Boards›Gameplay

Does Riot forget they can balance items for ranged/melee champions simultaneously?

FistOfSharkiesha·2/15/2016, 4:33:29 AM·1 votes·305 views

I'm tired of perfectly healthy items being nerfed because ranged champions abuse them. A lot of these items are healthy and necessary for bruisers.

There are several ways to go about fixing a balance issue when this happens.

  1. Nerf the actual problem champion. Graves abusing Sterak's Gage should not mean nerfing an item and consequently every bruiser that needs it. He's a broken champion that needs his numbers fixed, not an item nerfed.
  2. Make it melee only or reduce the effectiveness on ranged champions. Hydra is melee only, frozen mallet/phage passive are less effective for ranged champions.

Why don't you do this instead of ruining the good balance of an entire class of champions just to stop one problem champion abusing an item they shouldn't be allowed to build/receive full effectiveness?

2 Comments

67chrome2/15/2016, 5:02:13 AM1 votes
  1. Make it melee only or reduce the effectiveness on ranged champions. Hydra is melee only, frozen mallet/phage passive are less effective for ranged champions.

There are no items that are melee-only, only ones that have reduced effectiveness on ranged champions. Hydra simply doesn't apply the AoE effect or allow the AoE passive on ranged champions: you can still take full advantage of the AD, HP/5, and HP/life steal as a ranged champion with either Hydra. Same deal with Hurricane applying the MS, AS, and Crit on melee but not the side-bolt passive. You can check that out with Nidalee, Jayce, Elise, and Kayle when they transition between forms. All the stats are effective either way, it's only the AoE passive that only makes sense with a specific range that's left out.

Also: Doing stuff like melee - only really kills a lot of the advantages of MOBA itemization at large. The fact you can build pretty much any item on any champion and build whatever items you want is a huge plus to MOBA itemization and really adds to the game experience.

The "Wizard's can't wear plate mail" limitations of RPGs? Not a good place to go for LoL's itemization.

Especially since sandbox itemization really forces champion kits to deliver on the promises they make. Nautilus is played as a tank because his kit delivers on feeling like an amazing tank and wanting to tank, not because he's barred from choosing alternative build paths. Ditto for Zed as an assassin or Ziggs as a mage.

Specifically avoiding stuff like "melee only" and "ranged only" also allows itemization to highlight issues with champion kits not delivering on their promises, drawing attention to a kit that just doesn't fulfill it's fantasy and is in need of some attention.

  1. Nerf the actual problem champion. Graves abusing Sterak's Gage should not mean nerfing an item and consequently every bruiser that needs it. He's a broken champion that needs his numbers fixed, not an item nerfed.

True dat.

Guy is in 3 different lane positions as a top pick, his kit is obviously a problem that needs to be addressed.