How is it decided if a champion has mana/energy/no resource?

nope, katarina is just pure bullshit

I'd love any and all you'd be willing to talk about! This is an awesome explanation and as an up-and-coming game design nerd, it's very interesting.

Well, Resource isn't only about gating, but also thematics.

For example, Renekton's kit could easily work with mana, since it is very similar to many other AD bruiser kits and with only minor tweaking it would feel like it had been his intended resource from the start (he would feel very much similar to a mix between Nasus and someone like J4 or Vi). However, Renekton is also a being of pure ferocious rage, so having fury as his resource bar made thematic sense and allowed them to put in a different style of gating on him.

On another note, Darius' kit would make far more game sense if it were gated with fury rather than mana, since his gameplay revolves around building power through a sustained fight before finishing with a coup de grace they could easily have built him around fury by changing his bleed from stacking with number of hits to increasing based on current fury, and made his ult damage scale with fury, in a similar manner to Rek'sai's furious bite ability. In this case though, Darius is a cool, calculated individual, so giving him fury would feel slightly out of place thematically (although mana doesn't feel great either).

Resource has to do with the feel of everything about a champion. Could Yasuo's kit work with mana? sure, it could work very well, but it isn't his identity. Would Udyr make more sense as a fury based fighter? Probably! but he would lack a significant gating mechanism. All this to say that resource has more to do with the character than just how they are balanced.

if someone could explain why yasuo and riven aren't gated in any way now...

Limited by cooldowns. Right.

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While I'm no red I can help explain the usual reasoning.

A resource is used when a champion's kit need to be 'gated', or limited, in a certain way that's cohesive to the kit's design.

Lack of a resource isn't lack of gating, it just reduces the gating to cooldowns only. This may seem strong initially until you realize the context resource less champs come out of.

(Resource but still no cost)

These champs have kits that are either very visibly 'triggered' or they're simple fighters with easy to identify play patterns. what this means is that there are enough ways to counter these champs that the additional worry of a resource running out would simply make them easy opponents with very little options available.

It's definitely a strength to be resourceless, don't get me wrong, but only comes in lieu of very obvious weaknesses.With the exception of Kat and Riven, for example, they're all very easily kited. You balance their resourcelessness by extenuating the weakness that justify they're lack of a resource. For Kat you can simply decrease her damage since her passive is the thing that her kit revolves around. Riven you can dull her early game edge, like her base sustain (which they've done before).

Now if you're also curious on reasoning behind using Energy vs. Mana vs. Rage I can give some reasoning behind that as well.

Source: I'm an avid champion conceptor and game design nerd.

forgot

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if someone could explain why yasuo and riven aren't gated in any way now...

in yasuos case, because hes a melee carry. being a squishy in melee means you will only be effective in lane, if you can repeatedly trade without running out of mana.

melee carries are defined by being squishy and dealing a large amount of damage at short distance. now imagine you would pit a mana dependent yasuo against any bruiser.

as a melee carry, yasuo is a special case who doesnt have noticable attack steroids available early on like tryn or fiora, or yi. (at least before he actually manages to amount some crit). he is defined by his abilities. if he was mana geted with the same kit, he would be absolute trash.

since being resourceless is mainly an early game advantage, its his equivalent for the large amount of ad, or attack speed other melee carries have available very early on.

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I guess I could make an attempt, right? My thoughts?

I believe that the kits without mana tend to be more dependent on combinations and melee range. Now let me explain. Take Garen. His Q is a movement speed boost and an auto modifier, his W gives him more tankiness, his E gives him damage around him (and a lot of it at that) and his R is a somewhat ranged execute. He has no mobility besides running up to his target, nor is he heavily ranged. Katarina has a Q which does low damage without follow up. Her W is around her, and her E is a reasonably long cooldown to get her into a fight and keep her alive for a tiny bit longer, her ult requires her to be in the middle of them. She can't play the war of poke, she has to go all in to make the most of her kit. Shen has a low ranged Q, a shield, a dash and a global teleport shield. He has low distance without his dash, his dash is costly to miss. His Q can't be used to poke from miles away like mages.

Basically, from what I see, to make the most of their kit in general requires them to chain in abilities, and/or they tend to be up close and personal with the person they are fighting. I can see no resource-less champion who breaks this rule yet.

Another good example is Riven. While she does a ton of damage and shines in 1 one 1 duels, she is REQUIRED to land her CC in a fair fight if she wants to win. Plus if she uses Q to gap close, she loses a lot of damage, if she uses E her only defensive ability is gone. She also relays a ton on abilities, her autos do nothing. Also, snares remove Riven's ability to use Q or E, denying her any escape or damage. Picking Olaf, Soraka, Morgana, etc counter Riven HARD. Riven is so rare in LCS due to not bring much to the table, but also being countered by very little.

Shen... damn why did I have to be a ninja Well it isn't so bad anymore... but before that energy buff to his E... damn was his energy hard to manage in teamfights and such Like if only he could build a stat or something which would enable him to use his taunt more often and also not run out of mana oh wait... energy... well yeah and also CDR really isn't all that great when you use energy :(
but I want to use taunt and ult more...

monk not a ninja

well they don't know the half of how resources work then. That may be part of the reason, but it isn't simply "we decide somebody's resource based on whether or not they should be able to abuse Trinity force for tons of damage."

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I remember the last time someone asked this question and also remember an answer. Riven has no resource because it would make trinity too efficient for her

Umm, Energy bar?

-1 item

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How about HP cost champs? Other than I dont really see why they give it to who they do

I answered this elsewhere but it's understandably hard to find, I'll just copy paste it here:

There are two ways to use health costs, % based and flat costs.

Flat costs are pretty much only there to limit a champion's early laning power. Effectively until they can itemize lifesteal, spell vamp or passive regen enough to nullify the cost. Morde getting a hextech revolver, for example. After that point the champion becomes effectively resource less and gets the strengths that comes with it. So, in other words, its a way to have a resourceless champion without having them resourceless at the very start.

Percentage health costs are mean to be a constant presence and acts very similarly to mana, where the design goal is to force pacing of a champion's spell use. However, health being health, running low on this resource does more than just make you unable to cast spells, it affects a champion defensively as well. Knwoing this, you may notice that all % health cost champions have some form of reliable health 'refund' mechanic. Zac has his blobs, Mundo has his cleaver hit, and Aatrox has his W toggle. This is because without some form of regen within the kit a champion will get actively punished by simply using their abilities. With a refund mechanic however, you can force specific interactions and develop unique weaknesses within a champion's kit. Aatrox, for example, has to trade a large amount of damage (damage-side W) in exchange for his health return (heal-side W).