In a recent Quick Gameplay Thoughts, Riot Phroxzon went over the current state of the game and how damage is affecting League of Legends and the games.
Just one year ago, Riot decided to buff the durability of every single champion in League of Legends. This huge durability update was meant to combat the slow power creep that had made its way into League of Legends. Now, a year later, some players are worried that the update had been obsolete.
In the most recent Quick Gameplay Thoughts, Game Designer Matthew "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison revealed the balance teams thoughts on the current state of durability and how they are tackling the continuous upward slope of power creep in LoL.
LoL: Durability Is A Continuous Marathon
In the Quick Gameplay Thoughts blog from Phroxzon, he explains that while it feels like damage is creeping back up, that could be due to some outside factors, like the most recent item update that has taken a hold of League of Legends halfway through the year.
He added on that some of those changes, specifically to items like Shieldbow and Bloodthirster contribute to this feeling of 'more damage and less durability', but that's why Riot have added other, smaller, balance changes for specific champions that were influenced.
He also added on that the continuous balance updates that come every two weeks are also a reason for some players feeling like the durability update from LoL Season 12 has already been undone.
Since League gets constantly updated, nothing is ever truly permanent. We expect a natural decline in durability over time from regular balance changes because when we make balance changes, in addition to the main focus of balancing the game, we also need to take champion fantasy into consideration.
A champions' fantasy is a key part to their gameplay, with players wanting champions that feel strong and exciting. They also want to be hyped for their balance changes and well... a damage buff is more exciting than one to their armour or HP, right?
Balance Team Continues To Work On Durability Updates
Quick Gameplay Thoughts on Role Balance, Snowballing, and Durability https://t.co/rmq7AUt8Mb pic.twitter.com/JFnXiZsRDp
— Spideraxe (@Spideraxe30) August 25, 2023
To ensure that the game doesn't become too overloaded with damage though, Riot will continue to do work. According to Phroxzon, the goal is to reach the durability levels of LoL Patch 12.12. Currently, he explained that champions after the durability update in Patch 12.12 were about 10% more druable compared to their kits in Patch 12.9.
Currently, these same squishy champions like Viktor or Soraka are at 5% more durable than during LoL Patch 12.9 – one patch before the durability update in 2022.
So, Riot will continue to monitor the damage output in the game to ensure that their desired number of 10% more durable than LoL Patch 12.9 is going to be hit.