A Plea to Riot - Consider the Alternative

Concise "TL;DR" Summary Available At the Bottom

Recently, Riot has been releasing kits that always are overstuffed and possess high mobility. Frequently, they're also generalists, and end up outclassing everything. I intend to propose a counterplan for this philosophy of design. The three pillars for my argument will be as follows; it prevents champions from being outclassed, it is much more enjoyable to play against and iit presents less of a balancing issue and they are more enjoyable to play as. If I can achieve what I hope for, it will make a few more players merely contemplate the idea, because I think it is a logically sound one.

I intend to first prove causation. That is to say, I intend to prove that homogenized generalists are the cause of meta stagnation and champion pool constriction. So, that will be my first undertaking. First, I will clearly define the term.

A generalist for the sake of my argument will be defined as a champion that can fill multiple roles (Not positions) well, and has many tools at their disposal. For example, Lee Sin has mobility, damage, tankiness and high ratios. He has many options at his disposal and can approach situations with many different options. Outclassed will be defined as fulfilling the same purpose in a team composition, but more favorably. Now that definitions have been established, I will present my first argument.

Preventing champions from being outclassed is a tough one. First I will prove causation, using the Jungle as a lens that we will observe this pattern in action. In the jungle, the meta has, for several seasons running, revolved around predominantly Lee Sin and Vi, with an earlier blend of Elise. What they all have in common (For the sake of this statement, imagine Season 3 Elise before she was nerfed) is that they can be built tanky, bursty, bruiser, have mobility and have CC. Hence, you have little reason to pick, say, Nautilus, the CC specialist. Why? Vi has similar CC capacity (Nautilus' ultimate is a targeted knockup, but Vi's is too, but hers also functions as a gapcloser), she has superior mobility, her Q and Nautilus' Q are both skillshot CC (And again, Vi's is a gapcloser but also functions as general mobility in a way that Nautilus' cannot). All of their CC (Aside from Nautilus' passive and slows) ignore Tenacity. Therefore, Nautilus does have more CC overall with his passive snares and slows. But by switching from Nautilus to Vi, you sacrifice that little CC for increased damage, mobility, clearing capability and dueling. You also limit the counterplay available against you, because as a specialist, Nautilus has counterplay that can be consciously and actively used against him. His clear speeds aren't great and his dueling outright sucks. All he has is his ganking pressure and end game initiation and peel, which leaves him vulnerable to abuse in the jungle. This leads me to my next point.

Specialists are healthier to play against is a fairly straightforward concept, well welcomed after the preceding long-winded argument. Specialists, as demonstrated above, are extremely strong in certain areas, but very weak in others. Another example would be Amumu. His initiation and CC are absolutely incredible, but he is a horrible duelist, is blue buff reliant and is very vulnerable to being bullied.This alleviates his early game pressure in exchange for his end game capacity, which can be ACTIVELY abused by enemy players. With Lee Sin and Vi, for examples, they are strong early game. Even stronger at six. End game, they are STILL STRONG, and even if behind have CC to fall back on. God help you if they're ahead. If a specialist is ahead, their particular strength becomes monstrous, but their weaknesses still exist and can be used. In the case of Amumu, avoiding being gathered up in a confined space will limit his effectiveness. Such is also the case with Fiddlesticks, whom is prone to being CCed. Specific trade offs and weaknesses are what outlines a HEALTHY specialist concept. It is not just healthy for the sake of playing against them, but also overall balance for the game.

Specialists are less of a balancing hazard. This is because if they are overbearing, you know precisely what their strength is, and can pinpoint what is over the top. If too weak, perhaps it needs a tone up, or their obvious weakness is simply too exploitable. Perhaps the meta or team comp does not frequently call for their specialty and they aren't unbalanced at all. With generalists, they can fill a variety of niches in a team composition viably, and if ahead, have no weaknesses to exploit, or downfalls in their kit to exploit. In addition, it's more difficult to avoid their effectiveness because of the array of approaches at their disposal. They're a 9,001 trick horse, so to speak. Specialists fill a specific and unique role, and have clearly defined strengths and weaknesses, something generalists sorely lack. Lastly, they are usually possibly to counterpick or banned if a particular specialist will work well against your team comp. This is healthy because it allows FOR STRATEGY in League of Legends, a STRATEGY GAME. It allows for varied picks at varied times, leading to my third point.

It is healthier for game balance. Varied picks prevents meta stagnation, because certain champions synergize well, but if they consist of specialists, have counterpicks and counterplay. It wouldn't be as simple as "Lee Sin does everything a jungler needs and fits into any team comp, I'll pick him!" if it were more about building a specific team comp by picking specialists to fit their needs. Basically this means that generalists are specialists, and their specialty is being a generalist. That would become their role, instead of filling EVERY role. Now, this isn't to say that generalists do not exist, which leads me to my final paragraph.

The change in philosophy should be thus. Being a generalist SHOULD BE their specialty. There is nothing wrong with generalists being in the game. Let me repeat that, generalists can be a healthy part of the game. League of Legends needs them. However, that should be their role. SOMETHING in their kit has to give. They shouldn't be outclassing specialists at their own role, they SHOULDN'T have everything their role could possibly need and they SHOULDN'T be so well-rounded that they lack any significant weakness. While he needs a buff, Gangplank is a great example of the DESIGN of a generalist. His execution isn't flawless, but his design is fairly good. He has a little bit of CC, he has poke, sustain, can avoid CC and has steroids and a global ultimate. He can be a bruiser, tank or burster. If he were balanced a bit better, he would be an ideal generalist design. They CAN WORK, we just need to, as a community, stop accepting the NEW design of generalists.

TLDR/SUMMARY: Generalists, while a necessary part of League of Legends, should have more clearly designed strengths and weaknesses, and conform to a more reasonable design philosophy than Riot currently employs. The most recent incarnation of generalists are unhealthy, and present a hazard to the game's health. Riot should adopt a new stance on generalists to enforce this philosophy. Hence:

Generalists should be specialists, and their specialty is being a generalist, instead of filling every role.