Bruisers might be the one League of Legends role that has the least amount of variance between its characters. While assassins, AD carries, and even supports are all receiving new types of abilities and ways to wreak havoc on the Rift, bruisers and fighters are relatively stagnant.
The priority of a bruiser is to be a presence on the frontline of the fight, leaving little room for exceptional playmaking techniques or flashy damage-dealing abilities. League players are starting to notice that playing a bruiser is getting a bit stale, and the community has been voicing its collective concerns in a thread posted to the game’s official subreddit for the last 24 hours. In that thread, the biggest point that’s been reiterated has been the bruiser’s role as a damage dealer and how every character in the role only deals damage around them in a circle until enemies suddenly die.
The original poster of the Reddit thread, a user by the name of moody_P, mentioned several champions by name who fit this archetype, including Swain, Mordekaiser, Udyr, Shyvana, and Garen. But other champions across both the jungle and top lane also fit that passive, circular damage-focused description.
It’s no secret that circle abilities are popular in League of Legends, as they’ve been an easy way for Riot to design champions and streamline their abilities, even for champions outside of the bruiser/fighter role. Mages like Fiddlesticks, Karthus, and Anivia all became synonymous with their consistent, circular, damage-dealing abilities.
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As champion design has evolved over time, they’re becoming fewer and farther between. Still, circular AoE abilities are rampant in League, mostly because of how popular they were early on in the game’s lifespan, in addition to how quickly Riot released champions 10 to 12 years ago compared to the present day. With the combination of simple design and fast-paced releases, things got repetitive real quick—and the game is still feeling the fallout today.
While the Reddit thread certainly raises a fair point about bruisers having few damage options apart from their AoE, it is fairly misleading in some cases, especially when failing to bring up newer champion releases and the correlating lack of circular abilities for bruisers. The thread particularly mentions many older champions and fails to take a look at some of the game’s newer releases. Specifically, the last few melee DPS champions to be released that fit a frontline role—like K’Sante, Gwen, and Sett—all shed the typical archetype of a bruiser, and when they’re compared to older champions like Darius and Garen, the differences are stark.
Little is known about the next League champion after Naafiri, although they’ve been described as a “hangry jungler” with the ability to go into a frenzy. It’s possible they could have a circular AoE ability, too, although we’ll likely have to wait a few more months until their abilities are revealed.
Published: Jul 7, 2023 01:37 pm