L’balance of League of Legends has always been delicatein particular because of the number of champions. With over 160 characters playable, it is difficult to allow each of them to find its place, without duplicating an existing warrior. Yet Riot Games has managed a real tour de force at this levelbecause although the balance is not perfect, and each champion does not have 50% winrate, the vast majority of them revolve around this 50%, and are playable in a single player competitive environment.
Of course, there are some exceptions on either side of the spectrum, whether at the level of overly strong champions, or for those who desperately need a little push and a little love to become competitive again. If we look at the latest releases and gameplay updates for old champions, we can notice that a new mechanics have appeared. If for the moment this one is not too much problem (except for one champion in particular), she is synonymous with a rise in power always present in the new characters and those who are reworked.
To infinity and beyond !
What do Sivir, Swain, Olaf and Zeri have in common? If you answered that they all do Pew Pew at some point (yes Olaf does Pew Pew while throwing his axe, 0 bad faith here) that’s not wrong, but that’s not the right answer. Each of these characters has a ultimate with potentially unlimited durationif they manage to fulfill the conditions. These latter can be relatively difficult to be completed for Sivir (who needs to kill or participate in the kill of an enemy champion) and Olaf (who must constantly attack an opposing character), but are simpler for Swain and Zeriwho just need to do damage to one of their opponents.
This mechanic is unpublished in the sense that duration is not capped. Other champions have a similar mechanic, but with a limited time, such as Rammus’ W which can remain active for up to 4 additional seconds. Nevertheless all these changes are recentand it is not excluded to see other similar ones appear in a near future.
A problem with balancing?
So far, we can say it’s fine. Sivir is quite strong in soloQbut its rework has just been released so it makes sense that some tweaking is still needed. Olaf and Swain are strong enough in the current meta, without being totally broken for the moment. Their evolution must still be monitoredbecause their winrate increases for a few patches. In contrast Zeri is a problembut the devs seem to think it comes more from its kit in general than its ultimate in particular. The result is therefore that the champions affected by this mechanic are all strong, but not broken except for Zeri.
However, this could cause major problems in the coming months. Ultimates are spells that are thought to be very powerful, and giving them an infinite duration will create some issues for medium or long term. How to take damage from a bruiser or a mage whose ultimate does not stop? How to catch ADCs that will run faster than other champions for infinite time? This is a problem that will have to be resolved, otherwise we will see some champions disappear from the radar because they will no longer have the weapons to fight against this kind of character. And above all it shows the general power creep in League of Legends. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it’s done right. Some players don’t want to have to give up the champions they’ve been playing for years, on the pretext that they won’t have the means to perform anymore.
esport-lol
After being forced out of League of Legends competition in North America for health reasons, Huni has finally given some news about his future. The chances of seeing him again soon on the esports scene seem quite low, but he will not leave this environment either.