User blog comment:Willbachbakal/(Champion Rework) Graves, the Outlaw/@comment-1920550-20150215080204/@comment-1330314-20150215225433

Just because balance determines the details of a champion's kit does not mean it's unimportant, but it does mean that you can't just call something overpowered or underpowered based on opinion and expect it to be taken as such. You mention that Jinx can afford to have Fishbones because she has less burst and mobility, but Graves has far less range and DPS, and I think that's reason enough for him to have an ability that only affects multiple targets, and not his main target. You talk about his early and mid game burst, but I changed his Q specifically so that he'd have a less steep progression. Even if he had the same spike, he'd still be able to have his AoE damage, again because it doesn't impact on his single-target effectiveness. You mention how balance can cloud design choices, and while I agree with that, I don't see how Graves dealing splash damage would alter his design when I intend him to be an AoE damage-dealer with heavy burst.