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How to deal with mobility and why Riot is heading in the good direction

Sunfield·9/3/2014, 11:48:38 AM·6 votes·1,511 views

So, Azir and Soraka's rework... perfect. Azirs ultimate stops Lee Sinish dashes and has a considerable size, meaning you can completely zone out even the most mobile assasins in jungle from escaping or fighting. Despite all the controversy coming with Soraka's rework, one of her abilities is definetely done right and needs to be placed in LoL asap. Im speaking of this silence-root thingy zone, which again, is a godlike counter to almost all kinds of mobility, because its usage is not limited (it can even prevent Malphite from using Unstoppable Force) and its one hell of strong cc.

But the issue is, its not enough. If Riot plans on releasing more and more abilities like those, its perfectly good but it means we will see mobility balanced in late 2015s.

So we either wait... or change how cc works right now. If anyone is familiar with Smite, thats the direction Id like to go. Pick a handful of "light" cc like Singed's slow (the fact its a zone is important) and make it prevent champions from using gap closers while stading inside of it. I adore this mechanic.

If someone finds current mobility in Lol not problematic, Id love to explain myself in comments.

18 Comments

SerBlaise9/3/2014, 2:42:15 PM4 votes

I agree that these are cool abilities, but I think that you have to be careful with adding anti-mobility. Mobility is fun. It adds an element of surprise to games (Wait, how did he get there?!?) and makes initiations and duels fun to participate in (I would argue regardless of who wins). Mobility needs to just be properly balanced with the kit; given down time and appropriately balanced abilities. immobile champs should also be appropriately balanced: look at Xerath's success for example. I think that immoblie long range champs are OK, especially mages. Immobile mid range or melee champs are more problematic. Soraka was one such mage. I'm glad to see that they are giving her a unique role as healer/protector. but I don't think this needs to become a super prevalent role on every immobile champion because anti mobility zones will kill the fun of engages with little to no skill required.

AliceInMadness9/3/2014, 7:07:13 PM2 votes

I'd say anti-mobility Its not enough. The problem is that mobility has no trade offs. Most dashes aren't just dashes but also do loads of damage and have utility attached AND are on moderate cds too. And on top of that the rest of the kit usually is as strong as an immobile one.

Why should a Yasuo who can dash every 0.2 seconds deal damage and fill his resource too? Why should Fizz be able to be so mobile yet not just one shot people but also have utility on slows on 3 abilities(q procs on-hit) and griveous wounds?

Im fine with high mobility as long as it actually means getting weaknesses for it.

I know its not a good idea to post it here but Dota 2 does it pretty well. Almos every blink-like mobility spell in the game has no damage at all( the only ones i can think of to do dmg are Morphling and Batrider) but have some minor utility attached to it if anything(as steroid on PA, as/ms slow on Void) . On top of that, immobile heroes do have the option to buy mobility in terms of blink dagger and force staff to actually have escape tools if needed, in league when i play an immobile mage i know that my only mobility is a small blink on a 300 sec cd and the jungler will most likely camp for for that time.

Zelilah9/3/2014, 1:18:54 PM2 votes

I agree with you. Mobility is a big deal in League of Legends and increasingly we're seeing champions not picked because they have none. Rather than reworking every non-mobile champion, adding champions with abilities to add or deny mobility (Sivir 's ult, Soraka 's new E) allows for much more flexibility in champion select. Perhaps we'll start seeing more reworks adding these types of abilities and, as a result, we may start seeing more diverse champion picks... maybe...hopefully!

deadlychuck9/3/2014, 7:07:19 PM1 votes

For the longest time i wished they would add a dash stopping mechanic onto Viktor's w or at least to his item 3197. The idea being that it's a gravity field and 80% of mobility is a jump or dash through the air. Like Lee Sin Q/E, Yasuo E, Fizz Q/E, Riven Q/E, exc.

They could make it work like Yasuo's windwall should and make it only stop champions who use mobility skills which travel through the air. So something like Mao W would still be able to go through.

TenSlashTen9/3/2014, 2:54:07 PM1 votes

Too bad assassin meta has been done for like a year now. lol. Its adc meta. And any intelligent ADC is using their jump to run, not jump into your wall.

Wullf9/3/2014, 12:02:57 PM1 votes

I know Smite and I played it and I do not know what you mean.

Bu I agree zone cc's (even light) are pretty strong.

67chrome9/3/2014, 5:50:35 PM1 votes

But the issue is, its not enough. If Riot plans on releasing more and more abilities like those, its perfectly good but it means we will see mobility balanced in late 2015s.

Immobile champions like Kog'Maw and Syndra see some pretty solid play in the LCS.

You can utilize range, CC, and defense to survive long enough to do things - mobility isn't the catch-all best mechanic. People give it more importance than it's really worth. The best champions aren't ones that are super fast. Those are usually just assassins, and only a handful are really seen as reliable to use competitively. The best champions are more the ones with a better mix of range, CC, defense, mobility, and damage than the next guy.

Mobility also has a pretty big gradient in regards to how it can apply to champions. Minor %MS bonuses on Lulu aren't the same thing as major %MS boosts on Yi along with a spammable gap closer that bestows untargetability. And Lulu is seen all the time at the competitive scene now, and Yi was only brought out by 1 team as far as I can recall.

So we either wait... or change how cc works right now. If anyone is familiar with Smite, thats the direction Id like to go. Pick a handful of "light" cc like Singed's slow (the fact its a zone is important) and make it prevent champions from using gap closers while stading inside of it. I adore this mechanic.

To be fair - a lot of abilities in Smite make you immune to such CC as well. If you use a mobility skill to jump over those you ignore them, you just can't use mobility skills once they already hit. Immunity to CC is tacked on an awful lot of skills, stuff like Garen's Judgement and Nasus's Fury of the Sands would make them ignore slows and snares in Smite.

Also, the mobility skills in Smite can get pretty intense. You can literally fly with a solid number of the gods.