The value of Snowball in League of Legends

If there ever was a word cloud graphic about our games in League of Legends I bet one of the big words would be 'Feed' or a similar one. We see these words almost every game, either coming from our teammates or the enemy team. It is very rare to have a game where someone doesn’t end up “getting fed” or “feeding” since League of Legends always seems to move towards a snowball meta game.

However, the concept of feeding is often misunderstood and poorly used: it is more than having any beast score by 10 minutes – it has a value in terms of numbers and power.

 

Misconception about Feed

There is a lot of misconception regarding feeding in solo queue. From my experience it is viewed as a far too negative aspect of the game and often criticized far too much by players. League of Legends is a snowbally game, and to some extent it makes perfect sense to be that way: if a player or team produces quality play that translates into a small win within the game they should get rewarded for that, and this reward creates an advantage. After this, the team with the reward in theory has a better chance to keep producing plays that grant them further wins and, maybe eventually, the victory. This meritocratic system creates the snowball effect we see in League of Legends and this effect is deeply connected with the concept of feeding.

A lot of situations are described as feeding in solo queue, yet what we fail to realize is that they can be unavoidable outcomes to a certain chain of plays and events, and as such should not be so harshly judged. A simple 'one time miss play' can result in such a disadvantage to one side that, if exploited right it, the scenario of coming back from it becomes a huge mountain to climb. Even if we manage to get killed only that one time, we may very well find ourselves being denied of farm and experience or in a situation where we are unable to produce plays to shutdown the enemy laner.

To prove how a single kill can affect so much we have to break down a few simple numbers and stats in order to compare them and their consequences.

Gold in Stats

Gold is a base attribute in League of Legends and almost anything in the game can be defined in terms of gold. It is actually a very positive exercise to do because we gain a different perspective that is very neutral - and therefore beneficial - in analyzing on ourselves and others: the perspective of gold value. While this does not allow you to take undeniable conclusions regarding your play, it does put everything you want to consider on the same level and this helps comparisons.

Let’s consider a simple example with no context: the item Dagger is worth 400g and gives you 12% attack speed. 9 Greater Marks of Attack Speed gives you 15.3% attack speed and therefore is worth more than 400g. These 9 runes add a value of more than 400g to your champion in a game, speaking in terms of gold mathematics only. You can now compare any gold related data you find relevant to this example I just gave you and take your own conclusions.

 

Gold in Levels

The same way we can break down the theoretical worth of getting a certain item or stats we can also do it with levels, to some extent. This allows us to further extend our study from a pure gold value perspective. Each champion gains a different set of stats when he levels up. Considering the same example where Dagger is the item with the lowest cost giving Attack Speed only, we can find out the cost of each point of % Attack Speed and obtain our Gold/Stat Value, which in this case would be 33.33 gold per each point of Attack Speed.

Cassiopeia, for instance, gains 1.68% attack speed each time she levels up, which means she gets around 56 gold as an added value into herself each time she levels, from Attack Speed. After doing the math for every stat gained and for each champion I was surprised to find out that Vladimir only gets an added value of 491 gold for each level while, for example, Nasus gets 727 gold for each level he earns.

Bear in mind that these are theoretical mathematics only, they don’t take into consideration the abilities of these champions and there for are, from the start, wrong as a champion evaluation in that sense.

 

Value of Feed

This example aside, you can theoretically breakdown most of League of Legends play into gold value and this helps you further grasp the true concept of feeding. A player who gets an early kill is granted both gold and experience for that kill. This in theory puts him up in terms of levels and ( eventually ) items. What sometimes people don’t realize is that there is actually a double advantage for the rewarded player since these rewards are more than meets the eye.

Consider that, thanks to some combinations of good play and poor counter play, a certain champion ends up 4-0 at a certain point early in the game. First off let’s look at the gold side of the equation: as a result of this he is able to complete a good item before the normal expected time, due to the extra gold he received – an item he would not have at this in had the game run “normally”. This item, let’s say it was Bloodthirster, puts this Fed champion ahead, and this can be translated to this champion being worth more in terms of gold. Since he has more items completed in his inventory he is a more gold-worth champion and therefore he has the advantage over his direct opponent, because he has better stats. But it doesn’t end here.

Not only does this stat increase bring value by itself but the fact that he has already completed the item is an advantage, in the sense that he is literally ahead of the enemy in normal time. And this brings us to the second part of the equation: The Fed champion has more stats than he should have at that particular time, and this represents the he is in a theoretical higher level than the enemy counterpart. They may still be on the same level of experience, but in terms of stats the Fed champion is levels ahead and this “invisible level up” is also part of the Feed concept.

The Meritocracy of Feed

In a dynamic game like League of Legends kills are bound to happen. Some of these may be unavoidable and some will be because we misplayed. I’m sure we can all agree that giving away a kill doesn’t qualify as Feeding - but what comes after might. Often what comes after is slightly beyond our control, since giving away a kill can be game breaking. Of course this is all theoretical and in most games a kill doesn’t have this much importance but the point here is how much we value feeding as an accusation without realizing that it’s probably a normal consequence of how the game is built.

The rewarding meta, where if Blue Team plays well they should be rewarded for it, only helps Blue Team get more rewards afterwards. And this Meritocratic effect promotes a team into being Fed and the other one, as a consequence, into feeding.

We build entire arguments around a concept that is deeply connected to how the game is built and we get mad at people for a chain of events that is bound to happen. “If we lose it’s because Tryndamere fed Riven. “ – And poor Tryndamere was a victim of how much stronger that Riven was after his one misplay.

Understanding

Despite all of this thinking, my purpose is not to absolve blame from players who played poorly throughout a game. I actually believe that acknowledging blame instead of shifting it is the way to go and part of this process is to get blamed. Coping in a positive way with failure and responsibility is part of the path to success. But I see far too much responsibility being placed on someones’ shoulders when in fact things got out of hand too soon and no help was provided. League of Legends is a team game and words like “team effort” should not just be there because they look pretty.

New Year is upon us and maybe one of the things players should focus on this year is Understanding. Not only understanding when it comes to game mechanics or strategies but also Understanding how the game works, how to game flows and shifts according to events, plays and time itself. There are too many fingers being pointed in our games and not enough work to figure things out and this comes from lack of Understanding.

As a sign off I’d like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year, filled with League Points and Pentakills. Also if anyone is interested in the full Maths study regarding the gold value of stats, champion experience and masteries they can contact me on Twitter @Sonic7051 or message me here!