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Controversial: Every champion released after the 100 mark was an unnecessary addition to the game.

Warlord Rhinark·12/1/2018, 5:07:12 PM·3 votes·2,394 views

This includes:

Zyra Diana Rengar Syndra Khazix Elise Zed Nami Vi Thresh Quinn Zac Lissandra Aatrox Lucian Jinx Yasuo Velkoz Braum Gnar Azir Kalista RekSai Bard Ekko TahmKench Kindred Illaoi Jhin AurelionSol Taliyah Kled Ivern Camille Xayah Rakan Kayn Ornn Zoe Kaisa Pyke

...and the up and coming Neeko.

All of these champions were mistakes that should never have been committed.

Now, before you downvote me to oblivion, hear me out.

#1. Over 100 champions to keep track of is damn confusing.

100 champions is already a ton. Not only does every champion release make the entirety of the roster harder to remember, Riot has to account for every single item, rune and summoner spell's synergy with that champion. What might once have been a balanced item or rune can become ridiculously broken overnight due to how well it functions with a newly released champion's kit.

#2. Powercreep.

Speaking of champion kits, the more champions that get released, the less ideas for champion abilities are left to explore. We've already begun to see examples of two abilities on two different champions that are incredibly similar, sometimes with one being clearly stronger than the other.

Take JarvanIV and Camille as the most obvious examples. Pretty much everything Jarvan IV does, Camille does better.

Jarvan has percentage current health damage? Well Camille has TWO different sources of percentage MAXIMUM health damage!

Jarvan has Armor Penetration? Well Camille has TRUE DAMAGE!

Jarvan has a 15 - 35% slow? Well Camille has a flat 80% slow!

Jarvan has a 2 - 15% maximum health shield that costs mana and has a 12 second cooldown? Well Camille has a PASSIVE 10 second cooldown 20% maximum health shield that adapts to what kind of damage type her opponent will deal the most of.

Jarvan gets 15 - 25% bonus attack speed? Well Camille gets 40 - 80%!

Jarvan has a dash that relies on two of his abilities being used in conjuction? Well Camille has TWO dashes that only require one ability!

Jarvan has an Unstoppable leap? Well Camille has an Unstoppable AND untargetable leap!

Jarvan creates impassable terrain that enemies can just flash out of and could potentially fuck over his team for 3.5? Well Camille gets impassable terrain that enemies CAN'T flash out of, allies can walk through, and can last up to 4 seconds. Also it gives her percentage maximum health damage on autos.

This is not to mention all the ADDITIONAL tools Camille gets that Jarvan doesn't, such as auto attack resets that also increase auto attack range, movement speed ups and heals.

The only thing where Jarvan outshines Camille is his 0.75 second knock up, whereas Camille has a 0.75 second stun. The only difference here is that Jarvan's CC is affected by Tenacity.

So unless the enemy team is stacking Tenacity like mad men for whatever reason, there is absolutely no reason to pick Jarvan over Camille.

And situations like these will only continue to happen as long as champions continue to get released.

#3. Balance nightmares.

Taking the aforementioned Camille, most, if not all of the champions presented above, have been cause for numerous balance issues. They are either mindnumbingly frustrating to play against, or complete garbage to play as. One half has become some of the most reviled and hated champions in the entire game, whilst the other half have been, and some still are, pure meme material and a laughing stock for how shitty they are.

Whether a result of blatantly powerful gimmicks by design inherently present in the champion's kit, or a way too ambitious poorly executed ideas, it seems that the core fundamentals of most of these champions are the result in them being doomed to be either complete monsters, or forced to live out an existence in the gutter.

#Conclusion.

Most people would tell me that new champion releases are "fresh" and "exciting", and that they are the only things that keep the game from going stale and would "get boring" otherwise.

I'm inclined to disagree. I do not think that constant updates are what makes a game fun, but that everything and everyone in it is (seemingly) on fair ground.

Everything is viable. Everyone is viable. No item build or rune page is blatantly superior than any other. No champion, class or role is blatantly superior than any other. The chances of success all depends on personal strategy, skill level and enemy matchups.

More commonly referred to as a "balanced game".

I'd rather have a balanced game that never gets any updates, than a broken game where the white board is wiped every two weeks.

The fact that the only thing (allegedly) keeping the game "refreshing" is to see how broken Riot's next release will be honestly disturbs me.

I'm not going to blame the state the game is currently in solely on new champion releases, but I do think that they are a major factor. Most of the newer releases would have been much better off as a rework for some of the older champions that desperately need them.

Riot needs to put a cap on how many characters they want in the roster at some point, or it will have, and continue to have, dire consequences.

What do you fellas think? I'm open to any opposing beliefs that you present. I do not expect a lot of support in my rather controversial opinion.

59 Comments

Eleshakai12/1/2018, 5:20:56 PM6 votes

Technically as long as you have 10 champions, the game works... so if we take literal definitions, every champ beyond 10 was 'unnecessary'. However, every champ they add opens up new strategic possibilities, gives more people an opportunity to find that 'one champion' who just clicks with them, and adds new diversity to the roster.

So while theoretically every champion beyond 100, and even beyond 10, is 'unnecessary', that doesn't make them 'problematic'.

Moody P12/1/2018, 5:11:37 PM6 votes

illaoi is one of the best champions riot's ever made

Makarakarn12/1/2018, 5:44:47 PM5 votes

"Too hard to remember all the champions!!11!" Really? Because I'm low ranked as hell (silver 3 to be exact) and I can remember every ability every single champion has. Why? Because I play the damn game. No studying, no playing all the champions, litterally just play the game and you'll learn this shit lol. And personally I can't say much about the state of the game before season 5 because that's when I started, but from the various amounts of footage I've watched and numerous opinions I've heard from people who have played for much longer than I, League has never been super balanced. In a game with different stats and options, there will ALWAYS be something that's better than other things. Never in league history, as far as I've seen from my own research, has there every been a "perfect state of balance". There will always be strong picks, weak picks, and new shit to learn and adapt to. There is, always has been, and always will be. Riot has made it clear that this is the type of game they want it to be, so if you aren't cool with that, then don't play.

sobi99912/1/2018, 8:03:38 PM4 votes

Constant change sure prevents the game from being stale but there needs to be a fine line between no change to, too much change. Right now league is making pretty hefty changes every other patch, and so was the case, throughout the previous season; that my head hurts trying to keep up. If anything, it's making me lose interest in the game.

SwiftKitten8812/1/2018, 5:42:07 PM2 votes

i disagree.. some of the champions are very good designs out of the first line there are only 3 bad designs Zed Aatrox and Yasuo

out of the 3rd line

the 2nd line... well its a bit more questionable

but the bad desings would be Azir Kalista TahmKenchKled Camille

even with only 7 champs in the line.. half of them are bad Kayn Zoe Kaisa Pyke

but u also need to take into account champion reworks

Nidalee a fucking godsend Skarner umm pretty meh Warwick very good Evelynn very good Nunu very good RekSai very bad Akali very bad Irelia disastrous Galio good Urgot good Yorick goodish? i still have no idea how your supposed to stop him from splitting Leblanc amazing until they fucking undid it Katarina bad Rengar bad Shaco bad XinZhao no real difference Malzahar bad Mordekaiser oh look another bug

Frituplei12/29/2018, 11:44:10 PM2 votes

Hi there Warlord Rhinark,

I find it good you are taking the time to express your opinion and add a good case for the community to argument, attempting to improve the product they consume (the game).

  1. Many comments here state "people's love", or "most players like/dislike". I don't think there is any realiable survey about this, and maybe it is a good pick up by all of you who touched this aspect.

  2. More champions, for me, aren't bad for the game, if, they add new concepts.

The example given by you (jarvan-camille) is perfect.

Also, about same concepts, have you ever thought about many new champions', or recent reworks' E ability has the same visual and/or effect notion?

Neeko stuns in line, Pyke stuns in line, Zoe stuns in line, Xayah stuns in line.

Then Kaisa speeds up invisible (at some point), Kayn speeds up "invisible".

Rakan has two dashes, Camille has two dashes.

And finally, even from the same Cosmic conceptualization, Aurelion - long dash, Bard - long dash. What does Rammus have? One speed up (which collides with minions/monsters) and "please-auto-attack-me-to-your-death"?

With this Riot is continuously showing inhability to add fresh and new content to their champions, not at 100%, but maybe 80% is for profit purposes and 20% for the more aware part of the playing community' delights.

I'll end now, happy holidays to you. :)

ps. One can detect 10 identically skilled players by searching for the 10 most similar stat-graphics for a given champion. We do have the data for it now! The minor differences that will occur between graphics are due to each game's uniqueness, but the overall skill shows there.

Woodakoodashooda12/1/2018, 5:21:43 PM2 votes

I think Riot should stop at 151 just to prove to Poke'mon that you don't need more than that for a videogame.

Oh, were you looking for a serious response?

Hotarµ12/1/2018, 5:35:51 PM2 votes

#1. Over 100 champions to keep track of is damn confusing. 100 champions is already a ton. Not only does every champion release make the entirety of the roster harder to remember, Riot has to account for every single item, rune and summoner spell's synergy with that champion. What might once have been a balanced item or rune can become ridiculously broken overnight due to how well it functions with a newly released champion's kit.

I would say the biggest argument relating to this is the fact that Riot balances the game around the top 1-2% of the community. So many champions that are commonly complained about such as Yasuo Zed Akali Irelia Zoe are left untouched because their performance above Diamond+(?) is very rare / poor.

2. Powercreep.

This is where I agree more than other points. Riot has pretty much made all new champions with high mobility and high damage in mind. It's not something I enjoy coming from slower paced seasons like 4/5, and I will say that if a new champion is going to be made to that standard, older ones should be brought there as well. After all, why the hell would and average player ever pick Corki when Kaisa exists?

3 Balance nightmares.

There will never be a game where every aspect is 100% balanced. Due to the nature of team comps, snowballing, keystones, premade coordination, and so many other factors, it's nearly impossible to have a completely balanced roster. Tier lists will always exists and newer champions will almost always outclass older ones.

Most people would tell me that new champion releases are "fresh" and "exciting", and that they are the only things that keep the game from going stale and would "get boring" otherwise.

I'm inclined to disagree. I do not think that constant updates are what makes a game fun, but that everything and everyone in it is (seemingly) on fair ground.

To most people a completely balanced game is a boring game. Fighting the same champions with the same builds in the same lanes with the same runes with the same team comps would get boring very quickly. New champions do keep the game fresh and interesting. Most people like myself would have quit long ago if we kept the same 100-ish champions.

Pyke and Thresh have made me fall in love with support all over again. Yasuo is fun to play even though I'm horrible as him. Azir is so unique that even now, when I know he's just not good (because of pro play) I still want to play him so badly. Jhin was one of my favorite ADCs for a long period of time before I picked up Lucian. Ornn made me go back to top lane after I dropped Shen following his rework.

I could go on and on, the point is that new champions do keep the game fresh and fun, especially for long-time veterans.

Vlada Cut12/1/2018, 5:38:29 PM2 votes

No... I,wouldn't imagine myself without Camille... taking her away is like taking a part of me away...

xDogMeatx12/5/2018, 11:52:51 AM1 votes

if you add more champions it adds weapons or cards to your arsenal and also adds the roleplay element to it. THEY STILL HAVENT MADE A FEMALE WEREWOLF CHAMP.