Riot has unveiled new plans to deal with the “overpowered” healing running rampant in League of Legends heading into Season 11, and players aren’t going to like it; the devs have decided to “embrace” the mechanic, rather than nerf it.
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LoL fans have long been at odds with Riot over two mechanics: boosted damage, and “overpowered” healing. While the League of Legends developers believe balancing health recovery with increased power is the way forward, many fans think the title has “far too much healing” and not enough ways to counter it in items or champion picks.
The issue has only been exacerbated in Season 10. Powerful runes like Conquerors and Triumph have become must-picks, while a handful of items now come packaged with lifesteal and health regeneration after the planned 2020 shop overhaul.
There’s bad news though; Riot disagrees completely.
In fact, they have a plan many LoL players may disagree with — according to dev Kevin ‘Captain Gameplay’ Huang, they’re “embracing” healing in Season 11.
“Healing is a core and natural mechanic in League (and really in most games where units have health). Healing and playing around it should be embraced, and developed further rather than skirted away from,” he wrote on Reddit.
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It won’t just be healing that is nurtured in 2021 and beyond, he added. Counter items like “Executioner’s Calling” and “Bramble Vest” will also be getting boosts, in an effort to make the healing vs grievous wounds dynamic a “core mechanic” in League of Legends.
“This includes easier to access Grievous Wounds… cheaper and more usable, in the same vein that you can buy armor to deal with physical damage.”
Originally, the League balance team were considering healing nerfs in the opening patches of Season 11. They have since “pivoted from that messaging” behind the scenes, following “some digging” into the meta on their test servers.
Huang did not reveal what the healing changes may look like.
Dexerto suspects most of these changes may come through item buffs and nerfs, especially considering the mammoth shop overhaul League of Legends introduced during preseason.
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The LoL dev did admit, however, making healing — and countering it — a “core” part of Riot’s flagship title “could use a lot more development” before it’s ‘perfect.’
