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ARAM win rates since the addition of mark/dash

HIGHSQUEEKS·5/7/2015, 6:20:16 PM·15 votes·12,904 views

As a frequent ARAM player, the new ARAM mark/ dash has sadly ruined my desire for playing ARAM at all. I have expressed why I disliked this new spell in a previous post and I will not reiterate that.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/IEXQ6t7n-please-remove-markdash?comment=005d

I have tracked the howling abyss win rates (good and bad) for the last 6-8 months, and the top 15 on both the high and low win rates has been relatively consistent. I again visited the win rates for ARAM for the most recent week , found here:

http://www.lolking.net/charts?region=na&type=champion-winrate&range=weekly&map=ha&queue=normal

The easily determined conclusion is that the mark/dash has not changed the win rate for most of the top or bottom champions. Sona, Ziggs, and Heimer are all still there on the top (well above 60% win rate) along with most of the champions that were there prior to the mark/dash .. Bard, Evelyn, and Elise are all still on the bottom (below 40% win rate) along with most of the champions that were there prior the mark/dash. There are most likely some champions that have increased/ decreased win rates, but the “hated OP ARAM only account champions” are still kicking ass, and you still are going to cringe when you roll Evelyn or Bard.

  1. If the intention of RIOT adding the mark/dash was to normalize the strong/ weak champions closer to the 50% win rate, it has failed.
  2. Historically good ARAM champions are still good and historically bad ARAM champions are still bad.

So the big question that must be asked of RIOT is:

What was the true intention of adding this spell to ARAM?

  1. Create a fair playing field for all of the champions in an already unbalanced mode? (Not working)
  2. Make the mode more fun? (Maybe for some, but I am done with the mode)
  3. Give the community what they want/ cater to the casual players?  (They unfortunately didn’t ask the ARAM players who actually play the mode seriously)
  4. Create a permanent Poro King mode?

27 Comments

Hard4Hamsters5/7/2015, 9:05:18 PM7 votes

Some/most of the champions that are at the bottom of the winrate list are just bad teamfighters. Evelynn, Elise, Lee Sin, Kha Zix, Zed, Akali; all champions that are poor teamfighters because they were designed in a way that made them strong as assassins, they do best against isolated targets and in ARAM you are in a teamfight for the majority of the game. In addition, some of the lowest winrate champions in the game regardless of map or gamemode make up a large portion of this pool.

If you notice, champions that did not have very high winrates (ziggs level) until the addition of dash/mark were strong teamfighters, but are now able to engage better and stick to targets. Of those I mention, Sion, Nautilus, Maokai, Vladimir, Galio, and Mordekaiser were almost never top 15 champions for ARAM prior to the addition of Mark/Dash (Galio might have been). You'll also notice that Vel'koz was dethroned as one of the strongest ARAM champions. Janna and Varus have been dethroned as well.

Basically your argument that bad aram champions are still bad at aram is true only because Aram is a teamfight/siege start to finish. Champions designed to do other things in Summoners Rift will be bad in an element of the game they are weak in. Not to mention that some champs are just bad right now. Bard is a champion that is not designed for the Howling Abyss and it shows. His E is almost useless in the map. His chime spawn locations are hard to place in such a crowded space. His only saving grace is his Ult and that takes coordination with a team that is not found in a random team.

There are some new stronger ARAM champions though because they have a more solid way to engage on champions they previously had trouble with. I almost exclusively play ARAM and I'm one of the few diehards that welcomes this change and even though mark/dash is kind of unbalanced at the moment. It is a good addition to the game mode. I have a slightly positive win rate on ARAM both before and after the addition of Mark/Dash with over 1300 games played. My champ roster: Ahri Annie Ashe Diana DrMundo Evelynn Ezreal Gangplank Garen Gragas Graves Hecarim Heimerdinger Lux Malphite Nautilus Nunu Olaf Pantheon Quinn Ryze Sejuani Shaco Shen Singed Sion Swain Soraka Taric Thresh TwistedFate Udyr Urgot Vladimir Warwick XinZhao Yorick Poppy Sivir

My most recent purchases have been Poppy and Nunu. Champions that have been gifted to me: Thresh and Malphite

I'm sharing this information to show that I might have a bias based on my experience whilst playing ARAM. I play to have fun; even though I try to win every game, I don't play with the sole purpose of winning (probably why I don't play ranked). If you do, hey, that's you; I'm not one to judge. I think the Mark/Dash summoner adds a new element to the game, but I do think that it is a tad OP right now, and I'm glad that there are people working at Riot to bring the spell to a healthier spot in the game mode. It doesn't really need much, they've already announced splitting the damage, which is good. The only thing it would really need is a slightly higher CD and possibly reducing the range a tad. I would say a 30 second CD and a reduction in range of about 500-1000. With those changes and the split damage, I think it will be fine. After that, I hope everyone can be happy.

Some champions will still be weak in the Howling Abyss, and that is okay. Some champions aren't meant to do well at teamfighting and sieging. Evelynn LeeSin Leblanc Khazix Nocturne to name a few. And some champions are not well suited for the Howling Abyss map: Bard and RekSai namely. And still more, are really weak right now due to being nerfed: Elise.

Bottom line is if you are playing the game for your W/L ratio and your KDA, you might not like the change because you have put in the time to understand the game as it has been for years upon years. When something new threatens the balance of that, you might get upset. If, however, you play the game to have fun and improve your own game, you probably have no qualms with the Mark/Dash summoner in ARAM. I personally love ARAM because it teaches you to adapt to all kinds of possible teamcomps; how to play with them and against them. I welcomed the new summoner as it was something new to adjust to and adapt: evolve. I think I might get Kha Zix as one of my next champs. :P

Anyway. Later dude. Good luck with everything. Peace.

Ser Garland5/7/2015, 6:22:47 PM5 votes

Something tells me you have a smurf made SPECIFICALLY for Aram...

Remikai5/7/2015, 11:26:25 PM4 votes

This is a really good question.... Why did Riot add Mark?

Here's my guess. As far as LOL goes, all i play it ARAM and rarely play SR. One of my friends is doing the exact same thing, and we are just average people. So perhaps there are many people doing the same.

This is Riots way of bringing people back to SR... to make ARAM not as fun.

HIGHSQUEEKS5/7/2015, 6:27:41 PM4 votes

No that's not true.. but make that assumption if you want...48 champions including Tryndamere, Poppy, Mundo, Chogath, Garen, Tristana etc etc

Daedalus Rising5/8/2015, 11:12:00 AM3 votes

In a tank meta Mark is too op. Good luck if you got a squishy champ because your peel has officially become completely useless. Just watch as from a screen away you get initiated on. If they're going to keep the spell the cooldown has to be way longer. This isn't ARAM anymore, it's a snowball fight for tanks.

usul12025/7/2015, 7:53:44 PM3 votes

The point isn't the win rate, its that i can have fun playing udyr and not get shit on every single game. This addition wasn't for balance, it was to make the game more fun for everyone, not just nidalee/xerath/ziggs/jayce/chogath comps.

Spoo5/9/2015, 2:41:28 AM3 votes

Honestly, it isn't ARAM anymore.

ARAM doesn't feel like ARAM, and it doesn't feel like Legend of the Poro King. I played aram to play champions... not everyone be Lee Sin.

Honestly the mode feels like one for all mode Lee Sin. In this case riot lets just remove ARAM and bring back one for all. At least there can be no bitch on what's fair or balanced. Mark would work great in this mode.

lightdragoon885/9/2015, 3:21:56 PM2 votes

Sigh.....I miss ARAM.

AtheosisX5/8/2015, 12:04:26 PM2 votes

I thought they added it to ruin ARAM. They certainly succeeded on that front. Nothing quite so fun as getting jumped from the other side of the map by Katarina, Amumu, or Galio....

Drunk Rummate5/7/2015, 7:58:42 PM2 votes

Yes. Please remove the damn summoner. It's an unnecessary and gimmicky mechanic.

If you want to reduce the strength of champions like Ziggs, widen the bridge slightly (especially around the towers) so that it's easier to dodge his mines and skillshots, and maybe reduce the natural mana regen by a slight amount.

It Hertz When IP5/7/2015, 8:26:06 PM2 votes

summoner 32 isn't the problem. The problem is that Riot won't open the whole roster for ARAM, so wins are often determined by which team has more ARAM smurfs. It's like gambling against someone who's using loaded dice.

Yeah, some champions will always dominate and others will always be shit. That's irrelevant. It's a RANDOM mode, the idea is (supposedly) that the presence of these champions will occur at RANDOM. Open the whole roster and you'll be just as likely to roll a Sona as the other team is. Leave it as is, and you get smurfs who have say a 5/15 chance of getting an "OP" champ instead of a 5/150.

Krigjer5/9/2015, 8:55:48 PM1 votes

I can't stand ARAM in the first place, and I only played it when I had friends that wanted to get a quick match out of the way.

With everything I've read about mark/dash, I certainly won't be playing ARAM anymore, and I'll be firm in refusing my friend's offers now.

Deimosnight5/25/2015, 1:58:16 AM1 votes

There is a positive about this new spell. I've been putting off giving DOTA a serious chance for a long time. Now that the only game mode I enjoy playing in LOL is gone it's given me the motivation to try another MOBA. While Summoner's Rift is basically the same thing as DOTA's laning game mode, I've been trying out a few heroes and I think I like DOTA's more. Now if Riot ever decides to make the Howling Abyss a Mark/Dash free game mode again, I will come back in a heartbeat, and if not then its a shame that I had to waste so much of my time and money on a game mode (ARAM) that was apparently still in beta-testing.

z0r5/13/2015, 9:59:41 PM1 votes

Given how little they're altering it with the next patch, I'm going to go with "trying to kill the mode or heavily reduce its popularity so people go back to summoner's rift." Or just being extremely naive about what immobile champions need for help (or how they work) while completely overlooking how Mark/Dash affects everyone else.

I don't even know why they would want to balance the mode for immobile champions, it is simply impossible. I'd say the vast majority of champions (80-90%) were already playable in ARAM assuming it wasn't against a poke comp of death (aka, Sona, Ziggs, Janna, etc), if the player knows what to do with the champion. Champions like Olaf and Nocturne could absolutely carry prior to Mark/Dash if they played well and built properly. But Udyr is never going to thrive in the mode because he's not a champion that does well in long 5v5 fights when he doesn't have a huge gold advantage and giving him Mark/Dash is never going to change that.