Rivington’s 2017 Spring Split Support Tier List (Courtesy of Riot Games)

Statistics are a fantastic way to get insight into what trends are currently happening. These valuable indicators are crucial to getting a grasp on how a player is doing or how successful they are, but that’s exactly what they are, indicators for pointing you in the right direction, not for dominating the conversation. Stats are meant to be obtuse, but the true analysis comes from the context and the person using them.

Wards Per Minute was probably the biggest offending stat that required a preposterous amount of context and those who refused to fully elaborate were rarely exonerated. Am I placing useless vision that gives no info? Is my vision getting cleared, so that’s why I’m placing a ton of wards? This stat was terrible for a multitude of reasons and doesn’t even begin to give close to any amount of context by itself, and to sequester a stat is incorrect, but that’s where the job of the analyst comes in.

An analyst should be able to educate the public on how to use these stats properly. Not everyone knows how to break down a stat and allow it to be easily digestible, while also giving essential information that allows the end-user to walk away feeling like they’ve learned something from the explanation. Along with this comes a responsibility to educate others because they many not understand the game at the grandeur scale of an analyst. There are few people that would be able to explain that a control ward at 2:00 near the bottom krug camp won’t be useful until 3:00 because of the usual jungle pathing that this particular jungler takes. Not only that, but it gives vision for only one camp, whereas placing it next to the bush in-between red and krugs might be more efficient, as it essentially reveals two camps (with inference). These are the decisions which a team needs to make when determining how to place their vision. Not everyone would be able to tell you the validity of a specific ward because the top laner is looking for a tp later within the lane phase. It’s not that apparent to the layman, but that’s why analysts exist.

Currently, Riot has done a better job with the new stat “vision score”. The stat still doesn’t do what an analyst could uncover, such as explaining that the support is roaming with their jungler to get vision, revealing spots that the enemy is not at (red, wraiths and kurgs are up, that means the jungler is elsewhere on the map), therefore telling you where they are by human deduction, team strats, and mind games for vision (awkward placements that catch the enemy off-guard). While Riot has tried to shore up problems such as counting counter-vision as an acceptable measure, along with removing irrelevant wards from helping vision score, it still doesn’t tell the full story of what it means to place valuable vision.

As for KDA, it is abhorrently apparent that the stat gets skewed depending on the state of the game, the champions involved and how teams use their compositions.

If a team is retreating and they decide to save the ADC by using Alistar to stall the enemy and sacrifice themselves, he’s going to take a hit to his KDA. If he does this consecutive times over multiple games, by the end of the season, his stats are going to tank. Is he a bad support? Most would say no; looking at just the stats for this support player, you would probably assume otherwise.

The reason that stats are praised is because it keeps things simple. Anyone can be a Sherlock Holmes and investigate on a player’s stats, then compare them to the rest of the relevant players and feel as though they completed some CSI investigation.

What I say unto thee is that stats provide entertainment and the grounds for a storyline. This is an easier method for the audience to digest and latch onto. The entertainment value is quick and high for stats such as KDA or damage dealt. And with all honesty, they do give a modicum of truth, even by themselves.

For all the general populace: You shouldn’t just trust stats to determine who is a good player and who isn’t. Things such as MVP voting shouldn’t be based purely on stats. Just as wise, a player may have great stats on a particular team, but if you’re looking to secure this player during offseason, you wouldn’t just say “oh, he has the best stats in the league, surely he will fit into my team of players and perform at a similar level”. Determining a good player from a bad one can’t completely be told with stats, it can only lead you into a general direction.

For the broadcast: please remember that for as much shit as you will get from both sides, in that the analysts are telling you that your context is lacking, and the fans are saying it’s boring them to death of how in-depth you’re going, the key to this entire equation is balance. As a reality, the broadcast is there to educate, but they must do such with showmanship at the forefront.

For the analysts: You should instill a culture which uses instances and strong context to solidify your points and offer counterpoints as to why stats shouldn’t be blindly trusted. You’re the last defense against false data and should gladly take up the challenge against the uninformed. Stats are very important, but they are no more important than context.

Using something isn’t valuable if you don’t understand its purpose because you can’t use it to its full potential.