"Winrate differential" and "Balance around a specific elo"

while i haven't heard this brought up for a while.. i did come across something that had me talking about winrate differential.. and i figured rater than derailing that thread i would post about this here

so without further do....

every so often it is brought up that the game is "balanced around high level play" now what exactly high level play is differs... for me it is plat-diamond for some this may mean master and challenger.

but the point is... the term "balanced around"

obviously if a champ is too strong in EVERY elos, it calls for straight up nerfs.

if its too WEAK in every elo, it calls for straight up buffs

but if one is is above 50% while the other is below 50% people start to argue where it should be balanced

i hear too many people use this as an excuse to say "well its balanced at "X" elo so it can be complete trash in your elo and thats fine".

balanced around "X" elo means the 50% winrate should occur closest to that elo. varying ever so slightly with champion difficulty. as some champ would be impossible to stop in lower elo if they are made to be viable in higher elo.

either way the point is that is where the 50% should ideally occur.

it does NOT mean that as that ONE elo is balanced the champion is balanced..

ideally we want a 50% in every elo... but you pick a point where certain win-rates become unacceptable

if its 50% in plat and 52% in challenger and 48% in bronze that seems pretty balanced, and next to no one would disagree. if its 49% in plat and 51% in bronze and 46% in challenger, again, no one would totally freak out.

the issue is when the winrate gaps start to become too high. what if you have a 51% winrate in bronze but a 43% win rate in diamond, what do you do? i mean at some point you need to draw a line... you can't call a champ "balanced" just becuase they have a 50% winrate in diamond if they have an 87% winrate in challenger at a 23% winrate in bronze

if you WANT to make the champ balanced you NEED to close the gap... and that would be designing a change that that buff lower winrate to an acceptable range or at least as much as u can... at the same time nerfing the win-rate that is too high or at the VERY least not increasing it by too much more.

the issue is these kind of buff are VERY hard to do. as they take a lot of time and usually require a great knowledge of the champion to think up and do properly. and as much as it would be awesome to have... i highly doubt riot has a person who mains every champion on their balance team.

because of this, this kind of "compensation" buffs/nerfs are hard to get shipped.

HOWEVER that does NOT mean a champ can be allowed to be completely unplayable.

IF a champion has a HIGH winrate differential. riot NEEDS to choose WHAT is the elo that will be balanced.

and IF it is to be balanced with a high winrate diferential. you NEED to accept that fact that ONE end of the spectrum is going to be either too high or too low.. and based on the champion (wither its a high skill or low skill champ, along other factors) whould decide which elo higher the winrate slightly above 50%.

but what u CANNOT do... is allow a champ with a large winrate gap... to exists ENTIRELY in sub 50% win rates.

which is the case u see with champs like and . on the lower end and and on the higher end

Azir has the issue with flat out needed a rework while Nidalee has the issue with her reworking being amazing but then being completely dismantled after they threw her into the jungle.