Welcome to patch 6.5, the one where we check in with some old friends that haven’t stopped by patch notes for a while and Soraka gets some spicy healing changes. After writing that sentence we’re not really sure what ‘spicy healing’ is, but it probably tastes delicious.
Let’s go back and talk about those ‘old friends’ for a bit. Sejuani? Renekton? Jarvan? While it’s true that these champions were certainly meta-defining champions at one point or another in the game’s history, it’s important to really dig in and ask why they were so strong in the first place. For these three (and quite a few more on the list), their dominating position within the metagames of yesteryear can be easily explained: more than just powerful champions, they were powerful generalists.
Bolded text? Let’s back up and slap some context on that phrase. What’s a generalist? As the name implies, they’re champions who don’t truly excel in any one category, but check enough of the boxes that they’re always performant or valuable. While there’s definitely room for champions that are swiss-army-knives (somewhere, a giant neon sign with the name ‘THRESH’ is blinking), having many reasons to be picked shouldn’t exclude you from having to play along with League’s core value of having strengths and weaknesses. As we’ve seen recently with champions like Gangplank and Lucian, being good at a lot of things and bad at very few things is a big no-no for champion diversity and balance alike.
So what do we have in store? While we’ve got some power reductions to some of League’s main offenders this patch, much of 6.5 is a love-letter to these bygone generalists, increasing power in ways that aim to sharpen those niches as more than just ‘pretty good.’ Oh, and leveling an account to 30 now takes half the time it used to. There’s not really a cool narrative to tie that to, but it’s pretty huge for new players. A moment of silence for those of us who survived the grind.
So here’s to you, generalists. Jacks-of-all-trades. People who pick ‘Fill’ in dynamic queue (even if it really just means ‘Support’). Your commitment to providing value and bravery trying new things is an inspiration to us all. So if you get trampled by Hecarim, dunked by Vi, or diced by Renekton this patch - try not to be angry. That’s just how they show their love.
Originally Posted by Mayion
