User blog:LivesByProxy/Vision: Sight, Stealth, Detection, & Denial in LoL

This is about vision in League of Legends, and the ways Riot can communicate information to the player. To a larger extent, this should apply to RTS mechanics as a whole, as the isometric perspective is a common feature and happens to be the best way of gaining visual information (as opposed to a over-the-shoulder or 1st person perspective).

I was playing Baldur's Gate 2, the old school D&D game, and I noticed that it features several spells and abilities that play with vision in slightly different ways. Something else I noticed was that D&D also feature several spells whose sole purpose is to undo the effects of other spells a.k.a. counter-spells. The word 'counter' gets thrown around a lot in League, but no where does it hold onto its original meaning quite like it does with the relationship between true-sight and stealth.

It got me thinking, why is League so limited with its vision effects?

With so many different items granting combinations of useful stats and cool effects in a unique functionality, I feel it is a shame that vision is allowed to linger behind when the design space is largely unexplored. Don't misunderstand me, Riot's introducing the trinket system in S4 was a great first step. Another great step that may have gone unnoticed, was adding smite buffs to the jungle monsters, namely the Wolf Spirit from the Wolves and the Razor Sharp buff from the Raptors. Riot is, slowly but surely, adding more (and varied ways) of playing with sight.

The most significant step, however, was with her  and its Tremor Sense. Such an ability is unprecedented in the League, as it's the 1st 'detection' ability, as far as I'm aware. I'm defining 'detection' as 'providing imperfect information without providing sight' (i.e. targetability (in most cases)) and itself not being affected by (unlike other forms of sight).

and and  are the only champions who currently can deny vision with their abilities. More effects like this need to happen. Why? Because having another form of Sight Denial takes the pressure off of Stealth. It is no longer the only 'sight-based trickery' that player's must contend with. My wish is that blind, rather than it's current form, functions in a similar manner.

So we now have Sight, such that allied units and wards give; Concealment, such as the Fog of War and brush offers; Stealth, which is a sub-class of Concealment; True Sight, which specifically interacts with Stealth (ideally in the form of soft-counters); Detection, which is distinctly different from Sight and True Sight, having its own advantages and disadvantages; Sight Denial, which Concealment and Stealth also fall under, but includes 'pseudo-stealth' effects such as the new, and the aforementioned trio's skills.

The goal here (what I would like to see from Riot) is to give players options when it comes to gaining information. Just like you build for the situation, and spec your champion your way, and pick champs based on the matchup, having variable options where none is strictly better than any other but situationally more appropriate would be great for the overall health for the game.

Most of this is speculation though. And as much as I'd like to see something along these lines, I'd probably have to make my own game to implement them. I can dream though.

Blinds & Denials
no longer causes 100% chance to miss, instead it now reduces the targets range and removes shared champion, including towers and wards, similar to that of ,. These changes give some champions a form of vision-denial that can act as a 'pseudo-stealth', i.e. it provides the untargetability that stealth offers but in a different functionality.

Detection
Vision has been largely binary, up until Riot introduced and her  complete with its Tremor Sense, as I explained above. I would like to see other forms of this, as it counters stealth in a way that doesn't strictly undo stealth's primary effect (untargetability). Some examples include 's Infra-Vision (notably being a special case of detection providing targetability), the once planned [Mandrake Ward] (reborn as the Snitch), a possible Aura Awareness that grants awareness of enemy champs within a certain range, but no specific info about which champs they might be, X-Ray Vision that grants 'sight' beyond terrain and through brush, and a warning indicator such as that with Elixir of Perception's Intuition.

Champion Created Terrain
Champion created walls, such as, , and , now interact with vision, blocking it as regular terrain would (as with Anivia & Trundle) or inhibiting it to some degree (as with Karthus).

Stealth
All invisible champions can be seen within 75 units edge to edge (i.e. well within melee attack range) unless otherwise stated. Typically, a successful attack or spell will end the stealth early, thought it varies by champion. This would be a small nerf to stealth, its I like to think of it as more a a homage to Eve, as she was the 1st champion to have something of this type implemented. This built in form of counterplay is another weakness, obviously, but it demands greater positioning (skill) from the player using stealth, highlighting exceptional players. Also, if a Vayne tumbles onto you, or Shaco misplays, they die.

The 2nd Inventory
And finally (perhaps most importantly) the trinket item key (the 4 key by default) would become a button that toggles between two six-slot inventories. The one contains regular items, and the other holds only wards, consumables, and trinkets. This will enable champions to participate in the vision game while not cluttering valuable inventory space. Champions can only carry two wards with them and only have two down at any given time. Though this limit can be increased with masteries and specific item purchases. Champions are also limited to one trinket at any given time.