League of Legends Community Angered by Riot's Lack of Plans to Rework Mel

League of Legends has a long history of reviled champions, characters who are hated almost universally outside of those who control them. This hatred usually manifests itself in the form of high ban rates. This is because players prefer to spend ban costs on champions rather than playing against them.

However, in the current meta, powerful champions often boast high ban rates. For example, Malphite's ban rate is currently 30%. This is because the champion is well positioned as a counter to other meta top laners. His high base damage combined with the stats of his Q (Seismic Fragment) gives him a lot of trouble for lane opponents, while the utility of his ultimate (Unstoppable Force) positions him to be relevant throughout the game.

That said, Malphite's kit has changed little since its release in 2009. Although Malphite has strong matchups and metagames, not many would argue that his design is fundamentally unbalanced. In contrast, Mel's win rate is around 46% and his ban rate is around 48-50%.

loss of identity

This means that even though Mel's presence on the opposing team actually increases a player's chances of winning, they still won't be playing against Mel. Low win rates and high ban rates are very detrimental to a champion, and often reveal design flaws that can be frustrating for champions playing with or against them.

Mel's crime is almost certainly her W (Rebut), which when activated reflects a projectile back at her opponent. Regardless of the trajectory of a thrown projectile, when it comes into contact with Mel's W, it will always be reflected straight towards the caster. This mechanic is loathed by the community because it prevents interaction with Mel.

“I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I think it's important to talk about projectile reflection again. This mechanic has absolutely no place in the game,” Luliani wrote in a thread responding to recent comments from Mel designer Myles 'Emizery' Salholm.

“It is not intended to replace any capabilities,” Salholm wrote. “The intention is not to replace her abilities, but to keep her sense of identity and ability as it exists.”

This is the default splash art for Mel from League of Legends.

There was understandable disappointment in the community over Salholm's comments. Because the alternative to changing Mel's abilities would be to reduce her numbers until the champion is deemed too weak to continue to ban even those who most ardently dislike her.

Dry_Clap_Joke says “If they just nerfed her numbers, her ban rate would stay the same.” “This still doesn't look good for Mel as a player, but she's also going to be the one on the borderline. [intentional feeding] People will ruin their team’s game if they choose to do so.”

Langas added, “Unless Riot removes or reworks hate abilities as a policy, they will have to accept that certain champions will become permanently unviable due to their ban rates.”

Unfortunately for everyone and me personally, Mel Medarda is here to stay as we venture into the middle lane.