Yeah, damage is a bit too high. No, assassins aren't the main problem.

Since the outcry over damage creep and fast games this season started. I aligned myself firmly with the "no, you're wrong" camp. Games might be a bit faster right now, but I struggled to understand where the idea of "too much damage" was coming from. After all, eith all the uproar over assassins, I couldn't help but think "Well, Kha'Zix's burst is lower than ever. People are clearly mistaken."

However, now I think I finally get it.

There's too much damage in the game, alright. Though, traditional assassins are not the culprit. They're one shotting as they always have. Even ADCs, who are doing more damage than ever (at least the top tiers) aren't the main problem.

There is too much damage coming from all the wrong places. Tanks are doing damage. Malphite and Sejuani get to build full tank and still burst down squishy targets. Then you have the absolutely vile case of CC tanks (usually AP) building fill damage and relying of damage reduction to survive after throwing down their zero counterplay, CC laced one shot combos (looking at you, full AP Gragas and Amumu, better not hear you crying about Zed).

And as if that wasn't bad enough, now we have to worry about supports cleaning up team fights. Sorry, Pyke mains, but the game was healthier when you couldn't solo carry the game from a role that passively generates all the gold you need. When your team makes a call to focus the support, it should be because of the threat of an impactful ultimate ability or sustained healing. Not "oh shit Pyke is going to rip all of our heads off".

Now Pyke is bad enough, but let's be totally honest. When is the last time you saw a support Brand who didn't have the highest damage in the game? It's totally asinine that, in a panick to make support an interesting, appealing role, the decision was made to push for low counterplay, low skill floor champions with massive kill potential to take over the role.

You want tanks with high CC? Cool. They should be able to be impactful. However, if they're to be balanced, the damage scales have to go. It's almost like there's a fear of creating a champion that has to stick to a certain class. I get that Riot loves their "emergent gameplay", but there is nothing interesting about Gragas one shotting you from a CC lock because he was balanced around a tank playstyle and gets to abuse absolutely disgusting and unnecessary AP scales. Same goes for Amumu.

Balance needs to be based partly on last experiences. There should be absolutely no leeway granted to AP Gragas because we've already been there. He was absurd, unfair, and outright broken. If you told players back in Season 3 that there was going to be a mobile stealth support with a pull and an AOE Darius ult that granted kill gold to teammates, you would have been laughed at. Why? Because it's stupid. It's a bad idea that has no place in a game balanced around 5vs5 teamwork.

Related: Since everyone from the old balance team has apparently checked out of the building (as made apparent by full AP Gragas and Kassadin getting buffs and Annie getting her attack range reverted, LeBlanc being reverted, etc.), can you revert Kha'Zix while you're at it, too? I mean, W Kha mid was no more broken than classic LB, AP Gragas, and Kassadin, and now those are allowed to be a thing again. Why not just stick with the trend and remove Kha'Zix's counterplay, too? That'd be some real emergent gameplay when he takes over mid again.