Begging you.

Googleeman

3 Comments

2 Weezy Baby7/30/2016, 7:17:18 PM1 votes

You suck at this game that's why it's one sided. You already admit it, you suck. Get better and maybe you will stop complaining about matchmaking/elohell/MMR blah blah blah.

Astôlfo7/30/2016, 7:24:19 PM1 votes

Uh no.

If you guys actually shut down Vayne and abused her bad early, she wouldn't have nearly enough gold to be a problem. And if the game keeps dragging on and you can't end with that kind of massive lead, that's your problem.

Also you should have hard CC and/or point and click CC on your team in general anyways for multiple reasons, not just Vayne.

Lost R7/30/2016, 8:01:44 PM1 votes

The game as it is now is actually better balanced than it ever was in the past, back when dodge was a stat, Unique Passives weren't a thing and AP Yi ravaged entire SEASONS.

Vayne's biggest downfall is a combination of being a glass cannon who can only target one champion at a time, who depends on her percent true damage to deal with tanks and her flat damage for squishies. (tanks defined as having at least 3000 HP and 150-200 armor. Squishes tend to have about 1500 HP by late game and 75 armor at the most) Deny her mobility, stun her, or simply gang up on her and she collapses like a house of cards. A good Vayne with a good team knows to let the team go first and mop up as the enemy busies themselves with the first wave. That is, if the enemy doesn't just flash dash past the front line to get to Vayne.

I've been in a similar situation with Kog'maw and Twitch. I got fed super early and was able to get to my max build before anyone else, but our team had next to zero peeling power and the enemy team was dead focused on killing me at every turn. I got locked down by their two tanks and quickly eliminated, and since I was our team's exclusive source of damage, they were basically helpless. I knew this was going to happen and I tried to protest against my team on trying to teamfight when they already demonstrated this tactic in the past several engagements, but people are very obsessed with teamfights these days.

The key for dealing with counters or problem champions is to not let them play on their terms. Ekko plans and announces his initiative by casting his W. Even though you can't see the area until about a second before it lands, you have to gauge quickly where he wants the battle to be, and then just as quickly deny him that territory. Ekkos tend to be offensive, and they'll throw the field right on top of their intended target, then blink into the field right as or the second before it lands, granting them the shield, a stun on the enemy, and a considerable advantage. Combat this by either falling back slightly (Ekkos will fire closer to their target more often than closer to themselves unless they're on the defensive) or adjusting the angle of your approach. Ekkos will usually fire in a straight line towards their target and rarely to the side, so simply sidestepping on its own can mess up an Ekko's assault.

Assassins in general specialize in dealing huge amounts of damage all at once and then getting the hell out before the enemy can retaliate. This works well against squishies, but against bruisers and tanks, they need to be whittled down first before an assassin can make the kill. Tanks are anathema to assassins because of their lockdown capability and high durability, and bruisers have more consistent damage, but not as consistent as the ADC. A Master Yi who gets locked down after coming out of his Alpha Strike, either through stuns or snares is a sitting target and a dead man.

Mages deal consistent or burst damage from range, usually to multiple targets. Their drawback is the fact that they rely heavily on mana, cooldown reduction and range superiority. A mage in a direct melee fight won't last very long, and all their crowd control is meant to get away from the target or retaliate with another bombardment, preferably both.

Fighters and Juggernauts are more or less the branch between assassins, ADCs and tanks. They have the durability to last longer in a fight than the assassins and ADCs, but they lack the crowd control of tanks, the heavy burst damage of assassins and the consistent damage of ADCs. The fact that they don't specialize in any one area makes them remarkably versatile and able to adapt to many situations. A few specialize in fighting crowds, like Darius, Garen, Illaoi, Renekton and Riven to name a few, while others like Irelia, Trundle and Tryndamere specialize in fighting individuals.

Tanks are the wall between squishier champions and the enemy. They also come with a lot of crowd control to lock the enemy down while their allies help in finishing them off. They don't deal a lot of damage, many tanks depending largely on percent damage or damage that scales off of defensive stats like health and struggle in duels, much less if they're outnumbered.

ADCs deal the most consistent damage out of anyone, but they don't have the retreating powers like assassins do or the durability or crowd control of tanks and brawlers. They almost require the presence of an allied champion to help lock down the enemy and spread out their damage or risk getting mowed down by superior firepower.

It's important that teams are balanced as much as possible. Overspecializing in any one field is begging for the enemy to take notice and start building and adapting to negate your strengths and exploit your weaknesses. A team full of ADCs become very vulnerable to tanks, and a team of tanks have very little consistent damage to speak of and will find themselves quickly scattered by mages and brawlers.

Sometimes, even engaging in a direct fight with the enemy is a bad idea. Split pushing forces the enemy to divert resources towards stopping a split pusher or risk losing one or another important objective. If they're sieging a lane and you guess that they have a better teamfight than you, then it's important to break them up without directly engaging them, like for example split pushing, or using your mage to fire at them from a distance, either forcing them to constantly be on the defensive or whittle down an important champion enough to force them to recall, and then attack them while they are down a party member. NEVER allow the enemy to fight you on their terms; never try to slugfest an ulting Tryndamere, never fight Illaoi in the territories she sets up, and never try to tower dive a Morgana, Lux, Thresh or Blitzcrank, among others.