If you follow the League of Legends esports scene, you must have noticed that every season we see the same 30-40 champions being played. It was always hard to pinpoint the exact reason why is this happening, but League players might actually have an answer to this.
One League and Dota 2 player noticed a pattern when comparing the pro play scene of these two games. In a post on League’s subreddit from Aug. 10, the player highlighted how League struggles with champ diversity when it comes to esports and Dota 2 is historically known to be one of the most versatile games on that front.
The biggest reason behind this, the player speculated, is because League champions are not as “unique and specialized” as Dota 2 champions which serve specific purposes.
If we, for example, take Azir, a champion whose consistent presence in pro play has been annoying, there’s really not much that this champ can’t do. The Emperor of Shurima has a strong laning phase, scales well, has a strong setup and CC, and incredible DPS output—basically, everything one champion can dream of.
Other champions that easily fall into this category and have time and time again been present in pro play are Zeri, Aphelios, LeBlanc, Gnar, Aatrox, Orianna, Gragas, and Hecarim. Essentially, these champs have little to no flaws and are just all-around kits.
On the other hand, highly specialized champs like Heimerdinger, Teemo, and Shaco rarely have their five minutes of fame in League because they are intended to excel in just one aspect of the game. While Teemo wants to play aggressively and bait enemies into his mushrooms, Heimerdinger needs to play around his turrets.
If you take recent champion releases like Nafiiri and Nilah, there isn’t anything special about these champs and I feel like there isn’t anything they can’t do—DPS, sustain, catch up with enemies, and scale well into the later stages of the game.
Right now, it’s hard to rebalance the entire game around versatility, but this should be Riot’s next step moving forward. As many players noted, we don’t want more new champions, we want to enjoy our favorite champions and see them succeed.
