History Main / SkillGateCharacters

** Teemo can be a major pain in the ass at low levels. His invisibility means you won't even see him in a bush until it's too late, his Blinding Dart can render a basic attack-based champion useless, his Move Quick will make him unchaseable, his Toxic Shot makes you slowly lose health after getting hit and thus allows him to play hit-and-run, and his invisible mushrooms can quickly hurt you until you die if you wander into a minefield. Solution? Drop pink wards on key spots, get an upgraded red trinket, smite the Razorbeak if you're the jungler to see his mushrooms before you step on them, get stuff that grants magic resistance (his poison and mushrooms deal magical damage), and if you're playing a long-range champion, stay away from him. More skilled players also aren't as likely to fall for his 'global taunt' (he's so frustrating to play against that less-disciplined players go LeeroyJenkins to get a chance to kill him, which is memetically considered to be a second passive ability he has).

** [[TinTyrant Mordekaiser]] is statistically the best champion in the game. His high damage spells and incredible health give him a significant [[MightyGlacier edge]] in a brawling match, and hi shield ability (which he can also consume to heal) makes it nearly impossible to scratch him in the lane. His weaknesses? Melee range, [[HitAndRunTactics zero gap closers]], highly telegraphed abilities and [[BigHeroicRun zero escape abilities]]. Eventually opponents learn how to kite, disable priority targets and generally not walk in a disorganised cluster towards the enemy. If he cannot reach you, he [[WeaksauceWeakness cannot deal any damage to you]] and dies like a useless potato sack. Even his ultimate, which [[DuelToTheDeath traps the target in a realm with himself]], can be easily negated by buying a Quicksilver Sash or baiting him to use it in an area where you can hide behind terrain or even under your own tower.

** Some junglers can qualify. Shen [[note]]Ultimate teaches you on map awareness and has godly amount of sustain[[/note]], Nunu and Willump[[note]]teaches you on sustaining in the jungle as well as counterganking[[/note]], Volibear, and Rammus [[note]]both teach you on ganking lanes and using CC to gank properly[[/note]]. Many lower skill players in Bronze or Silver who see them as a jungler would rage when someone like Nunu using their ultimate and destroying your entire team, Rammus taunting your adc and end up killing him/herself because Rammus has Thornmail, Shen popping out of nowhere with his ultimate and making a 2v2 fight into a [[OhCrap 3v2]] fight, or Volibear running up, disabling the tower you were under with his ult and butchering you. More experienced players will counter them by knowing some of their clear weaknesses. For example, Shen's ultimate is very predictable and his clearing speed in the jungle is known to be the worst.

** [[SpikesOfVillainy Mordekaiser]] is statistically the best champion in the game. His high damage spells and incredible health give him a significant [[MightyGlacier edge]] in a brawling match, and his regenerating shield makes it nearly impossible to scratch him in the lane. His weaknesses? Melee range, [[HitAndRunTactics zero gap closers]], zero crowd control and [[BigHeroicRun zero escape abilities]]. Eventually opponents learn how to kite, disable priority targets and generally not walk in a disorganised cluster towards the enemy. If he cannot reach you, he [[WeaksauceWeakness cannot regenerate his shield]] and dies like a useless potato sack.
*** His ultimate ability is a curse that damages an enemy player and [[ChestBurster creates]] a powerful ghost [[TheMinionMaster under his control]] if that player dies while cursed. Low level players tend to fight to the death rather than escaping at the last moment, meaning as soon as someone dies in a teamfight Mordekaiser gets a free ghost and the 5v5 battle just [[CurbStompBattle became 4v6]].

*** And with the discussion of [=ADCs=], Ashe and Caitlyn as well. Both have reasonable poking capacity and skillsets that teaches newcomers how to play adc properly.
*** In fact, Ashe is the champion that the player is given for the tutorial.
** Some junglers can qualify. Shen [[note]]Ultimate teaches you on map awareness and has godly amount of sustain[[/note]], Nunu [[note]]teaches you on sustaining in the jungle as well as counterganking[[/note]], Volibear, and Rammus [[note]]both teaches you on ganking lanes and using CC to gank properly[[/note]]. Many lower skill players in Bronze or Silver who see them as a jungler would rage when someone like Nunu using their ultimate and destroying your entire team, Rammus taunting your adc and end up killing him/herself because Rammus has Thornmail, Shen popping out of nowhere with his ultimate and making a 2v2 fight into a [[OhCrap 3v2]] fight, or Volibear running up to your adc and fling the said adc behind him where the entire team destroys the said adc. More experienced players will counter them by knowing some of their clear weaknesses. For example, Shen's ultimate is very predictable and his clearing speed in the jungle is known to be the worst.

* ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureHeritageForTheFuture'' has Khan. In a game full of weird, esoteric movesets, detailed combos, and a built-in StanceSystem that vastly changes up some characters, Khan's moves are mostly just mild variations of "hit with sword." This makes him pretty easy to pick up and learn to use, since all his attacks are pretty straightforward and you don't need to keep a lot of options in mind, meaning he can easily stomp opponents who are still learning the basics. If he's going up against a more unusual and versatile character being played even somewhat proficiently, then he has almost no answers to what they can do to him, and they'll take him apart like abstract art.

** In recent games, Nightmare can be a [[JustForPun nightmare]] for low-level play, with his extremely powerful, easy combos and general tankery. He's slow, however, and a pro can Perfect Guard even his least telegraphed moves easily, leaving him completely open to one of the faster (read: all of the) other fighters.

** [[VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet Maushold]] seems absurdly broken at first glance, thanks to a combination of Technician[[labelnote:*]]Boosts the power of moves with 60 Base Power or less by 33%[[/labelnote]], a decent movepool that includes coverage options such as Bite[[labelnote:*]]A Dark-type move that beats Ghost-types, has a decent chance to flinch, and is bolstered by Technician[[/labelnote]], a powerful boosting move in Tidy Up[[labelnote:*]]a SecretArt that removes hazards ''and'' boosts Maushold's Attack and Speed[[/labelnote]], and its other SecretArt Population Bomb. In addition to being boosted by Technician, the move can hit up to an absurd '''ten times''' and while the amount of hits is dependent on Accuracy, more hits can be guaranteed via the Wide Lens item, which boosts its Accuracy. However, Maushold's stats outside of Speed are extremely mediocre, including a 75 base Attack (which is pitiful by [[Website/{{Smogon}} Overused]] standards), and Population Bomb's nature as a contact move leaves it easily exploited by contact based abilities and items, most notoriously Rough Skin and/or Rocky Helmet (it will [[HoistByHisOwnPetard literally kill itself]] if it uses Population Bomb against a mon with at least one of those two traits). What's more, its coverage isn't quite strong enough to muscle through Pokémon that check it, namely the Ghost- and Steel-types that run amok in the higher tiers. While it's usable in Overused, you'd be hard-pressed to find a high-level player finding success with it. However, Maushold shines in Underused due to these traits (even though it is quite linear and easily checked), and in Doubles it's a lot less predictable since it can take on an offensive or defensive role thanks to Friend Guard and its surprisingly wide support movepool.

They often are [[MightyGlacier extremely slow]], so that a faster character can bash them around without ever getting hit, or [[GlassCannon extremely frail]] (and possibly [[FragileSpeedster fast]]), with sturdier characters demonstrating that the most important HitPoint is the [[CriticalExistenceFailure last]]. CripplingOverspecialization may also be at play.

In some instances, [[TakeAThirdOption none of the above applies]]: the character is [[JackOfAllStats simply ''good'' without necessarily excelling in any area]] and typically has a fairly straightforward gameplan and playstyle that's designed to make them easy to use for new players; however, they are [[MasterOfNone outshined by the rest of the cast in various areas]] (whether it's offence or defence). In fighting games, this is heavily associated with TheGrappler, where most of the difficulty in facing one is being able to keep them from reaching you; players who struggle with this tend to fall right into an InstantDeathRadius.

In some instances, [[TakeAThirdOption none of the following applies]]: the character is [[JackOfAllStats simply ''good'' without necessarily excelling in any area]] and typically has a fairly straightforward gameplan and playstyle that's designed to make them easy to use for new players; however, they are [[MasterOfNone outshined by the rest of the cast in various areas]] (whether it's offence or defence). In fighting games, this is heavily associated with TheGrappler, where most of the difficulty in facing one is being able to keep them from reaching you; players who struggle with this tend to fall right into an InstantDeathRadius.

In some instances, [[TakeAThirdOption none of the following applies]]: the character is [[JackOfAllStats simply ''good'' without necessarily excelling in any area]] and typically has a fairly straightforward gameplan and playstyle that's designed to make them easy to use for new players; however, they are outshined by the rest of the cast in various areas (whether it's offence or defence). In fighting games, this is heavily associated with TheGrappler, where most of the difficulty in facing one is being able to keep them from reaching you; players who struggle with this tend to fall right into an InstantDeathRadius.

** Spies also fall victim to this trope, as it's tough to use their one-hit kill BackStab when the enemy is competent enough to check behind them regularly; the only reason they're useful in comp play at all is because nobody expects you to use a Spy. This is especially true in Highlander matches, where each team has one of each unit: while most units are at least somewhat useful within their niche, the Spy not only has to deal with the near-impossibility of backstabs, but the fact that there's always an enemy Pyro on the field. Spy is an odd example of this trope mixed with DifficultButAwesome, as his effectiveness depends less on the player's own skill, and more on the skill ''gap'' between them and the opposing team.

** Competitive circles tend to describe these as "rogue decks"--decks that tend to be good enough to stomp casual decks and sucker-punch some tournament decks if the user isn't paying attention, but lack the consistency or power to go anywhere in a competitive setting. Chaos Max Turbo is a fairly famous example: not only is it very easy to play, but any degree of luck results in you sitting on at least one 4000-attacker with immunity to targeting and destruction and the ability to murder even harder through defense. However, a high-level-focused Ritual setup makes it very reliant on searches to avoid bricking entirely, Chaos Max's summon is very easy to stop or waylay, and making the summon eats up enough of your resources that if Chaos Max goes down (which isn't as hard as it sounds), then you're probably going to lose.

** [[VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet Maushold]] seems absurdly broken at first glance, thanks to a combination of Technician, a decent movepool that includes coverage options such as Bite (boosted by Technician) and Tidy Up (a SecretArt that removes hazards ''and'' boosts Maushold's Attack and Speed), and its other SecretArt Population Bomb. In addition to being bolstered by Technician, the move can hit up to an absurd '''ten times''', and while the amount of hits is dependent on Accuracy more hits can be guaranteed via the Wide Lens item, which boosts its Accuracy. However, Maushold's stats outside of Speed are extremely mediocre, including a 75 base Attack (which is pitiful by Overused standards), and Population Bomb's nature as a contact move leaves it easily exploited by contact based abilities and items, most notoriously Rough Skin and/or Rocky Helmet (it will [[HoistByHisOwnPetard literally kill itself]] if it uses Population Bomb against a mon with at least one of those two traits). What's more, its coverage isn't quite strong enough to muscle through Pokémon that check it, namely the Ghost- and Steel-types that run amok in the higher tiers. While it's usable in Overused, you'd be hard-pressed to find a high-level player finding success with it. However, Maushold shines in Underused due to these traits (even though it is quite predictable and easily checked), and in Doubles it's a lot less predictable since it can take on an offensive or defensive role thanks to Friend Guard and its surprisingly wide support movepool.