League of Legends Champion’s design has changed so much since its inception that even Riot Games’ own employees scoff at some of the company’s earlier decisions. At the time, a new champion had to be released every fortnight, and sometimes developers were forced to choose the simpler route, to meet the deadline. Thus, early in the game, skill shots were relatively rare, and targeted spells were plentiful. Since then, Riot Games has retreated, and they are slowly disappearing.

Simplicity isn’t necessarily fun

A targeted spell is an ability where the player directly targets the opponent by clicking on it. Once he clicks on the latter, his spell is cast and cannot be avoided, with rare exceptions (E de Sivir, Banshee, Zhonya). The perfect example of this type of magic is the Annie’s Q, which, despite its enormous range, is cast by clicking on an enemy champion. Here are some statistics about these targeted spells:

• More than half the champions (84) have access to this type of ability. The total number of skills with these attributes in the game is 96.
• Of the 96 point and click abilities, most have damage as their main attribute (43).
• In League of Legends, there are only 20 non-ultimate abilities capable of applying powerful control effects by clicking on the enemy. Of these, 8 have additional requirements (hitting the wall, collecting marks…). Nassus and Jillian Slow are included as great CCs.

a system that is slowly disappearing

The choice of this target focus mechanism was largely explained by its simplicity. The magic went straight to its target, ignoring the terrain and the other characters (champions/minions). It avoids many potential bugs, but the gameplay isn’t quite the same as Skillshot. Now that the outings of champions are at a greater distance, this choice is almost no longer made. This can also be seen in champion reforms. For example, Saiyan lost his target cue during his full gameplay update, and he’s not alone. Warwick’s R also said only to click on the opponent, which is no longer the case.

This disappearance is partly explained by the players’ delight. Casting your spell at the right time is satisfying, but knowing you have to aim well between your champion and his target to dodge unwanted elements, casting at the right time is even more enjoyable. It also allows you to push the limits of gameplay, for example, it’s easy to do a lot of damage on a skillshot, because it can be dodged. Inflicting heavy damage on a spammable target spell generally means giving the opponent no means of combat, which requires the spell to be well-balanced. Although targeted spell mechanics are increasingly rare, they are not disappearing completely. Silas’ param uses this mechanic to prevent the champion from being unable to steal an opponent’s param.

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