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Hypercarries and their purpose.

Polynova·12/1/2016, 5:58:24 PM·3 votes·1,457 views

I have just been thinking for a while, and I'm still not sure why there is a need for hyper carries. Can someone explain to me this position? I get they are supposed to be late game/reward, but my perspective on that is a little flawed too. I feel like late game, there should be coordinated plays, skilled outplays, stuff like that. I don't think a single champion should be enough to change the game flow so heavily, just because they paid for it early. Further, I feel that it's detrimental to players who AREN'T the hyper carry. It's not fun when you build everything you are supposed to as a tank for instance, but you are cut down like a hot knife through butter when a Master Yi just happens to have reached that point in the game. While I understand there is some coordination issues, i.e. focusing the hyper carry down, I still see scenarios, especially when defending turrets/objectives, where the hyper carry just outperforms in such a way that it makes you wonder just. what. you. are. supposed. to. do. I'm not writing this out of anger, not really. I just want to understand why this position exists and it's purpose.

Can anyone shed light on this? Is it just something that is necessary, or is it a byproduct of the entire "carry the game" agenda?

38 Comments

Stephenizgod12/1/2016, 7:03:50 PM2 votes

Issue I have with Hyper Carries is it feels like you are on a timer. If you can't end the game by x minutes you will probably lose. That isn't very fun gameplay, because if your whole team isn't working seamlessly together, you will end up losing to one hyper carry. Not to mention most of the time it doesn't matter how badly you stomp them early game, because at a certain point you won't be able to deal with them.

However the biggest issue is when they get a slight lead early on in the game, like say an unfortunate double kill which not only netted them gold but also free farm. On a normal champion, that is a big advantage in lane, but not big enough to end the game. On a Hyper Carry (like Vayne) that could be GG right there because they will be so far ahead in power, there is no catching up to them unless they literally AFK. That is how they work, they are meant to be leagues (puns!) ahead in power once they hit that point. If they hit it sooner than intended, they become unstoppable and the game is over off even the smallest of leads.

Teridax6812/1/2016, 8:32:32 PM2 votes

"Hypercarry" has more or less become a catch-all term for any champion who's particularly strong in the late game. Every game is team-focused, and so there isn't any single champion who can truly carry the game by themselves unless they're tremendously fed. However, I agree that a great deal many "classic" hypercarries, e.g. Master Yi or Vayne, are designed with that in mind, and the issue with them specifically is that they just don't really present enough counterplay once they get fed enough.

One thing that annoys me in particular with a lot of "hypercarries" is that their power curve is entirely artificial: champions like Yasuo, Master Yi and Vayne are referred to as hypercarries, for example, but they all tend to be mediocre in teamfights. Generally, almost every light fighter/skirmisher has a hypercarry curve, but so far only Gangplank truly excels in team combat. It might be better to just normalize their power curves and see where they fall naturally: Yasuo, for example, has all the hallmarks of a lane bully, and typically plays like one in the hands of an experienced player (which is never healthy on a champion who's also meant to scale well into the late game), and Master Yi would probably be much more at home as a mid-game champion, since that's when his major strengths, e.g. roaming and sneak-capping objectives, are most important.

CerealBoxOfDoom12/1/2016, 6:17:39 PM1 votes

in a game where defense can be allowed to be strong enough the game could actually continue forever with no winner.

In a game where two sides ill inevitably chip away at each other and eventually take objectives down the game will have to end sooner or later

Hypercarries in league are an anomaly almost but in other games they are actually the norm in manner of speaking

SlashStriker12/1/2016, 6:48:48 PM1 votes

If you are full tank you have to work with your team for someone to deal damage for you. You need better thinking and gameplay experience

What do you expect to do vs Skirmisher or any hyper carry in 1v1 if you are full tank? Skirmisher will have mixed build of offensive and defensive items. You on other hand got only Defensive items. You cannot win if you got no damage therefor someone else must deal the damage for you

Talisid12/1/2016, 7:28:16 PM1 votes

I think hypercarries create team-composition diversity in organized play. The season 2-3 "Protect the Kogmaw" compositions were quite popular and an interesting break from the bog standard meta picks, basically you pick 2 tanks, a CC/zoning heavy mage and a defensive support like Janna and everybody's job is to make sure Kogmaw doesn't die.

Team composition warping picks like hypercarries create team diversity that I think is healthy for the game. I have to say I didn't even bother tuning into the LCS finals this year because I knew it was just going to be more Jhin/Cait and Nami/Karma and Syndra and Ryze and Lee and Elise and Poppy and Jayce, it was like 100% meta-picks. The only interesting pick was the Ashe+MF kill-lane.

In terms of Master Yi in particular, his damage has to be that strong to be relevant in a game that heavily punishes you for trying to get into melee range as a squishy in teamfights.

Rockm Sockm12/2/2016, 6:00:44 PM1 votes

Name one tank with an actual tank build and masteries that one hyperbaric(fyi only two are receiving playtime) that dies in 2 seconds.