Re: Unusual Playstyles | /dev diary - League of Legends

Riot Meddler encouraged members of the community to share their opinions on unusual playstyles and thoughts on them.

I've played League of Legends since Season 2, and I've been in every division except Bronze, Master, and Challenger. So I speak about this with relative understanding of player skill across divisions.

I'd first like to address the issue the community took with AdellaideSkyhart's strategy and Riot's response to it. Though not specifically addressed in the video, a lot of people in the comments assume this is an indirect response to such a thing with people continuously stating (as a meme) that playing support Singed is bannable (which Riot said wasn't true, he was banned because of lack of communication and disregard for other player's feelings on his strategy, whether or not you believe that reasoning is up to you).

When playing League of Legends, no matter how much time passes the general idea of the game should remain the same. You lane, teamfight, and push to destroy the enemy base. With these expectations, people might take issue with unusual strategies and picks.

When the adc in AdellaideSkyhart's games queued for the role, they were probably expecting a support (of some sort) down bot lane. They would've been fine with true supports, AP supports, MF support, or even Yasuo support. That's because when that adc queued up, he had a general understanding of how games as an adc should have gone. Go to lane, farm, wait for ganks, try not to die, and then teamfight. He probably expected his support to join him down bot lane (perhaps after trying to steal the enemy jungler's buff), and then his support might've roamed mid after a few waves.

When AdellaideSkyhart joined the room and pasted his copy pasta of what his strategy and pick was, he must've been a little shocked to say the least.

Solo queue is a complete mess, no one is on the same page about anything, but when playing you have a general understanding of what other people will pick and do. When AdellaideSkyhart picked Singed "support," (in quotes because he didn't play like one) everyone had to play a whole different kind of League of Legends.

The enemy bot lane had to go hyper aggressive, denying the enemy adc as much as possible and looking for an easy kill. The enemy jungler had to go on the defensive, there were two people with smite on the enemy team that would be invading him. The enemy midlaner and toplaner had to care for double jungler ganks.

On his team, his adc had to sit at tower. Any further and he'd be over extending. If the enemy jungler, mid, or Teleport Top came to gank, he would probably die, and if the enemy bot lane had a blitzcrank or some other catch support, he'd die if hit by cc. His jungler (his duo queue) would have to help him invade. His mid lane had to care for the enemy bot lane early roaming due to no pressure down bot.

The reason why AdellaideSkyhart got Plat 4 (in my opinion) was because this was a brand of League of Legends he was used to playing. Everyone else in the game had to learn as quickly as possible how to play with his strategy. Everything they learned about the laning phase their entire League of Legends careers was out of the window this game. The enemy team was at the disadvantage in this sense, 5 out of 5 of their players had never played this kind of league of legends.

On his team, AdellaideSkyhart and his duo queue jungler were used to this brand of league, so only 3 players had to adapt. The players put at the most disadvantage was the enemy jungler, and the ally adc, which in my opinion is unfair to them. Losing this game would not be vindictive of their skill in League of Legends, it would be vindictive of their skill playing with AdellaideSkyhart.

This logic also applies to champions that are never played. If you play a champion no one else plays, you have a slight advantage because they're not used to fighting against you. How many times did you have to google movesets of champions you never play against? How many times was that useless anyways because you didn't know how to trade against them properly?

So yes, AdellaideSkyhart got Plat 4 playing his brand of League of Legends. However, when he took a break in fear of another ban, he got Gold 5 playing the "normal" (our) brand of League of Legends.

Using my explanation above, I feel as though things mentioned in the video do not apply to unusual playstyles.

AP Trynd and Tank Ekko were not unusual playstyles, they were unusual (or unintended) builds. When creating the champions, riot's design team intended them to be AD and AP respectively, but players found that building them differently was more effective. To change this, Riot decided to nerf their numbers that encouraged the unusual build.

Their playstyle when using this build was normal. AP trynd would go top lane or mid lane and act like a normal champion. Tank Ekko would go top lane or jungle and act like a normal champion. Were they frustrating to fight against? Sure. But were their playstyles different than any other character in that role? No.

The champions' numbers were changed to discourage those kinds of builds. Whether they thought the builds were too strong, or they didn't want the champion played that way Riot changed them. The issue was with the champion itself, not the items they built. Think of it this way: AP Ekko and Tank Ekko were two different champions. Riot nerfed Tank Ekko. Riot's balance team chooses whether or not unintended builds remain in the game or are nerfed, just like any other champion balance choices.

MF support was an unusual pick (it's now common so I used the word "was"). When creating the champion, riot intended for her to be an adc. But Albus Nox played her as a support, and soon everyone realized how great that was and you started seeing her as a support at all levels of the game.

Riot either enjoyed MF as a support, or could not change her in a way that would only discourage MF support while not nerfing adc MF. So support MF remains in the game, and I quite frankly enjoy that people found a different way to use a champion other than their intended role.

However, proxy Singed is an unusual playstyle. Singed has about a 2% pick rate. So for every 100 games, he's in 2 of them. Let's say 1 of those Singeds is a proxy Singed. That means 1 out of 100 games you have to play a different kind of League of Legends.

I main top lane, and I personally do know how to fight against proxy Singed. (Not so subtle brag: I've fought Singed420 and beaten him) But my jungler might not, or if I'm autofilled and someone else goes top, they might not know how to fight against it. The amount of games where my jungler tries ganking the proxy Singed only to waste his and my time because he gets away or executes himself it countless. In the video shown, the Singed went into the base to kill a wave. I'm certain the mid laner didn't enjoy losing a wave to his top lane.

When proxy Singed is in a game, the whole dynamic of the game is changed.

This might be me bagging on Singed, but really it's me blaming Riot. Singed was the first champion they ever designed, and ever since a big nerf back in Season 2? or somewhere the only way to effectively play him is to play him in an unusual playstyle, like proxy or whatever you wanna call AdellaideSkyhart's. I don't know how Riot could change Singed so that he's viable but not playing unusually. but I do know how they could prevent proxying.

Proxy fix: minions gain armor and magic resistance, but lose this buff back to their normal state when they reach the furthest tower in their lane. Similar to how towers lose their armour/magic resist buff when enemy minions are near, minions will lose armour and magic resistance when they meet the furthest tower in their lane.

So in conclusion, Riot needs to understand the difference between unusual playstyles, unusual/unintended builds, and unusual picks. In my opinion, unusual playstyles are unhealthy for the game, while unusual or unintended builds are up to Riot on whether or not they're nerfed, and unusual picks are healthy for the growth of the game.

TL;DR: In my opinion, unusual playstyles are probably unhealthy for the game. There's a difference between unusual playstyles and unusual/unintended builds and unusual picks. Unusual/unintended builds are up to Riot on whether or not they should change the champion's effectiveness with the build. Just like any other balance change, if the build is too common it's Riot's job to change it. Unusual picks are healthy for the game to grow, as seeing champions change roles over time is an interesting way for the game to change.