Can we buff Garen in some way please? A such low skillcap champion shouldnt have such low win rate

Beats29·Feb 10, 2015·5 votes·642 views

Don't get me wrong, it's normal for an high skillcap champion to have a lower win rate, due to his/her (supposedly) dificulty.

However it bothers me when I see that Garen currently has a 47.89% win rate when he is so easy and so straight forward to play. His combos are easy, he's tanky, he has an insane heal late, he's easy to play... then how he is so low on win rate? Not to mention is popularity is around 5%. Sure he is easy to play, but does that mean he should be weak? Also, champs like this that are used by new players, shouldn't they help those players instead making them struggle?

Low skillcap champions should be in my opinion the most easy to balance and as well they aren't versitable about roles on a game generaly. But it doesn't make sense for such straight-forward champion to be with a winrate below 48%.

9 Comments

SEKAIFeb 10, 20153 votes

Riot's logic.

Low skill cap should have low win/pick/ban rate, low effectiveness and low potential in doing anything.

High skill cap should have, well the opposite of that, but also + overloaded kit and no resource management because skill eh?

Oh they are so wrong.

TeemoJenkinsFeb 10, 20152 votes

At low elo's Garen should win, as evidenced by my match history. At higher elo's they know how to counter him so his win rate should be lower. I think he's in a good place right now as he's user friendly, but has counter play.

Beats29Feb 10, 20151 votes

I think the main problem about him is that it lacks reasons to be picked. Some champs do the same as him and better. The only good thing about Garen besides being easy to play it's his natural sustain: Passive, manaless and free armor/mr from W passive. But he needs reasons to be picked. You wanna a late game tank? Go Mundo for example. You wanna a good early trader? Go Renekton. You want a bully? Go Gnar. Etc etc. And this was just on the universe of manaless champions.

redniwediSFeb 10, 20151 votes

As a Garen main I'm a bit torn on this. On the one hand I do just fine as him, but I also have many seasons of experience playing him. On the other hand a new player, once they figure out how to play, will actually find him very difficult to play in the current meta. You have to know exactly what you're doing to make his kit work against all the kiting and burst damage that's out there.

Garen can definitely help a new player learn the game, but unless you're willing to put a large amount of time into him he won't carry you very far. I'm fine with the position Garen is currently in, but it's contradictory to have him both difficult for newer players to play and called a starting champion by Riot.

Beats29Feb 10, 20151 votes

If I understood correctly, what you meant is that while Garen is good itself, he doesn't excel on any specific task.

SEKAIFeb 10, 20151 votes

He used to be a damaging tanker machine, no longer the case.

Then he used to be a real tough tanker machine, no longer the case.

Then he became a silence and spin bot who hopefully can go tanker (or crit Garen) by mid game, no longer the case.

Then he became situational picks who is pretty much only good at killing Riven, no longer the case.

Then.... well.

redniwediSFeb 10, 20151 votes

Sort of. What he does best is punish mistakes. Some champions (Gnar, for example) are very easy to bait escapes and other abilities, where as others who have multiple ways of playing safe can be very difficult to handle. Against good players he doesn't excel at anything specific, and is just a tanky silence with a good ult for team fights.

Using him effectively in that situation isn't something I think can be learned without a great deal of trial and error right now, which is a large problem for a "beginner" champion.

UdoIkOSc4uFeb 10, 20151 votes

because he is not LeeSin

Knight SoIaire Feb 10, 20151 votes

the thing with garen is that his low skillcap is a natural scarecroww for buffs if garen gets buffed and sees any lcs play its a huge problem, since garen doesnt scale with lcs skill which means that he is played because of his high stats

this mewntality keeps riot from touching garen