R0gueFool

For me, it really depends on the champion. But I tend to take Ghost on champions that need to move around a lot during a fight and Snowball for those that struggle to get into a fight. Singed is a good example here, where you can use Ghost to get past the other team or use it to run around during the fight, but who doesn't need snowball to start it.

She is slightly more popular in Elite play than in other elo ranges, but they are all still high. As for your individual games, the jungle has never been a popular role (though it is HIGHLY impactful especially if you want to climb).

But every game still has 2 junglers. So if you are filling one of those slots then in your individual games you account for a ~50% chance of if Eve will show up or not. So you aren't going to be seeing other players pick her that often.

As for games where you are not the jungler it can come down to several factors such as:

• The rest of the team comp.
  • Maybe your jungler doesn't feel Eve works for the comp and picks someone else.
• A diverse jungle champion pool.
  • Plenty of champions to pick from, and while she has a high pick rate it doesn't mean she is picked 50%+.
• You are keeping an eye out for her.
• Random chance
  • I might not see X champion...

We do care about our hardcore players, we care about our casual players, we care about our players. Someone being a casual player or not doesn't matter we care about players who care about games, and someone spending time going online to discuss their favorite games is hardly something I would consider casual.

Toxic gatekeeping individuals is not good for the game or the rest of its diehard community. I also don't think it's good for the fans of the Die Hard films. I'm not sure about the overlap between both communities, but I'm sure they are both great.

I think its unlikely that she'll be seeing any Q buffs any time soon. She is a popular champion that is preforming just fine, who becomes very frustrating champion very quickly. I'd go so far as to say she is boarderline OP in an elite player's hands. I think the biggest issue with her is that she has one of the widest spreads between unskilled play (balanced-ever so slightly weak) and highly skilled play (strong).

She is intended to be a strong ganker who shows up to surprise her opponents when they least expect it and make the numbers work better in her favor. While lower skilled players tend to focus more on farming their jungle and try to get themselves ahead Eve is all about making plays happen along side your allies and she is unlikely to have strong 1v1 potential unless she is ahead.

I personally haven't been keeping an eye on Liandry's data with these champions so I can only speak to so much.

That said it is totally possible, and likely, that the item is still very strong but that it isn't showing up as frequently because it was crazy OP before and being purchased far too often, but still preforming just fine in its intended situation. These champions are also less popular so it makes sense that their core item, while still strong, isn't showing up as frequently.

The item is intended to be something you buy for elongated fights and for dealing with tanks. If players are playing fewer tanks than the number of games where this item is the correct choice is also reduced.

Personally speaking Liandry's feels fine on these champions to me, (but we don't balance off of my games =P).

I think you are coming to some large assumptions about how both teams handle OTPs and general winrate. Both teams have access to winrate data for someone...

These changes only effect her should drop rate when she kills the minion.

The problem is that these champions aren't just in a balanced state and some small buff will boost perception. Its that they are very strong, but the perception is that they are weak. A small buff isn't going to change that perception without jumping them to crazy unacceptable 60-70%+ winrates. Its an issue of there play styles being so different. Its no coincidence that ASol, Singed, and Teemo have some of the most unique playstyles, this makes them harder to learn (you don't have a familiar touchstone champions that onboard you to them), and that they are perceived as weak.

I could see us spending more time on pro-focused changes, but it really comes down to what players want. There is always going to be some give and take with where we spend our focus, we see this all the time when you see comments like "Why did/didn't you buff/nerf X champion they are clearly OP/weak!?!?!?!?!" Some patches will have a larger focus on pro play, and that can grow if thats what players want to see, but I also suspect players want changes that that more accurately represent their games.

The tank Gragas nerfs a few patches back were some pro focused nerfs, I feel we missed the mark on these because he is still a frequent pick/ban but its tricky because for the general player base (all elos) he is a fine, but not OP pick. So any nerfs we do for pro risk an adverse effect outside of organized play.

I haven't spoken with any of the pro players to hear their reasoning, so this is my interpretation.

1. Even in elite levels of play (highest non-tournament elo bands) the game is played differently than tournament level play. You have less organization and coordination, this is part of why I say we balance the game for all elo ranges (often our changes do target elite levels of play), but that we haven't historically had a large focus on pro level balance changes. For example

Pros still have comfort picks like anyone else and are historically slow to change to new champions. In LoLPC you will often see champions go under the radar in pro play simply because they are unfamiliar with the champion and the cost/risk of swapping can be very high when you have thousands of games on a champion you are familiar with and money/your career is on the line.

Just like any other player they have their own perception of what is strong. And that might be right...

You gotta be a Draven wizard. Looking at his mastery curve there is a stark difference between a players first game as Draven and a Draven player. His skill floor might not match LoLPC, but he is far from an easy marksmen to pick up.

Not sure what passive change you are referring to if something didn't make it into the patch notes that was a mistake.

No plans to change Teemo's ultimate we think this version is much healthier for Wild Rift. Plus it lets us give him a dash!

Kai'sa is a popular champion for sure, but she is far from pick/ban, and while she is a popular pick in pro-games she doesn't have the best performance for the general player base (regardless of elo).

The truth is that she is just a fun champion people pick her for that reason. If you want a strong mechanically intense marksman than Draven is your go to, he just isn't as popular. Your right that Kai'sa hasn't been directly nerfed in a while, but she also didn't gain nearly as much as other marksmen did in the crit item update. That patch was basically a buff to all non-Kai'sa marksmen, and thus a nerf to her. If your teammates are picking Ashe/MF than support them in that, especially if you are sick of seeing Kai'sa.

I think it's worth bringing up that even saying someone is 47% is a large over generalization and you are right this is not, nor has it ever been, an end-all metric for the balance team. The team takes into account: different elo groups, ban rate, player perception, some amount of pro play, item/rune choices, competing champions, mastery curves.

Winrate is often brought up because it is the most clear cut example for most players to talk about, but even when I see players discussing that, it doesn't take into account all the ways winrate can be divided.

Regularly when the team talks about balance changes we talk about all of these, and a champions winrate is just one part of that. Often enough the team avoids buffing/nerfing with winrate as the primary driver because of how it can be perceived.

So those champs are a very different discussion than pro related balance.

Basically these champions are preforming well in terms of balance, but struggle in popularity for a number of reasons (other than Shyvana, last I looked she was decently powerful and decently popular...could play up her themes better though). Generally this is due to them being less of a carry, less flashy (Amumu/Soraka), and having power that is harder to appreciate or a unique playstyle (Asol/Singed).

It's also worth remembering that even though I said non-pro I didn't just say any one elo bracket. The team looks at data, and balance the game for all elos so even though we might buff/nerf a champion we might be targeting a different bracket than a single player is familiar with. A great example here is that higher skilled players are better at closing out games early, and pushing there advantage. So if we wanted to nerf a champion for high skilled play, while having little impact on low sk...

Yep the team keeps an eye on tournaments. Our focus hasn't been too much on the pro scene, and MUCH more on the non pro (all skill levels) player base. So the VAST majority of changes have been non pro focused, with the occasional pro focused change thrown.

Part of the issue is thinking about how we want to handle it, the game is still very new and while pro players are no doubtable amazing at the game, they still have plenty of room to grow, especially when you consider learning outside their own regions.

As for the "eye test" we also take a team members familiarity into account when deciding who will take X balance change. Such as when we decide Thresh needs buffs, who on the team would be best to lead those changes. They still take feedback from the rest of the team, and need sign off, but it makes more sense to have the support player handing them than the Baron lane player.

<3 Happy to help!

We wanted players to have choices in what boots they could buy. Berserker's Greaves and Sorcerer's Shoes was counter to that goal.

But don't worry the AS is built directly into your champion's stats, so really you get the bonus AS+choice boots.

It can be a good one for sure, and they do have some great synergy together.

But Fimbul gives you 22 AH from the item itself + whatever other mana (from items and Blitzcranks own mana pool) so you end up getting much more. Fimbul is also slightly cheaper.

While Blitz doesn't use the shield as well as someone like Malphite, the shield still adds durability. And Blitz is uniquely able to double dip this because of his own passive, making use of the extra mana that Fimbul has over IBG.

Choosing based off your team and opponents is going to always be the best way to go, and actives are a strong start. I'm saying as your first non-boots item Winter's Approach is Blitz default best first item. AP does give you some extra damage sure, but Blitz doesn't win off his damage, he wins by making picks and his CC and the Mana+AH let him do that much more frequently.

Jigglypuff seen from above.