"Nemesis Draft" Q&A with the Play team. 2/17, 10AM - 12PM PST

RiotL4T3NCY·Feb 17, 2015·37 votes·150,947 views

Yo Everyone ^o^/

The latest Featured Game Mode, “Nemesis Draft” is currently live, and the Play team is here to field any questions or suggestions you guys might have! We make all of the Featured Game Modes, so feel free to ask us anything about Nemesis Draft (or any previous modes). What are the weirdest team compositions you played with so far? What's your favourite comp or strategy for giving champs to the enemy team? Are there any new champs you've discovered that are kinda fun to play? Tell us the story of your most epic match yet! ^_^

We’ll be online from now for 2 hours, from 10:00AM ~ 12:00PM PST.

-L4T3NCY -BuffMePlz -DefaultChar -Beastfu -Mixtli -Ponts

EDIT: Ok guys, we're out for now. We'll still check in on this thread throughout the day and maybe answer a few more. Thanks for stopping by and asking us stuff! ^_^/

563 Comments

ScrubymcbubbleFeb 18, 201514 votes

Want a challenge!? Grab a group of 5 (don't want to enrage the randoms with your picks) and give the enemy team a sweet LCS Teamcomp! And yes, the ADC Nami's and Janna's sure are shinning bright on this gamemode! We tried our luck against the Jarvan+Gnar with the Kalista+Thresh and infamous Ahri mid on this patch. http://puu.sh/g2DZ9/56ad04d055.jpg

EDIT: Round 2! The Nunu+Galio bot lane is the definition of synergy. Never have i been able to freely charge up such ripe Nunu ults thanks to Galios ult :D http://puu.sh/g2WGJ/5907922397.jpg

-- On a side note.. "If someone misses their pick it should default to random! Then you can save average players making the new mistake missing the icon and players who deliberately close their client would be the only ones punished."

The pick/ban queue for this gamemode and possibly the conditions for getting the icon are truly flawed. I myself missed picking the enemies champ on my very first game of nemesis because the lobby was so foreign and confusing i never even knew it was my turn to pick as it highlights the enemies champ slot. 2 others on my friends list have had the same issue and it appears many more in this forum are feeling the same sorrow. I was absolutely baffled that it dropped the queue when i didn't pick.. WHY wouldn't it just default to RANDOM?

plexion101Feb 17, 201511 votes

It seems as if everyone likes to ban supports because they don't know how to play them

t0x1cSHocKFeb 17, 201558 votes

No it's because people are sick and tired of seeing all the supports over and over and over and over and over and over again

Genetics80Feb 17, 201511 votes

Why did battle boosts return, and only for this mode.

RiotL4T3NCYFeb 17, 201513 votes

Battle Boosts make the most sense when you don't really know who you might be playing. If it was a regular pick type, you might already have skins for your favourite champions, so the Battle Boost wouldn't really feel necessary.

frostycpuFeb 17, 201580 votes

Sorry if I'm a bit off-topic here, but what about adding Battle Boost to ARAM?

GathrlFeb 17, 201511 votes

What if I accidentally forgot to choose a champion for the enemy team while talking strategy on what we got assigned? Does that count as dodging or do I still have a chance of obtaining the icon?

SeexydVanessaFeb 17, 201510 votes

If you could only release one of all the game modes you have released so far which one would you choose?

RiotRiot BeastfuFeb 17, 201524 votes

I'd go for Legend of the Poro King and Ascension... wups, that was two ;)

You want to loseFeb 17, 201517 votes

um... URF?!?!?!?

not a starburstFeb 18, 20158 votes

No.

I liked URF. A lot. The only problem I have with it returning is that all the people who used clog the boards and comments by incessantly demanding URF again and again would start yelling for URF back the very moment it stopped.

mastershakezzFeb 19, 201523 votes

[{quoted}](name=Abyssal Plunge,realm=NA,application-id=LFfTlAky,discussion-id=NB1clEXE,comment-id=000f000000020000,timestamp=2015-02-18T01:23:42.871+0000)

No.

I liked URF. A lot. The only problem I have with it returning is that all the people who used clog the boards and comments by incessantly demanding URF again and again would start yelling for URF back the very moment it stopped.

Easy fix, bring URF back permanently. Everyone wins.

RiotRiot MixtliFeb 17, 201559 votes

My personal choice would be the Ascension Game Mode (with some clean up and polish) as it brought a breath of fresh air to the Crystal Scar map for a lot of players and offered alternative game play unlike our other maps and modes.

iTz Mr CuddlezFeb 18, 201544 votes

ID SAY URF , URF was the most fun game mode over 750 ppl want it : https://www.facebook.com/VoteForURF id even pay RP to play URF again this Nrmesis mode is trash... n boring everyone plays the same champs.. n ban the same champs.. summoner 14

Shocking PinkFeb 18, 201516 votes

Everybody is entitled....

Nocturne4lifeFeb 19, 20159 votes

I agree with you here I LOVE URF MODE

disregardableFeb 17, 20158 votes

I have a question I've wanted to ask since yesterday lol. What champion/build have you guys been most surprised with? In Ascension, Rammus was by far and away the biggest surprise, I played him almost exclusively and had a ton of fun. Would you say there's a Rammus equivalent for Nemesis?

RiotL4T3NCYFeb 17, 201512 votes

If there is, we won't know until the mode has run its course. Any data set is currently still too small and only anecdotal conclusions could really be drawn.

In other news, AD Janna. Goddammit. :D

BearticFeb 17, 20151 votes

{quoted}

If there is, we won't know until the mode has run its course. Any data set is currently still too small and only anecdotal conclusions could really be drawn.

In other news, AD Janna. Goddammit. :D

My team got wrecked by an AD nami the other day!!!!

RiotL4T3NCYFeb 17, 201512 votes

That was ME～EE. Mwahaha :P

Slippery IceFeb 18, 20158 votes

I ,along with a ton of the community, would love to know what you guys/gals have up your sleeves for Ultra Rapid Fire Mode. It was by far in my eyes the best game mode and would love to see the return once and for all. On top of this question what can you say about bringing back old modes (such as URF) permanently or at least in custom games? Thanks guys keep up the great work!

SeexydVanessaFeb 17, 20157 votes

Which game mode has been your favorite this far?

RiotRiot MixtliFeb 17, 201533 votes

For me personally is was Legend of the Poro King mainly due to the fun nature of the mode and providing summoner spells that provide melee more viability in ARAM.

hgjkdlsaf jeldvbFeb 17, 201519 votes

Are there any plans to add those summoner spells to aram? It's never fun to get stuck with a melee heavy comp against ranged comps that somehow have more poke and cc than you.

midoriiFeb 17, 20157 votes

I'm curious as to whether you guy (and gals!) over at riot are recording data on this gametype and finding an interest who (in terms of champs) is getting picked the most and how they are getting played.

Is any pick information from Nemesis Draft of any statistical value to you?

Do you think the champions picked the most during this event also prove to be the most misunderstood?

Will this draft help point out champions that would benefit from better clarity in their kit?

Thanks!~

RiotL4T3NCYFeb 17, 201511 votes

There's nothing new that Nemesis Draft can show us in terms of balance, popularity, etc that the Balance Team won't already know.

What is interesting though is the mirror this will hold up to players and the community reflecting their own perceptions of what is strong or weak, and how they deal with those reactions. ^_-

shazb0tFeb 17, 20157 votes

My question is pretty boring and dumb, but I can't find an answer anywhere: how do we earn the reward icon for Nemesis Draft? The FAQ wasn't very clear on that point.

RiotL4T3NCYFeb 17, 201510 votes

The reward icon for Nemesis Draft is for not dodging or AFK'ing during the course of the mode. We're also leveraging the new LeaverBuster system to help us with this. ^_^b

https://support.riotgames.com/hc/en-us/articles/201752714-LeaverBuster-FAQ

The icon will be awarded after the game mode has finished (as always, could take up to 2 weeks to show up in your account).

shazb0tFeb 17, 20154 votes

That makes sense. Is there a minimum-games-played/won requirement, though? It almost sounds like I could just not play at all and still get the icon, which would be a little goofy.

MisterNubsFeb 17, 201518 votes

The more you play the more chances you have at losing the icon!

YinYangXFeb 17, 201516 votes

Doesn't this encourage people to just play once and then not play every again in fear of accidentally dcing and losing the icon?

deathsleetFeb 17, 201521 votes

so, during my first champ select in nemesis, I lost track of time and missed my window to pick a champ for the enemy. Apart from that, i haven't dodged, no matter how bad (i even first-timed urgot yesterday...awkward, but fun). Does this mean that i have absolutely no chance to get the summoner icon?

Game Over ZIFeb 17, 201516 votes

Something similar happened to me. I was at the end of the timer and I was clicking the champ, but it wouldn't select the champ. I think we may be screwed for the award ;-;

Zayen DratenFeb 18, 20155 votes

This happened for me as well except I picked my champ and the timer hit zero and it said I never selected... Turns out my friends said I never picked either but in my client, as I DC'd I guess, I was selected for 10 seconds at least.

I was excited for the way champ select worked out too : (

Big Dippa DFeb 18, 20154 votes

oh that's cool. so i don;t get the icon because of a time warner outage (dropped mid game). i'll have to frame my time warner bill with the 1.30 credit they gave me instead.

KrosanFeb 17, 20156 votes

Are you guys using data from Nemesis Draft as a data point on the general perceptions of champions?

It's not a big surprise that I see champions like Eve, Yorick, and Urgot given out frequently, but it was fairly shocking for me the first time I realized exactly how badly people at my level undervalued support picks. I've ended up against teams with four supports, then got blamed for the loss because I gave the enemy Rumble or someone else without useful CC.

AndrawesomeFeb 17, 201514 votes

{quoted}

Are you guys using data from Nemesis Draft as a data point on the general perceptions of champions?

It's not a big surprise that I see champions like Eve, Yorick, and Urgot given out frequently, but it was fairly shocking for me the first time I realized exactly how badly people at my level undervalued support picks. I've ended up against teams with four supports, then got blamed for the loss because I gave the enemy Rumble or someone else without useful CC.

I sure ain't Riot, but I want to drop a little something on this. How is it "not a big surprise that [you] see champions like Evelynn , Yorick , and Urgot "? I have come to the conclusion that Urgot is a big of a community wide joke, but anybody with enough brain functionality to read over his move set and build accordingly would know that he can easily be a power house if you give him a chance (Triforce + manamune on his Q after locking it with the grenade? Good like fighting that). Similarly, Yorick is one of the strongest champions I can think of, being a huge lane bully, a massive sustaining tank, and having a godly amount of damage. Finally, I'm going to throw in this little Hyperlink for an Evelynn game of mine. I had no clue what I was doing, built hybrid with a Juggernaut enchantment (what the hell was I doing?) and then somehow went 23/5/10.

I want the opinion on somebody up at Riot, is there any bad champions? Personally, I see this game mode more as "Make a bad team comp", because there is no bad champions. Give the entire team adc's and then rush thornmail? That's one option. Make them all supports? That's a terrible idea because supports are the sleeper cells of the League that only hold back their power so that Ezreal players can feel useful in the world.

I suppose that in final, here's a few questions.

What champions did you expect to be played? Were you surprised by the champions who became used often? Why do people think supports are weak? Seriously, I saw an AP/Tank/Triforce (in the game) who almost carried.

RiotPontsFeb 17, 20158 votes

I don't think we'll get any information that will be actionable for us in terms of balance or kit changes that the Live Balance guys don't already know about. That being said I think we'll see some interesting things in terms of which champions players most like to see their opponents playing and what types of team comps players perceive to be weak. I want to reiterate though that I'd be surprised if we saw anything in Nemesis Mode that we didn't already know from normal/ranked play.

As to the supports comment, I'd like to turn your attention to the video link below. At the time these Rioters were in the topish section of players on LIVE (1800 to 2100 Elo). Now that supports scale so well when they aren't giving all their moneys to the ADC it's even more scary!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h95HtcUJSCg (Man that old League of Legends...how far we've come :) )

IggypuGoblinKingFeb 17, 20156 votes

I like Nemesis Mode but the drafts are a bit stale. Would there be any way of making maybe a Nemesis Mode where the "donation" pool is randomized, lending a little more variety to the champs in these matches?

RiotBuffMePlzFeb 17, 20157 votes

We decided to use players' owned champion pools so that there was some agency over what you gave other players (e.g. you can only give what you own) - in many ways, this should have made champion select less stale, as you couldn't ban, say, Urgot, if you don't own him, thus avoiding the Urgot ban/pick in every game.

That said, a randomized draft pool probably would have made things pretty interesting. Definitely something to consider if we bring this one back, or as a separate pick type in and of itself.

Mad RainbowFeb 17, 20156 votes

i think this mode would've worked way better with the Howling Abyss map . why did u go with Summoner's Rift instead ?

RiotL4T3NCYFeb 17, 201524 votes

Summoner's Rift has WAY more strategic options than Howling Abyss, making it a much more interesting choice for this kind of meta gameplay. Howling Abyss only has 1 objective (the next building) and your only option is essentially "to push" (making it not much of an option). Summoner's Rift affords the opportunity to let teamwork and strategy prevail over team comp, pushing multiple lanes, objectives, etc. Compared to Howling Abyss, Summoner's Rift is a candyland of strategic choice. :D

SeexydVanessaFeb 17, 20155 votes

How did you guys come up with the idea for this game mode?

RiotL4T3NCYFeb 17, 201518 votes

Nemesis Draft was an idea we had when Featured Game Modes had just begun back in 2013. There was just never a good window of time between modes until now to polish and release it. It's a pick type that's been historically popular though in a variety of other genres since the beginning of time (fighting games, beat-em-ups, RTS's, etc). It was nigh time that League had some fun with it too. :)

Solidair3Feb 17, 20153 votes

Why was nemesis draft on the pbe so long before it was released? Did you guys run into some problems?

hawkshot52Feb 17, 20152 votes

so i feel that nemisis was like an easy one to code as far as game modes go, was this more of a get bye game mode oro was this really compicated? Also why has yorick never been free??? E-V-E-R benn free?

RiotRiot BeastfuFeb 17, 20156 votes

While Nemesis Draft didn't really affect the in-game play, it did require changes to other systems not originally meant for how we flipped things around. Typically, there are several parts of the software ecosystem that need altering in one way or another for each of the Featured Game Modes. Overall, I'd say that while there were definitely challenges in champ select, Nemesis Draft ended up being not too crazy though.

ChimeiTekinaNasuFeb 17, 20153 votes

{quoted}

Also why has yorick never been free??? E-V-E-R benn free?

This was answered long ago in a different type of thread. Something about there being many things wrong with him and stuff. I think he's one of that's on the list of Gameplay Update or something like that. So they'd like to fix him first. Though he could be at the bottom of the list of champions to update.

I think it's got something to do with that, but not entirely sure.

Doctor CamilleFeb 18, 20151 votes

so you banned a champion from free rotation and you are not doing anything to fix it?

ChimeiTekinaNasuFeb 18, 20155 votes