Assassins are a high-risk, high-reward class that’s on the high end of how much snowball is good for LoL. This is probably why they are so appealing—there’s the chance you can “carry” a game with an incredible individual performance, and that’s something a lot of players want.

In League, and with assassins in particular, we want snowballing to be something that can happen while still not completely removing all gameplay. For example, it’s natural that counter options become more and more limited as an enemy assassin gets more ahead, but even when they’re 5-0, there should be something you and your teammates can do against them. Things like focus fire, CC peel, and Summoner Spells hold up well even when behind. On the other hand, we think a 20-0 assassin should probably win with little rebuttal—there were 20 previous chances to beat them, and they came out consistently ahead.

In short, we think assassins are a healthy part of League, so long as there are sufficient opportunities for counterplay. (Changes like the removal of Talon’s silence may seem small, but they’re often enough to open up the chance for survival in many cases.)