Riot explains 2XKO’s balance, champions, and patch planning

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Even though it’s still being developed, 2XKO is already making waves in the fighting game world, showing promise for both widespread popularity and fair gameplay.

Players are actively discussing how balanced the game feels and whether each champion has fair abilities, especially within the 2XKO scene. Because they’ve waited a long time for this game, players want it to be polished, even though it’s still in early access. Concerns arise when certain champions, like Ekko, become overly powerful in competitive play, and others, like Teemo, prove to be too strong at a distance.

As a huge fan, one thing I’ve been hearing a lot is that the character roster feels a little limited for a game built around team-ups. We all love the League of Legends characters, and honestly, I want to see so many of them playable in 2XKO! Plus, it’s important that the characters we do get are strong and can really compete.

Riot Games recently shared an update on the balance of 2XKO on their official blog. The post details how they introduce new champions and outlines their plans for future updates. Here’s a summary of the key takeaways from the developers.

Creating 2XKO champions: More are coming

Riot Games recently published a blog post detailing how they’re translating League of Legends champions into the fighting game 2XKO. Though the post focuses on balancing the characters, it also offers some insights into their overall design process.

  • More champions are coming to 2XKO. This process is slow due to the balancing challenges, but the team does not draw the limit line of the roster size. The game is built for a long lifespan, so the available picks will certainly be more vast and versatile.

Creating new characters for the game is a complex process, involving testing, refinement, and adjustments even after they’re released. It becomes increasingly challenging to balance a character as its release date approaches. Once a character is live, balancing it can require significant changes to all the other characters in the game.

Please check out the official post by Riot Games here if you are interested in every detail.

Live balance during early access: One 2XKO patch per five weeks

Someone’s gonna be nerfed!

  • Ekko and Yasuo were named as outperforming champions in both roles, Point and Assist. Their pick rate reflects that.
  • Teemo turned out to be too good as a range fighter, and he is also good up close. It wasn’t intended this way.

These characters, labeled 2XKO, demonstrate that even with careful development, some problems can still occur. The updates below should resolve these issues, and also address some gameplay imbalances.

Blitzcrank and Braum aren’t performing as well as we’d like, and we plan to address that. They both have trouble in situations where neither team has an advantage.

Riot revealed their plans for the upcoming 2XKO patches.

  • During the early access period, updates for 2XKO should happen every five weeks.

This post emphasizes that the changes won’t be drastic. The developers don’t want to disrupt players who have memorized and mastered the current combos.

2XKO Patch 1.0.3: To prove the point

We’ve already put some of the balance changes we discussed for 2XKO into effect with Patch 1.0.3. You can find the complete list of updates here, but here are the main highlights.

  • Nerfs for Ekko, Teemo, and Yasuo.
  • Blitzcrank received buffs.
  • Adjustments for Warwick and Ahri.
  • New content and cosmetics in 2XKO.

All players in mind: from casual beginners to pros

It’s unusual for fighting game creators to say this, but their most loyal players are the foundation of the game’s community. Making a game too easy to pick up can be dangerous – we’ve seen that happen with simplified controls.

Riot Games is aiming to balance the champion 2XKO with input from the entire player community. They’re looking at how often champions are chosen and how successful they are at all skill levels to guide their adjustments.

  • Beginners should have accessible and effective champions. Jinx and Blitzcrank are examples.
  • Advanced players should get bigger power and more options as rewards for training difficult movesets and combos. Yasuo and Ekko are such characters.

Developers have made a great observation. While esports media and the fighting game community frequently analyze champions in major tournaments like 2XKO Evo France, we seldom talk about the characters players enjoy in more relaxed, everyday play.

More versatile win strategies in the 2XKO battle balance

Future updates to 2XKO will focus on creating more diverse ways to win. Currently, playing defensively and avoiding risks has proven to be the most effective strategy. The developers aim to address this imbalance – not by weakening defensive options like backdashing – but by making aggressive play and moving forward more rewarding.

We’re aiming to improve how the game feels when moving forward and attacking opponents who are backing away, rather than simply making retreating feel bad. We also want to make earning rewards for team plays (Assists) more consistent and satisfying without negatively impacting how Assists and tagging work. Ultimately, we want to avoid penalizing players for disengaging – like reducing resources for moving backwards – because that can limit strategic options in combat, and we don’t believe that aligns with our goals for 2XKO.

Patrick “pattheflip” Miller, 2XKO developer

Riot Games is asking players to help the developers of 2XKO fine-tune the game. They encourage us to play as much as possible and share our thoughts and suggestions on social media.

Riot Games seems genuinely responsive to player feedback, and the upcoming series of patches will likely demonstrate how they’re using that feedback to fine-tune the game’s balance.

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2025-11-20 18:42