New in 2016: Mid Lane

In previous seasons, the mid lane served as the mainspring of a team’s power. The laner’s ability to quickly roam to any point of the map, alongside their jungler, put a major spotlight on the role -- a prominence they seek to preserve coming into Patch 6.1. Just as top laners and junglers are quickly deciphering the new patch for advantages into the new season, so are mid laners exploring how best to continue their roles as strategic lynchpins.

But, sometimes, having the spotlight is exactly the same thing as wearing a target. With the start of the season, mid laners are going to have to watch their steps a bit more carefully.

Vision

As we discussed in our previous article on jungle changes, the application of vision has changed this preseason. The most notable change is the removal of Sight Wards. According to Echo Fox mid laner Froggen, "There's not a lot of wards on the map unless you have double Sightstone, so mid lane can get ganked from a lot of angles. Especially by Rek'Sai, Elise, Lee Sin -- anything, really, that has dashes."

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TSM's Bjergsen concurs, recalling that snowballing mid lane before Season 6 was highly dependent on Sight Wards. "One of the biggest changes to early-game vision is that, when you get a lead, you can't just spam a bunch of green wards, light up the entire mid lane, and continue to abuse your lane. There's going to be a bit of a loophole in vision due to sight wards no longer being in the lane, and it might be a bit harder to play super-aggressive into someone's turret."

Cloud9's Jensen (formerly known as Incarnati0n) was more ambivalent of the impact of the vision changes, at least for the preseason. "Obviously, you can't buy [Sight] wards anymore, so that's a bit different," he acknowledges. "But pink wards are cheaper, so I don't personally see a big change for mid lane. You also get blue around level nine, which makes you a lot more safe now than before, because you never have to facecheck if you play smart."

Unfortunately for Jensen, Farsight Alteration (a blue ward) takes a big hit to its effectiveness in 6.1. At level 9, its cooldown increases from 76 seconds to over 92 -- more than a minute and a half of inactivity, making it much easier for enemy junglers to get the drop on unsuspecting casters.

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Items

Previously, mid laners would rush Zhonya’s Hourglass to offset the risk of assassins -- but with the preseason changes increasing the Hourglass’s cost and nerfing its benefits, they’ve looked elsewhere for more affordable and effective opening itemization options. "The big change I've seen so far is that you build Frost Queen's Claim," said Froggen -- an item that was previously considered a support-only item.

"It makes some champions a bit stronger," agreed Jensen. "Champions that can chase you down or have problems with hitting skillshots will make great use of the item." Furthermore, the long scouting range of the icy ghosts it activates can detect and deter junglers from even heading to mid lane in the first place. But the biggest benefit it offered, according to Player Relations Specialist Patrick "Scarizard" Scarborough, was in deterring all forms of melee champions from getting close to the mid laner in the first place -- even in fights.

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Back in 5.24, "If you are a melee champion, you would just get hit with the four-second slow all the time," said Scarizard. "I'm not even talking about the catch cases -- I'm really talking about when the fight begins. I'm diving into the battle, I don't have a lot of stickiness, I get hit with a ghost, and I'm out of the fight! Melee in general is much more powerful in this patch [6.1], because if they do that, they'll get a two-second slow which is easier to stick through."

Patch 6.1 promises to make a thriller out of mid lane's center-stage drama. Let us know what you think of the mid lane in 2016, and stay tuned for more in the New in 2016 series -- where we've already taken a look at top lane and jungle changes -- and coming up this week, we'll go over all the changes coming to every lane.