Have champions ever fallen out of favor due to buffs to other champions?
With all the negativity floating around G&P all I can remember are nerfs indirectly making other champions stronger.
2 Comments
this happens all the time
buffs to mobility has made many immobile champs fall out of favor
Yes.
Karthus, Twisted Fate, Anivia, and Orianna were the god-tier mid-lanners of season 2.
Then season 3 came around and Riot decided to make Assassins all viable and useless outside of stomping public games, assassins got sent mid-lane, assassins counter most mages pretty hard, and Karthus and Aniva have never really recovered since.
Renekton was god-tier for top lane for about 2 years straight until the meta just changed and left him behind. I don't recall Riot directly nerffing him for that, more champions like Lulu and Ryze just got pretty popular and happened to deal with him considerably better than the fighters of past seasons.
Biggest non-nerf thing to change the meta is jungle and itemization changes though, as they influence everyone a great deal more than their percieved tier ranking. They actually effect the foundations of why tier lists are set up the way they are in the first place.
When jungle offered really low income in season 1 it was basically a secondary support lane. You'd roam around like you do with DotA supports, spedning considerably more time ganking and camping lanes than actually farming the jungle. The only way you'd really make money is by pulling off ganks. Pair that with defensive items being considerably more cost effective than offense in season 1 and CC heavy tanks were king.
In season 2 the jungle offered a little more income, so you could actually try fast-clear strategies with the likes of Mundo and Shyvana, though most teams went more for a Maokai or J4.
In season 3 Riot introduced more jungle items than just Wriggle's Lantern (and significantly nerffed Wriggles). The new items dramatically altered the jungle, pushing it more towards clear speed with the substantial boost to jungler income via the jungle items. You still had CC-tank champions like Hecarim and Zac rule the jungle, though it substantially changed which tanks.
In season 4 Riot changed the jungle to offer substantially more income - which finally flipped the season 1 paradigm on it's head. Rather than ganks making or breaking champions, it shifted near entirely to clear speeds - making champions like Lee Sin, Kha'Zix, and Rengar that have amazing clear speeds but ok ganks king.