How LoL patch 14.16 may finally fix team balance

LoL designer Matt Leung-Harrison has shared some of the largest updates coming in 14.16 with the intent of finally tackling team balance.

Some big changes are coming to League of Legends based on continued feedback from frustrated players. While some smaller changes were made in 14.4, developers felt it still wasn’t enough to address the ongoing issues plaguing League of Legends matchmaking. Some of the quality-of-life issues include having better balance between the two teams and fixing LoL’s camera angles.

Patch 14.16 will come to League of Legends on August 14, and here’s what players can expect from the update.

Patch 14.16 to bring better team balance to League of Legends

One of the biggest changes in League of Legends 14.16 focuses on the balance between the two teams on the Rift. Many players have noticed that the blue side has a higher win rate than the red side due to a better camera angle, better access to map objectives, and getting first pick in the draft.

Due to this, some believe that Riot later buffed red side without openly saying so. This has led to some believing that red is now more dominant in 2024, but the two sides are still not balanced. Now, Leung-Harrison explained that 14.16 aims to fix this ongoing issue. The LoL dev explained that the company is going to optimize and improve team balance between the two sides. He didn’t go into much detail regarding what these optimizations will be and how they will make the red and blue feel more equal.

Developers have also “identified some improvements” to how matches are balanced, especially for higher-ranked players. At higher ranks, there are fewer players and matches can feel unfair due to the smaller pool.

“We hope to see more fair matches and a reduction to players repeatedly ending up on the same side,” said Leung-Harrison.

This change will hopefully allow players to play equally on red and blue, making those possible differences less important since nobody would be constantly stuck on the “weaker” side.

On top of that, developers plan to create better off-role balance. By improving the matching of off-roles and secondaries by side, the queue time shouldn’t be as crazy as well. This part left some fans questioning why off-role was even still a thing in ranked.

“In good faith I ask the team, why is autofill still a thing? Why are secondary roles still a thing?” asked one player. “If it’s to reduce queue times, the vast majority of players are happier to wait three to five minutes more for the role they really want. This is also standard in other games, so what is it?”

With a week still left before patch 14.16 comes out, only time will tell if these balance changes will satisfy players who currently feel the game is not fair depending on what side they end up on.

While LoL tackles team balance, Dota 2 players can look forward to Ringmaster’s release date and abilities to shake things up.