Ryan ‘Morello’ Scott was a senior member at Riot Games, previously the lead designer of League of Legends and the creator of the champion Zyra. Moreover, Morello was honored by Riot Games with the name of the item Morello’s Evil Tome in League of Legends, an item that has been reworked many times throughout the game’s history but has always maintained the same effect of providing Grievous Wounds or simply reducing healing.
So why did Morello’s departure (he is still at Riot Games but has shifted to design VALORANT) lead to such a significant imbalance in League of Legends? The reason lies in the fact that Morello was the one who constantly sought to limit the powerful tools and champions in League of Legends.
You know the famous meme “Better nerf Irelia,” right? The origin of this meme is none other than Morello, during the time he led the balance team of League of Legends, the champion Irelia was continuously nerfed (remember this was the pre-rework Irelia). The reason is quite clear, Irelia was the first form of a “jack-of-all-trades” champion with high damage, mobility, healing, and crowd control, thus, no matter how much she was nerfed, it was never enough.
After Morello transitioned to VALORANT, the number of “jack-of-all-trades” characters released by Riot Games has increased significantly. Since 2018 (when Morello confirmed he was involved in a secret project at Riot that would later be VALORANT), there have been names like reworked Aatrox, Qiyana, Sylas, Kai’Sa, Yuumi… and most recently Aphelios and Senna. Looking at these powerful names, despite being continuously nerfed, one can’t help but remember Morello.
Another reason Morello is famous, and why his name was given to Morello’s Evil Tome, is that he always placed healing abilities in a balanced position. This ability was originally characteristic of only a few specific champions and their strength relied on this capability. When he was the head of the League of Legends design team, Morello consistently limited the design of champions with excessively strong healing abilities unless it was a characteristic of that character.
Returning to 2018 and the “jack-of-all-trades” characters mentioned above. One thing we can easily recognize is that they all have extremely strong healing capabilities, while the inherent skill sets of them (like Aphelios as a Marksman, Sylas as a Fighter) are not related to or necessary for healing. Therefore, upon their release, they are completely superior to other champions in the same role.
That’s just a small sign, we witness the overwhelming dominance of the Conqueror rune, the small rune points, and the excessive number of items for healing are the clearest evidence of the rampant healing in League of Legends. Indeed, for veteran gamers, seeing everyone use Conqueror, they can only wish Morello was still working on League of Legends, where we would have more items to reduce healing like the Executioner’s Calling or Morello’s Evil Tome.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Morello’s transition from League of Legends to VALORANT has turned the balance team of Riot Games’ darling into a true “joke.” The nerfs are minimal, and the buffs have too great an impact on the increasingly powerful champions. When will the League of Legends balance team finally have another Morello?