Yesterday, July 7th (Vietnam time), Riot responded to the anticipation of League of Legends players by launching the new champion from the Sentinels of Light faction named Akshan. This champion is a Marksman/Assassin with a damage-dealing skill set, extremely agile, and notably interacts very well with the entire team.
Among Akshan’s skill set, the W ability – Len Lén Báo Thù is the most controversial. Specifically, this ability marks enemy champions who have taken down Akshan’s allies with the “Rogue” mark, allowing Akshan to see traces leading to those Rogues and grants him movement speed and energy regeneration when moving towards them. Additionally, activating the W ability also allows Akshan to camouflage for a short duration, or indefinitely if standing near a wall.
However, the controversy surrounding Akshan’s W ability lies in its passive effect. When Akshan takes down a champion marked as a “Rogue,” he receives bonus gold, and notably, the champion taken down by the Rogue will immediately respawn at the Ancient Relic without any waiting time.
With this incredibly “overpowered” passive, any team composition with Akshan can easily implement a defensive strategy (in case they are losing) or organize backdoor plays or return to the fight immediately after going down. In situations where the team is contesting major objectives like Herald, Baron, or Dragon, having players who can respawn faster than usual when caught out will create a significant numerical advantage.
The League of Legends community has also expressed great confusion, even voicing complaints about Riot’s “200 years of game development experience” in creating such an “overpowered” Akshan. Most opinions focus on the W ability – Len Lén Báo Thù of this champion, arguing that it may allow teams with Akshan to easily “turn the tables”.
It can be seen that Riot continues to maintain its “vicious cycle” of creating incredibly “overpowered” champions => nerf => making them gradually disappear => buff or rework => nerf… The new champion Akshan has not yet been released, but it is almost certain that if his skill set is indeed too strong, he will likely face a fate of being “nerfed to the point of disappearing or having to wait a long time before being used in professional play” like previous champions Kayn, Viego, or Gwen.