A Quick Look Into Marksman Nerfs and Ineffectiveness of Balance Framework
Marksman nerfs and the balance framework have brought out a lot of mixed reactions. Some say that it is not enough to bring about change, while others applaud the changes for finally bringing back some much needed variation in competitive play.
On patch 10.14, Riot Games updated the patch highlights, and they’ve been sharing specific skillband information, whether it’s pro or normal play centered nerfs, ever since. I discovered a trend among marksman nerfs that I wanted to share and debate.
Marksman champions have been weakened:
| DUE TO PROFESSIONAL PLAY | DUE TO REGULAR ACTIVITIES |
|---|---|
| 20 Times | A total of nine times (5 of them are Samira nerfs) |
Furthermore, some of the regular play nerfs are just undoing a bonus, or preseason balancing of champion interactions with new features. (On 10.17, Caitlyn nerfs, Samira nerfs, Jhin and Samira nerf on 10.24, and Jhin and Samira nerf on 10.25)
I put each nerf’s explanation in a capiton, and as you can see, the majority of the marksman nerfs are aimed towards the early game. As a result of all of this, I believe the balance framework is unsuitable for balancing regular marksman play.
My conclusion is as follows:
- Because only 3 or 4 meta marksmen are available at any one time, these marksmen are used every other game. In addition, every game has two marksmen who compete against one another. Popular marksmen’s victory percentage has converged at 50% due to their ability to play poorly and be carried by their teams.
- In actual play, the balance framework is not an adequate tool for determining if a marksman champion is powerful or weak.
- A marksman’s power distribution across the game phases is a critical aspect for a balanced squad, and early game strength renders marksmen overpowering in professional competition.
- Regular play balancing framework requirements are practically never triggered by Marksman champions. Probably a sign of a lack of control over a game.
- To be viable in professional play, Marksman champions practically have to be overpowering in the early game. The balance team is simply shuffled which one is overpowered, and if they don’t, marksmen will be removed from the meta in professional play.
What can be done to better balance the regular play of marksmen, is my query. In the future, what approach may be used?
10.14:
!(7zrrq8cycpb81 “”Ezreal is a bit too safe in lane and in mid and late game skirmishes for the amount of damage he puts out, so we’re reducing his ability to continuously evade attackers. We’re bringing up his cooldown but not drastically so— he still has the potential to get in a second E, but will have to be careful in playing around that vulnerability. Along with the Troll King, Varus is also stifling pro play as the go-to blind pick (or first red side ban). Targeting his early poke to make him less effective at bullying his peers out of lane. “”)
EZREAL: Professional Play/Too much safety/Early, mid, and late game
VARUS: Professional Play/Poke is too effective/Early game
10.15:
“Crescendum turret’s assault range has been reduced to give less zone control, and its target acquisition speed has been slowed to let opponents to react and play around it. The remaining tweaks are targeted at reducing Infernum’s synergy with Runaan’s Hurricane.”
APHELIOS: Professional play/Too much zone control, too much item synergy/No distinct phase
10.16:
“We’re reversing a scaling Ashe enhancement we gave her in 10.8 to provide other marksmen with less early game strength and utility a chance to flourish late game versus her.”
ASHE: Professional play/overscaling/late game
10.17:
“Caitlyn’s 10.15 buffs put her in an overbearing position for both professional and casual gaming.” +2 Base Attack Damage and +5 Base Movement Speed were the buffs.
CAITLYN: All skillbands and Pro Play. Too much Domineering/-5 MS nerf, particularly in the early game
10.18:
“We’re icing some of Ashe’s strength since she’s remained one of the major marksmen in Pro play. This caustic caterpillar-creature has been toeing (and oozing about) the line for a long time, and now he’s crossed it. As a result, we’re decreasing his protections to emphasize his character as a glass cannon marksman: spitty yet soft.”
ASHE: Pro Play/Too Much Power/-2 Base AD, thus early game in particular.
KOG’MAW: Skilled band/Too much Durability/Mid-Late game KOG’MAW: Skilled band/Too much Durability/Mid-Late game
10.19:
“Caitlyn has been dominating, and even with our recent nerfs, we’re not convinced that the playing field will be even. It hurts to put more shackles on the sheriff, but it seems that it’s necessary in order to diversify the bottom lane for our most critical event. Lucian, like Akali, is on the verge of becoming an overwhelming flex option at Worlds. We’re decreasing his experience scaling to account for his solo lane proficiency, which is a big cause for this. Senna has been making waves in the Pro meta, both as a bot lane carry and as a utility-first marksman. We’re using Mist Wraiths to reduce her scale so that other classic hypercarriers have more room to maneuver.”
CAITLYN: Professional play/too much dominating/early to mid game
LUCIAN: Professional play/Too flexy, too scaling/Early game
SENNA: Professional play/excessive scaling/late game
10.20:
Nerfs for Marksman are not available.
10.21:
“Samira’s early game safety and mobility are becoming a little too dependable, so we’re increasing her cooldown to force her to play more cautiously in the early phases of the game. We’re also reducing part of her damage, making her all-ins less effective.”
SAMIRA: Elite skillband/Too safe and mobile, too much damage/Early game SAMIRA: Elite skillband/Too safe and mobile, too much damage
10.22:
“Samira has swiftly established herself as a formidable ADC who can slice, smash, and dash her way into a snowbally lead with ease. To lower her resiliency, we’re taking away some of her early brawling prowess.”
SAMIRA: Elite and Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled Skilled
10.23:
“There are no highlights in the preseason patch”
10.24:
“Samira presents a dangerous threat in lane, even when actively zoned out, with additional items that offer both lifesteal and crit. We’re limiting her all-in ability so she needs to think twice before storming in with her rifle (and sword) drawn.”
SAMIRA: Skilled skillband/Too much all-in/Early game SAMIRA: Skilled skillband/Too much all-in
10.25:
“Despite the fact that several of his lethality choices have been nerfed (see below), Jhin is still cashing in on pure crit builds in preseason. Giving him a clean shave. Samira’s victory rate isn’t very high, but her ban rate is, indicating a problem with game health. Getting rid of a vexing knock-up mechanism and the difficult synergy she’d built up with new things.”
JHIN: Average skillband/Excessive difficulty cashing out/ The early-to-mid game
SAMIRA: Elite skillband/Excessive rate of bans/ Even before the game begins
11:1, 11:2, 11:3, 11:4, 11:5, 11:6, 11:7
Nerfs for Marksman are not available.
11.4:
“Kai’Sa is the best at adapting to new goods, and this season was no exception. We’re lowering part of her damage to reduce burstiness and make her less intimidating in early deals. Our desert rose has been continuously warming the ban bench as of late. Even though she is theoretically balanced, we feel she has a number of annoying characteristics that contribute to her high ban rate. We’re addressing this issue by adjusting her balance so that both Samira players and her opponents are more comfortable with her returning to the ring. To do this, we’re weakening her defensive capabilities and providing opponents more chances to play against her in the lane. We’re also lowering her early-game all-in potential. We’re enhancing her kill potential in the mid-to-late game in exchange, so that when she does go in, she slays.”
KAI’SA: Pro play/Too much burst/Early game KAI’SA: Pro play/Too much burst/Early game
SAMIRA: Elite skillband/Too much banrate/Early game SAMIRA: Elite skillband/Too much banrate/Early game
11,5 and 11.6:
Nerfs for Marksman are not available.
11.7:
“Kai’Sa’s power is in striking while the iron is hot: sprint at solitary adversaries to burst them, then dodge as swiftly as possible. Her ult gives an extra layer of protection, particularly early in the game, thus we’re aiming for it to be up for as long as as to give opponents an opportunity to catch her in lane. Tristana has soared to the pinnacle of professional play. We’re going for the kill on her early in the game.”
KAI’SA: Pro play/Too safe/Early game KAI’SA: Pro play/Too safe/Early game
TRISTANA: Professional play/Excessive damage/Early game
11,8 and 11.9:
Nerfs for Marksman are not available.
11.10:
“Despite Jinx’s bugfix nerf in 11.9, she remains the best marksman in the game. She’s a solid bet to tackle most circumstances, thanks to her big ol’ lethal rocket for sniping objectives. We’re making her more susceptible to foes that want to shut her down early on, then pulling back on one of her ult’s more aggravating points.”
JINX: All skillbands and professional play/ There’s a lot of safe/early game in this game.
11.11:
Nerfs for Marksman are not available.
11.12:
“Pro has been playing prey for this daring predator. We want to limit her early game strength by limiting her ability to control waves and give her opponents more chances to punish her while her Q is low. Varus’ W got a boost in patch 11.4 that made his Lethality builds more more potent, so we’re pulling back.”
VARUS: Professional Play/Excessive Power/Mid-Game
KAI’SA: Professional play/Excessive control/Early game
11.13, 11.14, 11.15, 11.16, 11.17, 11.18, 11.19, 11.20, 11.21, 11.22, 11.23, 11.24, 11.25, 11.26, 11.
Nerfs for Marksman are not available.
“Aphelios’ early game is now quite consistent, which explains his recent rise in Pro play. We’re making it more difficult for him to get to his first item and scale by nerfing his laning phase. Moonstones, uh, moonstones, moonstones, moonstones, moonstones, moon Early in the game, Ashe’s lane control goes a little too far and broad. We’re giving her opponents greater room to play back without being wounded by crystalline projectiles in the form of cones and cones. Kalista’s ult with a melee support nearly always kills with chain CC, particularly in high-coordination gank setups at Pro level. We’re giving her opponents a little more time to flee her fury. Varus has been a ruthless bully in his lane, particularly in Pro play. On all fronts, these modifications should make his early game a little weaker.”
APHELIOS: Pro play/Too much consistency/Early game APHELIOS: Pro play/Too much consistency/Early game
ASHE: Professional play/excessive control/early game
KALISTA: Professional game/too many sure kills/early game
VARUS: Pro play/Too much bully/early game VARUS: Pro play/Too much bully/early game
11.19:
Varus’ last nerf didn’t quite hit the target, so we’re going a little harder this time, focusing on his Lethality builds, which rely more on his Q. (As a reminder, with stacks from W – Blighted Quiver’s passive, his Q cooldown may be partially refunded.)
VARUS: Professional play/too much bullying/early game
11.20:
Nerfs for Marksman are not available.
11.21:
“Miss Fortune has been a hit at all levels of competition, including Worlds. We’re nerfing her in a manner that requires her to chose her early shots more carefully in order to keep the flexibility between her lethality and crit setups.”
MISS FORTUNE: Poor skillband/overuse of abilities/early game
12.1: 11.22, 11.23, 11.24, and 11.23:
Nerfs for Marksman are not available. or patch highlights
The greatest collection of games set to be published in 2022 and 2023 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Switch – all of which you can watch in stunning 4K ULTRA HD and 60FPS with the most up-to-date information available!
With the new year quickly approaching and a slew of new game releases on the horizon, it’s time to take a peek ahead at some of the year’s most anticipated titles. There are some fantastic games coming out in the next year for PC, Xbox, PS5, and all of your other favorite gaming platforms.
