League of Legends players have grown accustomed to new champions breaking Riot Games’ balance rules again. Nilah has just arrived in Summoner’s Rift to become one of the most interesting characters the developer has ever released. However, even though its release is very recent, it has shown an ability to win matches unworthy of a new champion. Taking into account all the rankings, players have already played more than 50,000 games with it and have been able to win in 51.9% of cases.
Nilah is another failure for the balance of League of Legends
Unlike characters who have been in Summoner’s Rift for a while, a new champion reaching a win rate close to or above 50% a few hours after release is a very worrying sign. This is because newcomers to the game tend to improve their performance over time. Moreover, it is a particularly important phenomenon among those who have a little more complex gameplay. However, Nilah’s win rate is too high at all MMRs in the game.
The problem, aside from the incredible performance at lower ranks, is that most players are still able to win their first matches with Nilah. This indicates that his stats are too high or that his skill set is too powerful. To understand the situation, it suffices to compare the output of nilah with that of Bel’Veth. The previous champion that arrived in League of Legends had slightly more discreet data and seemed a little less complex. However, after starting out with a success rate of between 46-50% when it launched, it later achieved a success rate of over 55.5% at all ranks.
Riot Games is well aware of this effect and calls it “The Mastery Curve”. This is a principle that applies to all characters and can be summed up as follows: the more you play a champion, the more likely you are to win the next time you use it. It’s a matter of common sense that applies especially to the more difficult characters in League of Legends and naturally balances new champions. For example, Viego started out in the Rift with around a 40% win rate and managed to increase in power without Riot’s intervention. The same thing happened with Yone (43%) or Lillia (38%). In any case, figures much lower than those of Nilah.
You only need to revisit the history of League of Legends to know what will become of Nilah. The champion will continue to increase her win rate to an undetermined point which will undoubtedly be well above what we might consider appropriate for game balance. A situation that makes the release of new champions with excessive power a trend. Characters that arrived in Season 12 always needed balance tweaks after their launch patch, and cases like Zeri’s were some of the most problematic in the game’s history.
That’s not even the only issue players faced during patch 12.13 Nilah’s (too) spectacular release was accompanied by major tweaks to Master Yi, Sivir, or Gwen that necessitated the introduction of an emergency patch. A situation that is starting to tire the community, especially in the case of new champions.
League of Legends patch 12.13 has barely arrived in Summoner’s Rift when Riot Games decides to roll out an emergency hot fix for three champions. Sivir is a real monster with his mini-rework, while Master Yi and Gwen dominate Summoner’s Rift a bit too much.