Ekko - Hypocritical Riot

Here are "supposed" values of Riot in design

COUNTERPLAY Rich and exciting fights need to be two-sided, not one-sided. In order to dominate your opponent, you need to consistently outplay them, not just pull off that one perfect kill. League isn’t won at champion select and no phase of the game should be decided before a team steps up to fight. We strive to ensure a player's decisions, actions, and reactions matter. While counterplay is a type of meaningful choice, it’s so important to League of Legends as a competitive multiplayer game that we consider it a pillar of our design values. A fight loses its excitement if the first punch wins – it's what you can do after that adds depth and complexity. We try to prevent hard counters and abilities with no room for reaction, as no game should be over without a real show of skill.

CLARITY Players should fight their opponents, not the game. We strive to present information in a clear and precise way so that League can be about dominating opponents with skill and teamwork – not through bookkeeping hidden information. Clarity means we want distinct, transparent mechanics in everything we design. When the outcome of a game hinges on a player’s ability to quickly assess the situation, information needs to be clear and accessible. This doesn't mean we tell players the best play to make, but we should make sure they have the right info to make calls as best they can.

VP of game design, Tom Cadwell - http://gdcvault.com/play/1018158/Counterplay-and-Teamplay-in-Multiplayer

Look at Ekko.

You don't even know what's going on with the character. Moves don't telegraph. Damage has no presentation or projectile and just bursts out of nowhere.

There is no way to "counterplay" against his attacks except just smash his face wherever you can see him.

We've seen big changes to characters to make their design better, with counterplay opportunities e.g. Veigar's stun circle.

Ekko, while he looks COOL and the attacks look FANTASTIC, as if the character were on hyper steroids zipping through space, does not obey the design values of Riot. It feels like the designers were really satisfied with how players controlling Ekko would feel. But the opponent user experience is bewildering.

I suspect the designers just released the character anyway as he's cool, OP, and can make a bunch of money. Nerf to come later.

The design is a shame.