ARAM "Rebalancing" Feels Awful

Da Reel OG·Dec 30, 2019·29 votes·12,164 views

Here we go for more baseless complaining!

I feel as though ARAM at the moment has an issue with the buffs and nerfs that champions have specifically in ARAM. I just played a game of ARAM as full tank Mundo and because he takes 10% more damage, the opposing renekton (-5% taken) with 1 tank item mitigated almost as much damage as me, and massively out-utilitied and out-damaged me. The same is said about assassins. Akali at the moment with a gunblade has such a colossal intrinsic damage and tankiness buff that she can legitimately 1v3 without much skill, assuming the enemy didn't buy oracles.

Even Sona, the previous Queen of ARAM, feels absolutely useless as she barely heals (around 5000 per game) and barely shields for that, while dealing no damage.

Does anyone else feel as though ARAM was more balanced when champions didn't have their individual adjustments?

40 Comments

HP CrookshanksDec 31, 201919 votes

Because they balance by win rates of all ranks (mostly unrankeds/irons/bronzes/silvers). Because of that hard to play champions ( Akali Leblanc Irelia Qiyana etc.) are overpowered in ARAM when played by experienced players.

G0blinSlay3rDec 31, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=HP Crookshanks,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=cJ7FInrP,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2019-12-31T00:09:39.227+0000)

Because they balance by win rates of all ranks (mostly unrankeds/irons/bronzes/silvers). Because of that hard to play champions ( etc.) are overpowered in ARAM when played by experienced players.

Were gona give the enemy those a million times. Here you enjoy this slow 0 damage 0 resistance bruiser if you re roll we will continue this trend. HAVE FUN GL.

Dude no lies this is most of my matches. Down voting me does not make it less true.

DuskDaUmbreonDec 31, 20191 votes

But...ARAM has no ranked mode. How the fuck would ranks playing into it matter at all when ranks functionally do not exist in the mode?

Z3SIeeperDec 31, 201914 votes

MMR

HP CrookshanksDec 31, 20198 votes

Normals/ARAM have their own MMR. Balancing by mid/high MMR instead of mostly low MMR would be far more balanced.

rubber ripperDec 31, 201910 votes

It is pretty bad and is an extremely lazy way to force win rates to be 50%.

G0blinSlay3rDec 30, 20198 votes

it's horrid. every match feels dumb. you win or lose with a tiny chance of counter play.

Sona used to delete players with a Q now her auto's do more damage. Anivia was a CC queen The list goes on and on. matches are pathetically short.

WTBeGirl100EUhrJan 3, 20201 votes

How do her autos do more damage when her aas are nerfed as much as her q?

G0blinSlay3rJan 3, 20201 votes

{quoted}

How do her autos do more damage when her aas are nerfed as much as her q?

Her kit pretty much feels very weak overall you have build quite a few items to get far.

VonyaloDec 30, 20197 votes

Yep, it sucks

Beteljext13Dec 31, 20197 votes

I 100% agree, I won't even bother playing ziggs most of the time, feels like i'm trying to kill someone with paper cuts... On the other side of the coin, I never pass up on akali or rengar now... Seems hella short sided on their part, especially because they've had quite a few patches, changes etc since they've touched it. I knew it was gonna be trouble the moment I read those aram changes =/...

EDIT: I think the 1000 range 50% damage reduction was a good idea but the static buffs, nerfs have been a massive failure.

JaspersJan 3, 20201 votes

The 50% poke damage reduction is only 15%, not 50.

If it was 50%, then they could remove ALL balancing they've done and nothing else would be needed. Part of Ziggs issue is that he is constantly spamming abilities and poke. Q after Q, W that sits there waiting to be exploded and E which stays in one the map for 10 seconds. So instead they nerf ALL his damage which means if a melee gets close to him, his still deals -15% but also takes 8% more.

Take Akali, she's dealing 18% bonus damage, she gets near Ziggs and is infact and extra 8% to him because of his nerf. But he deals 15% less damage and she takes 12% less so the damage difference is HUGE.

There is NO reason why Akali needs to kill Ziggs or any champ 20% or more faster in anything.

If they remove ALL nerfs and buffs and just change the poke reduction to 50%, 50% of the problem champs won't be a problem anymore.

Xerath wouldn't just be at the back of the map spamming Qs. Kai'sa wouldn't be in fog of war spamming Ws. and Caitlyn traps (which allows her autos to reach 1300 range) won't hurt as much.

This would allow tanks to clear traps, Maokai Es in bushes and things like Ziggs Es without taking loads of damage.

PaffWasTakenDec 31, 20197 votes

👏Bring👏Back👏Aram👏Bans👏

FRANKENSTEIN 420Jan 1, 20202 votes

A LITTLE LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

PaffWasTakenJan 1, 20204 votes

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ZtokaDec 31, 20195 votes

Sona did go from pretty effin strong to a weak pos that is pretty useless, except for her ult.. Would be nice to get some middle ground but nope.. Same w/ soraka, healing was just gutted.. Her e is still nice but feels pretty useless yet. Other mage champs start feeling really weak but once you get items, not nearly as noticeable as the healer types. A good irelia/akali in aram can easily 1v5 most comps..

El Condor PasaDec 31, 20192 votes

I think the nerfs are mostly fine, but the buffs completely unnecessary.

Sightless66Dec 31, 20192 votes

Does anyone else feel as though ARAM was more balanced when champions didn't have their individual adjustments?

Definitely not. You had champions like 70% winrate Sona who were just ungodly strong. Poke mages were stupidly overpowered and every champion was good or bad based on how they could react to being poked. Sustain tank like Mundo? Very good. Any assassin who can't engage in a single lane? Extremely terrible. The balance changes, particularly the nerfs, opened up way more options.

That said, I do think they overbuffed some low winrate champions. I don't think anyone would dispute that Akali and Qiyana do not need the excess of damage they were given in order to have some success.

SaezioDec 31, 20191 votes

They could have buffed/nerfed based on the top 5% of aram MMR matches though, instead of the entire spectrum. I mean they balance SR around the top like 0.01% of games (pro games) but ARAM is balanced around 100% of players? It's just moronic.

G0blinSlay3rDec 31, 20192 votes

There is a disgusting pattern with re rolling. That will ensure you get a champion that can barely survive and is driven by the MMR system. This is a frustrating pain in the butt.

Before you say "idk sounds fake" 6000 aram matches. i was also the 1500 dominion EUW Warwick.

FRANKENSTEIN 420Jan 1, 20201 votes

dominion... that takes me back...

KadexeDec 31, 20191 votes

I think ARAM balancing is close to being "passable" but they need to make a few changes.

1st, Please God give us an item for countering shields. It shouldn't be a great item, it just needs to be decent enough to make teamcomps with multiple enchanters and Archangels bearable to play against.

2nd, they need to embrace making some changes to champions for the map. I think Nasus already stacks his Q faster, now we just need changes like "Veigar's cage doesn't last as long" or "Tryndamere's ult gets a shorter cooldown."

3rd, the Snowball shouldn't apply on-spell effects! Ignite has a 3 minute cooldown and 600ish range and it doesn't apply anything, why does Snowball when it has a <60 second cooldown and reaches across the map? It's nuts.

SaezioDec 31, 20193 votes

What we need is riot to get serious and balance around the top MMR matches instead of the entire spectrum.

People that main stuff like akali are having field days in aram because the champion is given unjustified buffs. People that don't normaly play that champ and have less than 10 games on her should always lose on her riot, stop trying to make her a 50% champ across the entire player base, It makes no sense.

freeformlineDec 31, 20191 votes

Some of the changes are fair, but my main complaint is that all the ARAM-specific number tweaks make it difficult to predict exactly how your champion or an enemy will function unless you have a lot of experience with that champion on ARAM, since their numbers are different from how they are on other maps. Healing in particular is pretty deceptive because of the (largely justified) cuts to its effectiveness.

Edge of DaybreakDec 31, 20191 votes

All I want to see is a change to oracles where it only works against traps stealth in general. We could then revert the buffs to stealth champions now that they can actually use those parts of their kits. Oracles is actually hurting those champions more than it hurts the trap champions.

Jennifer17Dec 31, 20191 votes

dont quote me on the exact numbers but akali having like 12% more damage and taking 15% less damage (something around that) i mean wtf?

it was a good idea, but knowing riot they favor assassins and certain bruisers way too much. i feel like they do this on purpose to bring players back to summoners rift saying "its not that bad, thats just your imagination. its actually better on SR!"

but thats just my tinfoil hat brain speaking

Edge of DaybreakDec 31, 20192 votes

Well no they did it because her winrate was utterly terrible. Aram was experiencing winrates ranging from about 40% to 70%. All the changes did was bring the gods down to either normal or slightly broken and the guys in the garbage can to still being worse but at least somewhat playable in some games. Now some champions need changes that have nothing to do with numbers which riot's never going to do so until that happens enjoy Akali still being terrible at lower mmr's while being an +18% damage face tank with no w after the first buy and you are under permanent oracles for the rest of the game.

SaezioDec 31, 20192 votes

They should have only considered numbers from the top 5% of aram MMR games though.

having 70% winrate when you take into account all the players just says nothing, just that the champion is so easy that you need 0 practice with it to be relevant, contrary to something like an assassin where you need time behind the champ to play it properly.

Akali is busted AF in aram IDK why you would think otherwise. Any player that knows how to play akali/irelia/lb/qiyanna can be the solocarry of their team.

Edge of DaybreakDec 31, 20191 votes

{quoted}

They should have only considered numbers from the top 5% of aram MMR games though.

Well considering this is Riot who balances for everyone that was never going to happen. It hasn't happened for most of leagues history.

Akali is busted AF in aram IDK why you would think otherwise. Any player that knows how to play akali/irelia/lb/qiyanna can be the solocarry of their team.

Because numbers say otherwise? What you think an opinion should matter more? Most of the ARAM community will never even experience high mmr akali so all they get to see is the ones that feed their balls off. Even in the higher mmr's she isnt that overbearing she's just strong in the hands of her mains.

SaezioDec 31, 20191 votes

Well considering this is Riot who balances for everyone that was never going to happen. It hasn't happened for most of leagues history.

You are joking right? Riot balances champs solely around pro play, that's like 1000 times less than the 5% I am suggesting.

Akali IS busted AF in aram in HIGH MMR MATCHES. Not in the casual arams. And you don't even have to go that high, on this account I am only like top 15% or so, and all the akali players I see are just solocarrying games.

Edge of DaybreakDec 31, 20192 votes

{quoted}

You are joking right? Riot balances champs solely around pro play, that's like 1000 times less than the 5% I am suggesting.

I acknowledge you have an opinion that isn't supported by facts which you are allowed to have.

Akali IS busted AF in aram in HIGH MMR MATCHES. Not in the casual arams. And you don't even have to go that high, on this account I am only like top 15% or so, and all the akali players I see are just solocarrying games.

Gonna also copy paste the thing I literally put in the first one. "Even in the higher mmr's she isn't that overbearing she's just strong in the hands of her mains."

SaezioDec 31, 20191 votes

I acknowledge you have an opinion that isn't supported by facts which you are allowed to have.

I guess you think tahm was removed from support, sejuani was gutted, azir and kalista kept as a 46% winrates, yuumi nerfed at sub 45% winrate, because riot balances around the average player. "Not supported by facts" .

Edge of DaybreakJan 1, 20201 votes

Oh so wait you realize you are claiming this "Riot balances champs solely around pro play" Do you know what that means? You are saying they never balance anything for lower mmr's Now lets say I find literally any of the thousands of balance changes where riot literally did that while saying in the patch notes that I am assuming you read that they are nerfing something for being too strong in lower level play it immediately makes your claim wrong.

Nerfing champions because they are busted in pro =/= riot never balances outside of pro. That's one of the most easily debunked arguments you could possibly make outside of riot only buffs on skin releases.

SaezioJan 1, 20202 votes

OK, let me make it even more clear to you, since you seem to be getting out of your way to defend riot for some reason.

Riot never BUFFS for low elo. NEVER. They may occasionally nerf something that gets too pubstompy in low elos(and that's perfectly OK, doing that to sona and maokai for aram is a godsent for example), but they never BUFF anything because of winrate in all ranks.

I would be ok if their aram specific balances were nerfs only and no buffs on champions based solely on their overall winrates.

I dare you to find me one buff riot did to a champ in the last 2-3 years based on their performance in 100% of SR games. Like, "We know Ryze has been stomping in top tier ELO but he is subpar when 100% of games are examined, so we are giving him a buff"

SaevumJan 1, 20201 votes

Buffing Ryze? now that's funny.

Edge of DaybreakJan 1, 20202 votes

Using common sense =/= going out of your way to defend riot. I'll "defend" anything if the claim being made against is obviously false.

This "Riot balances champs solely around pro play"

is different than this "Riot never BUFFS for low elo."

I have no problem with the latter claim because it's actually true. The former is 100% false. Yes riot never buffs for low elo because there is no reason to. I'd be hard pressed to find any gaming company on the planet that buffs something for the lower skilled players and ignoring pro play because pro play actually matters.

The problem of nerfs only and no buffs is that they would have to straight up make a lot of those champions nearly unplayable to make up the gap. Their aram specific changes didn't swap anyone's general tier it just brought down the gods while making the utter garbage at least playable. Even now after that employee posted the winrate graph none of the higher winrate champions fell below 50% so they are still stronger than most of the roster however a ton of champions shot up from lower 40's to around 46-48%. That's what good balance looks like.

Lat part is easy. Literally every champion that gets buffed because they are low winrate at all mmr's. I have too many to list. I'm going to leave out reworks since every single one of those that were underperforming got buffed quickly and I personally dont want to list them since they are essentially new.

FRANKENSTEIN 420Jan 1, 20201 votes

ADDING a little suggestion; please show us STATS FOR THE ARAM PAGE ON THE STAT PAGE PLS

SiG DxDJan 1, 20201 votes

didnt knew why my mundo with tank items only melted in 0.2 s

Sire HippingtonJan 1, 20201 votes

Can't say much about more or less balanced, sona was basically free win, and akali prettymuch a loose in most situations, so it certainly wasn't balanced befor. Haven#t played much after the changes so can't say much about the current state.

However, you atleast knew what to expect, you knew it would be an uphill battle if you saw sona on the loading screen, you knew what to expect from each champ.

Now it just all feels wrong, champs that you#d think strong are weak, champs that used to be bad are strong, some don't do their job anymore(a tank takeing 15% more damage, seriously?) You just can't rely on anything you know from the rift, it all just doesn't feel right at all, which is why i stopped playing aram.