Why is the primary stat for assassins pen/lethality?

Mira Arya Enthe·Jan 8, 2017·5 votes·591 views

It makes zero sense. Their target is suppose to be squishies, not tanks. In any other game it would be crit or dex/agi which gives crit(and usually some dodge/attack speed/something). Yet part of why our assassins have trouble being balanced without ADCs abusing their items or the items being worthless or the stats not working correctly, etc. Is because they work best with... penetration. A stat that is meant for defeating heavy targets who build def stats, like tanks and bruisers.

Why is this? And should it change?

12 Comments

Sahn UzalJan 8, 20176 votes

Because Lethality helps you get through lower amounts of armor, it's rather useless against high amounts of armor

Mira Arya EntheJan 8, 20172 votes

Appreciate the legitimate answer. Rather than just insult flinging for... no reason. God I swear the boards are the most hyper-defensive people on earth.

Sahn UzalJan 8, 20171 votes

You're welcome :P

MarshbouyJan 8, 20173 votes

There is this magical thing called "base armor stats". They are on all champions (except for an exception or two).

TequilaZombieJan 8, 20172 votes

While I agree that it's a bit weird, it's not as bad as it sounds, as it's Flat Penetration rather than %. Flat pen gets you through the defenses of squishies, % pen gets you through defenses of tanks.

I still think Penetration should be the core of an assassin's build, but Riot has a long way to go with making Assassins not shitty.

Mira Arya EntheJan 8, 20172 votes

Appreciate the legitimate answer. Rather than just insult flinging for... no reason. God I swear the boards are the most hyper-defensive people on earth.

TequilaZombieJan 8, 20171 votes

The boards are toxic as hell sometimes.

BTW, this thread has some nice ideas about how to turn penetration in a more interesting stat: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/hBPVgf6G-assassins-stat-focus-flawed

Dabrick01Jan 8, 20172 votes

Allow me to ask another question along the same lines as yours.

Why do tanks build defensive stats?

ArnoldSchwarzensJan 8, 20172 votes

Because of the way diminishing returns work, the more armor you stack, the less damage reduction it will give you. This also means that the less armor the enemy has, the more it hurts when you take it away from them.

Here's me trying to explain it more in detail in another post: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/NEeK3pNH-some-suggested-changes-to-lethality-and-flat-magic-pen-considering-their-current-state

And here's some big ass entries from the wiki that will explain to you how armor, MR and penetration works: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Armor http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_resistance http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Armor_penetration http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_penetration

Mira Arya EntheJan 8, 20172 votes

Appreciate the legitimate answer. Rather than just insult flinging for... no reason. God I swear the boards are the most hyper-defensive people on earth.