The overall balance is good

Antikythera·Feb 9, 2015·9 votes·714 views

I wanted to take a minute to say that in terms of actual game balance.. League is incredibly well maintained. Despite the high level of champions, and items flying around, everything has its respective strengths and niches. Most of the 'bottom tier' champions for instance are just champs that don't fit the popular meta. Or there champs that require a specific set of runes to work in tandem with there abilities, like singed and his need for speed. I think its pretty cool that when a new champion or update comes out things get thrown on there head and people need to brush off old favorites and mains and rise to meet the challenge, instead of there being just one champ for everything. So, thank you so much Riot for keeping this game well balanced because I don't even want to know what elo hell would look like if you didn't.

12 Comments

Franco SanchezFeb 9, 20156 votes

As someone who mainly plays immobile mages in the midlane, I disagree. Assassins are crowding out midlane and have for quite a while... Mostly because assassins are typically able to deal comparable damage, snowball incredibly easily, and have mobility out the wazoo. How often do you see things like Brand, TF, Lux, Malzahar, etc? Almost all my games I see Katarina, Zed, Talon, Fizz, LeBlanc, Kassadin, etc. The only immobile mage that I've seen semi-frequently is Orianna, and that's because she's got incredibly good utility, pushing power, and damage.

As for top lane, a lot of tank/bruiser top lanes are getting crowded out by ranged abusive champs like Lulu, Gnar, Ryze, Teemo, etc. And jungle? It's pretty much the big 3 that have dominated the jungle for a long time (Vi, Lee, J4).

The only lane that I'm pleased with for balance these days is bottom lane. There is a healthy mix of tanky initiating supports like Alistar, Leona, Thresh, Braum. There are also a fair deal of poke oriented supports like Sona, Vel'Koz, Annie, Zyra. Even so, there are still some pretty abusive cases botlane right now (Annie/Graves)... But at least there is a fair diversity comparatively.

VDc0zCqe0wFeb 9, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Franco Sanchez,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=FPzI74ry,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-02-09T12:04:35.615+0000)

The only lane that I'm pleased with for balance these days is bottom lane. There is a healthy mix of tanky initiating supports like Alistar, Leona, Thresh, Braum. There are also a fair deal of poke oriented supports like Sona, Vel'Koz, Annie, Zyra. Even so, there are still some pretty abusive cases botlane right now (Annie/Graves)... But at least there is a fair diversity comparatively.

tbh, i've never ever seen a Zyra except if i play her (and i do quite alot), i've seen just 1 in 4 months, and she's never played competitively because appartenly cutting her whole skillset in half while giving "compensation buffs" (sorry i'm laughing so hard writing this but i simply can't help that) looked like a good idea (meanwhile cancer Thresh sharing the same amount, if not even higher, pick/ban rate at S3 Worlds was barely touched)

she's acceptable for soloq, sucks for 5vs5, sucks midlane, can be played only as support, and even there she's subpar (i manage to have a good winrate because i played a stupid amount of games with her)

Franco SanchezFeb 9, 20151 votes

Zyra isn't terrible, but I see your point. She's not common by any means, but she can be a good pick under the right circumstances. My point was more that there aren't a lot of ADC's that you shouldn't pick, and there aren't a lot of supports that you shouldn't pick. Overall it's fairly healthy. The only ones that I think need to be toned down are Annie Morgana Graves and MAYBE Janna .

As far as Morgana is concerned, I think they should nerf black shield duration, her Q missile width, and shave off some of the duration for the bind on her Q. 3 seconds of CC.

TheFameAnimalFeb 9, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Franco Sanchez,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=FPzI74ry,comment-id=000100000000,timestamp=2015-02-09T13:32:45.856+0000)

Zyra isn't terrible, but I see your point. She's not common by any means, but she can be a good pick under the right circumstances. My point was more that there aren't a lot of ADC's that you shouldn't pick, and there aren't a lot of supports that you shouldn't pick. Overall it's fairly healthy. The only ones that I think need to be toned down are and MAYBE .

As far as Morgana is concerned, I think they should nerf black shield duration, her Q missile width, and shave off some of the duration for the bind on her Q. 3 seconds of CC.

PLS DON'T NERF MY JANNA NOOOOOO :(

Leti the YetiFeb 9, 20151 votes

I'm surprised malz isnt picked more toss a strain of ebola at a minion and just stand somewhere far away as it autofarms for you silence anyone trying to burst you worst case, like zed or watever.. just ult when he ults lol

Franco SanchezFeb 9, 20151 votes

The biggest issue with Malzahar has always been his teamfights, and the fact that a single item can counter his ult( item 3140 ). As a laner, he's pretty freaking busted. He shoves waves incredibly fast, and in a 1v1 situation he's gonna drop you with his ult easily. But outside of his lane phase, he doesn't fair particularly well. Kinda reminds me a little of why Heimerdinger isn't played more. Tho, Heimer isn't bad by any means.

CharQueenFeb 9, 20154 votes

I agree with you. I'm bothered by how focused players are on pulling the 'OP / UP' card because I never feel that the balance is off. League has tons of factors in every champion. Early, mid, or late game for instance.

FoggyPawsFeb 9, 20151 votes

Xerath Never stopped playing him. He is his own meta

VDc0zCqe0wFeb 9, 20151 votes

{quoted} Most of the 'bottom tier' champions for instance are just champs that don't fit the popular meta.

this thing gets thrown every time people talk about balance: it is simply not true

Ashe for example has never been played since preseason 4, do you know how many metas have changed since that?

it's not a meta problem it's a champion problem

Leti the YetiFeb 9, 20152 votes

Lissandra resurfaced due to shift in meta Zed resurfaced due to shift in meta Ashe resurfaced briefly due to shift in meta Ryze resurfaced due to shift in meta... then got nerfed

i'm not saying now btw, just at some point when he meta changed

well, ashe was abit shortlived.... when everyone was relearning how to jungle, ashe was popular and did well statistically infact... it was in favor of immobile champs now that ganks were less frequent