Balance Thoughts

Hey all,

I'm not a PBE tester, but I have a few thoughts regarding the reworks, and I was wondering who agrees with me. So let's get right to it.

INTRODUCTION

I'll put it bluntly: I think Rito is getting out of hand with reworks. I enjoy the fact that they are trying to bring out the best in every champion, and trying to make the lesser used champions more used. However, I think they jump a bit too far. Their reworks now consist on giving too much to a champion, many whom were already ridiculously strong, and turning them into almost unstoppable threats, and I've experienced it way too much in ranked. The champions I will list below are the examples, but for general stuff, the problem I have is either they are always banned, or they are always played. It shouldn't be like that. I picked up mordekaiser because of his abilities and natural tankiness, and because many people wouldn't be too familiar in playing versus him. I loved the fact no one used him, but then came the rework. With this said, I'll get to the examples.

Mordekaiser

The ability to one-hit squishies with the Q on stack 2 is ridiculous in the mid game, and already at level 2 he can deal serious damage. The balance of this guy is kill him first in any teamfight, but because he retained his natural tankiness, Mordekaiser is difficult to build. Give him HP and ap/ad items and hes not even balanced anymore. I used to hate Diana because she literally had to roll the face on the keyboard, but Morde requires less effort than that: just press Q. Mordekaiser used to be a champion I got a lot of poke with. He was beatable still, but the outplay potential was good, and I felt his balance heavily. I felt his power dip into the midgame and return in the late to really give him that edge, with my goal being get to the midgame before they do. Once my power has dipped, theirs are still rising. That was my tactic. His poke was good, but I felt he needed something else... something was missing. What Riot did however is give him a veigar-like nuke, but lack the squishiness, and give it to him right away. Plus he can ulti the drake. I mean... as awesome as that is, that thing is ridiculous in battle. It has massive hp and deals heavy damage. I get the fact that nerfing his W is good but the whole concept of him has kinda dipped. I always thought of him as the master of spades and metal, but now he's just the master of.... idk, donk? Seriously, you HAVE to focus him in teamfights, but because he's so tanky, the rest will just kil oyu before he dies (if even). He is no longer balanced in my opinion.

Darius

Don't even get me started on this load of bs. Darius used to be the guy with low mana costs who could poke heavily, clear waves quickly, and bully the crap out of anyone in lane, except teemo. He wasn't easily beatable and usually required an outplay, with some chance, in order to nerf him. He had problems in the midgame, specifically with his damage to armor ratio, but i felt his kit provided enough utility for a teamfight, such as shen, who's damage isn't the highest, but can dish out some serious utility. Then came his rework. Give his lane bullying ability and double it, as now he can play ultra aggressive early on and be fine with it. A lag on his Q in my opinion REALLY doesn't make up for the fact that his Q also HEALS. I mean, the guy give you a bleeding stack that drains your hp extra after a heavy poke and deals aoe damage with his Q, being more op from a range, so why on earth would you provide a guy who nerfs your hp with sustain that nerfs your hp but heals his? This is in the early game. Bring on late game, where his aoe stacking leads to dunks all around, but now add healing. You have successfully created a champion that can get easy pentakills. He gets low when 5 are on him? no problem, just Q everyone for MORE HEAL, then proceed to dunk em. Also, instead of his bleeding being magic damage, it now also scales off of AD, basically giving any player v him the big middle finger. He may not be as op as morde, but.... rito pls....

Fiora

Fiora was a ridiculously difficult champion to play against. Early game she is somewhat of a threat, but bring on level 6 where she can destroy your engage entirely. Add this to her natural sustain, and her item set merely boosting it, and giving her a parry and an ult that you basically have to pray to survive against, and you have a consistent threat. What riot did is add more sustain on level 6. Not only can she always crit you (basically just digging you a massive grave), but upon successful completion of the ult gives you more sustain, like a janna. She can also parry abilities and ultimates instead of just an auto attack. Riot, why did you do this to an already very threatening champion? She was a massive ad threat, much like riven, but all you did was make her a target practice duelist with massive sustain.

Gangplank

Gangplank is a weird thing for me. He used to be a tricky champ. All you needed was critical damage build and you could destroy people. It was progressive. Now, all you need is trinity force and ionian boots, add that to some barrels and you have insane damage. I always thought GP's ult was realy plain, so I like the doubloon addition, but i REALLY dislike the amount of passives he has got. He can heal, cleanse, ghost, and ignite, all in one champ, and regen mana costs from his Q. Basically, give him infinite vision wards and give him the summoners Teleport and Flash and you have a champ that pretty much has it all. It used to be a cumbersome poison, but hitting his barrels gives him bonus movement speed, armor pen, slow the enemy, and a burst of damage that is absolutely unreal. Or was it if you pop your Q and kill you get ghost? Also, the fact than even in LCS he was a pick to win as a champ is ridiculous, and should provide some insight that if you have a champion that when picked basically means you have a higher shot at winning rather than picking him means you're gonna have to be good at him is obsurd. Champions should be based around mechanics. Gangplank is literally here are some barels in your face. Die. I hate when games have either a ban or a pick on a champion, and gangplank is one of them. In ranked all I hear is "Ban Gangplank". It's either that, or someone picks him, and no matter how much I outplay and destroy him in lane, he comes back with triforce and ionian boots and can still kick my and suddenly everyone's butts..... Like Ekko's release. He used to be a champ that if you picked him you could carry no matter how bad you are, and he has to be banned or you lose.

Skarner

I don't have much to say about skarner really... He was underused but had so much potential. Riot basically gave him more in-jungle power, and kept his signature abilities: A slow, a speedup, and a hook stun grabby thing, which skarner was based around: Chasing someone down, catching its prey, and having his horde feast on it helplessly. I like how he has received a boost to this ability, and his general playability. Plus it seems he was made for the position. However, I don't understand why people also feel the need to ban him. I agree he can dive and take out a threat, he pretty much has 3 kalista ghosts stationed, where if the enemy step on your spire you know they're near. but the enemy HAS to step on it to prevent in-jungle disadvantage. I like what skarner offers, and provides more fighting potential ingame. Personally, I find this rework the only real successful one out of the recent reworks.

Conclusion

Basically, I want to know what other people feel about this recent pattern of reworks. What I've noticed is that riot is basically giving more to champions than I feel they should deserve. Fiora doesn't need a heal, she's a duelist. If I wanted aoe heal I'd take janna. Also, why should darius get a heal if he's already notorious as a lane bully. Rework someone who needs it! However, the problem I'm having is my hopes for the future. Poppy is in the plans for a rework. Yorick is in the plans for a rework. What I'm worried about is that these champions are going to add to a list of must-plays, as in if you want to win, here is a list of champions you HAVE to play. Want a chance to beat the op enemy team? Pick THESE champions. where are the good old days that I could struggle as jax versus a fiora before she could parry my stun and crit me to death. Where has the time gone that mordekaiser was a challenge to play. Why do all reworks have to suddenly become tricky complex overpowered and overpacked champions? It should be a team comp that matters, not which champion to pick in my opinion. That's how you beat a moba. If all the strategy I needed was "Pick Mordekaiser ADC" and "Take Gangplank Top" then I don't see the fun in it. It's fun to win, but it's not so much fun to basically guarantee a win by picking that champion. I just hope Poppy doesn't suddenly get an op masher Q like morde, and yorick suddenly gets a ghoul with ignite potential, a ghoul with lifesteal percentage over the roof, and a ghoul with AoE stun and heal etc... I would like the reworks only to make champions add more to a team comp or fit better with champions rather than plug a bunch of champions in one. Darius doesn't add anything to the team, he just embodies it. Forget picking Janna bot, just take fiora top and someone else support.

They are also planning a shen rework. I don't understand why they don't focus on champions that are actually barely used currently rather than champions that are already heavily played. Poppy and Yorick are good, but what about zyra, swain, galio, urgot, Dr Mundo, Vladimir.... I rarely see them in games. my ban list is currently fiora gangplank and mordekaiser/darius.... It shouldn't be like that.

What does everyone else think? Is Riot's reworks balanced?