Could this meta get any more boring?

S6 started off fun with all of the new items and masteries to choose from, but now it's only certain builds and masteries completely DOMINATING the game. And no one is doing anything about it. I'm talking about good o'l top lane of course. Tanks. Tanks. Tanks. Tanks...

Not sure what to play top? Just pick a tank! Get Sunfire, Iceborn and Grasp of the Undying and WOW, you're set for the game. Why so much emphasis on the tanks recently? Ok. Not recently. This has been going on since the Jungle Rework at the BEGINNING OF S5. Tanks are TOO TANKY. It started with , then onto_ Juggernaut _, now onto Grasp-Iceborn-Sunfire tanks. Really? An entire season and a half about just making tanks impossible to play against, as well as generally un-fun to play? "But what about the ADC patch?" What about it??? The ADC rework didn't make ADC's better, It just took the ADC's normally played bot and made them viable to be played anywhere else because of their crazy kits. (i.e. , , , )

The only ADC's who didn't move are the ones who were either buffed a bit BEFORE the patch, weren't even touched during the patch, or who have little to no mobility to be played in a lane without a support.
(She was close, but not quite like the other reworked ADC's) (her rework came before the ADC patch) (peel reliant), (very support dependent), and (but he wasn't even out yet).

What about the ADC patch was an ADC patch? ESPECIALLY seeing as how the VAST majority of the ADC's weren't even touched at all. The only thing about it that is primarily ADC(not mid, top, jg, etc.) and stayed that way from the patch are the rework, rework(not counting , because she is an ADC played jg from her release), release, and . That's IT.

Yeah the item's are nice and all, but the ADC's utilizing them are the ones with the overloaded rework kits, while the others may find some use for them, but it isn't even close to comparable to the reworked ADCs.

But this isn't about ADC's, it's about the Tanks and the state of Top Lane.

Lets talk about how the attack speed top lane sub-meta got GUTTED. Lets think about the items that made up the attack speed top laners.

• 
• 
• 
• And Zephyr

Well what about them?

got so unbelievably nerfed, building it in lane is just nonsensical. It gives NO bonus stats from upgrading from + into EXCEPT a 100 magic dmg active that slows by 25% for 2 secs with a 90 sec CD. On top of that it also got it's price raised from 1200 to 1650. On the other side, got 5% attack speed taken away in return for 5 dmg on hit. While this trade off isn't all that bad, but it was and is still extremely hard to use effectively in lane because of its nearly nonexistent laning stats it gives(lack of AD, Health, Resistances). And then on top of all of that, it's final upgrade STILL gives no bonus AD from when it was just , a 15% attack speed bonus(not bad), and no bonus life steal from . But in return you would receive 6% of the target's physical health on hit (nerfed from its previous 8%), and the only saving grace for this item, its 10% max hp steal active.

-1 to good attack speed top items.

On to, , It's attack speed % got nerfed from its (25% or 30% can't remember) in return for a bonus 10% CDR and CRIT. This sounds nice and it is still a good item, but it's now lack of significant attack speed and high cost have made it better on almost everyone BUT anyone who builds attack speed.

-1 to good attack speed top items.

Next, Zephyr. Zephyr was an AMAZING item that was extremely underrated. The only people you might ever see build it are , and then maybe any ADC late game who wanted to sell their boots(Zephyr gave 10% move speed if you can't remember). Not only did it give a very significant 50% attack speed, it also gave 10% movement speed and 35% Tenacity. TENACITY Being the only item in the game with the Unique Tenacity Passive, other than (with it's old 35%), it was one hell of an item for attack speed tank toplaners, ESPECIALLY ones with easy to read abilities (i.e. ) And then it was removed from the game... And got 5% tenacity removed. This makes it so that if you needed tenacity due to heavy cc teams, you HAVE to build or else you have no counterplay to CC heavy team comps(excluding of course)

-1 to good attack speed top items.

This leaves just , not only is this item very niche in situations where you can build it reliably, it also suffers from the same problems that does now. Its lane stats pre completion are nearly non existent. Of course finished it gives quite a nice Magic DMG on hit passive, as well as significant MR and Attack Speed. HOWEVER, they completely destroyed any reason for you to build this item any more when they introduced....

-1 to good attack speed top items.

This item...

Not only is it stupidly strong once completed (read its passive effects), it's components are for the most part useable in lane, due to it being so cheap, building the has little to no effect on your lane presence because the completed item is close behind.

"But how is this item bad for attack speed top lakers?" you might ask.

Its glass cannon. Not meant for Tank Top laners. And it also gives 0 defensive stats.

However, this item is still strong amongst attack speed top lakers, but it creates an unhealthy and generally ridiculous playstyle.

Does anyone remember the video about why Jax is played as an Assassin now rather than a hard scaling late game champ? It's because no Zephyr means have to be built, but less tenacity makes things hard for him to fight in team fights, along with the 0 defensive stats given by guinsoo's and the time it takes to stack it's passive, the immediate combat potential isn't there. So what then?

More stat's are needed to make up for . That's a lot of damage.

But building double offensive items first is incredibly dangerous. No defensive items at what would probably be about 20:00 to 25:00 minutes into the game means that there is no room for error in a teamfight. If does manage to get onto a squishy or ADC, Instant Death. But if ANYTHING else happens (as in peel from the enemy team, flash, exh,or a skill error DOES occur), it's instant death for .

While most games nowadays don't even go past 20:00 minutes, if the game does, then can pick up some Armor or Magic Resistance, Health, all of it. But it just isn't enough anymore. are such an essential item on champion like because of the One-of-a-Kind passive that allows you to face fed 's and's head on, while also combining with 's passive to make for some very very solid combat potential. But neither of those items are good right now compared to or or and are have much less significant, seemingly awkward, powerspikes. And with the buff's to those ADC's, and the ADC items, dueling an attack speed tank top laner as the ADC(whom many top laners like Jax have always made priority of in team fights) has never been easier.

So tough luck to anyone other than spell cast/ CDR based, tank, sustained combat top laners, your power spikes are just not good enough anymore.

Not to even MENTION the state of AD/CDR top laners like or . If you want to play champs like these top, you better make FULL use of your undeniably strong early game, and kill your lane opponent pre 6. Because once lvl 6 is there, you are ALREADY getting outscaled by , , and .

The only truly viable top laners are those that are pure HP tanks that stack Armor hardcore(to counter new Last Whisper 45% armor pierce), who also are not AD reliant and scale HARD with CDR.

.

And with the SUPER strong items released to the Juggernauts like and it is easy for them to get tanky and stay that way for the rest of the game.

And now onto Grasp. Find the horrible tankiness of those above scary and intimidating? Yeah well we gave them all an extended combat based max hp % heal, that ALSO serves as huge mixed dmg DPS. So you better rush or quick, or else people like and are going to dominate every team fight with their high base dmg, huge sustain capabilities, amazing team fight kits, CC, and just their overall tendency to run at any squishy and massively out damage them with and .

This meta is NOT HEALTHY, AT ALL, and it hasn't been in a VERY long time.

Any fun champions you want to play are pushed to the side from Top's ridiculous damage and tackiness.

Wanted to play Riven? Too bad

Wanted to play a squishy AD jg? Good Luck when teams start grouping.

Wanted to play a low mobility AP Caster Mid? Try it, your screen will have more gray than George Clooney's Hair

The Meta is being enforced TOO STRICTLY. We get it. Tanks. Why not Aggro Top's? Why not Glass Cannon Junglers? Why not AP supports? Because the Tanks are pushing aside everything in their way. No diversity. No gameplay differentiation. No off meta picks. No anything that utilizes creativity or fun. Just Tanks.