Riot on general damage reduction in LoL. Why is it not that simple?

The damage designer in League of Legends. How does Riot approach change?

League of Legends has changed significantly since its release. In addition to things that are clearly visible, such as much more modern visuals or more complex sets of heroes’ skills, many gameplay basics have also changed, such as the duration of the game and the overall amount of damage. The games are definitely shorter now and champions deal more damage.

Players have long been asking Riot to comment on this and somehow increase the average time it takes to kill an opponent. Designers have responded to players’ requests, and more information is expected soon. At the moment, one of the Rioters writes that it is not as easy as it might seem.

Damage in LoL

Regardless of whether you ask an older or novice LoL player, you will often get a response that suggests that the damage in League is just too high. The theme of damage is regularly discussed on the web, and the creators refer to it from time to time.

A user with the nickname Reikcram created a poll in which he decided to ask the community if Riot should extend the time required to kill n enemy.

Z sezonu na sezon widzę coraz więcej skarg na to, że w grze częściej umiera się momentalnie. Damage creep jest problemem od lat, ale zespół odpowiedzialny za balans zdaje się go akceptować. Osobiście mam wrażenie, że w ostatnich latach w grze jest zdecydowanie mniej walki. To dobrze czy źle?

W ankiecie oddano nieco ponad 4000 głosów, a zdecydowana większość, bo aż 3200 z nich, uznało, że postacie umierają za szybko. W wątku wypowiedział się jeden z projektantów – RiotAxes – oraz poinformował, że w niedalekiej przyszłości Riot podzieli się ze społecznością zaplanowanymi zmianami, które miałyby nieco ostudzić walkę.

W ciągu najbliższych kilku tygodni będziemy mówić o nadchodzących zmianach, które mają spowolnić tempo walki.

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Pod odpowiedzią projektanta wywołała się dyskusja, a użytkownik SunnyCoveredRain w odpowiedzi napisał, że niektórzy championi muszą być w stanie zabić przeciwnika szybko, aby w ogóle być użytecznymi.

The thing is some glass cannon champs need to be able to kill fast or they’re useless, full damage champs like Kaisa (my favorite champ and old main before I quit ADC) needs to be able to quickly dive and kill the enemy backline. In exchange once her ult shield is gone she’s made of paper, Kaisa needs to be able to assassinate back line in less than 2 seconds or the champ is worthless and she builds full glass cannon items to do that.

The issue is champs like Nocturne, Veigar, Kayn, Cassiopia, Vayne and others building literal tank items and still being able to one shot or one combo ADCs.Tanks Bruisers Mages and Assassins building bruiser items are doing too high of damage without the risky of being squishy themselves

RiotAxes agreed with the player’s answer and provided some more examples that illustrate what Rioters think is okay and what is not necessary.

Lux blasts you with Q-AA-E-R? Cool. Zed kills you with WRQE hitting double or triple Q? Cool. Zed on even gold kills you in one rotation with just his base kit? A lot less cool. Kha’Zix or Talon grabs bruiser items and burst kills an even gold ADC? Also a lot less cool.

There is definitely risk that burst champions get weaker, sustained combat champions (tanks, enchanters, ADCs, some mages, some fighters, etc) get stronger as the immediate aftermath of the changes – predicting the immediate balance in detail is basically impossible.

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With that in mind, a lot of the validation we’ve done has been aimed at making sure we have clear alignment on when burst kills are ok and also on what we’ll do if certain classes are over- or underpowered.

There’ll be balance instability, but I’m optimistic that we’ll land it effectively and pretty quickly. You, of course, should wait and see and judge us by what actually happens, and not what I say at this point.

From what the designer said, Riot has been working on reducing the damage dealt in League of Legends for a long time. The developers have a specific plan of which characters should hit less and which damage level is okay.

The community will surely learn more soon, but for the moment it remains to wait for more news from the LoL developers.