In League of Legends, there are always balance issues. It’s no wonder with over 150 champs. Currently, two junglers stand out: the agile tanks Udyr and Hecarim are out of control. Riot is considering whether to nerf Hecarim or address the item “Turbo Chemtank” in a LoL patch: because the high movement speed makes these two junglers apparently very strong.
This is the problem with the heroes: The champ Hecarim is now considered so strong by LoL players that he has a ban rate of around 70%. People ban Hecarim in 7 out of 10 cases to avoid facing his jungle power. If he isn’t banned, he will almost certainly be played.
Hecarim is extremely fast and mobile in LoL. He is also one of the few champions where the summoner spell “Ghost” is chosen instead of “Flash” to keep him even faster on his 4 ghostly legs. Speed plays an important role for Hecarim as he gains more attack damage the higher his movement speed is via his passive ability. Hecarim is a kind of undead centaur of death: he has always been fast, and new items have further accelerated him.
Similar to Hecarim, Udyr is one of the big winners of season 11 in LoL. He received some buffs at the end of season 10 and is now a force in the jungle. His ban rate isn’t as extreme as Hecarim’s, but he is also banned in 4 out of 10 games. Udyr can also accelerate himself with the form “Bear Power” and his passive ability.
The dominance of Hecarim and Udyr leads to professional matches being perceived as “boring.” A viewer from the US pro league criticizes on reddit: every match between Cloud 9 and Team Liquid was just a duel between Udyr and Hecarim.
In the 4 games between Mad Lions and G2, Hecarim was banned twice and played once.
Riot is considering nerfing Hecarim or addressing “Turbo Chemtank”
This is what Riot Games says: Riot Games has also noticed the dominance of Hecarim: it is now said by lead design developer Jeevus “Jag” Sidhu that they are already working internally on changes to Hecarim. Ideally, they would find a way to make his tank builds less attractive and move him more towards a fighter build (via reddit).
However, Riot is also considering leaving the champs alone and addressing the item “Chemtank” instead. The item is reasonably balanced for many champs but extremely powerful for a select few. And those happen to be the champs that shape the meta: Udyr and Hecarim.
The mythical tank item “Turbo Chemotank” has the special effect of granting 60% bonus movespeed and the ability to use “Ghost” when moving towards a tower or champion. This allows the heroes to run extremely fast and even glide through other champions.
The item has been changed several times, but it seems to still be very strong on Udyr and Hecarim.
Because Hecarim and Udyr both already have built-in ways to increase their movement speed. They turn into a kind of unstoppable, incredibly fast tank with “Turbo Chemtank” that plows through enemies.
This is being discussed: Generally, players of LoL view the value “Movespeed” critically. The new items would continue to strengthen strong champions like Hecarim.
Riot Games should perhaps introduce a mechanic that prevents already fast champions from being further accelerated.
Fast tanks act like wrecking balls
This is what’s behind it: The problem here is that fast tanks are frustrating. The classic balance in MOBAs states that tanks are generally stationary and immobile, need to position well, and absorb damage. Fast characters traditionally pay for their speed by being fragile: the classic rogue must dodge enemies and cannot get caught. This corresponds to the fantasy logic one knows from Game of Thrones: the Viper of Dorne dances around the mounted mountain – if the heavily armored knight ever gets a hold of the nimble fighter, it’s over.
Junglers like Hecarim or Udyr become a kind of “one-man wrecking” ball that run straight at the soft targets to kill them. They are also difficult to escape from.
Because junglers in the current “carry meta” of LoL farm creeps and become stronger, they can play a crucial role while remaining hard targets due to defensive items like “Chemtank.”
This then restricts variety in the jungle: players get the feeling that if they don’t play Hecarim, they weaken their team.
The new patch 11.8 has brought a new heroine to LoL. However, she was criticized beforehand for being too pretty and simply not monstrous enough:
Players criticize: The new heroine in LoL is too pretty and too normal – This is what Riot says
