Champion Recategorization

Assassin Fighter Mage Marksman Support Tank

These roles don't really define the current champion pool all that well. I propose a redesign.

Here are some thoughts:

Solo Lane Tank (Think: Sion, Maokai, Gnar...) Solo Lane Juggernaut (Think: Garen, Darius, Tryndamere...) Solo Lane Offensive Mage (Think Vel'Koz, Karthus, Ahri...) Solo Lane Control Mage (Think Morgana, Lissandra, Azir...) Solo Lane Hybrid Mage/Attacker (Think Corki, Ezreal, Kog'Maw...) Duo Lane Supported Sniper (Think Caitlyn, Twitch, Varus...) Duo Lane Supported Attacker (Think Tristana, Graves, Sivir...) Duo Lane Supporting Tank (Think Braum, Leona, Thresh...) Duo Lane Supporting Control Mage (Think Morgana, Janna, Soraka...) Between-Lane Tank (Think Sejuani, Nautilus, Zac...) Between-Lane Bruiser (Think Master Yi, Akali, Shyvana...) Between-Lane Offensive Mage (Think Kayle, Diana, Elise...)

(I say "between-lane" because there might someday be a new map, one with an area between lanes that isn't a jungle - it might even be a forest!)

One of the things that this does is it opens up the opportunity for some new concepts:

1. The "anti-control mage" character. There currently isn't a single character in the roster that is explicitly designed to counter a heavy CC team. Poppy is the only champion that can become immune to crowd control and she has to target a very specific champion nearby to suddenly become immune to another champ's CC. Zhonya's Hourglass is a ridiculously popular item because of its activated ability (and even then, you rarely see it used to block a cc without immediately leading to the user's death ANYWAYS). When an item is valued for an ability that will fail over half the time, you have a broken mechanic. Cleanse is becoming super popular, especially in the LCS. These are symptoms of a problem. There are no floodgates to fall back on when crowd control becomes too popular. There is no champion that can be drafted to counter a full lockdown team. That can change, but first there needs to be a role defined for it so that you can make sure that the champion has a place in the roster.

2. When a character fits in a very distinct and resonant role, you have some real potential to shine. Annie would fit as a Duo Lane Supporting Offensive Mage, especially if she gets a few early kills - Vel'Koz has been played in that role as well. If the meta shifts in a direction where players are using more fragile supports and ADC's, that role would be stronger. But with only two characters popularly filling that role, you'd see a hole that needs to be filled.

3. you have over 120 champs, and they're supposed to fit into 6 categories? I think this is a classic case of neglect. My suggestion is to build a list of categories, and allow players to go onto each champion's page, say, on a wiki-style environment, and nominate new roles for each champ. If Morgana fits in two roles (a "flex pick") then she should have that visible in-game.

4. (this is just a continuation of the above) Cross the streams. On each champion's page, there should be an option to view prerecorded games where that champion played well. have it be a link to the youtube videos you already have saved, there are countless ones. Youtube ALREADY offers suggested videos at the end of each of those playbacks, so that you can go down the rabbit hole as far as you want. Let new players see the REAL potential of these champions. Even Poppy has LCS Highlights!

5. Even with all those categories above, you can break it down into simple components.

a) Solo Lane/ Duo Lane/ Between-Lane : Until we see a dedicated Tri-Lane triple threat champ setup, I think this is good enough.

b) Supported/Supporting : This tells you how the duo laners play out their respective roles.

c) Control/Offensive: This explains how those mages get used - You're not going to use Vel'Koz or Syndra to stun targets, you get another mage to do that. The difference between those mages is distinct, and you want to have a better understanding of them before you play them, play with them, or play against them.

d) I went with Hybrid Mage/Attacker for the notorious hybrid damage midlaner/adc flex picks who are quite popular in the lcs, mainly because of their flex status. Do you think Hybrid works as a term or should I have just stuck with flex? New players who look at those champs should probably know that their damage comes from mixed damage types, and hybrid sorta conveys that, whereas flex might be interpreted to mean that they can change between one or the other. :P Ehh, maybe I'm overthinking it.

So what do you guys think? Yay? Nay? Potato?