Am I the only one who thinks that champion tags are better than champion classes?

Of course, I don't know how teambuilder would work if we went back to tags, but I really dislike the class system.

Especially for new players, classes don't really tell you anything. This is most notable with the "Fighter" class, but also applies to others. For instance, under the class system, Dr. Mundo is a "Fighter". But for a new player, that doesn't tell them anything. That doesn't tell how he's durable, but immobile. It doesn't tell them that despite his AD steroid, he does primarily magic damage through a spammable nuke.

Another good example is Urgot. He is labelled as Marksman/Fighter. All this tells a new player is that he is ranged, since "fighter" means absolutely nothing and since "marksman" doesn't necessarily mean that they are physical damage, since Teemo is in there and since Ezreal, Corki, and Kog'maw all have viable magic damage builds. The marksman tag is almost misleading since someone whose never played Urgot might assume to build crit and attack speed when in reality Urgot is essentially a physical damage mage.

"Marksman" doesn't tell you that Ezreal and Corki do tons of damage through nukes, just as "mage" doesn't tell you that Annie is a great initiator. "Tank" doesn't tell you that J4 is an A+ jungler while Blitzcrank really isn't. Just as "support" doesn't tell you that Thresh's specialty is disabling opponents while Lulu's is buffing an ally.

I don't feel like DOTA's tag system would work directly in league, especially since the entire itemization and character statistics system is vastly different in DOTA, but it does serve as a good base. For league, I imagine there would be three sets of tags: one for melee, ranged, or hybrids like Kayle, one for their damage type (physical, magical, or mixed [like Shyvana or Poppy], perhaps with a fourth "physical or magical" tag for champions like Ezreal who can be built one way or the other, but not really both), and then specialty tags that tell you what role a champion serves on a team (which you can have multiple of). Here are some example specialty tags:

Tank: Someone who prioritizes building defense Initiator: Excels at starting a teamfight Nuker: Does lots of damage through single abilities. Carry: A primary damage dealer Hard Carry: Excels in the lategame with lots of gold and items. Pusher: Can easily push waves and take towers Disabler: Can lock down opponents for allies Peeler: Can help keep allies alive and enemies away Support: Can focus on using their abilities to help their team rather than farm or push Jungler: can easily farm and sustain in the jungle

For example, Malzahar would be Ranged, Magical, Carry Nuker Pusher Disabler. This tells a new player everything they need to know about what Malzahar's role on a team is, from a glance. Urgot would be Ranged, Physical, Carry Nuker Disabler. Vayne would simply be "Ranged, Physical, Hard Carry"

The primary advantages of a tag system are that A) it becomes easier to define what a champion's specific purpose is and balance them around that, B) champions no longer have to be balanced around the expectations of a class, meaning that there can be less kit overloading and less out-of-place abilities, and C) previously hard-to-define champions are now easy for new players to understand the purpose of (the biggest example being physical damage nukers like Urgot and Jayce).

Of course, I doubt Riot would ever revert to a tag-based system, since the class system is already entrenched with Team Builder and now Champion Mastery. But I think it would be much more effective if a tag-based system were in place.