Healthy and Unhealthy Mobility.

------ WARNING: LONG A$$ POST -------

In a time where Hyper-Mobile Assassins rule the Rift (Tanks rule it once they've picked up steam), I believe it's time to help Riot out by holding their hand and gently explaining the difference between good mobility and bad mobility.

Contrary to their popular belief, nobody likes being forced to play against a hypermobile opponent. It's unhealthy, it's degrading and just flat out not fun.

When we get killed by these kinds of champions, we don't think "Wow, that was impressive use of strategy and skill. Have a bon-bon good sir!".

We think "Wow, what a f*cking asshole. I bet he's some ADHD 32 year old living in his mothers basement guzzling mountain dew and wanking it furiously to his KDA numbers.".

This is NOT what we want to think. Personally, I want to be bested by someone who is managing to capitalize on my inability to farm or the fact that I don't hide behind a minion wave after I've attempted to harass my opponent. I don't want to be bested by someone who chose a champion who can cross the entire lane in less than half a second, smack me upside the head for 50+ percent of my health bar and then immediately blink/dash back to safety of their turret. That kind of mobility isn't cool. That kind of mobility isn't fun. That kind of mobility isn't healthy.

Before we delve into solutions to the hyper mobile assassin craze, let's define hyper-mobility and explain why it's unhealthy.

Hypermobility in a champion is multiple abilities or effects that allow them to get in, deal damage and get out without risking much, if any, retaliation.

Key offenders of this would be: and

Now let's define healthy, good mobility.

In my terms, good, healthy mobility in a champion is an (notice the non-plural) ability that allows them to either get in or out of a fight or assassination. Never both. This kind of mobility also always has a cost or a risk associated with it.

Champions who have good examples of healthy mobility are: and .

"LOLOLOLOL KAT HEALTHY MOBILITY?"

Yes, I believe that Kat has a healthy mobility mechanic. I don't like the rest of her kit, but I believe she's healthy in terms of her mobility. Why you might ask? Same reason I think Kha'Zix is healthy mobility-wise. Both of their mobility to get in and out is tied to their ability to successfully assassinate a target. If they cannot kill their target with their assassination pattern, they are sitting ducks.

As for the others, Pantheon, Irelia, Fiora and Jarvan all fall under the umbrella of healthy mobility because their mobility is used to initiate a fight or assassination. Once they have committed to an assassination or fight, they are fully committed to it, they can't back out or shy away. They can't escape using a different ability, teleport/blink back to their previous location or otherwise upset the risk/reward scales.

This is what makes them healthy. If jumps into the Fog of War thinking he's gonna land on a low HP champion, only to land on a 4 man goon squad waiting for him, he screwed up. He pays the cost (300g to enemy team and a 10-90 second death timer). He can't go "LAWL OOPS" and undo his mistake () or use his 3-5 gapclosers () to escape. That's what makes his mobility healthy and balanced, it's all about using it to get into a fight.

Yes, you can use his ultimate to escape a pursuer, but only if they don't manage to kill or hard cc you during the 3 second window where you're helpless. Again, cost and risk for his mobility.

Let's pit him up against the Rage Queen of hypermobility, Lebaguette .

Her W allows her to travel a ridiculous distance, deal AOE damage, and then return to her original location if she chooses to. If that isn't enough, past level 6, she can do it AGAIN and return to her original location AGAIN. This allows her to poke her lane opponent without any fear of retaliation, but more importantly, it allows her to engage on her opponent in an attempt to wipe him out. If she fails to wipe him out or runs into an unexpected variable (), she returns to safety. No risk and no additional mana cost for using the return mechanic.

In short, NOT HEALTHY. Assassin type characters are all about taking risks for great reward and by extension, snowballing and winning the game through pure subjugation and fear. Leblanc, among the above-posted offenders, has no risk. Heck, her passive even makes sure that if, _for whatever reason, _ she does happen to get in trouble, she's invisible and gets a chance to fly away! Because "Woo balance!" right?

I understand that Riot feels and believes that these hyper mobile assassins are super cool to watch (maybe if you're 12 years old and KDA is the only thing that matters to you) and therefore doesn't want to touch them unless they become overly effective. But what I feel Riot doesn't understand is that the champions who zoom around the battlefield destroying everything they touch without actually running the risk of being killed aren't fun to play against. In addition, it doesn't allow these kinds of players to learn from their mistakes.

Should a Leblanc player attempt to dive their enemy laner, only to find out that Sejuani was hiding in the Fog nearby. She's just going to blink back and try again in ~15 to 20 seconds. Because there's no risk of dying with these super safe, hyper-mobile, risk-free assassins, the player won't have a grey death screen and have to go "Hmmm I died. How can I avoid getting killed like that?".

Hyper mobile assassins aren't healthy at all. Nobody wants to play against a champion that can't be caught or punished when they screw up. Much less one that can 100 to 0 you and your buddies without actually being in any form of danger throughout.