In recent years, League of Legends has welcomed the most balanced new champions in its history – although the releases of Zeri, Renata or Bel’Veth may not be the best examples. Contrary to community sentiment, most characters released from 2020 have been exemplary for the studio. A situation that has not prevented constant criticism and in which a great difference in approach between players and developers has been demonstrated.
The most hated element by the community in the new champions
Most characters released in the past two years have barely maintained a consistent 50% win rate. In fact, several of them had the worst debuts in League of Legends history. This is the case of Gwen or Akshan, who did not win more than four out of ten games during their first days. Even Viego, probably one of the most hated champions when it was released, struggled to get good results. Everyone criticized this character, but the Fallen King struggled and didn’t even reach 50% wins.
It is true that there has been a change in the way Riot Games creates characters. However, the mistake of the community is to understand the exact cause of the problem. It’s not so much a balance issue as something the developers consciously went for. One of the devs’ goals for quite some time has been to make champions feel extremely strong and, above all, to make them capable of spectacular moments.. But always within the parameters of balance.
If we think about the most obvious cases of characters hated by the League of Legends community, it’s easy to find the common factor. When we complain about Samira, it’s usually because of her ultimate. Viego’s resets mostly bother us, and Zeri has been criticized for having difficulty catching up to her once she has some movement speed. The comments focus less on the general balance of the characters than on their ability to live fulgurating moments when the circumstances allow it.
It’s a matter of feeling and Riot Games has put a lot of effort into the characters having this spectacular moment where they seem unbeatable. It is a conscious decision that Ryan “Reav3” Mireles, who was head of champion production until he was promoted to head of gameplay, explained to us. He shared his thoughts on the subject and emphasized the importance of this moment for the development of champions.
” It’s something what we do intentionally for some time now. I set it up myself when I came to the team in charge of champions (…) From a conceptual point of view, it is very important for champions to have this moment that makes you say “ my god, it was amazing, I need to play this champion again”. The most successful champions have these kinds of fantastic moments. It is very important that players want to continue playing the character in question. Even if it happens once every ten or twelve games, knowing that this moment exists is what makes League of Legends addictive”explained Reav3.
Of course, we always have the right to complain about which League of Legends characters we like the least or which generate the most frustration. However, the studio’s reason makes sense. The most played and most banned heroes in League of Legends are the ones that can make for great moments. You may hate Lee Sin, Viego, Zeri, or Yasuo, but they’re the reason many gamers are still logging on more than twelve years after the game was released.
Suffocate is the most powerful summoner spell ever available in League of Legends. An aberrant creation that disappeared from historical records and was deleted before the game officially launched.