Does anyone else feel like black market brawlers doesn't change the game at all?

Syvenon·8/1/2015, 1:01:28 PM·107 votes·5,820 views

Whenever playing black market brawlers I honestly just feel like there was an update that added a couple of items no one builds and made minions more annoying. Like I don't see any reason to play it other than getting the summoner icon. It just feels like there was a ton of effort put into the whole mercenary idea but then they end up having very little impact on the game since they just get killed as quickly as normal minions.

103 Comments

BastionKross8/1/2015, 2:15:35 PM47 votes

The problem is that the brawlers snowball the game. If one team is ahead of the other, then that team's minions will be stronger. I've played several games where the minion waves always naturally pushed toward the losing side, forcing them to sacrifice towers just to have a chance at winning teamfights. It's like if the entire enemy team all bought a free item 3060 and spam it as often as they can. Now they have a split pusher that, while easily shut down if some enemy goes to put a stop to it, is zero risk and allows for 5v5 teamfights while minions backdoor.

The new items are alright, but they're nothing I would build an entire game mode around.

It's basically a normal SR mode where it's easier to keep your lead once you get it; something Riot has been careful to avoid on the normal map. If it wasn't for that GP icon, I'd never play this mode at all.

FredDunk8/1/2015, 1:19:26 PM20 votes

The worst thing is that it doesn't seem to use your normal MMR to determine the level of the game, so it's like seeding all over again! Yay! Wait... no, it sucks. Earlier today, me and my team (gold or less) got absolutely bodied in a few minutes by a plat-diamond team. Even got a leaver warning when we begged them to mercykill us after 11 minutes, haha.

7ha7guy7778/1/2015, 2:34:32 PM9 votes

When your entire team buys plundercrabs because no one else noticed everyone else bought crabs you'll have a hard time getting cs. The crabs are scary in large numbers. I feel like typhoon claws are way too situational. Mirage blade looks pretty useful but it's hard to convince myself that MB is worth losing BT or BorK. The items that seem incredibly useful are the new ap items, new tank items, and flesh eater. Martyr's gambit could be insanely useful on ali support. Dead man's plate is good on pretty much any tank. Flesh eater is scary on a lot of AD champions if they can farm it up and provides crazy sustain with the active. Puppeteer can be useful for interrupting channels and sticking to a target. Rite of Ruin is basically Luden's Echo for Towers. Pox Arcana adds insane burst to DoT mages. Netherstride Grimoire adds insane mobility to DoT mages and makes them incredibly hard to chase when combined with Rylai's. Trickster's allows you to surprise an enemy.

Kalarepa8/1/2015, 4:01:25 PM5 votes

It could change the game, if people weren't so closed-minded. There's an AP item, that lets your mage push towers fast, so ADC isn't needed. There are some items, that make certain weird strategies viable.

But noooooooo let's stick to the typical meta comps with LCS picks.

HandheldBrandon8/2/2015, 3:45:06 AM5 votes

I think this mode is just a disguise for testing new items.

greengecko5538/1/2015, 4:17:40 PM4 votes

"a couple of items no one builds" wat

Aspynn8/1/2015, 9:06:55 PM3 votes

I actually LOVE the new support items, I really wish they would keep them. I mean the puppeteer item and the bubble shield. I wish they would at least keep the bubble shield, it's a really creative item, and a good way for supports without heals or their own shields to help protect themselves and their adcs from poke supports. I don't feel like it's op at all, in fact it might be a bit up because the enemy can just not hit you when it's up and deny you a TON of gold.

Pikmints8/1/2015, 6:30:13 PM3 votes

Two main complaints:

It feels nice when 1 out of 10 people in a game realizes the power and synergy of the new items. Singed with Netherstride is crazy, Mirage Blade on many Marksmen is nice, and a team that coordinates can use Trickster's Glass well as either an assassin or tank. People don't pick champs that naturally synergize with the items much, and the items don't feel like they have any more of a noticeable impact than the normal items when bought without special synergy.
Then when it comes to minions I'd have to say that I saw Ironbacks the most because a minion that doesn't die can push while I do the damage to push. Razorfins close behind those because carries will be squishy all game and these are the only minions that actually scratch anyone later on. The support one is nice but fails in comparison to the other two as far as satisfaction goes because they don't fulfill the normal role of a minion like the other two as far as pushing goes (and the utility won't mean much if you're far enough ahead or behind). Then there are the fragile cannons that deal minimal damage as the least common one because, they're as useful at pushing as the utility ones but don't provide utility.

On a side note, the nature of this game promotes snowballing to the point where, "You feel like you're invincible because of how well you're doing in lane? Let's share your absurd power with your teammates globally, permanently, with no risk. An enemy is getting a little fed? Let's make that immediately a problem every lane has to deal with.

TLDR: Items are underutilized/underwhelming, brawlers aren't as evenly powered as they could be, and the mode is snowbally on a global scale.

Chaotic Reks8/1/2015, 6:47:06 PM3 votes

BMB should have taken place on Butcher's Bridge

MrBuffington8/1/2015, 2:05:32 PM3 votes

I see it more as Riot testing out game concepts, like upgrading minions and new item effects, to potentially add into the game later, so it's probably better that it doesn't feel super out there if they might add some of it into the game

StoryDuck8/1/2015, 2:38:01 PM3 votes

I find that there is a lot of depth in the new mode. It's not as obvious as URF but its better then Hexakill. The problem lies in that the entire team needs to be working together to really take advantage of the brawlers. Going 5 of a specific brawler can be a really interesting game. Like if the enemy team has a lot of AP going 5 Octopods can really make thing difficult for them. On the other hand a tanky team might like 5 Bloodhounds for the extra damage when fighting among minions (I soloed 1v1 three members of enemy team as a support taric cause of that). Those crabs are amazing at adding early pressure to melee champs. The most common has by far been those golems though as people are trying to snowball the game and they are perfect for taking advantage of snowballing with that siegeing potential.

The items themselves can add some interesting plays and make some champions more viable when used. I hope they add some to the normal game. Overall, the game mode isn't bad but it certainly isn't Doom Bots of Doom, or URF. I wouldn't call it terrible though as Hexakill will always seem like the laziest extra game mode to me.

FantasySniper8/2/2015, 7:50:48 AM2 votes

It's definitely different in one way: People snowball harder.

The team that's winning gets more Krakens, so their minions are stronger. Makes games end a lot faster.

iainB858/1/2015, 5:53:31 PM2 votes

I gave up on getting the last portrait -- that mode is too tedious. To me, the more powerful minions just make matches take longer... I played about 6 matches and none of them were under 45 minutes. That, and the fact that it's blind pick, I just wasn't having any fun and went back to ranked.

SaltyToplaneGoat8/1/2015, 6:22:22 PM2 votes

And for the icon it's simply a boring kraken farmfest. I cannot even bring myself to play it. Sure, I want thaqt icon but is it worth wasting my time like this?

llamasx8/1/2015, 6:44:30 PM2 votes

It's definitely different. Early game not so much, but late game a single baron steal can make for huge com backs. I remember baron'd up razorbacks just chewed up the enemy vayne while she was kiting me and I couldn't do anything to her, but the razorbacks sure did. New items are also pretty cool, no matter what role I play I almost always build at least one of them.

SociopathFriend8/1/2015, 7:02:24 PM2 votes

I think the Brawlers can do a hell of a lot. My team was getting there shit kicked in one game while I had to sit top as Cho'Gath to prevent Shaco from just split-pushing all day. We started grouping and won a few fights, lost a few others (Enemy Vayne was like 14-1 and enemy Warwick had item 3710 item 3153 item 3091 ). At one point we were totally and completely destroyed in a Baron fight- but our minions were all really strong and they literally took all the enemy inhibs while Shaco was off doing his best to take out just one of ours.

Maikal8/1/2015, 9:45:48 PM2 votes

Mirage blade and netherstride are the two major game changers I think. The former makes adcs so much harder to kill, and basically substitutes for bloodthirster while netherstride makes Cassiopeia fly like an intercontinental missile. Other than that yeah doesn't change much. I guess melee carries can get flesh eater and have bs sustain in lane phase. Minions don't change much because a significant lead won't make your minions noticeably better. Dif minions are cool, but both teams get them so...

planters8/1/2015, 10:29:14 PM2 votes

I honestly feel that krakens should have been a randomly spawning mechanic similar to bard's chimes. This way they could spawn closer to the losing teams jg. By doing this you could give a more balanced mechanic where the winning team needs to venture deeper into enemy jg to get them while the losing team can more safely collect them in their own jg. Where ever they spawn could even create points of conflict.

yukonl8/2/2015, 2:07:21 AM2 votes

Yea m8, I feel like I'm still playing League of Legends.

SH Azykan8/2/2015, 3:55:05 AM2 votes

item 3742 this item needs to be on SR, it quickly has become my favorite item in Brawlers. Some of the AP items are insanely slot efficient ( item 3431 + item 3116 is absolutely insane on some mages) And I actually lost a game due to a veigar with item 3829 just walking up and suddenly 1 shotting someone on my team when they looked like their underfed top laner. (No matter how many times he did it, my team still would walk up to try and kill him solo...)

So the itemization changes are actually really fun to play with.

I feel the minions are just really hard to strategize with randoms. I havent played with a premade to test out various full setups, but I do know that grabbing 2 sets of item 3611 against a Fizz is hilarious. Once they get upgraded they can out trade him if he aggros onto you and ignores them (granted if you survive his burst)

Cosnirak8/2/2015, 4:17:43 PM2 votes

I agree that the brawler minions make almost no difference. And sadly the main difference they do make is just screwing up CSing. A couple of the items are neat but really don't have a big impact in my opinion. Too many of the items have active abilities and it's just always hard to get used to using active items. Even the best players in the world forget to use the oldest remaining items on occasion.

The worst part though? Blind pick. Unlike most featured game modes it's still important to have a good and relatively normal comp for the most part in BMB. Blind pick so often results in really terrible comps and infighting over who gets what role.

ClockHead8/3/2015, 12:13:29 AM1 votes

That just means that you haven't tried full team teemo with trickster's glass. Teemo Teemo Teemo Teemo Teemo

Xietnin8/2/2015, 4:30:42 PM1 votes

I wish more people would use those support items. ie: Nami/Sona using Puppeteer and that 365-gold starter item that gives a shield to an ally for moni when the shield is busted down.

ShuffledPancake8/1/2015, 1:15:13 PM1 votes

Minions are the main focus (since minions + boc + elixir + baron = super fucking op)