Why do low skillcap champions offer more reward then high skillcap champions?

Chris Chiaki·Jun 12, 2015·6 votes·1,824 views

Let's talk and

One requires the ability to manage mana, position well, learn combo timings to get into a fight for a good ult and soldier micromanagement. The other needs your teammates to have AOE CC, a face and a keyboard.

Azir has a much higher skillcap, he needs a good laning phase to get rolling and he has to play teamfights extremely well to do his job since the enemy tanks and bruisers will jump on him. His reward isn't much higher then hers.

I ask why does a champ that requires no skill have so much reward? This isn't good game design Rito.

21 Comments

EndlessSorcererJun 12, 20154 votes

Higher skill-cap champions have the advantage of flexibility.

Knight SoIaire Jun 12, 20151 votes

advantage yes but its not like katarina cant be flexible with her kit, she has loads of options for its use

the only example where this works would be when you would compare azir to garen ... but garen is made to be the simplest and least flexible thing the there is so new players will have something to master fast

master yi can juke iwth q like a madman ... dodge stuff ... make some skillfull meditanks

even the so called "easy champions" have depth in them ... excluding garen who was made to not have one

BluePolarizerJun 12, 20151 votes

Master Yi is not a low skillcap champ.

Knight SoIaire Jun 12, 20152 votes

lee sin is a low skill cap champion

5000000000000000Jun 12, 20151 votes

Low skill floor, maybe. Low skill cap? Hell no.

KazaLyn ShaoJun 12, 20152 votes

Because Riot has no concept of skill cap. They think skill cap is high mobility, high burst, and easy escape. Because jump in, boom, jump out = hard. Champions with no mobility are considered "low skill cap", in spite of the fact that their kits don't give them the massive plethora of options that the "high skill cap" champions have. Mobility =/= skill. Never has been, never will be. Jumping walls will always be easy-mode vs. inability to jump over walls.

Mat7itanJun 12, 20151 votes

Katarina is easier, but she is also easier to counter and has a much weaker laning phase. In low tier obviously Katarina is going to dominate because no one is really able to coordinate with their team, but at a higher tier Katarina will struggle because a team is more likely to coordinate CC and know how to shut down this easy to shutdown champion. If Katarina is so good why is she not played in the LCS? It might seem like a stupid argument but it does hold some truth. At a lower tier she dominates, but once you learn how to play against she isn't all that great.

Vistha KaiJun 12, 20151 votes

If what you said was true, she wouldn't have identical winrate in every tier.

Guy Fox TeemoJun 12, 20151 votes

Azir has the potential for more rewards then katarina anyways, and if in the right hands is INCREDIBLY difficult, to avoid and counter, katarina on the other hand is "Press CC abillity on Katarina" = Counter,

Maximum ZileanJun 12, 20151 votes

Azir has the advantage of being versatile. He has poke, risky engage with a WER combo (Very risky, but hella worth it if you can do it). Azir is also harder to directly counter if you know how to use him. Since he has proper defensive tools.

Katarina is all burst, and really easy to counter if your not brain dead. She also lacks versatility due to being so simple.

Only Play DariusJun 12, 20151 votes

Azir has much more outplay potential (ever seen a good Azir?) and more versatile than Kat.

The only way Kat can be useful for her team is if she is fed, otherwise she cannot initiate fights and is dependent on her team to initiate for her AND soften up the enemies, since she NEEDS to be getting resets to teleport around nonstop otherwise she gets locked down and dies instantly.

Azir can carry, initiate, pick, splitpush, etc. Katarina is a pure hypercarry and literally does nothing else.

Vistha KaiJun 12, 20151 votes

Um... Kat. Initiating. A teamfight.

TSA unityinstallJun 12, 20151 votes

I think Kat although in high elo would get cc'd. That is not the point, her laning can be good, and if she plays smart. She wont jump in a fight. She will be the clean up crew of the team. Another great example of this can be nasus. he can be a hypercarry even when he is behind. He can push like crazy.

ApplyForAGrantJun 12, 20151 votes

Katarina isn't a good example to use because she was pretty op and just received a nerf. A better example of low skillfloor, low reward champ would be Lux.

Vistha KaiJun 12, 20151 votes

You have no idea what you are talking about, do you?

ApplyForAGrantJun 12, 20151 votes

Lux is pretty god damn easy compared to Azir don't lie to yourself

Vistha KaiJun 12, 20151 votes

You also said that as if Kata nerf meant a jack. And Lux isn't exactly low reward either.

PanwarJun 12, 20151 votes

Azir is better than Kat once learned.

TSA unityinstallJun 12, 20151 votes

Annie played in lcs, high skill level playground, but yields great rewards. Yasuo played in lcs, feeds and feeds, does not yield great rewards.

Riot does not nerf the right champions at times. When they do they overnerf, and thus leads to OP's question. Leblanc needs a nerf, but the nerf that riot gave her was not that much. Yasuo needs a buff, yet riot wont even compenstate his crit chance lost. He has a helluva low win rate, (lower than urgot)

MLDzXnRRRJun 12, 20151 votes

Buff Yasuo, he becomes unstoppable, nerf him, he will feed forever... Some champions can't be balanced with their current kits - they will be op or useless, depending on the numbers - see Fiora, Morde - trash champions with no cc, just dmg, but if you buff them, they can destroy anyone in lane and become unstoppable.

The Bearded BardJun 12, 20151 votes

It's not that she's easy, it's that she preys on bad players. It's definitely not easy to play Kat against people that actually know how to play the game.