Akshan might be disabled or perma-banned from League of Legends Worlds as Riot stumbles to balance revive mechanic

Akshan is the latest champion added to the League of Legends roster in July. A new character means new mechanics, new abilities, and a new challenge.

Players have been invested from the beginning to learn about Akshan and master him to dominate games within the summoner’s rift. This is not only true for solo-queue players, as pros have been involved in working with Akshan as well.

akshan straight up most broken champion i have ever played no joke idk

— his somewhere 7/Z (@LuRkZ77) July 27, 2021

While Akshan will remain banned in the upcoming playoff phase of the LEC, there have been numerous reports that he just might be banned permanently from League of Legends Worlds.

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Akshan might be too broken for League of Legends Worlds

Champions being banned permanently is not new to League of Legends. Kalista in 2017 had a 100% ban rate due to her being way too powerful. Several other champions like Zed, Alistar, and Nidalee have seen themselves as either picked or banned, depending on how strong the champion has been in their respective years.

However, Akshan might be a special case, as Riot Games has learned its lesson from Pantheon in 2019. Pantheon was banned in phase one of every game in the Worlds 2019 as pro players were worried that the champion would guarantee a win irrespective of the draft.

The issue with Akshan is even deeper, as he has a revive mechanic attached to his kit. This means that if Akshan is in the friendly team and if an enemy kills an ally, then the enemy has a golden mark on their head.

If Akshan manages to kill that champion, then the ally whom that enemy killed gets instantly revived without any loss. This is hugely significant as it could practically change the course of a game.

On a stage like the Worlds, every move matters a lot, and something like a revival mechanic can be brutal. Secondly, Akshan has an overpowered early game, so even a slight lead could see him snowball enemies, thereby guaranteeing a win.

Several LEC teams do not want Akshan in Worlds, and it seems Riot is also worried about his balancing within League of Legends.

JK, Akshan will also be disabled at Worlds.#LEC teams simply 5head. https://t.co/XHUEcgJEob

— Maximilian Peter Schmidt (@RiotMAXtheX) August 1, 2021

While there is no concrete news about it, Riot does not want its most significant event to be ruined by a champion. It is natural for a new character in League of Legends to be a little broken, even though, in Akshan’s case, he had to be buffed as he falls off rapidly in the mid to late game.

However, the snowball potential that he has in the early game with the revival mechanic makes him a very tough champion to deal with. It is left to be seen if the developer goes with this idea or finds some solution that will make Akshan more balanced and prevent a Pantheon 2019 situation.