Boards›Gameplay

This Is Probably the Most Unbalanced Patch In League of Legends History

Roll in Grass··5 votes·4,092 views

Think about it: In the past seasons, there have always been a few overpowered champions, and we were given 6 bans which would usually take care of them all and leave space for champions you just disliked. In Season 2, you banned Alistar, Amumu, Blitzcrank, and Shen. In Season 3, you banned... well actually I forgot Season 3 just because it was both all over the place and probably the most balanced season of League of Legends history... In Season 4, you banned Morgana, Elise, Zed, and, for a little bit, Yasuo. Even earlier in Season 5, you just had to take out Shyvana, Elise, and some sated junglers.

But this patch, this patch is just crazy unbalanced. Mordekaiser, Garen, Skarner, Elise, Shyvana, Xin, Viktor, Riven, Diana, Vayne, Fiora (in higher elos) Rengar, Ryze, (in lower elos) Yasuo, Yi, and Udyr. All of these are crazy unbalanced champions, and we're only given 6 bans. I don't know what Riot was thinking going through with some of the changes this season, but we really need to get balance back in League of Legends like there was in Seasons 2, 3, and 4.

I'm too lazy to actually dig up statistical evidence, but I'm sure everyone has experienced extreme similar troubles with the listed balance.

27 Comments

Stacona4 votes

This community has the memory of a gold fish --- no one remembers Alistar jungle in season 2, or league of bruisers pre-season 3 with warmogs, black cleaver, sunfire cape --- even though this is pretty close to league of bruiser 2.0 bruise harder

Xonra1 votes

{quoted}

This community has the memory of a gold fish --- no one remembers Alistar jungle in season 2, or league of bruisers pre-season 3 with warmogs, black cleaver, sunfire cape --- even though this is pretty close to league of bruiser 2.0 bruise harder

I think it is more that not everyone that plays now played then.

Alistar jungle was annoying but not broken op. Warmog's WAS bad, and Black Cleaver was pretty stupid, but that was usually 1 item at a time. There are multiple champions, items, etc right now that are a bit on the silly side all at once.

All the things you mentioned tended to be separate incidents while we have all these things at once right now.

Roll in Grass1 votes

I said "Alistar" in my description of champions that needed to be banned.

Stacona1 votes

Warmogs, Sunfire Cape, and Black Cleaver were all in the same pre-season patch

Kats Pajamas4 votes

I disagree with your claim, and do not find you qualified to make it.

Roll in Grass1 votes

You go ahead and do that buddy :)

Meep Man2 votes

I think this is why they are dedicating the next two patches entirely to balance.

luckmallory2 votes

There are going to be strong picks, you shouldnt get enough bans to ban all of them. That would ruin the game. God forbid some good champions are allowed to play. You statistically have the same chance to have those champions on your team as they do. Stop complaining because you get stomped.

MisterHealYoGirl1 votes

I'm fairly certain that Skarner and Darius are being hotfixed.

Roll in Grass2 votes

Darius is being buffed, Skarner and Garen are being nerfed.

Mimy1 votes

Braum was the first champion to come out while I played.. and I remember people thinking "HE'S SOOOO OP!!!"

Man he was nothing sure you couldn't get a kill on his carry but at least.... at least... Sigh

The good old days before... "those" champions...

And people thought Anivia was the trollest friendly fire pick back then... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdv2FY2NMfE viewer digression is advised.. Massive RAGE, Trolling... and.. other Bronze things..

Now.. Bard and TahmKench

luckmallory1 votes

Braum on release could easily 1 v 1 an adc and did as much damage as garen did. He was definitely op.

Mimy1 votes

I main botlane.. (Both roles) and I don't remember him being as scary as some of the newer champions on release.. xD

luckmallory2 votes

He had the 3rd highest win rate on release ever. Peaked at 61 percent. He was ridiculous, the amount of damage he did as a support was broken as all hell

Very Hard Engage1 votes

my must ban list Hecarim > Annie > MasterYi

and my want to ban list because these champions are simply too good and just cant be dealt with regardless of who you pick, it will only be another "blood bath skill matchup" Irelia > Kalista > Fizz > Riven > Zed > Vladimir > Vayne > Nidalee > Azir

theres just too many things right now which can snowball ridiculously hard just for being those champions.

theres also more champions id like to see changes too as well just because what they do is too strong and can be abused too easily.

if it were up to me, id nerf all the above champions until bans can become more meaningful, because even if i ban those same 3 every time, theres still everything else on that list i have to worry about.

(and ofc, skarner because hes broken too)

Adrian Umbra1 votes

Well, good thing Kalista, Fizz, and Azir are all getting nerfed next patch (and Skarner got a hotfix nerf). I'm also a little sad to see Hecarim, Annie, and Nidalee on that list because it's been so long for me since any of those were a real threat. Yes, they're all strong when used correctly, but not nearly enough to warrant bans. Riven I've been dealing with for the last two weeks on such a regular basis that I've lost any real fear for the champion (regardless of who you pick? Bull. Pick Garen and win. If you can't do that, let me know.). Irelia is definitely a threat, but she's also passive enough to allow for some snowballing or heavy farm from your own top laner, then starts to fall off once lategame hits. Zed is annoying, but falls off enough that I'm not afraid of him. Vlad is also someone I've gotten used to fighting and tends to be annoying, but not hard to counter. Vayne probably needs some nerfs, she's getting obnoxiously popular and still retaining a really good win rate.

Very Hard Engage1 votes

i mean, when will i be able to reliably pick something like Twitch or Anivia without putting my team at a huge early game risk. it can* be done with enough skill*, isn't the same as good enough at all stages just because of the champion pick.

and then you ask, you put yourself at this big risk, and now that you maintained your score as the opposing laner, wheres the payoff? what did i get in return for it? was it worth it? or can they still play around it.....

Adrian Umbra1 votes

At the moment, Twitch is definitely an example of a high risk medium reward champion and that's not a good thing. Anivia's a staple for siege and counter siege comps and should be gaining a little popularity back with Azir getting knocked down a little in the upcoming patch. Both have pretty huge potential and are only a little weaker than they really should be.

And this really has very little to do with my above post. Could you please clarify a little more or explain why Riot needs to nerf every champ that gives you trouble rather than buffing the couple that you enjoy?

Very Hard Engage1 votes

Strengths -

because riven can flank, chase, escape, AoE knockup, flash aoe stun (close range on top of her). burst, kill pressure in laning phase, AA resets for taking objectives faster.

nidalee can poke, heal, waveclear (cougar form, risky), chase, escape, pick.

anivia can waveclear, farm under tower, zone people with ultimate, AoE stun (horribly slow good luck landing it against multiple people) separate the enemy team (or your own team). ((unless gap closers))

twitch can stealth, position himself, and melt multiple targets (if close enough) every 2minutes.

their strengths are just too niche usage to be useful in a generic team setting.

now lets talk about their weaknesses

riven - stuns/knockups/silences/general peel, means shes squishy and can get focused easily, however in a 1v1 setting shes queen thanks to her shield and extreme mobility.

nidalee - general cc again, needs to use multiple abilities to win a fight, so shes weak to tanks and burst.

twitch - gap closers and just being the one not to intiate and twitch has already lost the engagement because he needs time to activate his steroids and all of his abilities

anivia - again, general peel, gets dived on, mana issues (needs 2 mana items just to have the base to use the ultimate to clear the wave, and then can start building damage). also useless against someone with an interrupt of any sort because it cancels her ultimate.

twitch and anivia have much more to worry about for themselves, and they have to take into consideration positioning, riven and nidalee not so much.

so in the end, it takes a team to make anivia/twitch work, but riven and nidalee are self sufficient champions who can do things on their own. and we all know how effective teams are in soloqueue. all bout the early snowball lead >.>

TL;DR - basically what it all comes down to is what does the champion bring to the table across the whole game. and was it worth having picked the champion? do their inherit weaknesses justify a champions strengths? or does a champion just not have enough strengths even though it his minimal weaknesses?

i find it appalling that the answer is no to many of those questions.

Adrian Umbra1 votes

You've narrowed things down to two champions from your hate list, but sure.

On top of that, Riven is already considered strong (And IMO needs to have her animation canceling removed, that they've kept it this long is really sad), but tends to be very squishy and vulnerable to burst if her shield is baited out. CC often renders her vulnerable enough that the shield does not need to be baited out. She needs to snowball in lane or she will often fall behind her opponents and be very vulnerable. Garen is an example of a champion who can and will win in lane against her easily due to his silence and counter pressure. Same with Cho'Gath. Riven is flexible and fits into most team comps, though she's most effective in a hard engage comp where she doesn't have to burn all of her mobility just to reach the enemy team. She tends to fare badly against disengage teams that can isolate her and kill her before she's able to do much about it.

Nidalee is an interesting one, as I don't see her picked almost at all anymore due to being too squishy to survive the jungle, too inconsistent on harass, and too vulnerable to utilize her waveclear often. The early game pressure that she used to exert in the jungle is just about gone now, her laning, although safe, is quite lackluster, and she's reliant on hitting her spear or you stepping on a trap in order to deal damage. If she goes in on the wrong target, especially if she's quickly CC'd, she dies, as she has no serious disengage or CC of her own. Often gets countered in lane by champions who can hard shove her to the turret over and over again, then poke her down if she tries to farm, such as Azir or Viktor, "wall" or heavy peel style tanks such as Braum and Nautilus tend to make her engage a moot point and she's vulnerable to being flanked when tossing spears. Early invaders who can get a jump on her such as Lee Sin or Nocturne tend to counter her in the jungle. If she's not in a poke team now, she will often be left behind while still looking for a pick when her team engages, as her optimum range is far longer than that of most teams, especially hard engage ones.

Anivia is generally considered weak, as her strong AoE damage and bountiful CC is often considered less valuable than the mobility of champions like Ahri. She has major mana problems and is very squishy, though her passive helps her to mitigate this by making it difficult for champions to all-in her. She starts out weak, but scales quite hard due to her ultimate and E's damage, giving her great area control and DPS. She has good, but not great range and often has difficulties with mobile opponents leaving her ultimate or dodging her Q's stun. She works well in lategame stall comps and against compositions without much mobility. Due to the amplification effect of CC on Liandry's Torment, she synergizes well with the item and is a great pick against tanky, low mobility bruisers. Assassins who can all-in easily and consistently such as Zed and LeBlanc do very well against her in lane, especially Zed given his manaless waveclear. If Anivia has team mates willing and able to peel for her and supplement her own CC, she becomes one of the stronger mages in the game once she solves her mana issues and starts building damage.

Twitch is also generally considered weak, as his huge AoE damage potential is often overshadowed by his weak laning phase and reliance on prior or followup initiation. With great positioning and good peel/protection, Twitch's AoE damage is unrivaled by other ADCs and allows him to melt entire teams before they're able to stop him. Twitch requires good team support to succeed, sheltering his early laning phase and ensuring his damage gets out. He's very good in wombo combo style comps, especially those including champions like J4 who can lock up multiple champions for extended periods. He tends to be weak against burst and assassins, meaning if he's caught caught out of position or his team isn't helping him, he tends to fall flat. Twitch is often weak to early pressure from ADCs such as Ezrael or Caitlyn and is vulnerable to all-in bot lane supports such as Leona, Thresh, Blitz, or Morgana. He also works quite well with any of the aforementioned supports, as they allow him to unload his damage while they lock up any threats.

So if we look here, you picked two champions who are vulnerable to assassins and require some team coordination, who are generally unfavored in the current meta, and who have problems of their own. You're comparing them to two champions who are quite self sufficient and tend to be good at picking and removing vulnerable champions, and expecting the vulnerable ones to come out on top in SOLO queue? Where peeling is rarer and more difficult? Even in the biggest haydays of either champ, neither one was really good solo queue material. Changing them to be good in solo queue would likely lead to them losing some of their identity. Yes, both of them need some buffs, but they're never going to be on the level of the above champions unless the above are nerfed into the ground simply because they're never going to be as self-sufficient. You're looking for the wrong things out of these champions.

Very Hard Engage1 votes

mobility reigns freely because there just aren't as many negative effects or harassment/peel options as i would like there too be.

i just want all champions to achieve the same pick rate as all the others do, like i want vayne to be played as much as lucian or miss fortune is.

i want to see galio just as much as leblanc, but it just doesn't happen.

i just dont want to see the same the same repetitive champions in every game because they accomplish the most prevalent and desirable goal.

Adrian Umbra1 votes

Riot has stated that they are aware of mobility creep and are working to correct it. At the moment, there are many champions who don't pay for their mobility. And there will NEVER be total pick rate equality between champions because that would take an absolute miracle of balance. And Riot doesn't have the time, money, ability, or frankly playerbase to pull that off.

Yes, champion diversity should be increased and Riot has spent a pretty healthy portion of their efforts in maintaining it (why don't you see Nidalee or Gragas jungle in every patch if they haven't?). But the more self-sufficient a champion is, the more often you'll see them in YOLOqueue simply because they're self-sufficient. Galio requires a team to follow up on his initiation and has a fairly poor laning phase, plus will almost always counter only half the enemy team at most. LeBlanc will do assassin things regardless of the enemy team and can snowball easily. Perfect solo queue material. Thus, she'll slip back into the meta much more easily than Galio will. That's solo queue and League for you. Nobody wants to see the same repetitive champions in every game. Yet people still pick them, often for nothing more than an illusion of power from popularity.

Very Hard Engage1 votes

twitch ult vs jinx rockets >.> <.<

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

which is why ill be patient.

Tavish1 votes

Pre season 3 was really bad, that was when I was getting into League. I made my account like late(ish) season 2. I think that was worse, but I see your point, balance really could be better right now. I don't know why Rito has not temporarily disabled Skarner, they have acknowledged that he is a problem right now in need of a hotfix; so why take away from the integrity of ranked and make you waste a ban on a champion that EVERYONE agrees is broken right now.

A little Peepo1 votes

Main reason why I left league this season. Ranked games were getting more obnoxious.

TraakSC1 votes

I don't care what the meta is or who is OP. I'll ban Riven every time.

Blastermine1 votes

Talon item 3071 item 3071 item 3071 item 3071

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by Roll in Grass

A Message to My Fellow ADC Mains and to My Dearest Supports
Gameplay185 comments
118
votes
How Faker Dodges Ashe Arrows
Memes & Games32 comments
103
votes
This Gif Would Actually Make For a Good Champion Teaser
Concepts & Creations27 comments
50
votes
On the 12th Day of Christmas, Riot Gave To Me
[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous15 comments
47
votes
To Those of You Complaining About the Lack of Keystone Diversity...
Gameplay51 comments
38
votes
I Found A Legendary Artifact! I Didn't Know They Still Existed!!
Memes & Games20 comments
33
votes