Designing for Tier 2, Part One

In a competitive environment (or for enemies in a PvE environment) - How do you design such that things are both memorable and non-toxic?

This is my personal take on it - which I call designing for Tier 2 - For this specific example, I'll be talking a lot about League of Legends champion design, since that's.. currently just what I do.

Making something memorable is actually the easier of the two problems to solve for: Find one or two distinct elements and execute them cleanly and powerfully. In Ninja Gaiden, for instance, you are a ridiculous badass with every move in existence. In Prince of Persia, you are one of the most agile characters in games. In League of Legends, you make a champion excel at one or two particular fields - typically with that in mind as their Marquee ability.

Let's take Blitzcrank, the Steam Golem - Blitzcrank excels at disruption. His marquee ability is Rocket Grab - a move that sends out a tethered fist that grabs opponents back to him. His other abilities also ramp up this disruptive element on blitzcrank - He has a melee range uppercut that disables opponents briefly and he has an area of effect silence on a relatively long cooldown.

If you need to channel a spell or stand in place for a while, Blitzcrank will ruin your day.

But wait, doesn't that sound incredibly frustrating to fight against? Moreover, what if I want to make another champion who's memorable moment is disruption? How would I accomplish that?

This is where designing for Tier 2 comes in, the essential principle being: Even in a character's 'top-of-the-line' strength - they have limitations that they need to overcome.

Or rephrased - The strongest element of a character is still limited and has obstacles that need to be overcome.

Let's go back to each individual ability -

Ranged Grab - Skillshot reliant - The opponent's can dodge - It has a long cooldown.
Power Fist - Melee-only - The opponent can kite or stay out of his range.
Area of Effect Silence - Short duration - Melee-only - Longest cooldown.

Then take a look at the abilities as whole -

It lacks a strong area of effect component disruption.
The disruption durations are very short - the opponent is only locked out from actions for a total of perhaps 0.75 seconds.

When you fight Blitzcrank, even when fighting him in his area of expertise - disruption, you know his set of limitations within that field. It also allows you to design another character that excels at disruption without making Blitzcrank feel poor - because you can design another champion to excel at areas where Blitzcrank is weak at, and have weaknesses where Blitzcrank does not.

But wait - Doesn't that mean Blitzcrank doesn't excel at disruption?

The combination of Rocket Grab and Power Fist means that Blitzcrank's movement disruption is very strong - even if he doesn't actually cause lock-down and is only single-target.

Because Blitzcrank has weaknesses in his area of expertise, you are allowed to ratchet up even farther in terms of their relative strengths - Power Fist has one of the lowest cooldowns in the game for a disable of that type (2 seconds) - while remaining safe due to the fact that his kit is self-limiting, even when successful.