User blog comment:PrayforDawn/What is Difficulty?/@comment-5824171-20140113212004/@comment-10767476-20140114135407

As suggested by many top players, the game should in the first place be balanced at the highest skill level, and I think that this is usually quite the case (except some perma-banned champs). Since skill levels differ, there will be imbalances at lower levels, and these are in practice mostly related to skill shots, squishiness and mobility; if all champions are balanced at pro level, then if you fail to master some benefits of your champion you wil be weaker than average. So, difficulty in fact does justify power, but mastering it will indeed not make you OP. The only caveat is that at low skill levels almost all players fail to master some aspects of the champions they play, so if you truly master a champion, then you will almost always be better than your opponent, even if he plays your "hard counter".