Throughout its history, since its inception and development into the “national game” it is today, League of Legends has undergone countless large and small patches. At the same time, champions have been released and become an indispensable part of the game. However, the power of champions varies based on the meta and the evaluations from Riot, the performance of champions… which leads the publisher to make adjustments accordingly. Nevertheless, Riot’s champion design capabilities still leave many issues to be desired.
Accordingly, there have been numerous complaints about how Riot designs and adjusts these champions. Notable examples include K’Sante and Zeri. The champion Zeri received 12 consecutive adjustments within just 6 months of her release – a record number in the League of Legends community. Meanwhile, K’Sante is considered a “super broken” champion as a Fighter, possessing all the skills and mechanisms of League of Legends champions (tankiness, crowd control, mobility, damage output, magic damage…). Recently, the next name to join the list of “broken champions” is Caitlyn.
In this regard, a player expressed their frustration and posted a critique of Riot for continuously adjusting Caitlyn, alternating between buffing and nerfing the champion, but with all changes proving ineffective. This player bluntly stated: “Back in the day, we had Caitlyn as a DPS champion because of her great range. Then we had ‘Caitlyn spam Q’ which made her extremely strong in lane. Then she became a popular Crit champion. After that, they (Riot) removed all that and put everything into her ultimate. What are they planning next? Make Caitlyn’s traps deal 300% magic damage?”.
The post received a lot of agreement from other players. Many opinions pointed out that they truly do not know how to build items for Caitlyn to be effective. One comment shared: “Caitlyn is a story of you being ahead of your opponent by 20 CS. But then you lose when it comes to the team fighting phase.” Caitlyn’s current win rate is 49.7%, but her item builds are inconsistent and ineffective.
At the upcoming 2023 World Championship, Caitlyn is expected to make a comeback after a long absence. However, this may only happen if Riot adjusts and gives Caitlyn a proper direction. After all, no one wants to use a champion that seems strong but is actually very ineffective.