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The patch rundown says everyone should be able to play their favourite champions...

Abyssphere··10 votes·638 views

I was watching the patch rundown for 5.11 and while I think it's largely an excellent patch (I'm sure Aatrox mains are very happy right now), I found the comments on champion diversity to be really baffling. If the goal of the balance team is really to allow every player to play their favourite champion without thinking "Maybe they'll get buffed to be playable in the next patch" then what explains the state of Elise?

She has a continuous play rate of less than 1%. She is the #1 example of a champion that people are too scared to play, even when they're huge fans of her. Cloud 9's Meteos says she's one of his two favourite ever champions (alongside Zac) but he doesn't find her fun to play anymore because it goes wrong every time. From his exchanges with TheOddOne on Twitter it seems like she's become a running joke among competitive players.

This patch had buffs for a variety of champs that Riot justified by saying they were vaguely undertuned - Caitlyn, for example, was buffed because she wasn't excelling in the tank meta, which was unexpected for her. That is fair enough, but Caitlyn is a champion with a 16% pick rate and a 49% win rate. Those aren't bad stats, but because she wasn't appearing in competitive play despite the meta favouring her, she was buffed. Elise has a 1% pick rate, a 42% win rate AND she doesn't appear in competitive play (despite the tank meta supposedly favouring her % HP damage AND her being one of the classic examples of a champion who specialises in competitive games). How is she not much more desperate for buffing right now than champs like Cait?

If you want players to feel like they can play anyone they want then please do something about Elise. Right now I don't feel like I'll ever get to play her and I'd really like to get mastery points on her eventually.

7 Comments

Kãtãrinã3 votes

i had an elise in a game on my smurf, she literally did nothing and it felt like a 4v5. that is how weak i feel she is if she builds AP in the jungle

Abyssphere3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Foxy FNAF,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=HBNWHdzz,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2015-06-10T02:08:42.058+0000)

i had an elise in a game on my smurf, she literally did nothing and it felt like a 4v5. that is how weak i feel she is if she builds AP in the jungle

She's even worse if she builds tank. Your late game fantasy with her is literally "to not die that easily while others carry me". At full build she's the game's worst support.

Wizardavar1 votes

So true, at full build, a full tank garen mudered me in 4 secs while I try to run away

cFlame1 votes

You won't be seeing Elise buffs within 2 months, the way things look now and who is allowed to be up and who isn't.

Mat7itan1 votes

So I'm going to be able to play Akali again?!

Abyssphere1 votes

{quoted}

So I'm going to be able to play Akali again?!

At least they've actually buffed Akali. Her E on its own is better than its ever been, her rotation does 10% AP more damage and her ult has occasions where the dashing behind people thing is useful. I've seen Akalis do quite well since her most recent changes, she's definitely not a champ I'd avoid playing due to being bad right now.

MrBuffington1 votes

I don't really see any reason not to just revert all the nerfs at this point; Lee Sin was in that duo/trio of junglers that were dominant during Elise's height, and he hasn't seen any balance changes, and his popularity is fairly average in pro games now, just because other junglers have been buffed. If they revert all the nerfs she might just be in a similar spot as Lee Sin, another strong early game jungler, probably one that can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Lee Sin or Nidalee or Rek'Sai, which would be helpful.

My only guess is that they're looking for a more thorough rework-style set of changes, which (fingers crossed) might give her some ability to play in lane as well as jungle? Though this would probably result in another couple of months of balance after it's released, and with the current schedule of reworks, isn't going to be any time soon. As with Urgot, they should really give her some buffs, even if she's getting larger changes down the road.

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