Cloud9 jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen criticized marksman players for being upset about recent changes to their role during an interview with EsportsHeaven yesterday. His attitude towards them is indicative of a larger, more negative mindset that has taken over the League of Legends community recently.
Svenskeren was asked about the effects of Riot Games’ patch philosophy on junglers. Recently, the company has been under fire by professional players and experts alike for releasing too many large patches in one season. One of the most controversial updates this season came with Patch 8.11, which effectively nerfed traditional marksmen to the ground, creating massive backlash from players.
“It’s just funny to me that bot laners were whining so much […] when they can’t play AD Carries when jungle is literally getting reworked every single year,” Svenskeren said.
While understandable from a jungler perspective, Svenskeren’s comments indicate a large divide between players of specific roles. Players view themselves as simply “junglers” or only “marksmen” and are unable to consider the plight of others. This kind of view provides a poor model for the League community as a whole.
First of all, the game should never be about which role is the worst. Marksmen should not have their opinions of the game devalued simply because another position had it worse. The fact that jungle has been changed more than the bot lane role over the history of League should not be a reason to invalidate marksmen complaints. It’s comparable to being told that since food shortages exist in third world countries, hunger cannot exist in a first world country. Being upset is entirely relative, and it is impossible to compare the impact of constant jungle changes with that of a single massive change in the bot lane.
In addition, most roles are changed at least once or twice every year in a major way. The jungle especially is at the heart of most of these reworks, with jungle items constantly being added or removed (RIP Tracker’s Knife). While this has been exacerbated this year with many large patches instead of one massive midseason patch, the one constant has been the ADC position. No matter which champions were in vogue in the bot lane, all revolved around the idea of right-clicking the enemy to death.
Then, suddenly, all that went out the window in Patch 8.11. Marksmen were thrown in the dumpster, and with them an entire way of life for some League players. Traditional ADCs were essentially unplayable, and still are very weak, though changes on the PBE might help that.
For a role that was used to stability, such a massive change proved devastating. While junglers may need to pick up new champions every few patches or path differently, the basics of playing a jungler stay the same. Playing an auto attack-based marksman is entirely different from playing a bruiser or a mage in the bot lane, and when a player is forced to change their entire playstyle to accommodate a new type of champion, there will be backlash.
Before someone inevitably pulls out win rates as an indication that marksmen are being overdramatic, that statistic is an extremely poor one to use without context. Simply saying “most ADCs have more than a 50 percent win rate” means nothing. League features so many in-game variables that cannot be seen when only looking at win rate. Winning with a champion does not necessarily have anything to do with that champion being strong in the current meta. Case in point: Aatrox, the consensus best champion in the game, had only a 46.59 percent win rate in divisions higher than Platinum on Patch 8.13, according to stats site Champion.gg. Analyzing only win rate would indicate that Aatrox is performing below average, but in fact he was so strong he was permaban status.
Yes, marksmen were the strongest class in the game. Yes, they deserved a nerf to bring them back in line with other roles. That being said, comments like those made by Svenskeren only serve to create an environment that further divides the League community unnecessarily. Players need to stop viewing themselves within the context of their role and need to be able to sympathize with players of other positions. Only then will the League community become more unified.
