Streamer Dantes sends 5,000 word essay on grim state of LoL to Riot

Dantes "Dantes" Forlini, a Twitch streamer known for his Hecarim, has shared that on social media that he sent a "5,000 word essay" on the state of League of Legends to a member of Riot Games.

Dantes has been very vocal about the state of League of Legends (LoL) in the past months. The streamer believes it's time for Riot Games to make various changes to the game's balance. Here's a breakdown of his points and the community's reaction.

"The game is in a state right now that I've never seen before," is one of the first sentences in Dantes' essay that he shared on social media. According to TwitchTracker, League of Legends has been seeing a decrease in the average views for the majority of 2024. However, the game saw an increase in viewership in January 2025. This is justified by the new season and all the big changes coming to the game.

Dantes talked about the transition of various content creators to other games or popular LoL streamers that don't stream League anymore, like Tyler1. Tyler1 was a father last year, which can be part of the reason that he left League and changed to other types of content since the timing was the same. He said the only people who've been growing are connected to Los Ratones.

According to the streamer, this essay is a reflection of a feeling that is going on in the community. This was present in various comments under the post. A player said he would rather play "anything else" and that he would love for the game "to feel like it was developed by the small indie company I feel in love with".

One of the most recent examples was the movement the player base created after the removal of the Hextech Chests from the game. Two months later, Riot Games announced the comeback of the chests. He expressed that people are tired of a game that in two years feels exactly the same, despite the addition of seemingly revolutionary features like Atakahn.

One of the features Dantes highlighted was the discrepancy between AD and AP champions.

"Mages having access to items that increase their % damage and do % max health damage, it's very easy for them to play this meta", said Dantes. He went on to add that the AD champions (not the auto-attacking fighters) have been struggling versus mages. One LoL player wrote in the comments that "assassins overall feels so bad", and went onto say he has been capable of playing Kha'zix for two years.

In the screenshots shared online, Dantes discussed in-depth about item balancing. Here are some of his suggestions:

And many more. Another player commented that these ideas made League of Legends look like "a fun game" without everyone having "3-4k HP for no reason".

step1v9, another Twitch streamer who commented under Dantes' essay, voiced a concern that there is "no incentive to climb". He was adamant that removing physical rewards and "clear solo queue to pro pipeline" have been part of a bigger problem. The game is deteriorating overall. LP inflation, scripters, and griefers are other problems that have been contributing to the bad state of the game.

"Just as an example, in my challenger promotion game, the enemy was just spam running in and dying from minute three. That is the type of game quality we have", he added. "This sentiment spreads like a cancer. Other people take the game less seriously, you take the game less seriously, people give up, do unto others what has been done to you. Misery".

"A loss and a win feel the exact same", said LoL streamer Allyooops. She accuses Riot of seeing the problems and not caring. "The game is boring, and the content is hard to make with nothing. Can't even make content with skins because they are so low quality too".

Another gripe with the current state of League of Legends shared in response to Dantes post was how Riot is dedicated to punishing creativity, like nerfing champions as soon as they appear strong in other lanes like Janna top or Elise support. "If players don't play the game exactly as Riot intended, then they get punished".

Many people related to Dantes' feelings of how stagnated the game is and how many of them quit playing.

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