Counterplay

#How Things Are:

• This game is severely limited in the mechanics available to a single player. There is no way to interact with auto attacks or particular movement that can help you during a fight as opposed to just proper positioning-- no way, at least, that every player can always use.
• The ability to fight outnumbered against any enemy is restricted to how many items you have, and has next to nothing to do with personal skill. (excluding turret damage)
  • Let it be noted I'm not saying that this is an issue, as it's the core of the game to have these things simple.
• Counterplay options while actually in game, not champion select, available to players regardless of their champion choice are limited to:
• Aggression level in lane
• Itemization
• As a heavily teamwork-reliant game the rest of the counterplay strategies are reliant on allies.

#Why Counterplay Requires Counter-Picking The methods available to each player as far as movement and attack options vary from champion to champion. There are no dash commands or anything of the sort that can be utilized by every character aside from the summoner spell Flash. For instance: _Taric has none of the options available to Zed when fighting against Fizz. _

If you wish to have options that the opponent does not, then you need to pick a champion that has those. Skill cannot give you mechanics that the champion lacks, unfortunately. #The Result: While there are possibilities to counterplay a specific champion, it is false to assume those are possibilities on every opponent. Every champion has a pool of opponents that have the means in their kit to outplay them. There is also a pool of champions lacking those means, for every champion.

An otherwise more mechanically skilled player can be beaten by a player who is using a slightly simpler champion. For example: Lee Sin versus Annie.

#Conclusion:

• Champions must be picked according to the options you wish to have available. No amount of skill or timing will change the champion's available mechanics.
• Champion selection is just as important as positioning and itemization. Many players can make up for lack in mechanical skill by playing simpler champions.
  • Recognize your own skill as well, and don't pick more difficult champions if you don't have the ability to play them effectively against the simpler enemy.
• Arguing that a champion has counter-play to their kit must be done on a champion-to-champion basis. There is no counterplay Taric has against most champions.

This is the reason why a lot of "LCS plays" are done with champions who have the most mechanical options in their kits against champions who don't--simply because they can be done with those champions. It looks flashy, but can be done by anyone.

On the flip-side, many champions are given stronger abilities to compensate for lack of mechanical options, which makes it even more of a threat if you incorrectly pick a difficult champion against them.