"Strategic Diversity" Wasn't A Great Choice For a Goal...

Zenthon Prime·Jan 13, 2015·17 votes·1,125 views

...when a major problem with "OP" champs recently has been that they fit with every strategy. "Composition Diversity" is what we really needed, IMO.

13 Comments

RaptameiJan 13, 20159 votes

Champions are not different enough.

They have strengths and weaknesses but those are not important and you just pick the best ones regardless of your strategy.

Zenthon PrimeJan 14, 20151 votes

That's actually a great way to word it.

KingsgraveJan 13, 20153 votes

Every season we get more diversity in every role and lane except for ADC. Itll probably continue to be that way.

MrSc0ttyJan 13, 20158 votes

{quoted}

Every season we get more diversity in every role and lane except for ADC. Itll probably continue to be that way.

Stop. Wait. Collaborate and Lee Sin. Jarvans back with a brand new mission.

Zenthon PrimeJan 14, 20152 votes

Jungle's by far the worst offender. I can't remember a time when we didn't have 2-3 hyper-powerful junglers (one of which has pretty much always been Lee Sin, at least as of recently), maybe 4, then everyone else.

I should rephrase: the issue isn't that champions picks aren't changing over time (they are, although many champs always get left behind for no real reason). The issue is that at any given time, we have around 4 (or less) seriously picks in every role, even going up to 6 if we're really lucky, and everything else is simply inferior or takes massively increased skill to use. You can mix and match these ~4 picks per lane to get nearly any strategy you want. That's the issue.

There are other issues as well, of course. For example, I happen to main Xerath , a champion that is currently fairly strong but not really that common ATM. Once Zed and Fizz inevitably get nerfed, or maybe a little later, Xerath will get picked up by all the pros like Ziggs was and will immediately be deemed broken by sheep players, despite not actually having received any real buffs. Common complaints will be "zero counterplay" (despite how BS that is on a skillshot mage), "insane waveclear" and "crazy burst". Actually, this applies to almost any champion in a "strong" state. I'm not saying that some of these complaints aren't legitimate (Zed getting an EZmode CS tool is stupid, for example, and my opinion of that has far outdated Zed's current "OP" status), but we really do need more than 6 "viable" champs per role at any given time in a game with over 120 of them.

SeargentAnusJan 13, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Every season we get more diversity in every role and lane except for ADC. Itll probably continue to be that way.

The Best ADC's atm are Graves, MF, Lucian. Twitch, Caitlyn, and arguably Varus follow shortly behind. 6 viable ADC's is a good thing.

KingsgraveJan 13, 2015

{quoted}

The Best ADC's atm are Graves, MF, Lucian. Twitch, Caitlyn, and arguably Varus follow shortly behind. 6 viable ADC's is a good thing.

No I meant that the only position that never gets a new role is bot lane carry.

SmokingPuffinJan 13, 20152 votes

...Varus?

Tannhäuser GateJan 13, 20153 votes

No corki Jinx?

VisigothJan 14, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Every season we get more diversity in every role and lane except for ADC. Itll probably continue to be that way.

jungle has about 4 champions that rofl stomp every other champion in the jungle other than its 3 counterparts

Drunk RummateJan 13, 20151 votes

the meta is determined more by the players than riot. i have little doubt that pros could make a hypercarry/waveclear stall composition work extremely well right now. the problem is that everyone acts like a sheep and follows whichever teams are performing the best.

SmokingPuffinJan 13, 20151 votes

Let me devil's advocate this. Why is composition diversity desirable? Does it really matter whether the jungler is always Sejuani, always Nautilus, always Maokai, or a mix of those three?

I think it's way more interesting to play the game if we have strategic diversity. Seeing a poke comp fight against a pick comp is more different than swapping Lee Sin for Jarvan or Graves for Lucian.