Game developer Riot Games is notorious for maintaining an active state of gameplay within League of Legends. Regular updates and alterations take place throughout the year, which encourages players to adapt to the frequently changing environment.
Even though this keeps the game alive and beating, such metamorphosis can sometimes yield unintended outcomes. These changes can alter the game's meta and the way this MOBA title is played, giving it a new dynamic every time a change is implemented.
Interestingly, Riot Games manages to maintain a fine balance amidst complicated gameplay, which houses more than 160 different champions. That, alongside numerous gameplay elements including various items, abilities, and runes, makes this task an arduous ordeal to achieve.
Maintaining this balance requires careful attention to avoid missteps as flaws can occur, especially with champions that are favored among players.
The Darkin Blade Impact
A champion that is liked immensely by the players is the top laner Aatrox. He has recently been the centre of discussion, because of the impact the most recent buff had on his primary ability.
The Darkin Blade, Aatrox's chief ability, has turned out to be hampered after the latest buff was released. This has resulted in issues which seem to be affecting the champion's overall gameplay and strength drastically.
When such a beloved champion faces disturbance during the game, the players are quick to notice, creating a buzz in the LoL community which is hard to ignore.
The buff has led to a significant drop in the functionality of one of the most critical abilities of the champion. As a result, it has caused a momentous negative influence on the champion's game presence.
Unintended Consequences?
Let's take a deeper dive into the technicalities of this incident. Bug analysts, like the well-known League of Legends YouTuber Vandiril, have pointed out the precise negative impact the recent update has on Aatrox.
It seems that the champion is undergoing a quandary because of a bug which directly relates to the recent buff.
Initially planned to be released on the Public Beta Environment (PBE) server, Riot Games announced a buff to Aatrox’s passive ability, Deathbringer Stance. This buff was intended to prevent players from cancelling the ability, considered a commendable improvement for reducing inconsistencies in the gameplay.
Unfortunately, it didn't pan out as smoothly as expected. The buff came with an unwelcome companion that disrupted Aatrox's gameplay.
This disruption occurred when Aatrox utilizes his Q ability, The Darkin Blade, right after his passive ability. The damage associated with the Q ability failed to register on the enemies, thus turning it into a malfunctioning ability altogether.
The significance of the Q ability in Aatrox's arsenal shows up by being his core source of damage dealing. Inability to use this ability disrupts the champion's combinations and slows it down significantly as players are required to wait till the completion of the passive ability's animation before initiating the next attack.
It is not exactly what the players anticipate when thinking about a buff. It has limited the players rather than enhancing their game which was the primary intention of introducing the buff in the first place.
This hindrance is currently being observed in the PBE. Being in the beta environment, Riot has the opportunity to identify and rectify the issue before it transitions to the live servers, affecting the larger player base.
This glitch not only has the potential to distort gameplay but can also put the champion at a massive disadvantage, if not amended in due course.
Riot's inclusion of periodic updates to keep the gameplay exciting occasionally leads to unprecedented bugs, as in the case of Aatrox. Addressing such issues switly will ensure the continuation of balanced gameplay.