League of Legends pro players ignore a major Riot Games ban

Riot Games have banned the joint use of the champion Ryze and the Waterwalking rune in competitive matches. However, many professional players are ignoring these rules, giving rise to much controversy.

The Ryze situation in the professional game

The problem of the combination between Ryze and the rune has been in the game for a long time. But the developers have not decided to act until now. The Waterwalking rune grants increased movement speed and damage when entering the river. But, it is at this moment that Ryze comes into action because, thanks to his passive, he converts part of his ability power into mana.

When Ryze is in this area of the Summoner’s Rift, he increases his AP, which increases his mana to the maximum and regenerates it almost immediately. The first two upgrades are deactivated when he leaves the zone, but the third one is retained over time.

The first to do it more publicly was Luka “Perkz” Perković, from Team Vitality, who absent-mindedly or intentionally equipped himself with this rune banned in the LEC. With this, the league decided to fine the team and gave them “a slap on the wrist”.

Maximilian EMEA esports director Peter Schmidt said:

“You may have noticed that Perkz used Waterwalking with Ryze yesterday, which is currently prohibited in the professional game. Our Competitive Operations Team determined he did not gain a significant advantage through this rune. Vitality will receive a fine in line with recent precedent.”

Ryze Bug

Just by crossing the red line drawn on the image, the champion regenerates a good amount of mana. The process is repeated as many times as the player wishes.

To top it off, the financial penalty was only €1,000. The amount is laughable if we consider that it means nothing to the club (in case it is paid by Team Vitality) or to the player (if Perkz pays it).

The League of Legends competitive scene has long been moving in salaries of hundreds of thousands of euros per year, if not outright millions. There isn’t a single person involved who wouldn’t sign up to have a minimal additional win option in exchange for shelling out a thousand euros each game.

Things get serious after KOI’s latest win

The point is that Perkz’s breach took place already a week ago. Moreover, as expected, many other professionals have followed suit.

Either because they do not fear the repercussions as it is a simple economic fine or because of sheer absent-mindedness. There are other matches in which the same controversy has arisen.

One of the most recent and controversial was the KOI affiliate match against Fnatic Team Queso. In it, the midlaner of the KOI team also made use of the forbidden combo in professional League of Legends.

Things have become somewhat serious with this latest case.

“Player Baca used the combination not allowed by the official Riot Games bug list of the Waterwalking rune together with champion Ryze. The game will be analyzed retrospectively to analyze the player’s conduct, and may be punished, from a warning of not taking advantage of the exploit, to the loss of the match and his sanction in the opposite case”.

Header: Riot Games