Popular pro player on the League of Legends circuit, Jankos, recently experienced a strong emotional blow on live stream. This happened when he came face to face with the newly updated character, K'Sante, in the context of Patch 13.21.
In the vast landscape of League of Legends, which holds over 160 champions with a multitude of items and countless possible team combinations, maintaining balance within the game is quite a challenge for the designers.
The task becomes exponentially harder when you take into account differences in skill levels among players and the varied tactics used in professional gameplay. This already Herculean task takes on a whole new level of complexity when game updates and patches are released and factored into this mix.
In order to keep professional competitions fair, some characters in League of Legends need to be balanced around their performances in such competitive scenarios. This occasionally means that these characters become less accessible to the average, leisurely gamer.
Champions like Akali, Azir, and Ryze are often balanced with professional play in mind. As a result, they usually exhibit lower win rates in solo queue gameplay, which consists mainly of non-professional players.
One character that has been causing some issues with this delicate balancing act is K'sante. Despite undergoing recent changes with Patch 13.20 aimed at making him more approachable for average players, subsequent updates and certain technical issues led K'sante to emerge as one of the top-playing characters in the game.
This sudden surge in strength has unsurprisingly annoyed many players, including pro player Jankos, who was on the receiving end of K'Sante's powerful buffs.
Experiencing K'Sante's Increased Power Firsthand
On a recent live stream, Jankos encountered Patch 13.21 K'Sante and his responses to the challenges posed could be seen as quite astonishing, to say the least. Facing K'Sante's elevated power levels in-game was an experience that solidified Jankos's place in the League of Legends Hall of Fame.
In a breathtaking encounter, the enemy K'Sante was trapped in a 1v4 scenario - a situation that would typically lead to immediate defeat for most. However, K'Sante employed one of his most powerful moves — his ultimate ability.
This ultimate move allows K'Sante to forcibly drag an enemy champion over a wall, separating them from their team. Jankos was the unfortunate focus of this ability and so, was yanked far way from his allies and right into enemy territory.
Scream of Frustration from the Pro Player
With this strategic move, K'Sante quickly ramped up the damage on Jankos, easily taking out the pro player and causing him to react rather emotionally during the live stream. As Jankos was eliminated by K'Sante, his cry of 'What a disgrace to this company!' echoed out.
Jankos' outburst exemplifies the frustration shared by many players regarding character balancing in highly competitive games like League of Legends. Moreover, K'Sante isn't a stranger to criticism from pro players.
Showmaker, another recognized professional player, previously expressed frustration over K'Sante's abilities. His critique has gained a certain level of infamy, becoming a popular, relatable quote for players expressing their woes regarding K'Sante's substantial strength in the game.