Riot Designer: Light warriors like Arrelia and Zhao Xin have exceeded their strength

Well, we know what you're thinking. The next version actually wants to increase the attack power of the warrior? What the hell are we thinking?!

Put simply: after the 2021 preseason equipment update, light warriors such as Arrelia and Zhao Xin have become more like helpless hunk killers, beyond the intensity they should have. After these heroes get the high health armor, they change the high-risk and high-reward style to zero risk/low risk and high reward, you can't do anything with them, but they have a lot of ways to deal with you. They've effectively become frontline killers who can kill you with just one hand, rather than high-risk heroes who need to pick the fruits of sweet victory with agility and wit. The result: with Arrelia, who is no less capable of surviving in the long term, more damaged and more mobile, who would choose Nessus?

There is a notable problem with warrior equipment: many of the equipment are very similar, but the hero classes originally targeted are very different. What do Oroi (Heavy Warrior), Fiona (Light Warrior), and Wei (Trap Warrior) have in common? To be honest, very few, but a lot of the equipment they used was overlapping, and they were all called warriors. Last season, the problem got worse, and their outfits revolved around a few powerful pieces of equipment, such as the Thirsty Tomahawk and Straker's Challenge Handguard. The Challenge Handguard makes almost any warrior a team battle master, and the same is true for the Thirsty Blood Tomahawk, plus a lot of regeneration when health is low. These sub-professions began to merge with each other, rather than three separate types. Not all warriors should be good at team battles, but challenging handguards has turned them into a thousand people, and the consequences are unimaginable.

To blunt the similarities in this system, we considered adding new gear built specifically for various classes. We made some early attempts at new warrior equipment, and even tried to redo some of the existing unpopular equipment. (There are many crazy ideas, such as transforming the Dark Silver Dawn according to the previous mysterious sword, and the Devouring of Mamodius, which has its own invincible effect, but was killed prematurely.) The attempts were fun, but in the end we realized that it was like building a tall building on sand. Before adding anything, we first need to make sure that there is no equipment in the current system that can be the core of all classes. At the same time, in order to ensure a long-term class balance, no equipment can break the weakness setting of the secondary class. After these infrastructures are in place, we may consider adding the necessary new equipment.

After thinking about it, we decided that the most effective change we could make so far was to remove the Challenge Handguard from the default option for all warriors. This piece of equipment is very good at absorbing damage, and it can greatly improve the survivability of a warrior on its own. It was supposed to be a powerful anti-outbreak group battle gear for heavy fighters such as Dreyes, and heroes like Foyego or Yi had to pay a huge price if they wanted to use it. Just as we don't want to see heavily armored warriors charging around with the Advancing Destroyers, we don't want light warriors to have the long-term survivability that Straker's challenge handguards currently offer. But these heroes also need a certain amount of defense, so we're changing the Effect of the Dance of Death back to a physical/magic damage reduction. The Dance of Death was chosen because the piece of equipment requires the warrior to inflict damage in order to receive a reduction. They shouldn't be dangling around the front line, leisurely enjoying the damage absorption effect, slowly waiting for the right time to shoot; Only with beautiful tricks will the Dance of Death protect them.

In addition, we've adjusted the attributes of some of the equipment to ensure that light warriors can't stack up health while using damage-type equipment. High-risk heroes should use offensive equipment, but if they don't fight well, they will be killed, so these equipment must be strong enough to attract heroes to buy. Not every piece of warrior equipment should fit every warrior, but let every warrior find the right combination of equipment for them.

I'd also like to emphasize that we'll be keeping a close eye on the impact of this change, following up on heroes or equipment that performs exceptionally well (whether too strong or too weak). We'll also be on the lookout for ADCs and Assassins who may abuse this equipment. We can accept a certain intersection, but if a piece of equipment completely obliterates the weakness of the class, it will not work. There is still much to be done to improve in the current equipment system, but we believe that instead of waiting for the opportunity to correct all the problems at once, it is better to take a practical step forward and make the existing system better.