Seriously, can we stop making extremely mobile champions?

Atuko·Jun 4, 2015·180 votes·9,861 views

Can we just go back to good ol' reliable POSITIONING for a change?

I don't care how fun these mobile champions are to play, they are absolute hell to play AGAINST.

143 Comments

The WhamboozlerJun 5, 201547 votes

No. Every champ needs huge mobility, shields and % damage. The riot gods decree it. They also need to have 3 abilities with both passives AND actives because nothing helps balance more than adding free stats to everything and then calling it ok.

Sad part is the reign of hyper-mobile champs didn't do much other than kill off skillshot champs. Yeah, the champs who can deal with the guy with 40 dashes? People like Annie . "Are you within my range? Then you're stunned and explode instantly. Sound fun? It's not. But the only counterplay to the amount of counterplay they give to all these new champs is to pick people without any counterplay at all. Why risk a skillshot when there are targeted nukes and stuns? Do you not like playing against champs like that? TOO BAD. They're the ones that can handle the mobility meta. This, in turn, leads to people complaining about these "low counterplay" champs and them adding EVEN MORE mobility and shields and crap into each new champ. I mean, he's gotta survive jumping on Annie long enough to get out, right?

It's not well designed and it's just going to keep snowballing as they add more overloaded and mobile champs. Ekko has mobilty, a ton of soft and hard CC. poke AND a shield and a heal. Why? Someone thought he'd NEED it to do his job. But when every champion added has an answer to everything they could face, the ones who don't languish... and the poor bastards based on skillshots have it worse... unless they're just insanely strong in their own right.

EvilRabbittJun 5, 20153 votes

Buff ahri/lux?

LakegaJun 5, 201513 votes

Couldn't of said it better myself, and this is why I've been saying for a year now Riot couldn't balance a brick on flat ground.

ViddaxJun 5, 201510 votes

My friend raged at me a couple of days ago for not following up on what would have been a 2v3 against an Ekko and his jungle. Bot lane ganked for me, which was awesome, but I was playing Ziggs. If I miss anything (which is highly likely against someone that slippery), I contribute almost nothing. I can lane against Ekko just fine as Ziggs when it comes to farm, but going all in? I like to wait for team fights because then you can take advantage of his weakne… oh he wasn't built to have weaknesses? My bad.

"He's SO SQUISHY."

I'm sorry, do you know anything about this champion? It doesn't matter how squishy he is because he can completely avoid damage from Ziggs unless someone lands hard cc.

And did I mention Morg whiffed the binding?

I'm fine with having champions who counter Ziggs. It's part of the game, as is mobility… but you can't just give new champs EVERYTHING. The older champs will start needing Mega Evolutions or something stupid like that.

stochastic42Jun 5, 20155 votes

If morg misses binding it's basically no longer a 3v2

air tigerJun 5, 20152 votes

I'm starting to think that rito made Ekko so stronk to sell him as much as possible. A rebalance is definitely incoming, probably over the course of the next 2-4 patches, but until then... have a good time facing release ekko.

EihnlazerJun 5, 201526 votes

New support champion idea:

Sacky the backpack-

Sacky the backpack cannot get around the fields of justice on his own. He can however latch onto allied champs buffing them and be extremely useful.

Passive- Ultimate backpack. Sacky latch's onto target friendly champion within 800 units. Anytime a champion who sacky is attached to or sacky himself purchases a consumable item, it is given to both players inventory. Sacky is untargetable while using his passive.

q- Bag toss- Sacky flings himself to targeted area dealing aoe magic dmg and slowing any champions hit. He then returns to the back of the nearest allied champion after 1.5 seconds.

w- Thick leather- Sacky passively reduces incoming dmg recieved on the target of his Ultimate Backpack by 5/10/15/20/25%. He also takes half of the dmg received.

e- Bag of Holding- Sacky opens up and sucks in everything in a cone, dealing some magic dmg and lowering magic resist to those caught. Allies can be pulled as well but are not effected by the dmg and magic resist shred.

r- Whats in the bag- Sacky opens up and does a random effect. Can only be used when he is not attached to allied champion. Effects can include:
Boom! sacky self destructs with the power of a pipe bomb slinging shrapnel in all directions. Deals more damage the more health he has remaining.
It's a Trap! Sacky latch's onto the next enemy champ that touch's him, reducing their armor and magic resist by 30% and slowing them by 50% and also loosing his own HP over time at a rate of 15% per second.
Grab Bag! Sacky vomits out 5 pieces of candy that can be picked up. They heal and boost movement speed for allied champs but instead poison and slow enemy champs. Candies remain on the ground for 15 seconds.

Sacky would of course have a mid ranged AA using his leather straps to whip.

TerffJun 5, 20152 votes

rito pls

Arcade AndrewJun 5, 20152 votes

sacky sounds like shit if his ult kills him everytime

but besides that how about these add ons for sacky

Boots: increase sackys attached ally speed (the double homeguard speed on rammus man...)

teleport: sacky can teleport to champions

flash: sacky instead uses his flash to reset the cooldown of attached allies flash

barrier: sacky sheilds himself and sed champion

FastAsHeckJun 5, 20156 votes

abathur is that you? the passive is exactly like abathur for m HotS lol

AírJun 5, 20157 votes

{quoted}

New support champion idea:

Sacky the backpack-

Sacky the backpack cannot get around the fields of justice on his own. He can however latch onto allied champs buffing them and be extremely useful.

Passive- Ultimate backpack. Sacky latch's onto target friendly champion within 800 units. Anytime a champion who sacky is attached to or sacky himself purchases a consumable item, it is given to both players inventory. Sacky is untargetable while using his passive.

q- Bag toss- Sacky flings himself to targeted area dealing aoe magic dmg and slowing any champions hit. He then returns to the back of the nearest allied champion after 1.5 seconds.

w- Thick leather- Sacky passively reduces incoming dmg recieved on the target of his Ultimate Backpack by 5/10/15/20/25%. He also takes half of the dmg received.

e- Bag of Holding- Sacky opens up and sucks in everything in a cone, dealing some magic dmg and lowering magic resist to those caught. Allies can be pulled as well but are not effected by the dmg and magic resist shred.

r- Whats in the bag- Sacky opens up and does a random effect. Can only be used when he is not attached to allied champion. Effects can include:
Boom! sacky self destructs with the power of a pipe bomb slinging shrapnel in all directions. Deals more damage the more health he has remaining.
It's a Trap! Sacky latch's onto the next enemy champ that touch's him, reducing their armor and magic resist by 30% and slowing them by 50% and also loosing his own HP over time at a rate of 15% per second.
Grab Bag! Sacky vomits out 5 pieces of candy that can be picked up. They heal and boost movement speed for allied champs but instead poison and slow enemy champs. Candies remain on the ground for 15 seconds.

Sacky would of course have a mid ranged AA using his leather straps to whip.

His best friend is Dora and he has a pesky little grudge against Swipper.

TheRainInSpainJun 5, 20153 votes

Damn, that's actually a cool and unique design that doesn't have INFINITE MOBILITY.

Seriously Riot. Ultra mobile champions that deal ridiculous amounts of damage, regain tons of health/have gigantic shields, and lack counterplay unless you 5 man jump them are really, really unfun to play against. I can deal with Fizz. I have ways to stomp on Yasuo. I can go toe to toe with Talon. Riven's BS, but not so bad. Fiora can be destroyed. And Master Yi can be locked down and nuked. But I have yet to find an Ekko that doesn't snowball out of control unless three tanks ult him with a carry in the area or the player goes AFK. Toning numbers down is only going to remove the bad players and leave the competent people who will destroy people like Challengers vs Bronze.

SlytherinUmbreonJun 4, 201525 votes

But how will the next champion be unique if it's not Super mobile?

SnugglePuggle94Jun 4, 20153 votes

Ekko is super mobile. We don't need 2 of him.

iOnlySplitJun 5, 20152 votes

Just make him a rock but god plz dont make him able to jump around like a monkey

Aeolian MelodiesJun 4, 201513 votes

Champions that rely strictly on positioning are tough to keep viable without being ridiculous in a game where everyone else is so mobile. Evidence A: Cassiopeia.

Honestly, at this point I don't give a fuck about mobility anymore. I just want them to stop inventing crazy-bound-to-be-unbalanced mechanics every time they pull a champion out of their asses. Can we just get a SIMPLE champion next? Preferably one that does not CC/displace his own allies (aka the mechanic that should never ever ever EVER have made it in the game?)

SulkingKINGJun 4, 201511 votes

We need a literal immobile champion next. Something that actually stops itself to do an effect, like Xerath.

AtukoJun 4, 201517 votes

Or something that just plain has no type of mobility spell at all would be great, really.

BetaDude40Jun 5, 201512 votes

Velkoz MasterRace

NilokJun 5, 20154 votes

Malzahar Speak the word brother.

I'll lecture them and you teach them Trigonometry.

BetaDude40Jun 5, 20155 votes

Velkoz Calculus and Trigonometry

Malzahar Theology

Khazix Biology

KogMaw Erm... I dunno... The professor that is almost ALWAYS absent due to being sick, maybe?

RekSai Foreign archaeology professor that speaks in a language the students have a hard time understanding

Chogath Culinary Arts (Although he spends more time of class eating the students that fail than actually teaching them)

Oh, and Kassadin , the homeless guy wandering on campus, always bitching about liberals and communists running the university as he writes his list of conspiracy theories and gnaws on a bottle cap.

Okay. Now this needs to be a skin line.

Maximum ZileanJun 5, 20154 votes

{quoted}

Or something that just plain has no type of mobility spell at all would be great, really.

Agreed, we need another champion like Velkoz . 0 mobility, but still a great champ when used right.

The SoulforgedJun 5, 20154 votes

{quoted}

We need a literal immobile champion next. Something that actually stops itself to do an effect, like Xerath.

I don't know why they got rid of old Xerath w. It was such a unique concept.

A Miss FortuneJun 5, 201511 votes

Mobility was just a cool aspect of the game that people traded for raw damage/ability strength. Now it's just considered a weakness or makes a champion "unviable" for not having infinite dashes, a reliable blink, a good dash, etc. Riot needs to definitely cut back on mobility champions, I think the game is much better when mobility was just a cool strength some champions had and traded it for usually damage or sustain.

Kalista for example, she would be perfect if she just didn't do more damage than any other ADC with her rend, I think she should have to choose between raw damage and mobility.

YumaS2AstralJun 5, 20158 votes

What about Riven ? On top of her high mobility, she is resourceless, has insane damage, a stun, a knockup, and a shield that scales with her main offensive stat (AD).

Armor? She can buy armor penetration. Low HP/5? She can buy lifesteal, or simply all-in you before you are able to poke her down.

Squishy? Nope, not only she has a shield, but she can also buy resistance items. I don't know why people don't buy items such as Maw of Malmortius, Randuin's Omen, or Banshee's Veil for her. They are amazing, making her a lot tankier in tandem with her shield. Heck, even Frozen Heart is good on her despite the mana. Once I was using Irelia, I could 1x1 Riven during the entire game until she bought Randuin's Omen, then I couldn't kill her anymore, but she could kill me because she combined high AD, armor penetration, and lifesteal, with her kit, to outduel me, and due to Randuin's Omen and the fact that I only had Trinity Force as my offensive item, I couldn't outduel her.

Riven is the ultimate cancerous champion, just behind Katarina.

Scarlet FireflyJun 5, 201510 votes

As a jungler, I absolutely agree. There's no point in trying to gank champions that have 2+ dashes/blinks or other evasive abilities.

YfrappefortJun 5, 20155 votes

[{quoted}](name=SCARLET FIREFLY,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=RR0cHm0K,comment-id=0017,timestamp=2015-06-05T10:12:43.939+0000)

As a jungler, I absolutely agree. There's no point in trying to gank champions that have 2+ dashes/blinks or other evasive abilities.

"OMG noob jungler, why did you not gank mid at all?!?"

Sorry, I don't feel like wasting my time trying to gank a Zed/LB or anyone with a free "you can't touch me" spell.

I'dd rater gank top and bot and at least get one of their spells.

FritterzJun 5, 20153 votes

As a jungler, I will gank a highly mobile champion knowing I won't get a kill or an assist, but because it will disrupt their game play. It will get them out of their groove and hopefully make them play more passively. Keep them on their toes. And who knows, maybe when an Eve shows up behind them they will freak out and botch up their escape...

SpårrowJun 5, 20151 votes

Your argument relies on the premise that it's only worth ganking if you get a kill or summoner. What if your laner needs presence from you to make their own play? Maybe just to do some zoning or push a wave?

Scarlet FireflyJun 5, 20152 votes

I understand the jungler presence thing, but how can a LeBlanc or any other champion with 2+ dashes feel threatened when he can just jump away, when he sees me making a move on him?

Kariu RenaJun 4, 20157 votes

implying low mobility champ isnt picked because they dont have an "escape"

Ashe Cassiopeia Chogath Evelynn Annie KogMaw Viktor Orianna Jinx

RennagadeJun 5, 20152 votes

[{quoted}](name=Kariu Rena,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=RR0cHm0K,comment-id=0009,timestamp=2015-06-04T23:49:18.110+0000)

implying low mobility champ isnt picked because they dont have an "escape"

Eve has an escape though. She sheds ms debuffs and gains a ms buff

IndianHippieJun 5, 20157 votes

I miss the days when Katarina and Ezreal were the only real mobile champs (not counting TF ulti, Panth ulti and so on.)

Red FrostravenJun 5, 20156 votes

300 base movement champion

500 base health --> 3500 50 base armor --> 150 50 base resistance --> 150

Q: Instagibs squishies: 5 second cooldown. Melee skillshot / 1 second charge telegraphed attack W: Slows all enemies in a 600 radius by 50% for 3 seconds E: Deals heapload of extra damage on melee attacks for 5 seconds R: Instagibs every single squishy in 300 range, 120 second cooldown

... and quite frankly, I'd rather play against this kit than most assassins.

shalexadeJun 5, 20156 votes

Personally, I like my league of legends where all the champs are slow and lumbering and we spend all game throwing skillshots at each other, til one side has to back.

Snake TownJun 5, 20154 votes

I really didn't mind all the mobility in the game, but Ekko just crossed the line. Like a dash and a blink with bonus damage in one skill, as well as a blink with a zhonya's, instant life regen, and 130% ap scaling in another skill. Like. What? Are you for real rito??

ErockandrollJun 4, 20153 votes

Last Immobile champ we got was Vel'kos, And how memorable was his release? Though this isn't to say that Immobile champs can't be good. Viktor is being played in the LCS, Ashe is being played in the LCS. We had Cho'gath for a while. And people can't seem to stop complaining about Annie. The problem is making kits that can perform what they need to do, without using mobility. You can't easily engage as a tank without some kind of dash. If your a mage, you would need some way to prevent damage other than dodging skillshots. (usually zoning enemies away from you),

either way, positioning is always important. Mobility is not a free pass.

Voluug13Jun 4, 201511 votes

Mobility is not a free pass.

Riven Zed LeeSin Leblanc

Really? Ok.

And the problem with immobile champions isnt balancing per se, but that Riot is constantly killing the concept of Counterpicking and spoonfeeding people with mobility, so obiously they QQ when they instapick/first pick Zed/Katarina/Yasuo/Ekko into Annie/Swain/Malzahar. Why do you think Ryze/Veigar/Zilean got nerfshot reworks? All of them ended up worse that they were, and its because they had anti-mobile assassin, or simply anti-mobility, tools in kits.

People evaded skillshots without 8s dashes for years. Being inmobile doesnt mean ''omg I am going to die to skillshots''. It just means that you cant go around trying to 1v5 and escape when you notice you cant.

IceKingChernobogJun 5, 20153 votes

dont forget that samsung white won the worlds LCS with a Twitch as adc, and he's stupidly immobile

Spacefight0rJun 5, 20153 votes

Mobility adds an extra dimension to champions aside from just damage and more damage. I don't think people even have that much of a problem with mobility. What they really don't like is escapability.

AbyssphereJun 5, 20154 votes

{quoted}

Mobility adds an extra dimension to champions aside from just damage and more damage. I don't think people even have that much of a problem with mobility. What they really don't like is escapability.

You really think there's nothing more to champions than mobility and damage?

Spacefight0rJun 5, 20151 votes

{quoted}

You really think there's nothing more to champions than mobility and damage?

No, but mobility is typically a way to add power to a champions kit other than an additional damage. IIRC riot went on record saying for immobile mages to be viable, they've always had to deal incredible amounts of damage. It's easier to balance champions that have a good amount of damage and can avoid some damage than it is to have a champion that can't avoid damage and survives through massive damage combos (see old Syndra).

AbyssphereJun 5, 20153 votes

{quoted}

No, but mobility is typically a way to add power to a champions kit other than an additional damage. IIRC riot went on record saying for immobile mages to be viable, they've always had to deal incredible amounts of damage. It's easier to balance champions that have a good amount of damage and can avoid some damage than it is to have a champion that can't avoid damage and survives through massive damage combos (see old Syndra).

But you can avoid damage and generally affect the game through more than just dashing around. The game has so many different types of utility that can be added to a champ's kit and generally that utility is nowhere near as frustrating to play against as mobility is. They made Orianna, they made Lissandra (I know she's mobile but the utility in the rest of her kit can't be questioned), they made Morgana. Mages can be strong in so many more ways than just "I can kill someone in half a second" and I wish Riot would remember that again.

Mages are my favourite class and every time this discussion comes up there's someone who says mobile champs are easier to balance than immobile ones. I don't agree with it at all and it kind of sucks to paint a whole class with a negative brush. If Riot want more AP characters who are more than just walking turrets of destruction then there are a whole host of options besides "give them a dash".

(p.s. I don't quite agree with the Syndra comparison anyway because a) I don't see the problem with burst mages as a class and b) she's at least halfway towards being a utility mage anyway, but that doesn't really matter)

Champion SkinJun 5, 20152 votes

There is range... cast time... delays... CC... damage... mobility... cooldowns... costs... base stats Other utility things like Kayle ult, Zilean W (which isn't CC or mobility)

U Just Got SlainJun 5, 20152 votes

I'm a Vel'Koz main. In this meta I will be honest, landing skill shots are not AS hard as people are making them out to be. BUT I do agree that the mobility added to so many champions just adds another frustrating layer, because you can line up the best skill shot but if that champion has a small dash to dodge it AND then a blink at you, it just adds a free mechanic to escape and dodge spells that are not easy to land. I feel like mobility just gives so many champions free breathing room, and while that's fine they should not be able to still deal a tremendous amount of damage aoe while I am standing still for 2.5 seconds trying to hit someone that just blinks behind me etc.

FasmodeyJun 5, 20152 votes

Ekko is an assassin, what did you expect? Ofc he will get super mobility. The problem about Ekko is clearly not mobility. Survivability. Which assassin needs 2.25 stun with high shield plus a ult does even better than Zed ult?

Sirin GioroJun 5, 20152 votes

I would rather play vs a legendary Diana ... I mean immobile champ than a 0/0 Ekko . thx

DominosThotJun 6, 20152 votes

Yes, jesus yes please. It feels like every new champ tries to push the limit on how mobile they can be.

KalarepaJun 5, 20151 votes

Too late for that. Now Riot HAS to make super mobile champions, just so they can play against current mobile champions. I still like LoL, but I already know, why I will quit in the future. Eventually it will become game of 10% strategy and 90% Mortal Kombat fast clicking. No, thanks.

NilokJun 5, 20152 votes

The same way they fix every problematic champion Pinky, try to take over the world. I mean reworks.