Fearless Draft Mechanism Set to be Widely Implemented in League of Legends
In reality, Fearless Draft has been set to be implemented in the LPL starting in 2024; however, it is only recently that it has garnered significant attention and created a buzz within the community of League of Legends. The upcoming LCK and APAC regions are expected to utilize this mechanism more extensively in the upcoming tournaments to experiment with its effects. Immediately, Fearless Draft has become a “hot topic” in the League of Legends community due to its appeal and the diversity of champions that can potentially be used by top-tier teams.
Specifically, in the matches between T1 – HLE and HLE – Gen.G, there have been over 60 different champions appearing (in both bans and picks). Notably, some champions like Camille and Lee Sin have also been applied as “bait”. In short, the League of Legends community is calling on Riot to implement Fearless Draft in all remaining tournaments this year. However, the feasibility of this remains uncertain at the moment.
Initially, Fearless Draft will force teams to open up their champion pools. With players like ShowMaker or Chovy, this is entirely normal. However, for Faker, it poses a significant challenge. The Mel and Aurora of his champion pool do not imply effective utilization. Moreover, Faker’s Mel even had a “self-destruct” moment because he had yet to master the mechanics of the Champion Quintessence.
Certainly, the benefits of the collective will outweigh the preferences of a few individual players. However, this brings up the issue of balancing champions from Riot. At the present time, most champions have not yet reached a balanced state. But if Riot continues to create new champions like K’Sante or Mel in the future, the Fearless Draft will immediately face issues regarding balance and will have champions that continuously get banned.
Moreover, players will face increased pressure regarding champion pool flexibility in the short term. The hero Smash has been noted for its three main champions but does not effectively utilize the remaining champions, such as Draven, Jinx, or Jhin, which are often sidelined. Similarly, when Ruler is forced to pick champions, he immediately opts for “invisible and cornered” – according to the commentary from LPL fans.
League of Legends may apply Fearless Draft universally, but it is not yet a reality
Certainly, League of Legends could potentially apply Fearless Draft across all tournaments in the future. However, the issue arises when players have become accustomed to opening their champion pools and Riot does not continue to create champions that are “200 years” too powerful compared to the remaining champions, causing the game to lose its balance.
