- League of Legends has a large power creep problem, causing teamfigths to be too fast
- The developer is preparing to reduce overall damage for the 2022 season
- No details have been shared, but it’s expected the changes will affect almost every champion
League of Legends players have been complaining the game’s combat has become too fast, prompting Riot to plan damage nerfs for most champions.
League Has a Power Creep Problem
Despite being over a decade old, League of Legends is a game that is always changing – items are added, champions like Taliyah are being rebalanced, etc. Sometimes these changes are instigated by players, either wanting to see some feature in the game or being dissatisfied with another.
One thing that has been bothering many in the League community is the high damage many champions do, which in turn makes fights last a shorter time. The average team right now clocks in at around 14 seconds, a far cry from what it used to be a few years ago. In previous seasons tanks and healers had a much greater impact on the gameplay, with League teamfights averaging 22 seconds, and oftentimes lasting even over a minute.
According to RiotAxes, a developer in Riot Games, this is due to an “overcorrection” in balance. This is a well-known issue that Riot intends to fix before the end of Season 12.
Riot Will Be Implementing Changes
League of Legends’ developer has promised to implement changes that slow down the combat significantly. “Our development team believes League is best when it is on average be fast-paced and exciting,” RiotAxes explained, “but I think it would be fair to say it has overcorrected towards damage, which is hitting away at clarity (I can tell what just killed me/I can tell what I should have done differently) and skill expression (That assassin/mage hit their whole kit, so they earned the kill).”
Although Riot games have not yet explicitly stated what these changes would be, it is likely they will affect a majority, if not all of the game’s current 159 champions. One rumor is that there will be a 20% reduction of all damage from champions and all healing and shielding abilities being dropped by similar levels.
Riot has known about this issue and player’s complaints for some time. Back in October last year, the company said that a nerf will not be coming soon. In a Reddit thread, senior game designer Matt “PhRoXzOn” Leung-Harrison clarified that making changes would impact the meta and subsequently pro play.
“It would not be as simple as just reducing damage by X% and the game is fixed,” he explained. “Tanks, assassins, ADC, sustain, pro play watchability, game snowballiness are just some of the places that would likely need adjustment.”
However, now that Riot has officially announced it will soon be making changes, players hope this will lighten the power creep problem.
