Opinion

Why do people hate league of legends?

Alistar Smyth

18 th  December 2022 Edited at: 7th May 2024

It seems there’s no game more hated and loved at the same time as the ultra-popular MOBA League of Legends. While so many people still play LoL 13 years later, the game has a pretty bad reputation in the gaming scene, causing it even to lose players. Comparing it with other games, we can see that even some hardcore players sometimes hate the game.

But why do so many people hate the game? This love-hate relationship has been going on for more than a decade, and there are various factors why people love to hate the game. Keep reading as we’ll get to the bottom of it. 

The Infamous ELO-Hell

For those that haven’t played multiplayer competitive games, ELO is a skill rating system that determines each player’s skill and places them in a certain rank. While the ranking system in League of Legends is fairly simple, and you can calculate what it takes to climb ranks, the term ELO-hell was created to describe the lower ranks in the game.

If you have never touched the game or hop on it occasionally to play some ranked games, you will have to play a certain amount of games to be placed in a certain rank. Now, as a beginner, the probability is that you will be placed in a lower rank, bronze or silver. These two ranks are known as ELO-hell because of the players. In each game, you will encounter individuals that aren’t too bothered by what happens, whether they lose or not, or just play recklessly.

For over a decade now, players have been complaining that they can never get out of this ELO hell and that you need extreme luck not to be paired up with a bunch of players that don’t really care what the game’s outcome is.

Love and Hate releationship

League of Legends is a massive game, both in terms of its complexity and its player base (for more on lol population size). Many gamers feel conflicted about their relationship with the game. They work hard to improve, but it's not a simple process due to the complexity of the topic. Even when they're angry and trash talking about the game, they can't stop playing it. Now that it's reached this point, it's become a viral phenomenon, or meme. Look at our top choices for starters.

Why people hate lol meme 1 Why people hate lol meme 1

Toxic Community

For the regular players, there is no doubt that they have encountered a single player or a whole team that will rage, swear, and call you all kinds of names if you happen to make even the slightest mistake in-game.

While the game is about scaling your characters or champions, and a couple of kills can lead to a massive disadvantage, you rarely will get words of encouragement from your teammates.

ELO-hell and toxicity come together as one, and you should pray that all of your moves and decisions are on a point each time you enter the game. Because if they are not, you can bet your whole life savings that you will get flamed, and called the most hateful names you can think of.

Even if you are having the game of your life, some players will blame you when they themselves make a bad decision. This quickly goes out of control, and they stop trying, which results in a lost match.

At the end of the day, numerous players can’t grasp the fact that they are bad at the game, and losing is part of the whole experience. Plus, casually playing the game means there are no prizes in the end, and it is just meant to be fun.

League of Legends Champions

While the game has developed massively over the years, certain champions are still considered toxic, whether on your team or playing against you. Whether they are overpowered or just plain annoying, you never want your teammates or your enemy to choose them.

Teemo

If you are part of the League of Legends community, you will know how annoying Teemo can be. For years, this top lane champion easily held the podium for the most hated champion in the game.

While he is super fun to play with, once you go up against a Teemo player, you might as well turn off the game. Teemo is one of the easier champions to play because he doesn’t require that much skill.

All of his abilities aren’t skill shots, and you can easily target the enemy you are playing against. His Q ability, for example, is a blind shot that, when hit, disables your enemy from dealing any damage.  Furthermore, we have all been in a situation where we have just won a fight and seconds later step on a random shroom placed in a bush and die. You know how frustrating this can be if you are a longtime League player.

Aphelios

This ADC champion is not as annoying or hard to play against; however, he is extremely difficult to master. The problem with Aphelios is that you rarely find a player who can play him correctly. When you queue for a game and you see your ADC player pick Aphelios, you better buckle up and be ready for your bot lane to lose.

League of Legends Roles

There are several roles in the game which bring different abilities and utilities in the game. Each season, or when specific updates come, a meta comes along, and certain champions become unstoppable.

With the most recent update and certain items being added to the game, tanks have become an unstoppable force. Tanks are melee champions meant to sacrifice themselves for the team's good.

These types of champions build health, armour, and/or magic resistance. They have abilities that aid the team and aren’t meant to cause damage. However, recently a new item has been added to the game that has made Tanks even more powerful. Hearsteel is an item that tanks buy, and it gives the 800 health, base health regeneration, and ability haste.

Now, for some reason, this has become the entire meta, and you will constantly see tank champions being picked, and the first item is always Heartsteel. The two most picked top-lane tank champions that pair up wonderfully with this item are Orn and Sion. With their unique abilities, they become unstoppable.

If you type in the name of the item on the internet, you will see endless complaints of how overpowered this item is at the moment, and there is no true counter to it.

The Bottom Line

A game being hated isn’t a case reserved only for League of Legends. Countless games, regardless of their genre or platform, get a devoted fanbase on one side and hardcore haters on the other. Still, there’s no denying that even with the hate LoL gets, it’s still one of the most played games in the MOBA genre. 

League is also extremely competitive so small issues with your latency can have a big influence on your overall experience of the game. Check our lol ping fix guide to learn more.

The question is: Do you hate it? 

unrankedsmurfs author avatar

Alistar Smyth

Content Writer
With over two years in Challenger Alistar now spends his queue time writing League of Legends content to help people improve.

Have Your Say