Talk:Nocturne/@comment-80.109.207.95-20110516105721/@comment-3358335-20110517180820

Believe it or not, Riot Nerfs champions because they actually need nerfing. When they pull the game statistics and they see a particular champion played, or win more than the other champions they start to look "why?"

They even release patch spotlights to try and explain that to people who think that Riot only nerf's because of whiners.. . and not the "Oh my god this or that champion is OP" whiner. But the "Riot unneccessarily nerfed my favorite champion" whiners.

Maybe we should define "OP" and "UP"

OP does not mean "this champion is invincible and needs to be nerfed because he can't be beat." All champions can be beat. Over-powered means that they are over the AVERAGE power of the champion pool. Under Powered is the opposite.

Since perfect balance is impossible, inevitably there will be some champions that are stronger than others, and some that are stronger than most. Those Champions are overpowered, by definition. Basically, there will always be a pool of champions that are overpowered.

However, nerfing, or the need to nerf an overpowered champion, (or inversely the need to buff an underpowered champion) comes when a particular champion is consistently detrimental to the game balance. If teams have an extreme win ratio when a particular champion is on a team, then clearly that champion must be brought down a notch. The inverse being that if a champion is on a team and they have an extreme loss ratio then it needs a buff.

Ussually, an OP champion that needs a nerf is accompanied by whining, however that is a side-effect, and not the cause of a needed nerf.