True Damage Shouldn't Be In Any Champion's Kit

Best Ekko NA··6 votes·672 views

Back around Season 2-3, there were only 6-7 champions in League of Legends who could deal True Damage to champions using the abilities in their kits. These days, Season 8 - This has expanded by more than 2 times as many champions capable of dealing True Damage to enemy champions with their kits (~20 champions). I believe this contributes to many of the problems and frustration players feel in games these days.

At the most basic level, the game is a Role Playing Game. You as the player, control a hero and make decisions based on what the enemy is doing and also what the enemy is capable of. As a Tank, you want to be durable and able to protect your teammates from harm. As a melee damage dealer (aka a Bruiser), your primary objective is to be a front line damage source while also having enough durability to survive. As a Mage, your job is to use spells to burst damage on enemies. As an Assassin, your job is to eliminate low health and low durability enemies quickly. And last, but not least, as a Ranged DPS your job is to provide small yet consistent damage over time to help whittle down durable enemies so they can be killed. So what does any of this have to do with True Damage being an issue?

True Damage alone, negates the purpose of class roles. Tank and Bruiser champions who are supposed to be in the front lines are melted instantly, Mages and Ranged DPS become Assassins with the smallest leads, and some Bruisers and Tanks even turn into terrifying unkillable True Damage machines. The only possible method of countering these situations is to stack health, but most of the time that will only set the player behind even more because health is not a good choice for many champions. From a balancing perspective, True Damage is always either too powerful or not strong enough. There are over one-hundred champions in League now, and simply no method to give a set number on any True Damage that can remain balanced with and against each remaining champion in the game.

True Damage should be removed and replaced with penetration or similar effects (negated by armor and resistance). Granted, I am not balancing master mind, but I cannot see any advantages for leaving True Damage in any champion's kit when the same effect can be acquired in a much healthier fashion. True Damage enables some champions to do things they shouldn't be able too (Cho'Gath nearly 1 hitting a Bruiser for instance) and on other champions, simply has no reason for existing (Gangplank's passive, Twitch's poison, and Fiora's passive in my humble opinion).

Even if True Damage can't be removed from the champions which already have it, I really hope no more True Damage champions are ever allowed to exist in League of Legends. With the addition of Zoe and reworked Irelia, there are already enough True Damage terrors within the game, and with each further champion added it makes games snowball faster (as there's no real way to counter True Damage). True Damage is something that should be rare and these days it's beginning to feel like it's everywhere.

7 Comments

Sp33d Zer02 votes

So in season 3 there were 7, and in season 8 there are 20? That's roughly the same ratio of champs/season as it was back then.

Best Ekko NA1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sp33d Zer0,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vbRImnmN,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2018-04-04T06:43:03.242+0000)

So in season 3 there were 7, and in season 8 there are 20? That's roughly the same ratio of champs/season as it was back then.

How is the ratio relevant here? The amount in regards to the available pool of champions doesn't affect much because you do not have the entire pool of champions in every match. It's only possible to have a maximum of 10 champions in each match. In the past, it wasn't a huge issue (although noticeable on Vayne specifically in the beginning) because there were so few champions that had True Damage in their kits.

Every champion does have a weakness, even today, but that doesn't change the problems that True Damage brings to the table. Just because a champion seems fairly balanced or average, doesn't mean the True Damage in their kits is in a good balance spot. The more True Damage available in the selection of champions, the worse and worse the balance of the game itself is going to become. Everything in League of Legends is meant to have checks and balances (Magic Damage -> Magic Resist -> Magic Penetration, etc.) and True Damage is a component of the game with almost nothing to counter it.

It's like sweet and sugary foods with Trans Fat in them, they are appealing and taste great but in the long run the Trans Fat will build up and kill you. Eventually League is going to become a True Damage slap fest where all champions without it will be irrelevant. Sure, that is far from the case currently but the effects of many champions having True Damage are already presenting themselves in the game.

Sp33d Zer02 votes

The counter to true damage is raw hp.

Best Ekko NA1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sp33d Zer0,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vbRImnmN,comment-id=000000000000,timestamp=2018-04-04T19:42:23.462+0000)

The counter to true damage is raw hp.

Okay, go build HP Lucian then - please be my guest. Trust me, that's almost NEVER a good answer. Also, that's not actually "counter play". That's almost like saying the best method of killing the enemy is to damage them. Of course, if someone has a lot of health, it will take more True Damage to kill them, but that ultimately doesn't help turn the tides on the enemy when they're going to out scale you. Building something you can't use to counter someone who doesn't have to change anything to keep killing you is the exact definition of unbalanced.

Sp33d Zer02 votes

Then Attack damage and Ability power also have no counter. It's like saying raw hp is the counter to true damage. Armor and magic resist just get cut through anyways and it just takes more attack damage and ability power to kill them.

Best Ekko NA1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sp33d Zer0,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vbRImnmN,comment-id=00000000000000000000,timestamp=2018-04-04T20:46:09.939+0000)

Then Attack damage and Ability power also have no counter. It's like saying raw hp is the counter to true damage. Armor and magic resist just get cut through anyways and it just takes more attack damage and ability power to kill them.

That's not true, you can reduce the damage taken from both Attack Damage and Magic Damage abilities and attacks. There is no method for "reducing" or countering True Damage. Building more health isn't reducing what the enemy is capable of, it's only effectively making SOME (not even all) True Damage attacks to deal a lesser percent of your health in damage. It doesn't change how hard the enemy hits you nor make it any less effective, the enemy still deals the same amount of damage regardless. Some champions (namely Fiora and Vayne) deal percent health True Damage, so it doesn't matter how much health you build -- it only increases the amount of True Damage you take.

In short -- Health doesn't counter True Damage because it doesn't reduce the enemy's damage.

Pandemic Punch2 votes

I don't mind a little bit of true damage. It is when were start getting into the health% true damage territory where it is ridiculous. Fiora

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