The stopwatch in League of Legends makes heroes invulnerable. This affects the early game phase and takes away entertainment for viewers during tournaments.
Last weekend, the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NALCS) started. It was the beginning of the first LCS tournament held with the latest LoL patch. Fans were excited to finally see their favorite players in the tournament again. But much of the discussion was not about the players’ skills, but about the “stopwatch.” An item that changes the meta.
The stopwatch steals everyone’s time
The item “stopwatch” has existed since November 2017 in League of Legends. However, it was only used for the first time in front of a large audience by professionals during the NALCS tournament. The item has a one-time-use stasis effect. It holds you in place and makes you invulnerable for 2.5 seconds. Once used, the stopwatch breaks and cannot be used a second time.
The topic of the stopwatch is welcomed by many players: You pay gold in the in-game shop for a one-time “Oh, Shit!” button.
However, you can bypass this purchase requirement if you skill the “Perfect Timing” talent. Then you get the stopwatch for free once. And this apparently is particularly well received by professionals.
Reddit user BlizzardMelon calculated that in the first week of the NALCS, 60% of teams skilled the “Perfect Timing” mastery, which gives players a free stopwatch in their inventory. Note that teams from Europe and Korea were not included in this calculation.
Tough early game – Few kills at the start of a game
In many early phases of tournament games, the stopwatch was seen with at least three players on each team. In some matches, even more players carried it.
The stopwatch is worth it, as it allows you to simply “forgive” mistakes. Mispositioned or on the way to your deadly skillshot? The stopwatch lets you survive.
In combination with the Flash summoner spell, the stopwatch provides a new opportunity to escape a kill. This pushes important gold revenues and tactical advantages, which are rewards for a kill, into the later stages of the game. The early game is thus becoming more boring for many viewers who like to see action.
- A jungler comes by for a gank and his skillshot will kill you? No problem, press the stopwatch and survive.
- In the second attempt, the jungler still has no luck, as the victim can escape with the Flash spell, which teleports the player over a certain distance in the game.
- Only in the third attempt do the survival options for the “victims” diminish, and the chance for opponents to get a kill increases.
Of course, a free escape button is a good way to minimize risks. But without alternatives or disadvantages of the stopwatch, we will likely see this item in many more matches.
The real plan of the stopwatch is cool plays
Apart from the tough early game, the stopwatch brings opportunities for cool situations in League of Legends. With good communication, you can time turret shots well, so that everyone survives. You could see this in the LPL.
The turrets in League of Legends switch targets when the current target becomes invulnerable. The players of SNG skillfully used this in the following example with the stopwatch.
The community is annoyed
On Reddit and in the League of Legends forums, there is a lot of complaining about the stopwatch. Generally, it is said: League of Legends has become “slower” and the stopwatches make it even worse.
The Ardent Censer caused a similar uproar, becoming a must-have at the World Championships.
The discussions about the stopwatch are now spreading further, and the League of Legends team has already caught wind of it. They are initially reacting by celebrating the “meme” and making the stopwatch the profile picture on their Facebook page.
What do you think about the stopwatch in League of Legends? Yay or Nay? This is how a pro LoL player got revenge on his team that kicked him out disgracefully
