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Riot, let's discuss your approach to balancing the game.

Sîcarîus·12/10/2014, 6:22:17 PM·11 votes·2,320 views

I couldn't think of a proper title, but I feel like Riot sometimes gives a champ too much in their kit, which then results in them being super strong - no matter how many nerfs/buffs they receive. Champs that come to mind are as follows: Lee Sin, Lucian, Kha'Zix, Kalista.(Probably a few others, but these are the main ones that come to mind) I feel as though, rather than nerfing these champs repeatedly(which clearly isn't solving the issue), perhaps Riot should just take them back to the drawing board. Clearly the issue isn't with their scaling; it's with their kit power. Now, on top of having champs like this, we also have champs in the game that have such powerful kits that Riot LITERALLY has to gut them to shit tier otherwise they will be OP(Evelynn is the best example I can think of for this). So, what I'm suggesting is, maybe Riot should take a difference approach to these issues. I know I'd rather see a champ like Lee Sin or Lucian changed than seeing Riot attempt to nerf them to hell only to fail due to the fact their kit is just too god tier to really phase.

Another issue lies within Riot's over eagerness to nerf champs in a certain role while buffing other champs that also play that role. A prime example of this happens in the top lane all the time. Riot will nerf X champ, but they will also buff another champ at the same time. This then creates a god tier champ. I feel like they should take a much more conservative approach -- ex) Either nerf the current strong champ, or buff other champs(Don't do both, as this doesn't solve the issue. All it does is flip the power scale rather than equalizing it out).

37 Comments

Tsunday12/10/2014, 7:01:33 PM7 votes

Kalista

She has under a 40% winrate. She's not 'overly strong'.

BloodDelmar12/10/2014, 10:18:08 PM3 votes

This game will never be balanced. Riot does not understand trade offs.

Fizz - Highly mobile, UNTARGETABLE, Stupid burst. Pretty much the epitome of anti-fun. But, since he's an "assassin," $100 says Riot will never gut him to make it a balanced kit.

Kalista - BS range, Unlimited Dash/Dodge, Can make champs untargetable. Scales like an ADC.

Yasuo - BS gap closing, basically unlimited, a wall that negates ranged champs, a shield on top of it...

The ONLY way to balance this game is to give every ability for every champ the same base damage... for example, every "q" does so much damage. Then, if giving a gap closer or escape, drop the damage from that ability dramatically.

Edgy AngstLord12/10/2014, 10:32:06 PM3 votes

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of Riot's "one champ is OP, so let's nerf it to meet other champions' levels." I honestly enjoy believe that every champion should be overpowered, and here's why:

I've had limited experience with games such as Smite or Dota2, in which every hero/god/champion (whatever) is extremely powerful. While this can be frustrating to some points, it usually boils down to a player's skill. "Oh, I was killed because I missed a skill/because I misplayed something." That's always something that I've felt whenever I've played either of those games and done something wrong (more so in Smite than Dota, but still).

I don't think a champion needs to be nerfed to a level of equality. I think that older champs need to be updated to the current meta, or at least in the range of the meta. (Again, Smite does this well - over the last 2 years, they've updated older champions, some of them getting completely new kits because they were outdated).

Just my 2 cents. ;)

Cya Im Done12/10/2014, 7:32:56 PM3 votes

Tbh, it's just the way the game is fundamentally designed. I played 4 years of DotA and 3 years of HoN before S2 games went to shit and I started playing LoL more frequently but I remember when LoL first came out, one of the biggest problems my friends and I talked about was that the AP/AD scaling that allows all champs to scale into the late game would be almost impossible to balance in the long run.

The fact that all champs scale damage-wise with items means that utility and mobility has way more value than dps. In other words, the ability to avoid (mobility, stealth) or prevent damage (CC and shields) will always outweigh dps potential since item scaling guarantees that you'll still be able to do some damage later on. You can tweak the numbers however you want but champs like Leesin and Orianna will always be strong picks unless their scaling is nerfed to the point of being a utility support. It also means that pure damage dealers or champs lacking in utility such as yi and fiora are either overpowered or just mediocre cause they either do so much damage that the utility provided by other champs are irrelevant or they don't do enough damage to justify picking them over high utility champs.

You're probably right that Riot should stop doing so many knee jerk nerfs and buffs simultaneously and just do gradual changes and that some champs need to have their kits entirely reworked but it'll probably take a while and honestly, I don't think the meta pool, particularly the competitive meta pool will ever evolve beyond the state of 15-20 predominant picks.

City of Toronto12/10/2014, 6:34:16 PM2 votes

Power creep is a very real issue in league of legends. Most notable of which is the difference between binary champions and multi-dimensional champions. Balancing the two is like making an apple and orange equal.

62612746_DEL12/10/2014, 8:21:27 PM2 votes

meow

Lordofthepittt12/11/2014, 2:57:04 AM1 votes

Kha'zix is not overpowered. He has a easily dodged slow, a leap, and a stealth. All his damage however revolves around his Q. And his Q damage is dependent on you being isolated. If you are away from an ally or a friendly minion, and you know there is a kha on the other team, then the mistake was yours for being out like that.

Kalista isn't overpowered because she is super squishy like all ADCs, and her dash isn't really that great. She is the enemy ADC. You should probably be targeting all your CC for her anyway unless someone has super fed someone else that is a bigger threat.

The only champ right now that I think is unbalanced is Fizz. And that is because he has a troll pole that makes him untargetable, and he does enough damage to literally one shot you unless you have built nothing but magic resist. Fizz is the only thing in this game right now that I think should be nerfed like cray.

Zen Fury12/12/2014, 6:38:01 AM1 votes

The only OP champ that comes to mind recently was WW, and that was due to his incredible synergy with new jungle items.

Lee Sin, Akali, etc. can all be counter played and shut down. However a large number of players are either lazy, don't know, or don't care about actually trying to counter these champs. At low levels of play, there isn't even any teamwork to counter these champs or dealing with what happens if they're fed.

If these champs were really OP they'd have high winrates, beyond pub stomping bronze and new players.