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What Makes A Champion Hard?

ItsMaybelline·10/18/2017, 8:40:54 PM·2 votes·833 views

Disclaimer: I've only been playing League since Xayah and Rakan released.

I don't understand what makes a champion hard. I'm pretty new but having to aim isn't exactly groundbreaking, although that might be due to my FPS background. No champions scream impossible to me like Genji in Overwatch. If Genji doesn't get a kill, he can't run. His kit only gives him an escape when he kills someone and often he uses it to get in. This is a tangibly difficult character, but in League i can't find an equivalent.

In mid lane a good comparison would be Annie and Twisted Fate. They both do great ability damage and both have a stun that they have to work for but one of them has to aim. Having said that, the aiming doesn't strike me as something that requires a high amount of skill. It seems much more pre meditated and less about actual reaction time and precision. Only in extreme instances like Jhin does it strike me as something you would have to work on a lot to be good at.

So that makes me think positioning? Well for the most part, Annie's positioning is the same as Syndra's. Even though one is way harder, they still position the same, aside from minute differences in range, the path of a skillshot, etc.

Ok, maybe it's game knowledge so you don't blow a skill on the wrong target? Nine out of ten times, this doesn't seem to be the case to me. Champs do different types of damage, sure, but rarely do they have a skill that does AP and one that does AD. CC works on everyone, and it's more about how the enemy counters what you do than you not fucking up and using the wrong damage. Also, if the difference between a hard champ and an easy one was game sense then the champions that were hard wouldn't be unique since they would all follow the same trends of having a potential fuck up.

So what gives? Have i just passed that beginner level where every champion aside from Annie is hard (Doubt it)? Or is this just because i'm still a noob (Probably)?

10 Comments

BabyNaix10/18/2017, 9:59:04 PM5 votes

In general I find champions that have to make a lot of decisions or require high apm to be pretty hard. These champions needs to "out play" their opponents instead of overpowering their opponents through stats like tankyness or damage. They are usually very squishy without sustain so they are unforgiving to mistakes. They also need to land their entire combo & dodge enemy skill shots to do damage. In general these champions dont have high range, good wave clear, tankyness, or simple skill combo (skills that is only used one way)

Champions like CASSIOPIA (mage) Cassiopeia and VAYNE (adc) Vayne are hard because they are super squishy and needs constant re-positioning to deal damage and avoid skill shots. Cass needs to peel the enemy with her ult and her w, she needs the speed boost from her q to dodge skill shots she needs to spam her e to deal damage. Vayne needs to use her short dash and invisibility to dodge skill shots and re position and use her bolt to peel. They both require constant clicking between where to position and the enemy to deal damage. One mis click could be letting the enemy live or getting caught by an enemy cc. They are both squishy hyper carries that can 1v5 or die instantly.

Certain champions like RIVEN (top laner) Riven or LEE SIN (jungler) LeeSin have combos that are core to their kit and a difficult to pull off. Lots people think that the hardest part of Lee sin is landing his Q, but his ward jump combo (4-w) is much more difficult to do smoothly and consistently. Also it's hard to position his ultimate so you kick the enemy in the right direction or use the enemy as a wrecking ball. Riven has a lot of combos since her spells can cancel the animation of her auto attack and animation of other spells, her auto attack can cancel the animation of her spells, and the item hydra/tiamat. These require specific timing to work. Her damage out put is significantly higher when you can do these combos (just compare faker/boxbox/viper/exile to an average riven). On top of that riven has no heal, is squishy, needs to dodge skill shots with mobility, and does not scale with tanky items. Other easier champions may have similar combos but they are either eaiser to perform or are not core to their kit. For example Azir can knock enemies into your team like lee sin, but you dont need to do it to be effective on him. Fiora, camile can auto reset like riven, but they are much easier to perform without precise timing

In my opinion the 4 above champions are the hardest since they need high apm and land their combo and skill shots or else they are completely useless and dies constantly.

Most assassins are also mechanically difficult and are squishy. LEBLANC Leblanc and ZED Zed also need to land their combo to kill their target, which requires time to learn. But at least they have an escape if they mess up. NIDALEE Nidalee and ELISE Elise need to land a specific skill shot (nidalee spear, elise cocoon) for the rest of their kit to follow up. But they can chose to not follow up.

Certain champions (KATARINA, RYZE, GANGPLANK, SHACO Ryze Shaco ) dont have difficult skill shots or mechanically intensive combos, but have game mechanics that takes some time to learn. SHACO needs to know where to put his box, use his close and invisibility to confuse the enemy. KAT needs to know where to place the dagger and where to jump. RYZE has different spell combos that needs to be memorized.

Some champions are considered difficult because they have important skill shots to lane. These champions are the ones that people may use scripts. (Lux, morgana, xerath, ziggs)

Finally, there are champions that have spells that can screw your team up. BARD ultimate and tunnel, and lee sin kick are examples.

KawaiiShroom10/18/2017, 10:35:37 PM3 votes

I think it's a combination of factors.

how difficult they are mechanically -a. skill shots -b. specific timing for combos -c. mouse clicks/ keystrokes required in a shot time -d. positioning
how forgiving is the champion to mistakes
nuances to the champion
how useful is the champion if he doesn't play the champion to play to his full potential
can the champion play from behind
most champions have some mechanics to them. For example TF has his q skill shot. Some champions like cassiopia have a lot more mechanics, which together makes it more difficult. Cass q,w,r are skill shots. You to lane your q to do damage with your e and you need to move between your q and e. You also need to use your w to stop the enemy from escaping or engaging on you.
squishy champions without mobility/ escape are not forgiving to mistakes. Positioning is also more important. TF out of position without his gold card is dead
Most champions have some nuances. For example TF your q and red card will clear a wave. you can queue up your gold card before you teleport. You can queue up your e before your use your w to do a burst combo. Shaco is all about deceiving and has lots nuances. There is a meme where our shaco feeds and is useless and their shaco always one shots you, and you can never escape and never catch him.
Lots people consider thresh a high skill champion. It's true there's a big difference between average thresh and master thresh. But even if thresh lands 1 of his 4 skills he is very useful to his team. People often compare vayne and draven as the hardest adc. But an average vayne might tumble in and instantly dies. A draven that has 2 axes before his fight can land 3 axes (without catching any), which is enough to chunk out or one shot a squishy with the 3 axes and his e and ult
Certain champions (assassins and skirmishers) are completely useless when behind. Which is why ppl always should camp the lane if there is a riven / yasuo in the game.

ZenithEevee10/18/2017, 9:33:21 PM1 votes

Now, There's 2 different difficulties.

There's Difficult to play as, And difficult to play against.

What makes some characters Difficult to play as is generally anything that requires cognation. A good example was Release Ornn, And how all his kit, Except for his Bellow, Had this Delay that would make his skills something you had to predict around 1 second ahead of time where the enemy will be. Then there's also stuff like Skill shots, Figuring out where you'll be displaced in a displacement, Or just generally how things work (Like using Diana's Q, you have to actually think of the skill shot, And how it almost always curves from her right to her left)

Then there's the difficulty to play against. This one is much easier to explain, As generally anyone that is hard to play against has few counters. Singed was a good example, As his main tactic isn't straight forward, But a better example is ones like Pantheon and Tryndamere, Where most if not all their abilities are considerably hard to miss, Or are mainly things that prevent them from dying. Generally, Anyone who is reasonably balanced wont have lots of counters.

Variks the Loyal10/18/2017, 9:41:08 PM1 votes

Stone. Galio Malphite

Alternatively, metal. Mordekaiser Viktor

Wait, that isn't what you meant...

ModJikker10/18/2017, 10:05:46 PM1 votes

The short answer is that it's one thing to know how to use a champion's abilities (aim skillshots and the like) and another to know how to use them well. Some champs require more thinking and coordinating to use their abilities to their max potential.

Using your example, Annie is pretty straightforward with few nuances to her kit. She last hits with her Q easily, she charges a stun, she uses her stun, she gets a kill. Using her to her full potential doesn't require as much mechanical or game knowledge. TF on the other hand has three cards to choose from each with a different effect and you need to know when is the correct time to use which one, not to mention using his ult at the proper time with queuing up a card when you TP to gank. You can use him well, but not to his full potential without putting in more effort to master the trickier parts of his kit.

Then there are some that are just harder mechanically. Draven is an excellent example. Managing catching axes while last hitting and watching the enemy and positioning correctly, especially in a teamfight takes a much bigger chunk of skill then, say, Caitlyn. He has a better payout, but he takes a lot of practice to get right. Sure you could spend time just autoattacking without spinning his axes and in that case he's not "difficult", but his full kit isn't being used and he's only part of the power level he should be at.

Finally, aiming is "difficult" even if it's not for you. All it takes is a few viewings of Wood Division videos to see that =P Champions with more skillshots are gonna be higher difficulty usually than those that have fewer. For example, before some changes to the difficulty settings, Garen was a lower difficulty than Lux because he has no skillshots (all point and click or effects) and she had only skillshots.

Does that help at all?

RedPannda10/18/2017, 10:06:50 PM1 votes

Ezreal > Taric

redniwediS10/18/2017, 9:02:42 PM1 votes

This is a very relative question. Difficulty depends on what you're specifically looking at.

Juggernauts are hard because of how strong mobility is. Assassins are hard because of the required mechanical skill and game knowledge to not jump in and feed. Supports are hard because making yourself useful to your team requires you to effectively use your utility, as you don't always have anything else to fall back on. Fighters are hard because they both have to be there for their team and manage lane pressure on their own, often without backup. Marksmen are hard because of just how much of the meta relies on them being an asset to their teams.

Then there's even more specific things. Some people find controlling a ranged character difficult, while others can't properly manage threat zones while melee. Some people can't get the hang of split pushing and some don't know what to do in a chaotic team fight. It's all a matter of personal experience, and the more experience you gain the easier these different things will become. You can spread your time out and learn everything a little bit and never reach the skill a one trick has, or you can dive into one subject and master it while ignoring the rest. It's all up to you to decide what will be the thing you find difficult.

Don Spaghetti10/18/2017, 11:26:51 PM1 votes

No champion is particularly hard to just pick up and get some kills with. Everyone's kit is fairly straight forward and has really clear spell/item synergies. Most of the "hard" champions in league have really high skill caps. Picking them up and playing a few games with them isn't hard, but playing them to their maximum potential is difficult.

For ADCs you have Draven . All his damage is just right clicks, but getting 2-4 axes going and keeping them all up in a team fight is key to maximizing your dps. Regardless of how strong he might be in the meta, keeping multiple axes up in an extended teamfight is incredibly difficult and dropping one is a huge blow to your damage. Factor in his low range and lack of dashes and you have arguably the hardest adc to execute on.

Zed Yasuo Ekko are all champions that have an insane amount of outplay potential in their kits. Zed and Ekko are really easy to pick up, Yasuo isn't difficult to pick up but he's not easy either. All the mobility they have, untargetability, shields and the wind wall give them tons of ways to play every engagement, and all 3 are capable of winning more or less any 1v1 you could get yourself in to.

MasterYi is an example of a champion that's braindead easy to pick up, but has a deceptively high skillcap. Playing Yi well comes down to managing your abilities properly. Timing Q to dodge cc and/or key damaging abilities, and W to tank up high burst abilities with the damage reduction are key to winning most fights if you aren't just fed out of your mind. Using W to reset your aa timer is also pretty useful in the early/mid game.

MOBAs can only get so difficult though. Reaction speed and familiarity with kits/damage is key to playing most champions, but the real difficulty of this game is decision making.

Vilgax10/18/2017, 9:08:00 PM1 votes

Well in league of legends, no champion is necessarily "hard" to play. Just pick any champ, play a few games to get used to their abilities, and then learn some combos or techniques as you keep playing that champ. However, there are some exceptions that require some background knowledge in league before you even become somewhat decent that that champ. Take Azir, Lee Sin, Kalista, and Bard for example, sure they can be played by any beginner, but to properly take full advantage of their kits, you need to know how to use that champ's abilities in certain key circumstances that could turn the game's tide.

Taking the Annie and TF example you made, I can agree that they are pretty easy champs to play considering they don't really have difficult skill shots to land or any complicated combos that require 200 IQ to perform. However, just like any champ, it takes a while to get really good and master them and I think that's the part that makes a champ "hard" to play. When you have the time, look up "Annie Bot" and "Gross Gore" on Youtube. They are Annie and TF mains and just take a look at the things they do with that champ compared to what you may have done with those champs.