Well and bad designed champions in the game. Tell your opinion!

Sauronkaiser·8/14/2018, 10:30:53 PM·1 votes·1,052 views

So i saw a forum post wich talked about best designed champions, but actually it was a parody getting only the most banned champions in the game. I though it could be interesting to ask ppl about really well designed champions and their opinion about them. You can find this post here: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/es/c/gameplay-balance/vWIBuEfQ-4-most-well-designed-champions-in-league-of-legends Now lets do it serious. Before everything else, in order to set a note on a champions there are 4 points to count in the design: 1- interaction with the player. Basically a champion is more fun while playing him when more interaction it has with the player. A good example in abilities is Pyke ´s E, it demands the player to position into a determinate place in order to make it work while he calculates the time until the ghost comes to pyke getting the enemies across. A bad example is Nunu ´s E (current one), just click it and done. 0 real interaction. 2- Fitting into a role but being unique at the same time. A champion must fit into a role (riven bruiser, ornn tank, zed assasin...) but at the same time it has to get his own unique identity, this is valid for visual and gameplay aspects. Darius, Illaoi and Trundle are all juggernauts (subclass of bruiser). Everyone of them share things like low movility and hard damage melee/ high resistance to damage. But every one of them has an unique objetive design. Darius is a slasher (get 5 bleeds, kill, kill, heal, jump to other kill...),
Illaoi is a zone defender (use ult in a tf when the enemy tries to fight around drake, everyone who stays in the range is smashed) and Trundle is an anti-tank fighter. 3- Abilities wich are in part unique and gradually better when more experience the player gets with that champion. New Aatrox is a good example. His abilities combos are very different from what other champions do in this game. Because of that, even pro players can get troubles the first time they play him, but after some games the players will gradually get better at him. Usually this comes along with the first point (interaction with the player).

A bad example would be the OLD Warwick , he used to be nearly the same champion to every player once that player is experienced in the actual game. No real difference between one who played 100 games as ww and another who payed only 3 if they both have high game experience. Also say that a champion doesnt need to be specially hard to play to acomplish this point. Aatrox is not that hard but nails it. 4- Counterplay. Not being too frustating to fight aganist. A champion must have his weak points and not be c*ncer in lane. A lot of champions, even modern ones, fail in here. Yasuo Teemo Fiora or Renekton are examples of champions who fail in this point. Despite they can be fun to play with and they have counterplay, they are extremely frustating to play aganist because of their abusive mechanics and lane bullying. A good example of a champion in this point would be Swain; he can beat you if he outsmarts you, but he is not abusive as hell and you can prevent his combos if you are better than the summoner playing him, also all his abilities are usefull but have clear counterplay to an experienced player.

Counting all this, i could say most of modern champions are relatively well designed. If you ask my opinion about the best designed champion in this game, thats Yorick . He is nearly a 10 in all aspects. He is fun to play, all his abilities demand unique interaction , with the player wich gets better with practice (his E has a rare hitbox and takes more time to reach the floor when more far it is casted, his wall is a completely unique cast wich demands good compenetration to trap an enemy and also makes the player think about enemy´s abilities to escape it to use it in the right situation, his pets AI are unique and much times you need to calculate the distance from the grave to the enemy to secure the zombie jumping at him when he is marked, his ultimate is tricky as hell to known and not be wasted...), because of being a splitpusher who also can use his pets to afk push he demands strategy, he has clear counterplay, probably the most unique role in the game (necromancer juggernaut with afk-pushing and unique AI pets and circular wall with its own hp) and great visuals and theme.

And about the worst champion designed in the game, i would say it was OLD Yorick . That thing was deleted from weekly rotation for a reason. He was a 0 in everything. No mechanics, no interaction, cancerous in lane aganist, no role fitting or unique role in the game... and also pure s*hit in visuals. For me this only makes the current yorick a better example of a succesfull rework.

Also remember champion balance is different from champion design. Someones can be well designed but ruined in the balance (im looking at you, Ornn when you was released...)

Hope you enjoyed. Tell me whats your choice as best designed champion and why!

7 Comments

AR URF8/14/2018, 10:36:49 PM2 votes

No counterplay? Tryndamere ult. And don't bs me about CC because that can be said about all champions.

Kai Guy8/14/2018, 11:16:56 PM2 votes

I like this post and sadly don't have time. I will be back later to edit this, but my 2cents. Worst design currently -> Blitzcrank -> A example of better mechanic's -> Thresh

DW Diana8/15/2018, 8:03:40 AM1 votes

Yorick is a great champion I agree, he's like a strong, rewarding, enjoyable Malzahar xD