Former Fnatic mid laner Nemesis highlighted what he believes is the biggest issue plaguing League of Legends tournaments in 2025: a stagnant and overly balanced meta that limits creativity with builds and punishes risk-taking at higher elo.
“I don’t think the game is too balanced but rather too bland- items are overly simplified, runes haven’t had meaningful updates in ages, objectives all feel the same, and patches barely shift anything at high MMR,” Nemesis said on X (formerly Twitter), responding to a post by Midbeast about the meta feeling too balanced.
League’s meta has evolved drastically over the years, and esports players often fall into the trap of using meta champions. The quest to balance the game always meant that some champions would be more powerful than others, but it seems the developer has hit the sweet spot with balance, and players are not happy with how stale the game is becoming.
While the same champion fatigue has been solved to a point with Fearless Drafts in 2025, it seems that professional players are facing the same champions in solo queue, and players are sticking to their formula with no innovation in builds. Fans did see a lot of unique champion picks in MSI 2025, but they want the developer to undertake a major overhaul to runes and objectives to spice up the meta.
Riot has taken notice of the situation, and League’s lead gameplay designer, Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, acknowledged the unintended consequences of a finely tuned meta. While the balancing team has been hard at work to make all champions fair and balanced, it seems the imperfection in having an unbalanced meta was the fun everyone enjoyed in League.
Legendary mid laner Faker and other pro players at the EWC 2025 also advocated for game-changing shifts to the meta with more agency on individual skills and many other changes. Now, the ball is in Riot’s court, and with growing pressure from the community and top-tier pros, all eyes are on the developer to see whether it will shake things up or stay the course.
Nemesis is currently playing with the Los Ratones roster in the NLC, along with several big esports veterans, such as Rekkles.
