At the beginning of each season, when Riot rolls out major updates for League of Legends, it’s a time when players easily “create” bizarre playstyles. These unusual approaches can sometimes yield surprisingly effective results, even becoming a popular trend in the professional arena. However, sometimes they simply amount to game sabotage, ruining the experience for other players in League of Legends, especially in ranked matches.
Recently, a player adopted a new, unconventional playstyle: bringing Yuumi to the top lane with Smite. In fact, just a few weeks ago, Janna—traditionally a Support champion—was also brought to the top lane with Smite, which annoyed even professional players. However, this case is different. This player using Yuumi is not innovating a new meta but is solely intent on sabotaging games. In every match, this player feeds extensively and sometimes doesn’t even survive past the 16-minute mark.
However, what’s noteworthy is that this player has been using Yuumi Smite in this manner for over a month without any reprimand from Riot, leaving the League of Legends community both surprised and upset. Some pointed out a trick that might have helped this player avoid punishment: in all matches, this player does not communicate at all. This opinion is still unclear, but it has received considerable agreement from netizens.
It can be said that Riot does not prohibit players from creating their own playstyles and experimenting with new builds and summoner spells. However, the line between creativity and game sabotage is incredibly thin. Riot also needs to keep a closer watch on player matches to promptly address cases of “creative sabotage” so that players can have the best experience in League of Legends and to prevent the term “creativity” from being misused.