From Someone's Who's Seen a Thing or Two: A 52% Win Rate Is Not Insane

Meep Man·Feb 5, 2018·20 votes·1,146 views

A 52% Win Rate is not something that demands a nerf, especially an immediate one. 52% Win Rate is a sign of a champion being meta and likely just going to rotate out of being FotM after a patch or two of normal changes to the game as a whole. Once you start hitting 53% Win Rate, that's when you need to start paying attention to someone. 54%+ is when we need to start talking immediate nerfs. I say this because I see a lot of threads popping up about a champion having a 52% Win Rate and thus deserving a nerf. This is not true. That's like saying someone who is sitting at 48% Win Rate needs to immediately get a buff. No, that's not true either. It's just the flavor of the month coming in and going out.

25 Comments

Tychusfindlay918Feb 5, 201813 votes

Disagree.

Play rate should also be taken into account.

Back when coin klepto nasus was first discovered, his play rate jumped over 3 times, his ban rate, spiked, and his win rate jumped to about 52% ish (maybe 53%), so yes, he did need IMMEDIATE nerfs, whether direct or indirect.

Teridax68Feb 5, 20181 votes

I agree with this: play rates and win rates aren't really meaningful individually, and only tell a more complete story when put together. 53% win rate is nothing special on, say, a 3% play rate, because that's likely an indicator that the champion's being played mostly by their mains, who are likely to succeed more often, but is definitely a warning sign on a >8% play rate, which indicates that the champion is starting to be overrepresented in play and is still winning more often than not. Even a win rate as seemingly unimpressive as 52% becomes a huge red flag if the champion in question has something like a >15% play rate, as is currently the case with Tristana. By contrast, if a champion has, say, a 50% win rate, which seems balanced, but a <1% play rate, that's usually a sign that they're really underpowered, because even that champion's most dedicated mains and one-tricks can't win more than one out of every two games with them.

HaIlMonitorFeb 5, 201811 votes

I always have felt like a 48 (harder to play champs) to 52% (easier champs) is fine.

ShaolinToiletFeb 5, 20186 votes

I've seen a lot of shit guys you better believe me

AlienPrimateFeb 5, 20182 votes

[zombie-brand-clap]

SomeStarsFeb 5, 20188 votes

i too work in a manure and compost processing plant

Darkknight512Feb 5, 20184 votes

What's the playrate though?

General Esdeath Feb 5, 20183 votes

I think it depends on 2 things: Play rate and how long they've been at that.

I think if a champ is at a 52% winrate and a 28% play rate it's an issue.

If they've been at it for 4 patches? Come on Riot...

If they've been at a low winrate (under 5%) and like this for months? It's just mains playing them well.

needHymnFeb 5, 20182 votes

[deleted]

Cotten Eyed JoeFeb 5, 20183 votes

{quoted}

When a champion hits 100% winrate, then they need a nerf.

Naah fam. It's when Zac had a 103% winrate and they decided to nerf him

SalronFeb 5, 20182 votes

banrate*

Cotten Eyed JoeFeb 5, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=Face The Win,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=jPirs93K,comment-id=000100000000,timestamp=2018-02-05T03:59:43.057+0000)

banrate*

oops yeah, ban rate. lol whoops

KàyleFeb 5, 20182 votes

When Kayle has around a 50% win rate, she's considered very weak. It depends on the champ, but I think it depends on kit and long term progression and benefit.

quasistellarFeb 5, 20182 votes

{quoted}

A 52% Win Rate is not something that demands a nerf, especially an immediate one. 52% Win Rate is a sign of a champion being meta and likely just going to rotate out of being FotM after a patch or two of normal changes to the game as a whole. Once you start hitting 53% Win Rate, that's when you need to start paying attention to someone. 54%+ is when we need to start talking immediate nerfs. I say this because I see a lot of threads popping up about a champion having a 52% Win Rate and thus deserving a nerf. This is not true. That's like saying someone who is sitting at 48% Win Rate needs to immediately get a buff. No, that's not true either. It's just the flavor of the month coming in and going out.

You're obviously wrong. Any champion above 48% winrate and 5% playrate is BROKEN OP because IF THEYRE PLAYED THAT MUCH THEN SCRUBS PLAY THEM AND OBV SHOULD BE FEEDING EVERY GAME AND LOWERING WINRATE TO 30% HUR DUR

MagicFlyingLlamaFeb 5, 20181 votes

Meanwhile at 57%..

Baron BarianFeb 5, 20181 votes

I've seen idiots say more than once that 51% means they should be buffed.

Sun Wu RyuumokuFeb 5, 20181 votes

i've seen idiots not taking pickrate in account to read winrate.

Spicy RiceFeb 5, 20181 votes

Nothing matters, unless taken in context.

If its 51% with a 50% playrate, then its probably overpowered.

If it's 51% with a .0001% playrate, it means that the few people who play the champ can't even get it to work that well, and it might need buffs

Baron BarianFeb 5, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=Spicy Rice,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=jPirs93K,comment-id=00040001,timestamp=2018-02-05T14:32:47.746+0000)

Nothing matters, unless taken in context.

If its 51% with a 50% playrate, then its probably overpowered.

If it's 51% with a .0001% playrate, it means that the few people who play the champ can't even get it to work that well, and it might need buffs

The context in both cases is that 51% seems too low according to them, in that they wanted said champions to be meta.

jocomotionFeb 5, 20181 votes

usually between 47-53% wr is fine imo. However if said champion stays on the edge of that for a prolonged time then they deserve a nerf/buff either directly or indirectly. However anywhere that's 54%+ or 46%- should get an immediate nerf/buff, and if they stay at those winrates despite consistant patches, they (or the items they build) need a major change like Janna in terms of nerfs on herself, coin, and ardent or Jhin with the crit buffs, general buffs, and the fleet footwork buff.

T4underboltFeb 5, 20181 votes

Okay dude. So old Leblanc with silence should've been buffed by your logic, because she had only 45% win rate. 52% winrate with huge playrate and especially when champ's skill floor and skill cap are low or close to non existant is insane and needs immediate work. Some champions should maintain low winrate especially when played by a lot of player base.

OnecimusFeb 5, 20181 votes

{quoted}

Okay dude. So old Leblanc with silence should've been buffed by your logic, because she had only 45% win rate. 52% winrate with huge playrate and especially when champ's skill floor and skill cap are low or close to non existant is insane and needs immediate work. Some champions should maintain low winrate especially when played by a lot of player base.

He said no such thing. He even said that having below a 50% winrate does not mean they need an immediate buff.

T4underboltFeb 6, 20181 votes

he didnt say such thing but that's the same logic. He uses winrate as a way to say if champion needs nerfs or not. He looks only at winrate. Numbers alone can't say if champion is toxic and has non interactive gameplay that doesnt allow any counterplay. So I gave an easy example of how it's not a good argument to bring up winrate as an excuse. LB needed hard nerfs despite being at 45% winrate. I hope I dont have to tell you what she was like when she had silence.