Professional League of Legends players have always been known for their ability to get the most out of champions who can’t take off in ranked. Riot Games has historically had issues with certain characters designed to rely too heavily on player level or team synergy. This has spawned some champions that the developer must be very careful with because if they are viable in ranked play, they begin to dominate the competitive scene with an iron fist.
Riot’s big problem with competitive play
What is worrying is that the situation seems to have exploded in recent years. For a while, all eyes must have been on a few of the usual suspects. However, the list has grown with new additions and just take a look at the most played champions in each position to realize the chasm that separates professional League of Legends players from the average level of the community. A situation that becomes obvious with a simple comparison.
Jayce | 60.2% | 47.1% |
 Lee Sin | 77.8% | 46.9% |
 Twisted Fate | 66.8% | 47.3% |
 Zeri | 94.8% | 47.8% |
 Nautilus | 65.1% | 50.8% |
Looking at the table, the most used champions in League of Legends competitions are among the least powerful in ranked matches. Again, there have always been similar cases, but rarely so exaggerated. Especially considering that another choice of champions wouldn’t solve the problems. Behind Jayce in average attendance is Gwen with a 47.1% win rate. A similar situation for Ryze (44.9%), a notch below Twisted Fate or Aphelios (45.3%), behind only Jinx and Zeri.
As if that weren’t enough, we pulled all this data from the 12.6 update. This patch provides us with a greater amount of data due to the recent introduction of the latest patch. However, in the 12.7 update which is currently live on the League of Legends client, power cuts have been made to Ryze, Zeri, Jayce, and Lee Sin – four of the most successful champions in competitive play that further widen the gap between average League of Legends players and pros.
This situation is one of the most difficult Riot Games can encounter with a League of Legends champion. These aren’t characters that are going to be fixed by a simple stat tweak, and in some cases mid-range updates like the ones Riot Games have offered for Olaf and Swain won’t do the trick either. . In cases like Ryze, the developer has already stated that the only alternatives are to do a complete gameplay overhaul that sacrifices some abilities or to always keep it a notch behind.
The truth is that the evolution of professional gaming has taken Riot Games by surprise, and similar cases are on the rise. The developer’s goal of maintaining a variety of characters in the competitive circuit and keeping ranked games well-balanced is nearly impossible.. However, it doesn’t look like the company is ready to throw in the towel anytime soon.
Remark : Data is from the four major leagues compared to League of Legends ranked match win rate in patch 12.6. The presence variable refers to the average number of picks and bans in each of the patches in which the competition took place.
Riot Games admits to being at a crossroads with the situation of Ryze, a champion who dominates in competition and underperforms in ranked. However, they believe that any decision regarding the character will leave League of Legends players unhappy.