If they'd never been nerfed, which League of Legends champ would be best? Chinese gamers vote

Operating an online game, especially a competitive game like League of Legends, is a delicate balancing act. As a result, these games are always a work in progress, with champions getting buffed and nerfed continuously in patch after patch as the developers push for balance.

But what if that wasn’t the case? What if after new champions came out, they never got nerfed? Who would be the strongest? That’s the question Chinese gaming site Netease Games put to its readers, though not before the editor made an argument for some of his own picks.

(See: The Chinese nicknames for almost every League of Legends champion, translated)

First on the editorial list was Irelia, who has suffered a series of nerfs that the author says “looks like it will never stop”. Other champions mentioned were AP Master Yi, Jax, and Diana. The poll, which only included those four champions and “other” as options, was pretty even. As of this writing, readers were torn between Irelia (31.2%), AP Master Yi (29.2%), and Jax (26.3%) as the champs who’d be most OP if they’d never been nerfed. 7.3% of readers voted “other”, and Diana brings up the rear with just 5.4%.

As is often the case with League of Legends articles in China, the comments are a mix of jokes (“[Tencent CEO] Pony Ma is the most OP”), serious answers, and arguments about whether League of Legends or Dota 2 is better. But the most overwhelming theme was probably the dozens of variations on this joke (I’m paraphrasing):

Riot: ‘X champion is too strong, let’s nerf Irelia.’

This then quickly devolved into nonsense:

“The items are too strong; let’s nerf Irelia.”

“This new champion Ezreal is too strong; let’s nerf Irelia.”

“Wukong is too strong; let’s nerf Irelia.”