What does a balanced champion look like to you? Which champion is in a balanced state to you?

Princess Emma·4/2/2015, 4:05:13 PM·2 votes·1,175 views

Everyone speaks about balance and how some champions kits are overloaded, needs a rework, or is just downright terrible. Every champion has counters, (Except Yorick of course, everyone knows that!) some champions can lane or jungle better than others whether it be early, mid or late game (maybe even all three).

Of course there may not be a ''true'' state of balance, but despite that , there has to be some balanced champions with decent kits who haven't fallen out and are still viable.

What champions in your opinion has a balanced and decent kit that isn't too annoying or too weak(Even if they need a slight tweak, that's fine too.)

What does a balanced champion look like to you?

15 Comments

SmokingPuffin4/2/2015, 4:29:46 PM6 votes

I expect a balanced champion to have strong strengths and weak weaknesses. It should be obvious how you fight against them, and also clear why you would want to pick them.

I also expect a balanced champion to have play and counterplay in their core play pattern. They should be able to do something awesome, but there should also be reasonable ways to mitigate the awesome.

I think Xerath is a good concrete example of this. You pick him because he's good at zapping from a mile away. You beat him by jumping on his face and squishing it. Overall, the zapping and the squishing approximately balance each other out, and we're left with a good but not great champion.

AndyChrono4/2/2015, 4:25:41 PM2 votes

I mostly play mid, and honestly Lux is probably the most balanced champion in Mid if not the entire game.

Martyrofsand4/2/2015, 4:14:24 PM2 votes

Orianna, hands down the single most balanced champ Riot has ever made.

DrMarshSwamp4/2/2015, 4:27:07 PM2 votes

Personally I think Cho'Gath is fairly balanced.

slippykitten4/2/2015, 4:50:12 PM1 votes

This exact thought process is why Riot has difficulty communicating with you guys.

Every single time ANY champion gets altered, the balance of EVERYONE changes. Therefore the issue is never what champs are currently "balanced" because it doesnt work like that. In an effort to balance the entire game, certain champs can be too strong or too weak, but every minor detail ripples through the game.

So are you asking who is playable but not op during this patch? Then there would be a lot, basically all the champs that are between a 48-52% win rate.

Also, the way the game is played differs between modes. Champions perceived as imbalanced in solo q are either stronger or weaker in 5's teams. They attempt to balance the game for 5's full teams, so there will always be people that do better in solo q and there will always be champs that are not really useful in solo q.

Teridax684/2/2015, 5:15:12 PM1 votes

Overloaded or unhealthy kits are more of a design issue than a balance issue, and often unhealthy champions are weak specifically because they're balanced around whichever mechanics make them abusive. On the flipside, I think a well-balanced, well-designed kit can still feel OP or overly weak in the appropriate situations. Viability is also often dependent on design, even if it's mainly based on balance: often, the most viable champions are those who possess certain abilities (mobility for example), rather than champions with the most raw power, though in the end it's balance that determines the tradeoffs to those mechanics and how harsh they should be, along with their benefits.

Soraka is, in my opinion, a balanced champion, with extremely pronounced strengths and weaknesses: she is by far the best healer in the game, and can save her entire team from death several times over within the same fight, but is also extremely vulnerable at all times, and jeopardizes her own life when healing her allies. Focusing Soraka in fights is a clear yet nuanced strategy that comes from that.

Takeuchi 174/2/2015, 5:23:03 PM1 votes

i feel like this is a trick by riot to find champions to nerf for no reason. RIP Veigar

thinking man4/2/2015, 5:23:30 PM1 votes

I like these threads since I have a reason to downvote 90% of the posts in them.

Nameless Voice4/2/2015, 5:41:29 PM1 votes

Chogath Lux

Two prefect examples, for me. Both have clear strengths and weaknesses, and patterns that allow them to outplay or be outplayed.

AtheosisX4/2/2015, 4:12:32 PM1 votes

80% of the champions in the game are more or less balanced at the moment if you ask me, since most can dominate if played well while also having clear counters. It's the top 10% and bottom 10% that are generally the issue. In the case of the top 10% you see champions that have no clear weaknesses and few counters, and in the bottom 10% you see champions that have too many weaknesses and too many counters.

4nth0l0gy4/2/2015, 6:06:46 PM1 votes

Velkoz always comes to mind when I think of a balanced champion. He is the quintessential immobile mage. He has good range with reasonably dodgeable skills, his damage increases as he hits a target consecutively, he's strong when positioned well but vulnerable when not...not to mention his kit feels really unique because of the Q and R.

He always feels like he should to me: powerful but not overbearing when ahead, weak but not useless when behind. I can't think of a champion who does that better.

SEKAI4/2/2015, 4:17:44 PM1 votes

The most balanced champs are along the lines of tanks pre patch 5.5, pre-rework Sion, Urgod in the past few years, Evelynn, compensated Veigar and Mord, and finally, Kassawin.

Knight SoIaire 4/2/2015, 4:25:41 PM1 votes

ballanced you say ?

ballanced right now or ballanced in his kit ?

ballanced right now are champions who have 50% winrate or are realy close to it

ballanced in kit ... well not many we have loads of champions who have their main power loaded into some toxic interactions like kalista who is either op or up depending on her opponent yasuo for the same reason as kalista

the thing is that riot never realy created any profile of ballanced champion, they just say that ballanced champion is the one who fights you equaly so their champion designers arent realy bound in any way or by any set of rules to create equal champions we have champions who are specialists in their own field, who are ballanced when you put them vs other specialists and perform badly vs generalists and we have a group of generalists who tend to do everything they can, they are ballanced vs other generalists and fairly more abusable vs specialists just because they have a better array of tools

i could go in depth of why generalists wreck specialists, but let me say it in couple words without going into details specialists are usualy countered by a set of tools that counters their kits specialization, generalists are often to have those tools stucks somewhere in their kit

in the end this lack of direction from riot creates the thing we call the lack of ballance since there is too many levels to ballance on and there is no place that they can drop the ballance

darius wont be as good pick as lee sin, because darius is made to deal with meele enemies who cant outjump him, this means that darius doesnt get ballanced to face ranged or mobile opponents while lee sin is a generalist, he is ballanced vs opponents who can perform many tasks just like him, so he isnt ballanced to fight people who do less stuff than him

WolfChases4/2/2015, 4:44:04 PM1 votes

Balanced champions?

Mid lane: Lux, Malzahar, Talon. Top: Renekton, Darius, Trundle. Jungle: Rengar, Nocturne, Amumu and Elise needs a slight buff to be perfectly balanced. Support: Janna and Nami only as balanced ones. Adc: Sivir, Draven, and Caitlyn as the most balanced ADC so far.