ARAM ranking relies too heavily on Minions.

SettDownShutUp·Feb 14, 2017·3 votes·582 views

Currently in ARAM, unless you're the carry of the team you're not likely to get S rank, due to how reliant it is on minion count. For champions who are support/tank, this makes it frustrating and nigh impossible to get a good rank on account of your job being 'keep your carry alive'. Keep in mind there's no wards to kill, only 1 lane of creep at a reduced rate, and in a constant state of team-fight with no chance to get a few kills of your own in a laning phase.

I consider this part of the reason why everyone fights for certain champions, there's less chance of reward for being anything other than a carry/assasin.

7 Comments

ZielmannFeb 14, 20173 votes

ARAM grades compare you to other performances with that specific champion on ARAM (the algorithms are different than they are on SR). So you're being graded against other people subject to the same limitations that you mention (no wards to kill, reduced CS and increased tendency for it to be split among the team, etc).

The issue with the grading on ARAM is that it rewards playing more for score than what the team needs. It's going to be hard to get an S on Malphite or Alistar if you go pure tank, because the top 5th percentile of performance is going to be on the people who went glass cannon AP and were able to nuke down squishy targets and get a strong KDA, deal more damage, and get a fair share of CS. Unfortunately, playing this way doesn't always yield a win (ability for that Malphite to play glass cannon depends a lot on the team comps at play).

So you sorta have to decide if you want to play for grade or play for the win. Personally, I'd rather play what the team needs to have the best shot at winning, even if it means I get a low grade. I've done tank Lissandra a few times, and was able to be provide the engage and lockdown that the team needed, even though I wasn't dealing a ton of damage and often sacrificing myself. Got like a C- on that game, but I also had teammates thanking me for building what the team needed.

MinardeFeb 15, 20171 votes

So you sorta have to decide if you want to play for grade or play for the win.

And this is a problem that Riot should address. Riot's repeatedly confirmed that high Mastery grades are meant to represent playing well. Forcing players (or making players feel forced) to choose between grade/loot and winning completely conflicts with that goal.

ZielmannFeb 15, 20171 votes

I totally agree, but the only real solution would require tons of work, and still not be near perfect. They would need to have the system classify you into a role based on build, which would have a lot of gray area.

137434Feb 14, 20172 votes

{quoted}

I consider this part of the reason why everyone fights for certain champions, there's less chance of reward for being anything other than a carry/assasin.

No, everyone fights for them because they want to be the hotshot killer and think for some odd reason that playing tank in ARAM is boring, despite the fact that late game tank in ARAM is probably the best, most satisfying, role to play (most of the time). Tanks win in ARAM.

I actually think it is easier to get S with the tanks in ARAM, because with the others you need very high CS and a ridiculously high kill count while with the tanks if you have moderate to good CS and a great kill participation you can usually earn an S. Granted if you really want the rewards you should probably just stick to summoners rift.

SettDownShutUpFeb 14, 20171 votes

We are playing two starkly different ARAMs friend, I would love to trade you.

137434Feb 14, 20175 votes

If you have no tanks most of the time you will lose if you can't end quickly enough (obviously there are exceptions, and I am assuming with this statement that the enemy team has tanks).

People don't always realize this though, because a carry-heavy team usually dominates early which can demoralize the losing end but also conversely can make the carry side overconfident.