What are things that SHOULD NOT have counterplay?

darkdill·Mar 11, 2016·2 votes·206 views

While the very idea of something having no counterplay may sound wrong, there's probably a few things that are simply not meant to be avoided. For instance, Vayne's Silver Bolts don't have real "counterplay", as being hit too much by them REQUIRES that you die. But you can always outplay her by kicking her down during early game. There's also the matter of stuff like Ryze's Rune Prison; it hits instantly and snares you, so you can't really "counterplay" it.

In general, what shouldn't have real counterplay to it?

3 Comments

Big LincolnMar 11, 20161 votes

ryze is cancer

you counterplay Vayne by nuking the shit out of her before she can go ham on your team or focus-firing her with hard disables

Veigar ult is a one-target damage button, makes sense that short of removing yourself from the game with zhonya's or being fizz, he's going to remove you from the game

EcchiOtakuTMMar 11, 20161 votes

Vayne can't keep swapping targets or it resets silver.

While ryze you need certain abilities to avoid it but it's not an issue as long as ryze wasn't at 3-4 stacks prior to using it.

67chromeMar 11, 20161 votes

For instance, Vayne's Silver Bolts don't have real "counterplay&quot

Vayne's silver bolts have counterplay - counter-building just isn't part of it.

I feel like you're confusing lacking 1 counter-stratagy as lacking counterplay.

What are things that SHOULD NOT have counterplay?

Everything should have counterplay.

The entire idea behind counterplay is that mechanics should be as engaging to play against as they are to use. Riot seems to use this to allow options when dealing with a certain mechanic.

Sometimes you can dodge a play, sometimes you can disable a play with CC, sometimes you can duck in brush/fog of war/stealth to break someone's play pattern, sometimes you can back up against terrain, sometimes you can stay away from terrain, sometimes you can use minions as cover, sometimes you want to keep your distance from minions, sometimes you can just tank a skill to the face and plan on doing so because you itemized to be beefy...

Important thing with choices is this though: if the same choice works 100% of the time, you don't really have meaningful choices. Dynamic decision making is at it's best when doing the same thing every time will be wrong some of those times, forcing players to adapt to the situation, identify ~3 paths of action in dealing with a problem, and picking one of those.

In the case of Silver Bolts: you simply can't counterbuild that skill as a viable counter.