The 6 design values: I. Mastery

This is the first of a series of blog posts on the evolution of champion design in League of Legends. Riot’s designers have set out to rework old, outdated champions to bring them up to par with the more recent champion releases, both in terms of artwork as well as gameplay. I will tackle the why and how of reworked champion kits and discuss the potential impact the rework may have. In a way, I hope to provide insight in Riot’s design decisions from my own point of view, and present a window into the past, the present and the future of the champions of League of Legends. In the first few posts, I will discuss the “Great Six”, or rather the design values Riot designers have defined for themselves: Mastery, Meaningful Choice, Counterplay, Teamplay, Clarity, and Evolution (source).

Starting off with the first one: Mastery.

Generally speaking, mastery of the game simply implies getting good at it. But in a multi-layered game such as League of Legends, there are many different aspects a player has to improve upon in order to master the game. Riot designers actively recognize this and attempt to provide separate pathways to improve skill in the different aspects, while also maintaining that all those aspects are intricately linked to each other. Moreover, in this multi-layered game, one can define three dimensions that players can master.

1. There’s the micro-level of play,
2. the macro-level of play (including “the meta”), and
3. the actual knowledge of champions and their roles and abilities.

As an example, one can consider what would make me a good marksman player. Because a marksman scales very well with items, and actually needs those items to be able to perform the role of “AD carry”, I have to be able to farm efficiently at most stages of the game. In the early game, this includes accurate last-hitting while dealing with the opposing team’s players in my lane. This also includes predicting which lanes will have minions pushing deeply enough to be farmed up quickly and safely during the mid game.

However, this micro-level of play is always balanced out by the macro-level: what is happening with the rest of the team? What is going on in different parts of the map? Are multiple members of the opposing team pushing down a turret elsewhere? Then perhaps it is a good idea for me to push down the turret of the lane where I’m farming at that point. If I head out to top lane in the mid game to farm up a wave of minions, which happens to have built up over the past two minutes, that leaves my team in a vulnerable position if the opposing team decides to group up and push down the bottom inner turret. Knowing when and how to react to as well as predict events elsewhere on the map is part of the macro-level.

Moreover, there’s not just one marksman champion in the game. Even though all of them definitely have some aspects of play in common, they also have vastly different abilities. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of all those marksmen greatly contributes to my skill level as I can adapt on-the-fly during champion select by picking the most appropriate marksman for my team’s and the opposing team’s composition. In addition, there’s also many different roles in the game, each with a hoard of champions that can fill them. Champion knowledge is the third dimension of mastery that I can attain, and affects how well I can perform in the other two dimensions of mastery.

• On a micro-level, I had best know what the abilities are of my own support as well as the opposing team’s marksman and support. This benefits my ability to farm up and trade effectively.
• On a macro-level, I will vastly improve if I learn what role a particular marksman champion fills: does the marksman hyper-scale with items into the late-game? Then I will prioritize safe play and get as much farm as possible. Does the marksman fill more of a supportive role? Then I will attempt to steer the game towards team fights in the mid game. Is the marksman a bit of a lane bully with a poorer late game? Then I will try to zone the opposing team’s players in my lane and perhaps grab some early kills to snowball the game to an early victory.

Hence, mastering the game includes many different aspects, intricately connected with each other. Players can improve at the game by identifying these different aspects and then choosing which one to improve at first. These multiple layers of mastery are the basis of a game that entreats players to continue improving on the long term, because, in the end, being the best means knowing all aspects.