What makes a champion OP.

Saezio··1 votes·1,257 views

Since the beginning of League people have argued about what makes a champion broken. I want to try address that issue but I would beg anyone that responds to refrain from using champion names , even if it is only as an example. I would like to hear what metrics people think should define a champions strength relatively to the rest of the roster. I am planning to create a poll in another post when, through discussion, we come up with some good options.

For example, my perspective at the moment is that a champions objective strength can be measured through checking their high elo OTP winrates compared to the rest of the OTPs. That is because A) we need an environment of players that make as little mistakes as possible -> we can only check high elo B) if we checked everyone instead of OTP players, we would include players that have not yet mastered the champion. C) We can easily compare the winrates to make a list when it comes to that.

Thoughts? P.S. Again, please refrain from bringing up specific champions because I would like to first establish how a champ should be measured and then create a list, not create a list and then try to cherrypick why it should be like that.

8 Comments

Daddy Ants1 votes

When a gold or below player dies to a champion thats fed.

Automatically deemed OP.

Amount of times I hear "X is such a busted champion" because someones fed said champ...

Saezio1 votes

Yeah that is why I want to avoid champ specific discussions. xD But it doesn't seem like people want to talk about this so I guess not discussion will be had

Doge20201 votes

I think that a “broken” champ is one that does not have a clear weakness or its weakness is very hard to exploit. A good example is Akali: she is a melee assassin, so she can be poked by ranged champs, but her smoke cloud makes it hard for any champ to poke her because she can’t be targeted in it and she gains increased MS to help dodge skillshots. And she has/had a heal with her q to help sustain slightly during lane. She has has a really good engage with ult or her e, and both of those abilities help stick to a target, and she can escape easy with those two abilities too. The issue with Akali (which might be less of an issue because of the nerfs, idk if they were this patch or next patch) is that she didn’t really have a clear weaknesses for all champs to use to their advantage and didn’t really have a niche weakness that a certain champ, or a small group of champs, can use. A clear overall weakness would be Nasus dealing no damage in the early part of the game, so any champ can take advantage of that by fighting or poking him with abilities and auto attacks.

Saezio1 votes

Well, maybe I wasn't clear enough, so I wanna be very specific, I am talking about champion's strength and not how they might be broken in their concept if that doesn't simultaneously make them very strong. So, one could say that malza is a broken champion because he can't be balanced and is either pick/ban or useless, I am not interested in these kinds of champions, I am looking at what determines what champions are the strongest at a specific patch. What metric would be the best to determine what champions are the strongest, without looking at their gameplay, but numbers alone mostly.

Doge20201 votes

What type of numbers? The values on each champ’s abilities or their winrates/playrates/banrates?

Saezio1 votes

I was thinking more of winrates/pickrates but not just face value. Maybe the win rates of a specific elo or maybe in competitive or the one that OTPs have or maybe someone could argue that the champs strength should be judged by the success of the best player on the champ or whatever.

Saevum1 votes

{quoted}

without looking at their gameplay, but numbers alone mostly.

That would be:

  1. if they have some sort of true damage built in.
  2. if they have high base damage and/or high scaling ratios.
  3. if they have a mechanic that defies a gameplay rule. i.e. not Dying Tryndamere Kayle Ekko Zilean Kindred
  4. if they have some sort of execution mechanic attached with true damage or a specific setup. i.e Darius bleed + R, Vayne W + BoRK, Pyke, Garen, Volibear, Urgot.

I think i covered the most.

Honorable gameplay mechanics (list) that are hard to pin due to human error margins or... 'just because they exist' (i think is worth mentioning these to determine OP-ness):

  1. Skillshot width, length, speed vs reaction time, mobility.
  2. Untargetability. (mechanic that briefly defies a basic rule of gameplay).
  3. Stasis. (Defies any interaction with the stasis subject).
  4. invulnerability, immunity to CC. Olaf Morgana.
  5. Global presence, Taliyah TwistedFate TahmKench.
  6. True sight LeeSin TwistedFate.

I think i covered the most.

(Unique) Can push you far away from the action. Deny intervention or interaction. Poppy's Ult. singature.

Düff McWhalen1 votes

What makes a champion truly OP is an overloaded kit with no counter play.

Akali true invisible, even under tower.

So even if you get her low and you feel you're safe under tower, what happens next? -You're both likely low, or let's be honest, YOU are -She backs off and nobody gets a kill -She pops invis and sits under YOUR tower, ganks you, and retreats.

Where is the counter play? You are not safer under your own tower, you can't detect her for even a chance to stop her, she has a stun, ridiculous burst, and no mana problems.

TLDR; if there's no counter play, it's OP. Unless you're one of those people that counts "Not being present" or "just ban her" a counter to that... just don't play the game then at that point.

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