A hypothetical class meta to ponder

In this post, we're going to imagine a totally hypothetical class in League of Legends for purely academic purposes.

Imagine that class suddenly became mandatory in the game - the ONLY mandatory one in fact out of say, around six. Scratch that. Let's just say that class has been mandatory for seven years of the game. Let's also imagine this class is mandatory because they have the strongest, most reliable, and hardest to counter damage in the game, say, oh, ranged burst per second with little in the form of cost or downtime compared to other damage-oriented characters.

Imagine this class having not only the most high-damage and high-impact itemization in the game, but said itemization being the cheapest as well. Cheaper than not only other damage classes, but also classes built around engage and protection. Imagine this class being mandatory for its steady DPS that allows its members to take objectives efficiently and cut down tanks over time. Imagine this class becoming extremely hard to counter, catch, and/or kill in the lategame, but also being able to reach said lategame much quicker than other classes owing to the fact that their itemization is not only the best but the cheapest. Imagine this class being so safe and efficient in their damage output and capabilities that they can even branch out into items meant for other classes, leading to said items being nerfed for all their users (or not at all), or very rarely and after months if not years, only then taken away from them.

Imagine this class, despite all their advantages mentioned above, being treated as favorites by Riot Games, who seemingly go out of their way to make changes to the game designed exclusively to benefit this class. Imagine this class, whose primary trait is strong ranged DPS, be additionally given other tools such as copious amounts of any of the following: hard CC, free kiting tools, mobility, burst, utility, self-peel, and other benefits typically associated with other classes. Imagine that alongside all these benefits, this class additionally has a WHOLE NOTHER class dedicated to keeping them safe and healthy, with peels, shields, heals, and catch mechanics to help them get kills and gold in lane. Itemization for this class is exclusively designed in order to enhance and enable the former class as well and make them even more safe and healthy throughout the game. Imagine this class slowly transitioning from DPS (damage per second) to BPS (burst per second) with point-and-click, resourceless damage sources that can occur upwards of 2.5 times a second or more in an AoE, a line, and with all other sorts of tacked-on damage and steroids from those champions' kit and items, such that they can easily and rather quickly kill several targets at once without firing a single skillshot or do anything else that requires planning and skill associated with other damage classes.

Imagine this class, naturally, by means of all the benefits and boons listed above, is inarguably the strongest and most ovepowered in the game in comparison to the others, and that there appears to be no drive to try and change that even after two years of hellish meta after hellish meta. Imagine several of these champions going, for months on end, demonstrably and disgustingly overpowered, over a two year period that continues to this day. Imagine a hypothetical new runes system from which this class gets inarguably the best keystone and secondary runes. Imagine this class being so prevalent and powerful that for extended periods of the meta they have been known to completely crowd out other champions and classes in roles that weren't even theirs to begin with. Imagine this class constantly swinging back and forth between two types of damage metas where either type is absurdly powerful and unfun to face. Imagine this class having whole items changed to benefit solely them or similar champions. Imagine this class, on top of their already top-tier objective taking capability, being granted a tower in their lane that is substantially weaker and grants extra gold for the sole purpose of making the game faster and more snowball-y. Let's imagine that other damage classes have slowly been nerfed or fallen out of favor in such a way that they are clearly not as powerful or reliable as this hypothetical class, which had not been the case two or three years before.

Imagine other classes that exist to counter or check this class being nerfed or changed so that they are not as effective. Imagine the whole of League of Legends being warped and twisted and stretched and distorted such that it has become an unrecognizable cesspool of burst damage and favor to quick, flashy plays over true strategy and smart, fair champion design. Imagine that systematically all other classes, despite also enjoying massive surges in damage, mobility, and crowd control, STILL struggling to keep their heads above water against this particular, hypothetical class even after two years of sweeping and game-changing meta shifts. Imagine some champions in other classes being left laughably weak, gimped, or otherwise outdated and irrelevant for patch after patch while the same handful of popular champions continue to determine the meta.

Just a hypothetical.