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

Sauronkaiser··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 URF2 votes

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

Sauronkaiser1 votes

[{quoted}](name=AR URF,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=YgMj80LP,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2018-08-14T22:36:49.755+0000)

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

Thats true, trynda has low counterplay in matchups where his enemies have low CC. We could say he falls off in that design point as well as others. Old champs usually are not that well designed.

Need Gold 4 Tent1 votes

Ah this same old argument that everyone makes without thinking. Just because CC works on other champs does not make it less of a counter. Not every champ has to be countered to the extent of Nasus vs Teemo. Besides, CC works with varying degrees on different champs.

A tank doesn't give a fuck about cc, if anything he wants you to cc him because you can't kill him under the cc anyway and that's 1 cc not dumped on his adc. Some assassins don't care too much about cc either once they've unloaded their burst, their job is done. Kill and die. Ranged carries typically shouldn't be in range to get cc'd in the first place. Bruisers are either as tanky as the tanks to not give a fuck, or have some tools to mitigate it to some degree in order to function.

Tryndamere has 5 seconds of being able to function, as a melee carry that has to dps rather than burst. Without ult, he can't do much in teamfights because he literally disappears in 0.5 seconds for building glass cannon. CC to him literally makes him useless, and unlike ranged champs, he has to put himself in range for all the CC in the world. His 5 seconds of usefulness with a minute+ cd, whiffed by a random slow/stun/snare that has a 5 second cd.

Kai Guy2 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

Sauronkaiser1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Kai Guy,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=YgMj80LP,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2018-08-14T23:16:56.330+0000)

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

Blitz is not that bad imo. He would be a 5/10. His Q is a skillshot wich varies depending on his right arm position and stops in minions and his W slows him down after use so you have to think a little about it. Thresh is a good example of well designed support tho. Soul recolection, skillshot with delay, lantern to save allies wich has limited range and an E wich can be used in various different ways.

Kai Guy1 votes

Here is my beef with blitz. His Q is Stupidly strong when it lands well right. It is still the single strongest displacement ability in the game on a basic ability, its arguably the strongest even when we consider most ultis. It has no delay on cast, its a good travel time, good sized hit box, does not care about walls, does not put him at risk on a miss, and no number changes to anything besides significant nerfs to its CD or Range remove the power from it. A blitz Q with 0 items late game is pretty much just as lethal as a 6 item blitz. From level 1 till the end of the game one hook can result in instant 1v5 death from fog of war.

Then theres the rest of his kit which is completely budgeted around his Q. W gives MS, this can be to rush in and pressure with E, then Q if they try to use mobiity or SS, He does not need to trigger his E in advance, the moment he is in range for autos it is when a good blitz casts it, or they hold it for once the hit the Q. Due to the way autos work, its pretty much un-dodgable unless you have abiltiys like fizz or vlad, blinks dashes bard tunnel? to bad E is on the auto your getting knocked up. The vast majority of champions have no way to interact with this, especially if he Uses his R correctly to apply silence.

This is my issue, More then any other champion in the game I feel blitz completely dictates how players have to interact with him, you have to respect the Q. From game start to game end, At no point does it not present a high threat, his build can suck, his aim can suck, but that Q is always gonna CD faster then a Death timer.

So its a 4 v 5 always, blitz is usless cant do anything his team suffers, this is why more then any other champion you see mains in the role he plays (support) Ignore their mains to play one of his counters, Insta lock blitz and watch how many folks will run Morgana or somethingAlistar Leona or any other champions in the meta that do well vs him. He hits the dam hook correctly and some one is fucked as he has the best single target CC on a basic ability in the game, as well as more CC, and the tools to get to the position to use both.

His designe to me is trash because I have lost so many games to blitz players over the years (s1 player) not because they are good, many of them they did not help lane at all, the wiffed 9 out of 10 Q. But cuz late game that guy managed to fog of war hit 1 Q on a key teammate and our comp fell apart during greyscreen.

Its not that there is no counter play, its not that its OMG WTF BBQ ALWAYS OP, its that it gives him the ability to make game changing impact off luck, off spaming one ability over and over and over until it hits, or being counter picked and hardly worth anything for his team.

Blitz does nothing and his team loses, blitz does next to nothing but might make a game changing play regardless of gold or exp, Blitz player is fucking annoyingly good and destroys lane. That's all I ever see from him and I hate it.

I don't even need to go into details on why I hate a good blitz in a lane that's not built to be countering him. That's a separate issue, but the argument that minions matter in lane phase is not reflective of what a good blitz player does and only applys to baddies.

thresh has a strong Q, with mobility options, he has 2 aoe CC, he can save teammates or give them the ability to ignore walls, yet over all he is in a much more manageable state, his designe is better, because his hook wont pull folks to him and out of position point blank. That one change alone is enough to make his hook less oppressive then blitz

DW Diana1 votes

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

More from Gameplay

More by Sauronkaiser