In Defense of Stealth - It's one of the primary reasons League of Legends is as fun as it is. AMA

DrugsForRobots·Jun 16, 2016·3 votes·383 views

Assassin Update should be the Stealth Update --- Why won't Riot play with sight or stealth? It's the least explored design space in the game! * /r/leagueoflegends

Seriously, I'm open to discussion, threats, accusations, opinions, whatever. I'll reply as quickly as I can to everything I can.

I want to know why the League community hates stealth.

I want to know why Riot refuses to address sight, stealth, detection, and denial.

I want to know how League can be so far above and beyond DotA2 in every way EXCEPT for it's vision game which is virtually the same as DotA2s.

I want to know what people think about these ward and trinket ideas.

8 Comments

The Last BalladJun 16, 20161 votes

People hate stealth because they hate using pink wards("that's for supports" they say) and the red trinket(same thing) and other than that there is nothing you can do against it.

But I like the ideas.

DrugsForRobotsJun 16, 20161 votes

Well thanks!

Personally, I hate Pink Wards because people use them as a consumable instant speed counter to stealth, as opposed to: 'I'm going to set up a defensive area in my jungle that watches different gank routes and / or deters gankers / invaders.'

The Last BalladJun 20, 20161 votes

I usually (try to) put down a pink in some helpful spot, except for the Kat vs Shaco all for one game. I just kept two pinks in my inventory and put one down every time we started to fight...

DragfinJun 16, 20161 votes

People hate any champ who makes them think and change the way they play. That is pretty much it in a nutshell. All you need to do is read the boards and any champ that constantly breeds whining and bitching are champs that make people think. IMO an FPS is boring AF but it's so simple and requires very little thinking and that's why they are so popular. I just wish that the FPS crowd who don't want to think and adapt to a changing environment would stay the hell out of MOBAS. Play your simplistic game. You are required to have a brain here.

DrugsForRobotsJun 16, 20161 votes

I agree. Riot has even admitted that League 'at the higher level' is like a chess game. I'm convinced that a large part of that 'chess game' comes from the map info that wards and abilities give us, which is why I'd like to see more interesting varied ways of gaining info - each with unique quirks and tradeoffs. Just like players build for the situation, they could / should adapt their vision strategy to the enemy comp / movements. :3

DragfinJun 16, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I agree. Riot has even admitted that League 'at the higher level' is like a chess game. I'm convinced that a large part of that 'chess game' comes from the map info that wards and abilities give us, which is why I'd like to see more interesting varied ways of gaining info - each with unique quirks and tradeoffs. Just like players build for the situation, they could / should adapt their vision strategy to the enemy comp / movements. :3

Building for the situation is exactly what they need to do but won't do it. I tried playing ranked but just can't deal with it in a sane way so I just play ARAM and now the rotation modes. ARAM has taught me how to build for different situations. It is a very underestimated game mode by too many people who use it the wrong way. But to each their own. I been thinking about trying ranked again but only time will tell.

AMYS GRAVEJun 16, 20161 votes

Stealth forces a tank support to only be able to buy 1 big boy item.

item 3401 item 2045 item 3190 item 2043 x2 item 3047 + one item + item 3364

none of those items are optional in that situation, locket is just too gold efficient which means the item-cdr that ruby sightstone offers cant be passed up on as you will be holding two activatable items minimum.

frequent pink wards are also a gold sink that i don't get back.

those pink wards will be placed in lanes to spot out the stealth champ so they are easily cleared.

nearing the end of the game i will be significantly weaker by not having a sixth item at all.

not to mention the fact that i have to hold my pink wards for ganks instead of being able to drop them for actual bush vision/vision denial.

If you do pink a bush you might see the stealth champ coming, but you will never know if they left because you've only got one path pinked, so they could be standing in your lane waiting for you to step back up to take cs, and you will never know otherwise. (this one is mostly eve)

DrugsForRobotsJun 16, 20161 votes

Agreed. These are all valid reasons why the vision game (not just stealth) is currently lackluster.

But let's talk about possible solutions:

What about introducing more advanced, legendary, mythic items that interact with stealth or invisibility in some way?

Notice how there is yet to be a support who can stealth her allies even though the design space is obvious.

Maybe Wards could occupy the trinket slot (overriding the ability to use your trinket) until they're placed, thus clearing up inventory space.

Maybe introducing more unique wards with their own pros and cons would make wards less of a gold sink and more of a supplemental defensive option (i.e. keeping tabs on your jungle and possible gank paths).

Consider how the Snitch (my rebranded mandrake ward), Sentry, and Beholder would deter / make ganks difficult for Evelynn and other stealth champs.

Maybe more ways of gaining / denying vision through champion abilities and trinkets would take the pressure off of needing Pink Wards to gain / deny vision.

Maybe more forms of pseudo-stealth (like nearsight) would make Pink Wards less optimal in certain situations, as by their nature they don't offer anything against nearsight.

See what I'm getting at? Tons of possibilities, Riot just isn't doing anything. ;c