R0gueFool

<3 Thanks for the kind words. When Sion is released let me know what you think about him as a jungler. I expect he should be good as both a Jungle and Baron laner.

I'm not sure how he is doing now, nor do I know the rest of the team's thoughts. Several months back LoLPC gave certain champions some jungle-focused buffs with the thought that it would help Jungle popularity I don't know much about its impact but my perception is that it helped these champion's popularity in those roles it didn't do much for the popularity of the role itself if that makes sense. That doesn't mean that we couldn't do it, but it isn't something we have spent much time discussing.

Being slightly better in another position doesn't mean they are bad in another. We want to make sure players in each position have champions to look forward to, and that we are serving a variety of archetypes. That doesn't mean everyone's favorite champion is releasing next, popularity is only one thing we look at when adding champions, and you aren't going to see us plan a release schedule like Baron>Jungle>Mid>Dragon>Support, but we do take positions, roles, and archetypes into account when choosing champions.

And that is totally fair, I am 100% ok with us disagreeing on how something feels (it much better than everyone agreeing that it is solved). And depending on the champion you are right they might be better in a lane (I wouldn't say far more, but maybe slightly, but that isn't the focus).

I think that the issue here is that many players prefer playing as the 1v9 flashy solo carry champion, and that is totally fine, we have champions for those players, but Nautilus and Shen aren't that. They still have a good impact but they essentially share some of their carry potential, that comes with the jungle role, with your allies, and that isn't something that most people enjoy doing.

I do think there are things we could do, and have started doing, to raise the satisfaction for non-carry champions. But that is a tricky problem and takes time, reducing the impact of early scuttle crab is an example of this. Now weak duelists aren't automatically behind early-game powerhouses ...

So it really depends on what you mean by viable. When I talk about viability I mean that they have a reasonable chance of performing well in that role (ie if you pick them you have a fair chance of winning the game).

I point this out because popularity is not at all the same as viability (unless we have different definitions for viability). Popular champions tend to be flashy, get kills themselves, or have a fair bit of mobility. But that doesn't mean that others are non-viable. This is why champions like Ezreal, Kai'sa, Katarina, and Master Yi, are all popular champions regardless of their power. Nautilus and Shen don't really have any of those aspects (most players don't enjoy playing tanks), so ya you are going to see fewer of them, but that doesn't mean they don't perform well, just that players prefer other champions.

Being unsatisfying is a different problem, that isn't always related to a champion's power (though that can obviously play a role). However if t...

Ah in that case Ekko, Nautilus, and Shen, assuming by viable we mean junglers who are performing fine. But maybe by viable, we want to ignore those that are not particularly popular.

Poor Sion, Ekko, Nautilus, and Shen.

It's a bit hard to call anything a nerf, given that he isn't released. If he is too strong/weak at release we'll make the needed adjustments don't worry.

He has also had some small tweaks for those familiar with his LoLPC incarnation.

Sure but Sion's R isn't targeted, and Ziggs W doesn't deal much damage unless it executes the turret. Ultimately the takeaway is that we have some abilities that can damage towers. But I don't think we would ever be happy with an ability dealing reliable, sizeable, amounts of damage to towers, with any sort of frequent use. We are fine with it dealing damage but aren't a big fan of the gameplay when he is blowing them up left and right.

Oh, Akshan's ulti does too, I might be missing 1-2 more.

I assume you mean "first to do damage to turrets" with his ult/basic abilities. He isn't, Rammus's ulti damage turrets, and Alistair can headbutt them too.

He does have a turret damage mod during his passive and I believe we gave him one on his Ulti too.

We still expect, and want him to be, a powerful splitpusher a significant number of our play tests saw a Sion splitpushing. We just don't like the gameplay of him ignoring all else to die and take towers with his passive repeatedly.

Shadows was never particularly popular, even when it was strong it was viewed as weak by the general player base, and this is echoed by its DRASTICALLY low pickrate. There are ways we could have made it stronger but the problem isn't to do with it's strength. It's more to do with its perceived power.

Giving it damage would give it more power (and thus we would need to nerf it in other areas) but it wouldn't really do much about its perceived power. It also changed the purpose of the item, and we don't want to do that.

There is also the case that if people don't interact with something, and we don't feel it is adding meaningfully to the system does it deserve its spot? Basically it's removal opens up space for new active items.

Glorious Enchant isn't the most exciting, and does have some overlap with Protobelt, but we see it as a bit different because of its duration vs the bust dash. Though I agree it could use some work, especially when compared to stasi...

We moved it, and added it to his passive we did this so that you can get the health stacking right away without putting your first point into his shield. In PC Sion tends to put his first point into his shield then max Q, this will make it slightly better for a more standard skill order.

It does not work with Yasuo's ulti or Samira's passive. Internal play tests sussed that one out real quick.

It's more about being tanky so that you can get as many Q hits as possible. Neither AP or AD really help Q, so it's about the poke and utility that his 2, 3, and FoL bring, and being durable gives you the chance to hit with Qs.

Others have said this too, but I highly suggest playing Nasus support (with FoL) alongside fasting Senna. Nasus gets stacks and the lane is really strong. If you've been watching Icons it's been popular, and my group has had success with it for a few months now. It's alot of fun and many people underrate it.

100% it is going to be subjective. And the resolve runes are the ones you are most likely to change game to game (most reactive to your opponents). I wouldn't expect Hunter - Titan to be the default in most cases, it's really bad if it is. I do tend to take Hunter - Titan often in ARAM because you don't know your opponents, and getting stacks is reliable.

We would never make Legend: Tenacity with our rune system, Hunter - Titan is basically the same thing and it doesn't make sense to have both.

Olaf is a champion who tends to pop up from time to time in organized play because they can reliably make Olaf comps, but he has never been a popular champion (in either PC or WR). His winrate has also been rather flat. I've seen him pop off in a few games, and a fed Olaf basically means GG, but that is more how a single game plays out, rather than a meta trend.

I guess it comes down to what you want to define as a joke, before the nerfs I would say that it was laughable how good Hunter - Titan was, particularly in ARAM where it is so easy to stack. Now, I get to say it is generally the best defensive rune on ARAM.

You're right Steraks doesn't work with every champion, few items do and it's generally a problem if it does. Luckily, most champions don't need it. They are either ranged, and thus can avoid CC, or can stack Hunter - Titan with Merc Treads or layer on a QSS.

Players do tend to hate long periods of CC, and we try to avoid it, but sometimes players will build a comp or random on in ARAM. This is why we have these outlets that players can opt into when needed (spell shields work here too, I forgot to mention those). If someone chooses to overlook these tools or thinks that something else is more valuable that is their call to make, but not every champion should have access to every tool.

Runes: Hunter - Titan

Boots: Merc Treads

Boots Enchant: Quicksilver Enchant

Item: Sterak's Gage, Banshee's Veil, Edge of Night

Edit to add spell shield items.