July 9, 2023
In multiplayer gaming, drafting is a crucial factor in determining victory. This article explores the importance of drafting in multiplayer games, using popular titles like League of Legends and Valorant.
We’ll discuss some techniques and focus on how data analysis can help teams make informed decisions.
Understanding the Role of Data Analysis
As we stated in the last article of this series, data analysis plays a significant role in esports: providing valuable insights and a competitive edge. In drafting, it helps teams understand the strengths and weaknesses of different heroes, champions, or agents to match them accordingly to their players and opponents’ skills. This knowledge allows them to make smart decisions and create a winning team composition.
League of Legends: Synergies and Countering Strategies
In League of Legends, drafting involves selecting champions that work well together and countering the opponent’s strategy. Analyzing data helps teams identify champions with high win rates, pick rates, and ban rates. This allows them to see which champions are more popular, which ones are favored in different types of matchups, and which characters are more dangerous depending on the side of the map, team composition, and the enemy team.
By looking at win rate data, teams can identify champions that perform well against specific opponents. They can prioritize selecting or banning these champions to gain an advantage.
Data analysis also helps identify the most popular strategies in the current meta. Teams can analyze pick and win rates of specific champion combinations to counter prevalent strategies effectively.
Valorant: Agent Abilities and Synergies
In Valorant, as you can’t see which agents your opponents are picking, drafting focuses on selecting agents with unique abilities for well-rounded team composition. Data helps evaluate agent performance metrics such as win rates, ability usage, and round impact.
Teams can find agents that have high win rates and powerful abilities, and determine which maps they perform well in, making them best suited for specific situations. Data helps unveil strong agent combinations, making it easier to carry out strategies.
Considering this, it’s important to understand that in Valorant, selecting the right map is just as crucial as building the right team composition for that map.
Image source: thespike.gg
Data-driven drafting can also aid in countering opponents’ strategies in Valorant. By analyzing agents’ win rates against specific opponents or agents that counter popular tactics, teams can gain a tactical advantage.
Drafting Techniques: Flexibility and Adaptability
Successful drafting requires flexibility and adaptability. By analyzing data and staying updated with the meta, teams can make proactive decisions and adjust their strategy based on the opponents’ picks.
Having versatile players who can excel on different champions or agents is advantageous during drafting. Teams can adapt their compositions based on teammates’ or opponents’ picks and exploit weaknesses.
Data analysis can also help predict opponents’ choices based on their previous drafts or playstyle tendencies. By studying opponents’ preferences and drafting patterns, teams can make educated guesses and choose appropriate counter picks.
Image source: procomps.gg
There are several drafting techniques widely used in the esports industry to create effective team compositions. Here are a few examples:
Counterpicking: This technique involves selecting champions or agents that have an advantage against the opponent’s picks. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each character, teams can strategically counter the enemy’s composition, gaining the upper hand in specific matchups.
Synergy Drafting: This technique focuses on selecting champions or agents that work well together and complement each other’s abilities. The goal is to create a cohesive team composition that maximizes the synergy between the selected characters. For example, in League of Legends, Thresh’s crowd control abilities, combined with Kalista’s mobility, make this duo a powerful combination; Gragas can airborne enemy champions, setting up Yasuo’s Last Breath..
Flex Picks: Flex picking involves selecting champions that can be played in multiple roles or positions. This strategy provides strategic flexibility during the draft phase, as the opponent cannot predict the exact role of a flex pick. It allows teams to adapt their composition based on the opponent’s picks and maintain a strategic advantage.
Targeted Bans: Banning specific champions that are known to be strong or popular choices for the opponent can disrupt their preferred strategies or limit their options. By eliminating important picks from the enemy’s selection, teams can make them adjust their strategy or weaken their overall lineup.
Comfort Picks: Comfort picks refer to selecting champions or agents that individual players are highly skilled and comfortable with. This strategy allows players to perform at their best and play to their strengths. Prioritizing comfort picks allows teams to ensure that their players are confident executing their roles.
Map Control and Objective Focus: In games with map-based objectives, like League of Legends, drafting a composition that excels at map control and securing objectives can be advantageous. This involves selecting champions or agents with abilities that aid in vision control, map mobility, or objective contesting, enabling teams to dominate the map and gain strategic advantages. In Valorant, on each map, a team composition can work better or worse, so it’s important to know which agent is more advantageous in each situation.
These drafting techniques, combined with careful data analysis and knowledge of the game’s meta, allow teams to create well-rounded compositions, counter opponents effectively, and adapt to various scenarios. The key is to find a balance between individual player strengths, strategic synergy, and countering the enemy’s picks and strategies.
Conclusion
Drafting is a crucial element in multiplayer games, shaping the path to victory. Data analysis provides critical insights, enabling teams to make informed decisions, exploit the meta, and counter opponents’ strategies. Whether it’s the diverse champion pool of League of Legends or the unique abilities of agents in Valorant, understanding the data and incorporating it into drafting is very important for gaining a competitive edge.