Let's play a game: who's the most poorly designed champion?

Thumpin·5/7/2016, 3:26:06 AM·6 votes·1,119 views

I'll start: Volibear.

Here's how I basically see the original pitch of the champion going.

Volty - He's a bear!

Morello - Mhmmm....

Volty - But not just any bear,

Morello - ?

Volty - He's a bear that walks upright AND wears armor!

Morello - Indeed. Now tell me about this... thing.

Volty - Well, his Q throws enemies over his head!

Morello - But we got one of those already.

Volty - Yeah, but nobody plays Singed, and this one speeds the armored bear up!

Morello - I see, go on.

Volty - He deals more damage by building tanky, has Mundo's ult as a passive, and for his ultimate he shoots fuckin' lightning out of his claws!

Morello - ...

Volty - and his name, you're gonna love this, his name is Volibear!

Morello - Get the fuck out of here before I throw this chair at you.

24 Comments

cuddlykitten45/7/2016, 5:59:47 PM3 votes

Alistar because his kit is a bunch of bull XD

Lovely Pants5/7/2016, 1:30:41 PM3 votes

Volibear literally did just come from a community post that said "We need an armored bear" that gained unfathomable amounts of popularity. Maybe not the most...inspired champion, but as much as I disliked his addition to the game, he's probably not the worst designed. Thematically, many of the early champions were similarly one-note on introduction as well. Evil Clown, Paladin, Vampire (yeah I know he isn't actually, vlad fans, but c'mon don't kid yourselves), Tiny Spellcaster (x2), etc.

Urgot and Yorick of course deserve honorable mentions as champions that are no longer allowed to exist in a competitive state due to their kits. And Evelynn, while not having a strictly bad kit, completely failed to end up as an assassin as intended. This is all old news though.

As a small personal grief, Nidalee jungle bothers me. Not really anything to do with her being in the jungle role, which has maybe been the best place for her to exist without being unmitigated amounts of frustration to face in lane. However, the amount of her performance which is locked behind arcane PvE mastery feels like a regression back to dark ages LoL jungling.

I'm going to say Ekko comes high on the list for me in terms of mechanics. Pretty much a combination of the most frustrating to deal with mechanics in one champion with the added bonus of being a forest fire of balance concerns.

Leblanc 's escape, DrMundo level regeneration , and everything that feels kind of bullshit to deal with but you could get over if that was the only deal with a champion's kit. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little assassin. But Riot accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concotion...The ability to build tanky!

Thus, Ekko was born! Using his ultra-bullshit powers, Ekko has dedicated his life to fighting fun, and the forces of balance!

Automatis5/7/2016, 3:31:04 AM2 votes

I actually completely agree. He's just a dumb His Dark Materials port. They literally snuck him in during a period where Zileas was out of the office because they knew he wouldn't pass concept. Hence the buffs Zilean and Voli get when in game together.

I also dislike Yasuo because he directly contradicts design principles Riot brought up, specifically manaless champs being gated by cooldowns (brought up due to some Riven changes I believe). Also because he's weeboo pandering.

Aatrox is also edgy weeb bait.

Princess Emma5/7/2016, 3:23:24 PM1 votes

Nami Orianna Draven Braum

Hullabaloo9075/7/2016, 4:45:45 PM1 votes

I personally hate Nasus's design. Poppy used to be the worst, and Yorick is pretty bad

Teslyn5/7/2016, 5:52:40 PM1 votes

If you think volibear is poor design you dont understand how he was created and how awesome that was..

seriously pick a different champ to bash.

japan hate acc5/7/2016, 5:57:40 PM1 votes

Fizz. Who the hell designed him? His gap closer is two dashes, an AoE slow and damage, and it makes him untargetable on top of that! What was the thought process? Not to mention his ult is a Zed ult but requires less skill and effort.