At the beginning of Season 5, the community of Teamfight Tactics players was extremely frustrated when some units priced at 1 or 2 gold had extraordinarily dominant power. For instance, LeBlanc at 2 stars, when combined with Blue Buff and Infinity Edge, could easily carry the team right from 2 stars. Another name that was incredibly strong at that time was Vladimir, who had a cost of 1 gold but boasted a powerful healing mechanism, able to serve both as a primary damage dealer or even a top-tier tank while still being quite effective.
It was thought that in the mid to late season updates, Riot would correct this by adjusting these units back to a power level corresponding to their costs, yet a few units still proved to be stronger than the 4 or 5 gold units, and notably, some late-season metas still revolved around them, such as Riven (3 gold), Pantheon (3 gold), Varus (2 gold)… However, the community could be flexible and hoped for more surprises in the new season, expecting Riot to learn from their experiences and perform better.
However, it turns out that in Season 5.5, things seem to remain “volatile” with the emergence of units that are considered “stronger than the rest,” primarily from the newly added Guardian tribe.
It’s unclear if it’s due to the theme or not, but aside from Rakan, any unit in the Guardian tribe can carry the team with remarkable strength. Senna has the ability to deal multi-target damage and control, while Olaf increases his attack speed based on lost health, meaning this unit only needs an extra damage item and an attack speed item (preferably the combo of Infinity Edge – Bloodthirster – Giant Slayer) to sweep through the opponent’s lineup incredibly quickly. Notably, these two units only cost 1 gold.
Next, we must mention Irelia. With the Guardian – Legion – Warrior traits, Irelia is incredibly easy to incorporate into teams and especially, this champion increases damage percentage over time and possesses the ability to block incoming damage. In other words, Irelia is a higher damage version of Riven from Season 5, with damage blocking replacing healing. Irelia’s cost is 2 gold.
And of course, we cannot overlook the one who has helped Demons transform from a hard-to-use, ineffective build to a top climbing option currently: Tristana. With just Bloodthirster – Infinity Edge, Tristana can wipe out the entire backline of the opponent in a single Rocket Jump. Moreover, this champion allows players using the Demon trait to no longer be overly dependent on Teemo. Tristana’s cost, of course, is also very cheap at just 2 gold.
It is possible that in the upcoming updates, Riot will continue to nerf the power of champions that are proving too dominant or being heavily contested. However, one thing is certain, Riot’s idea of creating a “balanced” game will likely remain merely theoretical.