A serious question to the Champion Designers

Wearing No Pants·Jul 3, 2016·4 votes·643 views

Why do we have a severe lack of AD zone control champions?

7 Comments

FloRaider42Jul 3, 20162 votes

Cause AP is a better tool for zone control ?

If you have an AP champion you can put more power in their abilities, since they have no other outlet. AD champions or tanks have their AA damage and tankyness which already contains a big part of their power, resulting in less power for their abilities. Since AP champions are mainly squishy their zone control is their main source of survival whereas AD champions or Tanks have easier sustain.

Serf MasterJul 3, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Cause AP is a better tool for zone control ?

If you have an AP champion you can put more power in their abilities, since they have no other outlet. AD champions or tanks have their AA damage and tankyness which already contains a big part of their power, resulting in less power for their abilities. Since AP champions are mainly squishy their zone control is their main source of survival whereas AD champions or Tanks have easier sustain.

I think he means

zone control champs that has ability scale with AD, not AP, such as Jayce, who as decent poke. Or Varus.

FloRaider42Jul 3, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=4000 watts,realm=NA,application-id=A8FQeEA8,discussion-id=WBaz9Z3B,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2016-07-03T21:46:25.568+0000)

zone control champs that has ability scale with AD, not AP, such as Jayce, who as decent poke. Or Varus.

Gangplank also got some zoning with his barrels and Illaoi also zones in a way. I just explained why the majority of zone champions are AP based, mainly because it is easier for balancing.

Wearing No PantsJul 3, 20161 votes

{quoted}

also got some zoning with his barrels and also zones in a way. I just explained why the majority of zone champions are AP based, mainly because it is easier for balancing.

Well if Half of every AP mid laner or AP top laner has zone control built into their kit, why can't they do the same for AD Casters, Otis there just a big lacking in AD casters released as of lately?

Because all I can see with Riot doing with anyone with a primary AD scaling, they have no long lasting AoE spells, they're all just dive in or annoying as hell long range poke every 8 or so seconds.

FloRaider42Jul 4, 20161 votes

Well if Half of every AP mid laner or AP top laner has zone control built into their kit, why can't they do the same for AD Casters, Otis there just a big lacking in AD casters released as of lately?

^^ See previous post TL;DR: AP champions only have their spells as damage tool and generally have less tankyness than their AD counterparts, meaning their zone control is their only lifeline, whereas AD champions have LS for easy sustain and deal continous damage making diving harder as dodging their spells has less impact on their damage output.

Regarding release of AD casters: Since a lot of them are assassins Zed Talon LeeSin I imagine that it makes sense to wait for after the assassin rework. Maybe Riot had no interesting thematic that fits a AD caster as well.

Because all I can see with Riot doing with anyone with a primary AD scaling, they have no long lasting AoE spells

^^ See previous statement

they're all just dive in or annoying as hell long range poke every 8 or so seconds.

AP champions do that too :I Leblanc Ekko Xerath

ModEchoingJul 4, 20162 votes

A marksman's zone of control is their autoattack range. If they've got any items at all, stepping in range without a plan usually leads to a bad time. Caitlyn particularly excels at this depending on her location, since she can set up a wall of traps that block an entire path, and headshot damage HURTS.

Otherwise, the only other AD champions are melee, who can't exert zone control due to being melee and having no threat outside of their AA range and/or their gap-closer. Illaoi is the closest you get - she can't really dash to you, but being in a pre-tentacled area gets you crushed.

If you wanted, say, someone with the kit of a mage, but with all AD ratios, that's a bad idea. Now you have mage-style burst with marksman-style sustained damage. That's a recipe for disaster.