Let's give a big round of applause to Ryze, the only champion in League that has defeated Rito.

Lao Fu the Tiger·Jun 11, 2015·67 votes·6,979 views

Congratulations Ryze, on achieving the Most Frustrating Champion to Balance Ever award!

[insert confetti here]

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/party-popper-explosion-illustration-white-background-37895421.jpg

I'd like to propose a toast to our favourite blue dude who went from broken, to useless, to broken, back to useless, and back to next-level stupid broken once again! Congratulations, good buddy, for being one of the select few to receive a second rework within one month of the first rework being released! Zyra would be proud!

Rito's doing their best and flipping the coin once more to see whether these next changes will land him once again in peeyourpantsBAN tier or whosryze tier. It's almost like playing the lottery!

We await your arrival as a reborn man.. mage.. thing in 5.12 good buddy!

53 Comments

SammystormJun 11, 201529 votes

Kassadin I think he takes the cake for hardest to balance and most frustrating.

SchenixJun 11, 20156 votes

I would agree Kassadin was the hardest, but that any champion with high mobility is hard to balance. At the moment, I would say Kassadin just needs a few tweaks on his numbers/scalings to be good again. But Rito not even looking his way anymore </3

In relevance to this thread however, Ryze is someone (mage) who isn't very mobile. So that makes him unique in that his toolkit may not revolve or promote it, but he is still hard to balance due to his entire strategy being very fickle in numbers and dominance with his chaining. For that, I applaud Ryze to keep up such a pinpoint balance scale.

SammystormJun 11, 20156 votes

Well when the CEO has the nick name "Ryze" they have to keep him as the best of all immobile mages right.

DengedenJun 11, 20151 votes

At the moment, I would say Kassadin just needs a few tweaks on his numbers/scalings to be good again.

Turn him into an oppressive lane bully again? Ingenious.

SchenixJun 12, 20151 votes

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/q4Hhs5kM-kassadin-brainstorming

HumanPerfectJun 11, 201518 votes

Kassadin Because reasons Evelynn Awaiting her 3rd rework. Or was it 4th? Kayle A former contender, god bless her soul and may she rest in peace, who no matter what always seemed to pop up as "OP" a few weeks/months after any changes. Riot's final solution: chop her kneecaps off, take her to the farm, and pretend she never existed (IE nerfing her so hard that even a freaking angel couldn't come back from). Irelia "Better nerf Irelia"

Hard4HamstersJun 11, 201513 votes

The nerf Irelia thing is stupid that it is still used today. She was nerfed a few times but she got buffs during the same time. But she hasn't really been a problem for years. Item changes and meta shifts see Irelia back in a powerful spot every once in awhile, but she isn't even close to the most difficult champion to balance. She's usually in an okay spot. Her last nerf was to base damage on her E... that was it... and it wasn't really that much.

I just hate hearing that meme. She needed some of the nerfs she received 3+ years ago, but she hasn't really been touched since, and I think she's in a really healthy spot and has been for a really long time. She's been consistently strong, but never really as broken as she was back then.

the other 3.. Hell ya. They have probably had some of the most consistent balance issues.

XeroKimoJun 11, 201511 votes

I remember when kha got nerfed like 5 patches in a row

Khazix "Better nerf kha'zix"

CrettJun 11, 20152 votes

[{quoted}](name=MetaI Gear,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fzpZ37GT,comment-id=0008,timestamp=2015-06-11T05:33:15.042+0000)

Because reasons Awaiting her 3rd rework. Or was it 4th? A former contender, god bless her soul and may she rest in peace, who no matter what always seemed to pop up as "OP" a few weeks/months after any changes. Riot's final solution: chop her kneecaps off, take her to the farm, and pretend she never existed (IE nerfing her so hard that even a freaking angel couldn't come back from). "Better nerf Irelia"

And don't even get me started on Taric

DengedenJun 11, 20152 votes

Kassadin I guess I should be glad that few people watch LCS as religiously as I do. Evelynn See above. Kayle She's another Ryze, her kit is conceptually broken. Her ult is her ult and the rest of her kit is also targeted. Seriously, what qualifies as Kayle mechanics? Skillfully kite your enemy with both a slow and an AP scaling heal & speed buff at your disposal? She's either oppressive (which she still kind of is in lane, she just does nothing but disengage post laning phase before she gets 3-4 items) or she's useless.

SEKAIJun 11, 201511 votes

Ryze be like, "Zap!!!"

Rito be like, https://fourchanner.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/23.jpg

IcyPepperJun 11, 20152 votes

I'm afraid to ask what anime is that...

... but what anime is that?

SEKAIJun 11, 20155 votes

{quoted} ... but what anime is that?

A Catain Scentific Railgun.

It's a parallel series to A Certain Magical Index (not sure which one is actually the main one), they are essentially the same show just from 2 different perspectives.

It's in a world where magic, sci-fi and superpowers are all possible after all. So the author uses 2 series in order to explore it better.

Hence if you wanna watch/read this one, grab both.

BiffoloJun 11, 20151 votes

{quoted}

A Catain Scentific Railgun.

It's a parallel series to A Certain Magical Index (not sure which one is actually the main one), they are essentially the same show just from 2 different perspectives.

It's in a world where magic, sci-fi and superpowers are all possible after all. So the author uses 2 series in order to explore it better.

Hence if you wanna watch/read this one, grab both.

Magical index is the main one technically, but I feel railgun is the superior show if you were to only watch one.

OmegaNITROJun 11, 2015

I think they're both amazing, but you'll want to watch Index especially. Railgun is a side story, so the world and the characters in it make more sense if you're familiar with Index.

BiffoloJun 11, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I think they're both amazing, but you'll want to watch Index especially. Railgun is a side story, so the world and the characters in it make more sense if you're familiar with Index.

I don't think it's too hard to get stuff to make sense honestly. I watched railgun first just because I ran into the theme song and rolled from there. I don't really recall having any points where I was really confused that index explains. Idk, watching the main story is probs better though.

IS1a442cd69a169ed293a39Jun 11, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I don't think it's too hard to get stuff to make sense honestly. I watched railgun first just because I ran into the theme song and rolled from there. I don't really recall having any points where I was really confused that index explains. Idk, watching the main story is probs better though.

I highly recommend going Index before Railgun, unless you really like to watch lesbian. The story is much richer with Toma.

chipi99Jun 11, 20151 votes

CHINESE CARTOOOOOOON!!!!!!! REEEEEEEEEEEEEE

HeadHonchkrowJun 12, 20151 votes

japanese anime* disclaimer: I don't even watch anime, I did this for the glory of the Grammar-Nazis, heil Hitler

chipi99Jun 12, 20151 votes

It was a joke.....

HeadHonchkrowJun 13, 20151 votes

Oh, ok.

Drunk RummateJun 11, 201511 votes

Honorable mention goes to Kassadin Poppy Yorick

Through sheer luck, Rito has managed to balance Kassadin With smoke and mirrors, Rito promises to one day balance Poppy And using the almighty power of a rug, Rito has shoved Yorick out of sight forever.

The SoulforgedJun 12, 20151 votes

Please don't hurt my Poppy D:

SlytherinUmbreonJun 11, 20155 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcPIA_E6AXg

windwolf777Jun 11, 20153 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQmSmZEC7ng

Pew Pew LasersJun 11, 20155 votes

Well the fact that they gave him an extra 20% CDR AND made his passive resets even shorter...

Was less a rework and more of a giant overpowered buff.

PBnJellyJun 11, 20153 votes

Kassadin

7ha7guy777Jun 11, 20153 votes

Because a hard cc ability that lasts up to 2 seconds that can have its cd reduced in a spam-centric kit with 30% cdr built in sounds fun to play against

WarlockLawJun 11, 20153 votes

Still doesn't have Evelyn level of reworks. Did you know she used to have a stun? Did you know she used to stack 5 sunfire capes? Pretty sure she has had at least 3 different kits and has at one point or another built damn near every item in the game due to riot completely changing her every time she pops back up.

Mandang0Jun 11, 20152 votes

Zyra honestly wasn't hard to balance, Riot just got it wrong initially (which they tend to do).

TheRakkunJun 11, 20152 votes

How about fucking Elise has she ever been balanced? She's always either been top tier or trash tier.

Sir FuzziJun 11, 20151 votes

Is it that broken? The numbers made it look like he'd have a lot of spells but still none of them would do anything.

I don't understand their design angle. If it's supposed to be a window of power, it needs to be both a window and have power, not just a giant window. It feels like Ryze's passive doesn't actually make him threatening, it just hums for a while and dies out.

IMHO I feel like giving his Q click status and making his E the skillshot would be an interesting angle but I also don't play ranked, so I don't know where the meta fits into all this.

Maybe his old design just needed subtle changes, rather than a full rework like this. Not everyone can be Sion...

ArveanorJun 11, 20151 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozqwar3JRXo

The WhamboozlerJun 11, 20151 votes

Well, yeah. Ryze's schtick will pretty much ALWAYS make him like this. He's a giant pile of stats that spams targeted spells at you if you're in range. He will always either A: have the raw stats to kill you if you get near him, or B: Not. You don't really outplay Ryze beyond staying out of his reach if he can kill you. As long as he's a spam mage and has mostly unmissable spells he'll never be balanced.

ImHerVoiceJun 11, 20151 votes

lmfao!!

Hard PenetratorJun 11, 20151 votes

Anybody tested him on PBE after nerfs?

MrBuffingtonJun 11, 20151 votes

He's Ceo for a reason :3

iainB85Jun 11, 20151 votes

Well, them making his Q a skillshot was a step in the right direction. Having all point and click spam spells is either going to be too good or useless depending on the numbers. Not many levers to pull there.

SkinOfPineappleJun 11, 20151 votes

is another ryze rework really in the process...? do you have a link?

FooDangJun 11, 20151 votes

He never was useless...

CrettJun 11, 20151 votes

Only champions like old Sion "defeat" Riot's traditional balancing methods, as they had to whip out the big guns in order to fix that champion (monumental rework, essentially a new champion) Once Ryze has gotten a rework of such magnitude that the old champion is basically deleted, we can say Ryze has defeated Riot

ErockandrollJun 11, 20151 votes

I have a prediction.

Ryze will end up with Scarner level attention for reworking his abilities. it will take that long to get things just right. After seeing a list of changes on the PBE, I'm convinced that a hot fix that everyone was begging for is either not possible, or a waist of time compared to the endless changes that they have to test.

{quoted}

I remember when kha got nerfed like 5 patches in a row

"Better nerf kha'zix"

I worry that he might need an ability rework. It seems like every ability that got nerfed, Players focused Kha around another, and Riot found reason for that being a problem. Like Riot doesn't actually like any ability on his kit, when it works as intended.

DengedenJun 11, 20151 votes

He didn't and won't receive a second rework, what are you on about? Are you calling the changes to his passive a rework? Gimme a break.

And I'd appreciate if you got off your high horse and considered that Ryze is impossible to balance.

EeyoreJun 11, 20151 votes

Vladimir 'cause Riot regrets letting people get attached to him (i.e. iconic abilities)? Evelynn 'cause every time she's reworked, she's subsequently benched and "rework soon"? Alistar 'cause every time he's viable Riot nerfs him?