League of Legends developer discusses the possibility of adding 20 champion bans

League of Legends allows teams to only ban out 10 champions from their roster (Image via DOT Esports)
League of Legends allows teams to only ban out 10 champions from their roster (Image via DOT Esports)

When it comes to the professional stage or even the solo queue-ranked matchmaking in League of Legends, the pick-and-ban phase is incredibly crucial.

Average players use it to ban the possibility of a counter pick in their lane match-up, while the pros use it to put their strategy and composition synergy in motion.

However, League of Legends allows teams to only ban out 10 champions (5 from each side) from their roster. Many players feel that this number is inadequate in the face of an ever-growing champion roster.

The MOBA currently sits at over 150 champions. Till 2017, it allowed just 6 bans, which was increased to 10 as the roster kept growing over time.

In the recent Ask Riot, League of Legends gameplay design director Mark “Scruffy” Yetter opened up about the current state of pick and bans in the game.

He stated:

“Bans are a valuable way for every player to have a choice and some control over stopping a particularly bad matchup or champion that they believe is too strong. When we look at the tradeoffs of going from 10 bans to say 20 (2 bans per person), it seems like we’d get more overall drawbacks than gains.”

Pros and cons of adding 20 champion bans in League of Legends

When talking about the positives and the negatives of increasing the total number of champion bans in League of Legends, Yetter suggested that the cons outweigh the pros by a lot.

In terms of the positives, he listed the following:

  • More agency and control over frustrating or particularly bad matchups.
  • Small strategy increases: Building a sharp team comp and considering the counters in ban choices add some depth to the pregame.

However, when it comes to the negatives of giving each League of Legends player 2 champion bans in the game, Yetter listed the following:

  • Increased complexity and duration of League of Legends champion select: We already have a fairly long and complex pregame, and we would rather get players into the game quicker with less possibility for restarts.
  • Reduced ability to play who you want: One of the direct tradeoffs between banning difficult or frustrating matchups is that the champ you wanted to play may get banned. This can be especially devastating for newer players who only feel comfortable on a small number of champions or players who main champions or classes who tend to be banned out more (ex: assassins).
  • Disastrous edge cases: Many of our positions and champion classes could be completely banned out with more bans. We think overall it would be bad for the game if all marksmen, enchanters, assassins, or tanks were unable to be played.

Currently, the cons of adding more bans in League of Legends outweigh the pros. However, that might not be the case in the future, when the game starts to reach 200 champions in the lineup.

With more overpowered champions on the list, just having 10 bans in League of Legends will not be enough. The devs might just need to add more bans to the game to maintain its competitive balance.