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As of late, the lore power curve has been...kind of out of whack with new champs.

ModCaptainMårvelous·2/2/2018, 3:05:20 AM·46 votes·3,798 views

So let's discuss Season 7's champion releases:

Camille Xayah Rakan Kayn Ornn Zoe

My problem with them isn't that they're bad characters. Hell, I think most of them are worthy additions...the problem comes that they're throwing the scale of power out of wack. I made a joke a few years ago about how League was adding more and more powerful characters (lore-wise) to the mix and how this could result in some problematic storytelling. As it turns out, my problems didn't really go away.

First and foremost: Xayah and Rakan don't make the power scale absurd. Which is good! They're champions who are skilled and somewhat magical but not powerful enough to level mountains. Woo!

Camille's issue isn't that she can level buildings or do insane stuff. Rather, her power-scale problem comes from her city: Compared to other Piltover (and Zaun) characters, she's far-and-away one of the most powerful. An experienced cyborg with top-of-the-line technology who works on behalf to keep everything running in both cities. She's way stronger than almost every character in Piltover and I'd haphazard she'd win almost every 1v1. The ones who she would have some trouble against (IMO Ekko Viktor and maybe Urgot ) are more "skill" match-ups in terms of lore. She's still, far and away, breaking the scale.

Then we get to Kayn.

Fuck.

A Darkin + A human who is trained by Noxus and Zed and capable of killing a Darkin. That's fucking STRONG.

Ornn and Zoe speak for themselves. One a demigod of the Freljord who is ageless and resposible for most of the greatest weaponry in the history of Runeterra and another Targon aspect who is on-par with Aurelion Sol. Yeah, ok. That's pretty busted.

My problem with all these champions is that it feels like with each addition, the distance between SSS-tier (Aurelion and Bard) and F-tier (<Insert weak champion here>) grows larger. Where there used to just be A-D tier you now have giant power gaps. You have champions who warp the story by existing. And these are just champions, mind you. We're not talking about something above SSS-tier like "The Entity" from the void or "Nagakeboros" which exist but can't be champions due to raw power...or hell, maybe they will be.

#TL;DR: With each passing season/release I grow increasingly worried. League is rapidly becoming a game filled with Supermen who powercreep each other to establish a new tier of power. The Dragonball Z problem.

109 Comments

Wert the Wacky2/2/2018, 3:48:53 AM59 votes

F tier you say? Gragas This man’s only real power lore wise is that he’s drunk literally all the time.

Sharjo2/2/2018, 4:21:15 AM25 votes

Isn't the core theme going through a lot of lore now though obtaining power of greater significance than one's own innate power in order to best challenges, and the potential of humanity as a whole in being able to embrace such power? Like it's all over Runeterra:

  • The Ascended were transformed to serve as Shurima's greatest champions, fought in their wars and solidified them as a great power in the world
  • Xerath blew Shurima up because of his desire for power
  • The Aspects deliberately chose worthy humans to help protect the world and serve Targon's ends
  • The vastaya came to be from humans being influenced by the vastayashai'rei
  • Ivern sought power to defeat the Frozen Watchers
  • Sejuani's allied with Volibear atm, presumably to utilise the demi-god's power to conquer the Freljord
  • Swain sought a demon, conquered it according to his own words, and uses it's power to lead Noxus
  • Piltover's really in to using magic crystals, the originals of which were ripped from the Brackern's hides, to effectively make magic workable for the common Runeterran
  • Zaun does similar stuff but with alchemicals as opposed to hexcrystals
  • The Order of the Shadow is embracing new, darker powers and harnessing ancient powers of Ionia to ensure their land's supremacy

Hell going back, this traces back to the earliest point of Runeterra's known history, where Targon enslaved Aurelion Sol to utilise his power for their own ends; another form of what humans have done consistently across Runeterra. The only nations not actively doing a power grab in some form are Bil;gewater, for lack of any despite the power all around them (and maybe beneath them if Swain's word's anything to go by), and Demacia, who have access to that power but don't use it because of ignorance, fear and culture, but even then they still made that work by figuring out how to make petricite.

The powerful beings of League are contrasted by the humans who do the smart things, and it feels far less than some DBZ thing where people are trying to gain power to 1v1 some great Void nasty of evil and shit, but more a case of harnessing power that already exists to ensure their nation survives, or they survive. The power curve feels like it's not an issue providing the story isn't a shonen manga series. And it's not. The story's about a mostly human world and what humans do in that world to better themselves, in one way or another. It's not Volibear fighting Ashe by Sejuani's will, it's Sejuani bolstering the ranks of the Winter's Claw with the Ursine, and riding with the demi-god in to battle. It's not about Swain 1v1ing Aurelion Sol, it's about him using his demonic powers to gain intelligence and devise strategies to serve Noxus's greater interests. It's not about Zed and Kayn becoming the super Shadow Lords of doom, it's about gaining the resources and powers necessary to protect Ionia. The power curve means little when the only thing Aurelion Sol's gonna fight are beings on his level, beings that, as far as we know, don't exist in the context of the story yet.

Someone's gonna have to explain to me why the powercurve of champions is a problem for the lore, cuz I don't get it.

GreenLore2/2/2018, 10:07:12 AM11 votes

I don't think that kayn is really THAT powerful. After all his goal is to surpass zed,so at lest regular Kayn is still weaker than Zed and shadow assassin-kayn is probably just as strong as Zed. Now Rhaast is likely stronger than the other 2 forms in the lore,but I don't think that he is more powerful than Aatrox.

Also while Ornn and Zoe are both high-tier champs,I wouldn't say they really bust the gap in power. After all they don't introduce some new kind of power tier,they merely add to already existing ones and thus give these power tiers a bit more variation.

Wrathof3002/2/2018, 3:54:53 AM9 votes

Camille certainly is top dog in Piltover/Zaun, I agree that while she isn't being given a run for her money, the playing field may be more leveled than we think. Urgot: 1v1 would may go in Camille's favour but Urgot's army is an important factor to his character as is Camille's access to Ferros clan tech. Warwick and DrMundo posses some of the greatest healing factors in all of league, Warwick more so than Mundo, I could see fighting Camille on even playing field.

While the Darkin could be assumed to be equal in strength to the Ascended, currently in the story Kayn only wields Rhaast and likely has a much more limited access to this Darkin power. Based on the 3 Darkin host Kayn would have been last if not for his Shadow Magic (because Aatrox and Varus would have more access to their Darkin powers), so the question is: how strong is Shadow magic, and how proficient is Kayn at using it?

I question Zoe actually being as powerful as AurelionSol. I think they are talking about her space-time abilities more than her destructive capability. Even her ability to warp reality may have certain limitations we have yet to learn about, i.e. a size limit to her portals? a limit on the amount of time she can rewind? Yeah, she one of the more overpowered champs, but I think this is more of the 'Vegeta instance' where a character of equally power level being introduced so that Sol and Bard don't seem too out of reach (similar to how Vegeta will always reach Goku's new power up or gain one of his own).

Papa Andrei2/2/2018, 5:55:07 AM6 votes

I miss the days when Ryze was considered the most powerful ;-;

SomethingUnknown2/2/2018, 2:49:54 PM5 votes

https://imgur.com/iKFCTNh

NemeBro2/2/2018, 7:41:48 AM1 votes

{quoted}

Camille&#039;s issue isn&#039;t that she can level buildings or do insane stuff. Rather, her power-scale problem comes from her city: Compared to other Piltover (and Zaun) characters, she&#039;s far-and-away one of the most powerful. An experienced cyborg with top-of-the-line technology who works on behalf to keep everything running in both cities. She&#039;s way stronger than almost every character in Piltover and I&#039;d haphazard she&#039;d win almost every 1v1. The ones who she would have some trouble against (IMO Ekko Viktor and maybe Urgot ) are more &quot;skill&quot; match-ups in terms of lore. She&#039;s still, far and away, breaking the scale.

I frankly can't really see why you'd assume Camille is the most powerful Piltover/Zaun character tbh. Based on what?

IvernBramblefoot2/2/2018, 4:41:52 AM1 votes

you guys sure do care a lot about something that's just going to get retconned in a few years.