So people have been saying for a long time now that we need more bans in Draft to make for a more diverse game, and I was inclined to agree with them. But instead of just throwing myself into belief without any real value to my point, I did a little bit of analysis around banning to produce this small piece of content for you guys. Those of you still sitting on the fence about it, this might just help you make up your mind, I think you'll find the results to be a bit of a surprise.

This article will be analysing the ban rate as it was, and as it is now, I'll be using percentages for my perspective as I think it's the best way to communicate without being seen as exaggerating.

Season 1 Finals;
So why am I bringing up the Season 1 Finals to start my article? Well the ban limit at the time of the Season 1 games was actually only 4 champions. During the time of the Season One Finals 76 Champions were playable. This means that 4 bans, between 76 Champions tells us that a total of 5.3% (5.263157894 to be more accurate) of the champion pool was bannable. So that's our first figure.

Patch 1.0.0.129;
Next question, particularly from players who might not have been playing as long as others is "What the hell is this patch and why should I care?" Well other than the fact that this was the patch that brought us Fizz (and I know how much you just love Fizz) this was also the patch where the ban limit was increased from 4 champions, to 6. At this point there were 87 champions released, including the playful/trickster. 6 bans into 87 champions is a whopping 6.9%

This also means the highest the champion pool got with the 4 ban system was 86. Just for total clarity, the ban rate before it was increased was sat at 4.6% leaving us with our second and third figures.

Currently;
Well there's no time like the present and as many of you will be familiar with, we have sat on 6 bans for a while now and the current champion pool, although it probably won't stay that way for long is 125. Once again 6 into 125 gives us a percentage of 4.8% actually higher than the Percentage of the last change, and not far off the percentage that the Season One Finals were played with.

My table of wonders, N.B. The dates are British.

My Thoughts;
So this is just my opinion and you are more than welcome to disregard it, but I look at the percentages and I think we will soon be due an upgrade of the amount of bans we get to use, my reasoning for this is that at the point the ban rate sat at 4.6% Riot made the decision to increase that ban limit. We're currently sitting at a 4.8% ban rate, which is dangerously close to that, I've also worked out, as you can see from my table, that a further two bans along side another new champion would put us at a ban rate of 6.3% this is also similar to what the ban rate went up to when Riot made the increase from 4 bans to 6.

So with all that said, I think there is cause to the argument that the ban limit should once again be increased. It would be consistent to the previous increase from a percentage based stand point for Riot to increase the ban pool along side the next new champion.

Why should I care?

Just a little bit to top this off with, League of Legends can be a highly intense game, but sometimes the game, the matchups you watch or play in can get a little bit samey, there seems to be a lack of innovation in decisions made by some regions. This is only my opinion but I remember that a lot of my favourite games to watch were around the Season 2 timeline, and I know that some players feel the same.

More bans means more regular expectations get shifted, you'll start to see an increase in team innovation and pocket picks. I don't know about you, but I think that would make for some great League of Legends.

Good Luck and Have Fun out on the Rift!