"OP" Champions

Aratez Treaty·1/31/2015, 8:58:37 PM·5 votes·3,013 views

When champions are played right, people call them "OP."

Here is a list of ones I'm pretty sure I have heard called "OP" :

My point being, over the years, people call a lot of champions over-powered because they either don't know how to counter that champion, that person is extremely good at that champion, or any other reason people might say. But, if all champions are "OP," then, really, none are. You can't be great at everything. Frankly, it seems as though when I play league, I either get set against a bunch of people who suck, therefore I win, or I get set against people who are way better than me, but I'm not that good at league. People are better than me, people win more than me., and People care more than me. Just don't go and complain to everyone else.

51 Comments

SEKAI1/31/2015, 9:03:53 PM4 votes

Flawed logic is flawed.

Why there is a blatant difference in pick rate between champions? And why there is almost always the same 10 - 20 or so champs every single pro game (except some fotm that suddenly rise into power by being broken), or hell just in high elo ranked?

Because those champions are just better in every single way than the rest of the roster, period.

This logic in OP only works if those calls are ALL emotionally induced, which in not entirely the case in LoL's long history of logical complaints on poor and inconsistent balancing and sometimes design philosophies.

Aratez Treaty1/31/2015, 9:14:18 PM1 votes

I'm not saying there have never been problems, just that they are normally minor and Riot fixes actual problems. It's about strategy and teamwork, not straight power. If someone is really strong 1v1, try to have another champion with a stun or such there. Deny people like Nasus farm, and use the brush. If you go in and out of brush, they can't target you too well unless the brush is warded. Strategy is Key.

Aratez Treaty1/31/2015, 9:48:46 PM1 votes

And what makes a meta team? If people always play them, then people should have learned how to counter them. "Risky" picks might be fun picks, and those who are really competitive will keep choosing champions people have a hard time with. However, it all is mostly strategy. Maybe some people had lag and got behind or accidentally made mistakes and got someone fed. Now that ONE game is over. There are still hundreds to come. I'm not saying some things are unfair. I'm just saying that you can work with your team and still win. Poppy is so annoying because she can build Zero defensive items and still take forever to kill without using her ability to become immune to you, but some people never have a problem with poppy.

There are about 20 champions or so that are normally called Op I guess. That is probably due to their burst potential, marking them as assassins in role. Now, that is about 1/6 of the champions in the roster. Their are about 5-6 roles, and 5 spaces in normal summoners rift team building. The other 5/6 of the champions are the other roles. That means a well-rounded team is going to have a champion for several roles.

ABlueQuaker2/1/2015, 12:24:20 PM1 votes

Finding an 'OP' champion requires a simple formula: Strength (We'll label this value 'S') Potential Impact (We'll label this value 'P') - [effort required to fulfill said potential (We'll label this value 'E') + Risk involved with playing said champion (we'll label this value 'R')]. S = P - (E + R)

Simply rate a champion's values for each with a value between 1 and 20.

Example 1: Malphite P = 20 (Potentially Game Winning/Changing Ultimates) E = 2 (Fairly Binary Kit. Can make an impact without many items.) R = 5 (Works well in and against most team comps, however immobile but hard to kill in a 1v1 scenario i.e. lane)

S = 20 - (2 + 5) S = 13

Example 2: Vayne P = 20 (One of the best hypercarry ADCs in the game) E = 4 (Has to farm up with weak wave clear and short range. Needs to have a good lane phase and acquire kills to be relevant.) R = 8 (Very Vulnerable lane phase and is vulnerable to burst and Hard CC)

S = 20 - (4 + 8) S = 8

This can be subjective (of course), but I think these are fair examples.

Strongest champions according to this formula (IMHO): Fiddle, J4, Jayce, Karma, Katarina, Liss, Malphite, Morgana (Not Support Morgana), Nidalee, Sejuani, Vel'Koz, Vi, Wukong, Zac (situational), Amumu (situational), Ashe (situational), Azir (Player-by-Player basis).

Altricad2/1/2015, 11:50:21 PM1 votes

Yay! My main is OP! MasterYi

I thought he'd never see the daylight of competitive play

deadlychuck2/2/2015, 1:08:20 AM1 votes

I find it funny that Yorick is on that list you gave, when literally the counter to yorick is a slight breeze from the wind in the opposite direction slowing him.

Ash Lockheart2/2/2015, 1:09:14 AM1 votes

The only time I call a champ Op is if I can't react to get away or to damage. If you can't react to cc or get away then there is a issue, but most of the champs you can get away from if you react fast. Only 2 I can think of that you can't do much about. Yasuo, and zed. Both have to high of kits. If you run they both can still get the kill. If you try to fight you will most likely feed unless your CC is very long.

Aratez Treaty2/2/2015, 1:20:11 AM1 votes

Another thing is that, there are approximately 120 champions, and normal games consist of teams of 5v5, making there 10 total champions in each normal game with champions being able to play different games. That being said, there are thousands, maybe even a million combinations to make with the champions on each team and which lane they are in. Granted, not all the outcomes are viable, because you don't want a Yi support, a Braum mid, or a Lulu top. However, there are a lot of combinations for ADC's with supports, mids, tops, and jger/gankers, so there being only 10-20 viable characters does not really carry any weight.

Thresh Outta Fux2/2/2015, 1:45:37 AM1 votes

Why are Ashe, Malzahar, Miss Fortune, and Sivir there?

PrinceArchie2/2/2015, 2:40:34 AM1 votes

Champions who are called OP either have overloaded kits that make counterplay seem almost non existent or are so binary that counterplay literately doesnt exist. Champions who are called OP are popular picks that will generally dominate in their respective positions due to their proficient power, overloaded kits, ease of play or all three. A good example of a binary champion that was considered OP and rightfully so is Akali . Akali is a point and click assassin that will beat you by sheer force due to her spell vamp and her damage thanks to mark of the assassin. Theres no counter play to that, you either make sure she doesnt get fed or its over. She has a lot of outplay potential, but to outplay her is almost impossible. You can't make her Miss anything, you can stun her and or overpower her if those options are in your comp or if you are fed enough. Not "all champions are OP". You didn't list all the champions and to be honest you didnt even choose fairly unconventional ones either, so with that being said yes there are "OP" champions.

In fact many of the ones you chose are the ones Pros pick and consider OP, the LCS infact is a good showing case in point of what "OP" champs are used. There was just a documented interview where pobelter called Azir OP. Rek Sai was used these past few weeks in competitive play despite anyone having much experience on her merely for the fact that they all considered hger "OP". Just because u beat someone with a champion players consider "OP" doesnt mean that they are just bad and it ISNT OP, sometimes champions are literately just OP due to how well they are at their position. As a player you need to recognize that some champions are much more powerful than others and not take all the credit for your individual play.

Pro's arent the end all be all but they know the limits of a lot if not all champions, a lot of the more common players like to attribute their "skill" to how dominant these popular champions are but again many of them are simply so dominant that skill is less of a factor for them to best their opponents and ironically requires more skill on their opponents end to best them. Anyway to sum up, OP champions are easy to use and are proficient at what they do. some may vary is difficulty to master but almost all legitimate "OP" champions are viable and very dominant in the meta. OP champions will often have one answer to defeating them, which usually doesnt involve any skillful counterplay but rather coincidental circumstances, or intentional counterpicking, coordinated play from the team or using a stronger binary champion.

Patrickk2/2/2015, 3:06:53 AM1 votes

pOPpy cassiOPeia

Black Star 12992/3/2015, 4:52:16 AM1 votes

Haha. Quinn OP.

Haven't seen anyone say that except for me in ages.

(But shhhhhhhh, what are you doing, you want to increase her chances of being nerfed?)