User blog comment:Commander Marko/Diversity: Is it dying out?/@comment-1330314-20150315160739/@comment-1330314-20150316063751

I agree that Graves isn't OP, and neither are most of the popular picks around (Lee is actually fairly weak when under a certain skill level); I think the reason why he and other champions are so popular is because they are innately a lot more versatile than anyone else, to the point where they tread a little on all of their competitor's strengths (though not to the same degree as the latter).

Graves was a worse back when he was the most versatile marksman around, but now that he got made more niche Graves is now the next most flexible pick. Even if he doesn't have as much range as other ADCs, and doesn't particularly excel in mobility, DPS or crowd control, he still has a bit of all of that, which allows him to fit in a huge amount of comps and react well to a lot of enemy matchups. There's no real matchup that he's particularly weak against, nor a comp he does poorly in, which is why picking him right now is a super-safe option. The same goes for champions like Lee and Jarvan, who have a ton of strengths and no truly pronounced weaknesses, and so who can always be expected to do decently no matter what happens around them. In order for these champions to become less overpicked, they need to become more niche, which means giving them more or bigger weaknesses, along with more pronounced strengths, and that I think is something that can only be achieved on a design level, via changes to their bonuses and mechanics.