In a stream, one of the designers from Riot Games explained why in League of Legends new champions often take “greater risks” than adding a more boring champion to the game,
What does the developer explain? In one of his past Twitch streams, Riot Games Game Designer Nick “Endstep” Frijia talks about the work on League of Legends. Frijia works in the Summoner’s Rift
-team of LoL, after previously being a game tester.
As reported by ESPORTS INSIDER, Nick Frijia explained that new champions in LoL are often integrated into the game stronger than they actually need to be. He elaborates that with new champions, “greater risks” are taken.
Better initially stronger than more boring champions
Why are champions initially OP? According to Frijia, there are several reasons why champions are stronger at the start of integration than they ultimately are after a few patches. It is better for developers to scale down a strong champion later on than to do the opposite. The subsequent scaling up of a rather boring champion is more difficult.
Thus, Riot Games is more willing to take a risk with a champion or to implement bolder ideas. As an example, Frijia mentions the champions Smolder and Aurora.
The trick with Smolder is to apply abilities to opponents and increase one’s own strength. The effects are stackable. With each stack, the champion becomes stronger.
The initial problem was that players figured out how to collect these “stacks” extremely quickly. Smolder became too strong too quickly, to the point that a team had no chance against an opposing Smolder. Smolder’s strengths were redistributed so that he received his stronger abilities and attacks later.
Aurora was designed for the Top Lane, but was initially so strong that she was difficult to counter. Only professionals could handle her well. Here too, the champion’s abilities had to be adjusted to balance her out.
For the year 2026, League of Legends developer Riot Games has already announced some changes for the well-known MOBA. One of the most important: the Elo-hell will likely no longer be such a big problem. You can read more about it here on MeinMMO: In LoL you will climb to a higher rank faster, but you will have to learn all roles
