LoR: Top 5 Worst Champion Designs

Today, we'll discuss the top 5 worst champion designs in Legends of Runeterra.

These designs didn't meet expectations or plainly didn't match their original League version. Or they were just really bad.

Keep in mind that this is just my opinion. My goal is to brainstorm an interesting subject for us to discuss as a community, so, I'd really like it if you left a comment down below with your own top 5 worst champion designs!

Master Yi is the first on our list because he promised a lot of things and gave us nothing.

Riot turned Master Yi into a defensive unit that stays on your bench and works like an "engine" in the decks he is in. This is very different from what we expected Master Yi to do, considering he is originally a very fast and aggressive champion in League of Legends.

Ionia didn't allow this champion to be thematically aggressive because it is a control/value region. This was probably what hurt his design.

Another reason is that Master Yi rarely levels up during matches, and, as a result, we rarely see its level 2 artwork, much less its level 2 champion effect. This makes his design uninteresting and quite forgettable.

He doesn't belong to any "closed" archetype, and doesn't have a deck to call his own with specific cards to support his game style directly. This means Master Yi plays a supportive role in his lists every time - he is never the star in his decks.

Kayle is similar to Master Yi in the sense that she promised a lot of things and also gave us very little.

Additionally, she also doesn't have any cards that support her main effect directly. The cards in Kayle's kit seem to be a bit detached from her in general.

Another reason is that Kayle also rarely levels up, so her design became extremely boring after some time.

Though she was meta for some time, she still deserves our 4th place because the way Riot translated Kayle's level progression from League into LoR wasn't as precise and fair as we wanted it to be. Kayle doesn't look like an end game unit: she's only useful if you play her on turn 5.

In League, Kayle starts the game as one of the worst champions in the entire roster, and, as she levels up, she gets stronger. Eventually, she becomes unstoppable. In Legends of Runeterra, she already starts off the game strong, and doesn't seem to get stronger as time goes on because you'll win your match before she even manages to level up.

Yuumi's greatest problem is that she doesn't show up on your board.

This might seem silly, but the reality is that one of the most fun things about a card game is seeing your card on the board doing amazing things. You can only see Yuumi's visual effects on the card she is attached to, and that, many times, isn't enough.

Another issue is that her visual effects on the board don't change when you level her up, which seems like a lazy oversight in her design.

Attach is a good translation of what Yuumi is like in League, but this is one of the worst mechanics in the entire game. Not to mention, most cards in her kit are extremely bad, like The Papertree and Quick Quill.

The choice to hide her on the board is problematic in the sense that any skin you potentially buy for Yuumi (if there were any), wouldn't be visible during your matches, only in the loading screen and in the cover of your deck. This makes her difficult to manage in the game long-term because it is simply terrible to make cosmetics for her.

Kalista is currently the worst champion in the game gameplay-wise.

All the reasons why she is in this list are directly related to her gameplay. Certainly, out of all the champions in the game, Kalista's kit in specific doesn't match her in the slightest, and that is rare for a champion. It is even quite difficult to list any cards that are in her kit besides Black Spear.

Kalista's effect doesn't resemble any part of her League version. In League of Legends, she is an agile, albeit fragile champion who focuses on dashing through the battlefield, attacking her enemies as fast as she can, killing them, and dealing a lot of damage.

In LoR, she has what you could call defensive stats, the Fearsome keyword (which makes more sense in bigger/beefier units), and Revives allied units. She is almost an entirely different champion in LoR.

Her effect also doesn't really match what Shadow Isles is like as a region right now, even though it made some sense a while ago. This makes her design, besides confusing and nonsensical when you see her original version, really outdated for the game nowadays.

The fact she has been weak for a long time also justifies her position on this list. And she also doesn't have a specific champion "partner" that complements her game style.

LeBlanc has the worst champion design in all of Legends of Runeterra. That is because Riot turned one of the most powerful champions in its entire universe, a woman who uses magic as her main weapon, into an almost "vanilla" unit that is only useful when you attack with her.

My biggest issue with LeBlanc is that I grew emotionally attached to her - when she was released, I was selected to reveal her to the world during a broadcast of one of the Seasonal Tournaments we had. I remember I was extremely bothered when I noticed that one of the most powerful mages in the entire LoL universe wasn't a "mage" in LoR, and much less "deceived" her enemies.

For those who aren't familiar with LeBlanc in League, she focuses entirely on deceiving her enemies, dashing all over the place, and creating clones of herself. Her lore tells us she has infinite identities and personalities, and disguises herself to deceive other people.

In her artwork, you'll notice every single character is LeBlanc, but, besides this, nothing else about her in LoR references this main character trait.

Her followers (just like the followers of all the champions we added to this list) don't make a lot of sense with her effect. The decision to make her interact with the"Reputation" archetype was also a grave mistake because this archetype, besides weak, also doesn't really match anything LeBlanc did in League.

LeBlanc had everything set to be a fantastic, different unit, one that would bring a new face to Noxus. But she ended up being just another aggressive unit with strong stats, like the rest of the entire region.

What bothers me the most is the fact she doesn't have any effect before she levels up. Her card only has Quick Attack and her level up condition, which makes her almost a "vanilla" unit. So, one of the most complex characters in League is, at the same time, one of the most simple and boring champions in LoR.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you enjoyed reading this article.

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See you next time!