Meta breaking picks

Kanvell··4 votes·1,392 views

Hello everyone, I'm relatively new to the forums so bear with me on this.

I'm going to discuss the current meta picks, and how new counter picks with off meta champs can make games a bit more fun.

We all know that with this meta many picks can get stale and annoying to deal with. For example how we see spikes in certain champs like KogMaw Lulu that do well in the LCS games. I'm not saying these champions are never fun, but it can get boring and annoying to play with and against these champs over and over again. I'm also not saying the LCS is the only factor people look at to decide their picks. But with the current meta, people often get smashed on by other players for trying to change things up like playing with a mage carry bottom and not an ADC.

So here are a few off meta champions that I've seen do well that also happen to be quite fun:

Sivir As a bruiser on top. I actually saw someone post something about this in another thread, but I can't remember where. She works like a Quinn top and she makes melee fighters without hard gap closers miserable. She also does very well against some of the mage tops that are often picked. The good thing about Sivir though is that she has less late game fall off than Quinn. As Sivir can keep pressure on multiple targets with her Q and W. She also helps with disengages and objective charges with her R.

The only problem with Sivir is that since she has so much split pushing power she is often targeted for repeated ganks, and her lane is almost never empty. This can be good though as you are keeping pressure off of your team's other lanes by distracting 2 enemies at once.

When I build on bruiser Sivir, I generally like to go this path: Start: item 1055 item 2003 item 3340 with item 3070 on first back Mid game: item 3254 item 1053 item 3086 item 3004 item 3155 For a mage top opponent item 3024 For an AD top opponent Late Game: item 3042 item 3072 item 3254 item 3087 item 3102 item 3110 or item 3025 if you want the extra kick on the Muramana and the spellblade. item 3087 can also be replaced with item 3035 if their tank is too stacked. I also feel item 3153 does not really work for Sivir top. I don't know why, it just seems like she can't get a lot of use from it, even from champs with loads of health.

Next is the bot dunk squad JarvanIV and Pantheon Although I haven't played this myself and I can't provide itemization, from what I've seen it's pretty fun. When I was in a game with these guys, they were very good at denying the enemy ADC creep kills in early/mid game. So when it came to late game, the ADC didn't have a full build.

Pantheon would stun the support or ADC while Jarvan would jump in and trap them. This duo seems very good at severely punishing positioning mistakes. And either of them could roam mid with their high mobility and get results if the jungler was busy.

Finally there is the mid dunk king Jayce although it is already a pick I sometimes see, people can really get more use out of a Jayce mid. He is very good at bullying the lane and escaping ganks with his E in both forms. With his ranged form he can easily farm without too much worry, and with his hammer form he can close in on the current meta squishy mids.

The best part is that he can pretty much keep the same items that do well on him when he goes top. His build stays item 3042 item 3111 with pretty much everything else he needs being situational.

He can deal a ton of damage with just a few items. And the real kicker is that he can cause the enemy mid laner to switch their build paths. Due to his high damage, the mid lanes will have to build armor or get dunked. Their problem will be that the only useful items for a mage in this situation will be item 3191 item 3024 item 3157 item 3025 The latter of these two take quite some time to reach, giving Jayce a good kill window. And since an enemy mid mage will have to waste their gold on these items, this leaves their builds to item 3128 item 3174 item 3089 item 3135 behind.

Assassin mids on the other hand can give Jayce some trouble. Zed Akali have good ways to escape a Jayce dunk or shock blast. And they can out duel him very easily. But they will have the same armor problems as the mages. But this time there are no hybrid damage/armor items to go against Jayce except for item 3005. So the assassins will have to sacrifice damage for armor if they want to survive Jayce's poke.

Sorry for the huge wall of text, I just want to help make League play more interesting and diverse than it is now. I may come back to add more later. I encourage you guys to come up with your own off meta picks that do well :)

9 Comments

MaknBacnPancakes3 votes

The thing about off meta picks. And off meta champions...

They have to be selected and played in normals.. Over and over until it is perfected. I believe that we as LOL players need not wait for the LCS pro's to show us a new way, or make it okay to play certain characters elsewhere. WE can break the meta... But it comes at a cost.

Now, with that being said..

  1. Off meta gets bashed when people have a <insert champion here> ONLY mindset, and try to force.. Say Varus as support, only for the sake that all other slots were taken and support was left

  2. Off meta gets bashed when people come up with this grand notion of "I am going to try Braum jungle this game" IN RANKED..

In a majority of games instances 1 & 2 above immediately start the team in a downward spiral. Many times it causes someone to dodge, others unfortunately do not dodge and that is where things get VERY ugly. The meta breaker BETTER know what they are doing and BETTER win lane.. Your teammates eyes are all on you, and should you die.. Even legitimately, the team turns toxic and you are immediately branded as feeder, noob, <insert name here>, and also run the risk of causing the team to quit on you and/or intentionally feed.

I am all for breaking the meta.. Be warned, it should not be taken lightly and must have practice put into it before bringing it into ranked.

Kanvell3 votes

I totally agree with you 100% in the fact that breaking the meta does take some time and risk. I don't believe people should be trying this in ranked until they feel comfortable with what they have come up with. It took me quite some time to get used to my Sivir build. I even had an idea for a Lux ADC due to her passive and insane CC poke to support herself in addition to the real support. But I haven't tried it yet due to the high risk of people flaming over its potential failure.

However, succeeding in breaking the meta is Such a rewarding feeling. Especially if the idea spreads. After all, it is something you put time and work into in order to win, and other people can agree on your work. It brings some interesting plays into the game and keeps your foes on their toes.

Here is another meta breaking pick I have personally used: Pantheon support. I have never seen anyone but me use it, but it can be brutally effective. He needs to be built as a bruiser when it comes to masteries, but as a tank when it comes to items. With these in the end game item 3143 item 3102 item 3190 item 3269 item 3025 item 3035. Once he has all of this, he becomes nearly impossible to stop. Of course, being a support will mean it will take him a little bit longer to get these items.

The reason his kit works so well as a support is because he has a very powerful stun/gap closer. His poke is strong and can't miss. His passive can block some of the high damage an opposing ADC can put out. And his ult can wedge the enemies between its damage zone and your tower/ADC/team.

Jinxed Amulet2 votes

I see people do AD Annie in aram and it works... I know it's not the same as normal, but I think you might be fine doing Lux AD in a normal. I might have to try it too because it seems like fun. I saw some people do AP Ashe with a item 3151 but I haven't tried it yet. Will do tonight hopefully

MaknBacnPancakes2 votes

I like your logic.. Unfortunately you have to:

  1. run in groups of friends/people who know your prowess
  2. run the risk of getting flammed
  3. not getting as many games as you would like due to your pick
  4. wait for a pro to pick up your tactic and make it viable or OP to the community 😞
Kanvell2 votes

I know, when I started teambuilder two days ago, I kid you not it took about 40 people joining and leaving the lobby until people were convinced Sivir could adequately top. If a non pro tries to break the meta item 3070 item 2044 item 3070

The struggle, it's real

MaknBacnPancakes2 votes

AND THATS TEAM BUILDER!!! WHERE OFF META IS SUPPOSE TO SHINE!! The meta breaking sandbox if you will...

Ranked... Hahahahahahahhahahahahaha.. Fuggedaboutit

ploki1221 votes

The problem with Sivir top is not that it may or may not be able to lane well, it's that you're dropping part of your front line to replace it with yet another squishier target.

Sure, you can run Xerath, Corki, Vel'Koz, Ezreal and Ziggs, but at one point the enemy wil engage and you'll cry.

Kanvell1 votes

With a Sivir top, I do advise you to have two tanks or at least one tank and another bruiser on your team like LeeSin Pantheon jungles. You are right that the front line gets a bit weaker, but with may of the current picks for top like Lulu Ryze Nidalee a lot of people seem to like high damage and low tankyness tops. And they can still win games. The good thing with sivir though is that she can counter both the tanks and the glass cannons.

ploki1221 votes

You do realize that outof those 3 top laners, only Lulu in't built tanky and it's because her spells absorbs insane amount of damage...

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