Is there an alpha environment that the Riot developers use to hammer out the base skillsets for champions? Or is it all math-based calculations that are refined later on (i.e. thrown straight in to the PBE)?
We use very little math. We primarily use real games, that every champion and all designers play every morning and afternoon. In between each, we iterate on the champion based upon feedback.
Champion development process question
So Zed has been in about 120 internal games.