For many years, since League of Legends began to emerge and develop, Riot has introduced many new elements, adjusted outdated details, and fixed numerous flaws to create the League of Legends we know today. Notably, we cannot overlook the champion pool factor – the most important detail in League of Legends. Even though the skill systems and various lands have gradually stabilized, every time a new champion is released, the community pays great attention.
In recent years, new League of Legends champions have followed a process that has almost become a “formula”: new champion release -> strong enough for Riot to “nerf” -> too weak -> Riot must buff them back. Until now, almost every newly released champion has found a certain place in the gaming community, and even further, they dominate the professional scene. However, there are still two special exceptions that have become the “ugly ducklings” of the League of Legends community, from solo queue, casual play to the minds of professional players: Naafiri and Briar.
Perhaps it is rare for a champion that, since its release until now, has left the audience with nothing but lore and character design. However, Briar has a slightly less “disappointing” fate than Naafiri, as this champion is still loved by many League of Legends fans, thanks to her loli appearance, personality, and a bit of “crazy” that makes people compare her to the champion Jinx, but as a smaller version using magical power. As for Naafiri, it can only be said that she was flawed right from her backstory.
According to many audience arguments, Riot has taken unreasonable creative risks, but “self-destructed” by giving a Darkin weapon that can be easily destroyed by… being torn apart by dogs. Not to mention, Naafiri’s abilities are nothing special, almost a carbon copy of Vex but with a longer range. As for Naafiri, even Riot hasn’t cared, as this champion has only had 1 skin since her release, and in reality, no one uses her. For those who may not know, Naafiri has completely disappeared from LCK/LPL. In solo queue, she is only picked 1.7% of the time, and banned 0.58% (from Diamond rank and above across all servers).
It can be said that Briar and Naafiri currently illustrate Riot’s failure in champion design. And if this publisher does not take practical action, the likelihood of this pair of champions, especially Naafiri, continuing to suffer from a poor fate for a long time is high.