Riot: Stop Leaving Champions so Weak for so Long

Rewind things back a year ago.

Most champions managed to win about as often as they lost. There were outliers, of course. But for the most part, champions were not permitted to remain on the outskirts of viability for more than a patch.

There are now 17 champions in this game, that win less than 45% of their games.

I am not saying that win rate is a perfect tool for judging champion strength, but I would say that for the most part, champions shouldn't fall below about 45% for any reason.

Azir, Syndra, Elise, Zilean, Ryze, Zac, Urgot, Akali, Fizz, Tristana, Olaf, Yasuo, and Gragas have all been nerfed or reworked for various reasons into a point of just plain unviablilty (barring extremely specific counterpicks).

I don't think this is an acceptable level of balance.

I think one of the problems is, lately, that Riot has gone about nerfing with extremely heavy handed tactics, which leave champions unplayable for mass periods of time. This philosophy, as opposed to small nudges over several patches, is one of the reasons people are in a state of constant fear that their champions will be nerfed into oblivion. This fear was mentioned in the season 5 introduction video and I don't think Riot has followed through with the promise to end the "whack-a-mole" style balance philosophy.

I would say my fear has increased if anything. I lost Syndra and Azir. I lost Elise. And I am really afraid that Katarina is going to be obliterated soon.

I want more patches, more often, with more nudges (both nerfs and buffs)....rather than crushing blows to my mains.

It takes work to learn a champion. But it hurts more to have to unlearn one.