With the most recent updates to champions, the last 4 or so have been overwhelmingly dominant for months now through multiple series of patches in solo queue as well as pro play. Urgot, Aatrox, Akali, and Irelia have all been extremely dominant since their updates with the exception of Urgot flying under the radar for a bit until around Worlds time.
The only other champion that got reworked (that I can think of anyhow) is Nunu & Willump and I think it speaks volumes that Nununu's kit is very simple, fun, and he hasn't been an issue at all. While he may be relatively underpowered, I don't think his kit is lacking at all, and whether or not he even needs numbers changes, or just a chance for tank meta to swing back is still up for debate.
That being said, with the introduction of Akali, Irelia, and Aatrox specifically, Riot is talking about removing some of their parts of their kits. Akali not being able to drop tower aggro with W, Irelia losing bonus damage versus shields, her disarm, and potentially losing damage reduction versus magic dmg on her W, and Aatrox potentially losing his dash charge system or pseudo deaths dance healing passive.
The fact that these champions are still needing entire changes to their kits after multiple consecutive rounds of nerfs to their numbers shows how hard it is to balance champions with overloaded kits.
We saw the same thing happen with Azir back when he was released with the knockup on his e, the ability to cast w on towers for bonus damage, and his ult stopping dashes after the soldiers finished their dash animations as well as Kalista's so many changes I've lost track (I mean her autos do 90% of her ad? Really?)
I think it's safe to say that Nunu and Neeko, both with relatively simple kits, have been fairly steady and fair to play against. Neeko took a bit to get used to but that's only natural.
Riot can implement new mechanics into the game without making things overly complicated. By the looks of it, I think they're starting to catch on to that with Sylas now being released with a fairly straightforward kit. I hope this trend continues because playing against Akali, Irelia, and Aatrox specifically for 4+ months now while dominating regular play and pro play feels really bad. If nothing else, just because they're so frustrating to play against and so dominant.
I think it's good to remember that simplicity isn't a bad thing this game was founded on simple and straightforward champions like annie, yi, garen, and singed. Not to say they ever have to be that simple, but the number of issues that champions like Azir, Ryze, and Kalista have among these new dominant reworked champs just goes to show that more != better in terms of mechanics within champions' kits.
I do think urgot is kind of an exception to this since his kit is actually straightforward but hes just so damn tanky and happens to be a really nice counter to all these melee diving champs that are so strong. I think the nerf to W cooldown will help the tankiness issue a bit.
I honestly would rather have an underpowered champion on release be buffed up to viability rather than an excessively overtuned champion be released and then taking ages to nerf them down to reasonable levels because of how hesitant Riot is with a lot of nerfs recently. Everything seems so slight (.25s btw, -5 ms btw) and it just prolongs the pain of having to deal with these frustrating kits.
That being said, I'm glad Riot is finally takimg these 3-4 champs off their thrones they've been sitting on for 4+ months.
Really makes me appreciate the frequent patching that league gets typically so that the game doesn't get stale. Cuz this preseason after Worlds ending with almost no meta changes has felt like very stale. And no one likes that.
Here's to hoping for a meta change with the ADC item changes boys.
TL:DR Simplicity isn't bad. No need to force so many different mechanics on new/reworked champs. Why say many word when few do trick?
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