If we have to single out one mode in League of Legends other than 5v5 in Summoner’s Rift, it’s probably theARAM . All Random All Mid was born as a mode created by the community itself to find a different way to play LoL, and in which the most important thing was fun – by assigning a random champion to each player.
But in recent years, it seems ARAM has gone from fun to hyper-competitive, to finding alternate builds that make artillery champions shine. Or at least that’s the story the numbers tell. Are we playing well at ARAM?
Reach Doesn’t Mean Victory
Above, you can find the Top 15 champions according to their win and selection rate in ARAM, (figures from U.GG). Through this data we can see that there are correlations and champions with an impressive win percentage like Miss Fortune, Veigar, Morgana or Brand are used a lot, but there are also clear deviations like Ezreal, Nidalee , Pyke or Lucian.
It’s because of something many of you will surely think too: what drives picks in ARAM isn’t champion efficiency, but “the urge to make it work”. This is nothing new in League of Legends, since if mastery curves or common sense teach us anything directly, it’s that always playing the same champion or a specific role, if possible quite simple, is the more optimal. However, we see how complex champions like Vayne, Lee Sin Where yasuo are the most played even in the lower divisions.
This is an interesting concept, which even League of Legends developers try to use when creating new champions. If a power fantasy (that an OP-looking champion in short) resonates with players, they will play this champion more; it’s a vehicle to promote variety and fun rather than boredom for many, though it would win more games, as would using champions who fulfill that power fantasy.
The paradox is that the power fantasy in ARAM is limited to one thing: poke and ranged damage. Since the map is single lane, there will undoubtedly be champions that are much better equipped than others. Thing is, that’s not always true, or at least that’s not really our idea of the strongest champions.
A simple exercise is enough to understand it. In the Top 15 by pick rate, we have a total of 14 ranged champions for a single melee, oddly enough Pyke and his 46.61% win rate. In the Top 15 based on win rate, the split is 9 ranged champions to 6 melee champions. So range isn’t always the key to winning in ARAM.
The builds obsessive
Part of those power fantasies rooted in ARAM are the builds specific. Players use the quirks of this mode to improve two things: damage and ranged abilities. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does remove some of the variety one would expect from a game with as many options as League of Legends.
Sometimes this is acceptable, as Bard can be seen with a build focused on AP and attack speed. But sometimes only one option becomes viable, which is also directly oppressive and takes the fun out of it. Above in the Reddit post, a player expresses their boredom of facing or even playing Poke Ashe (his W – Salve is maxed first and the build is still the same).
Interestingly, some variants like Kai’Sa AP made their way from ARAM to Summoner’s Rift. This brings variety and that’s a good thing, but there is a counterpoint: if this variant is viable in normal mode, won’t it be completely broken in ARAM?
The semi-hidden data that not everyone knows
In some patches, from time to time, we see that the developers add a number of balances for ARAM. Since version 9.7 of the game, implemented on April 3, 2019, new features have been added aimed at balancing champions, runes and items. Given the power of poke and how players have optimized their playstyle to use it whenever they can, Riot applied percentages to damage applied and damage received.
This results in melee champions having values of +5, 10, or 15% more damage applied and reduced damage taken. There are cases like Ziggs, who has -20% damage applied and +20% damage taken… And despite this, he remains one of the best champions in the mode thanks in particular to his ability allowing him to complete towers. As a general rule, these balances mainly benefit melee champions who are rarely popular and who often reroll.
Today we wrap up our roundup of characters already revealed in Project L, with theories on Katarina’s future gameplay.