Take it as you like

TL:DR - Shut up and enjoy your game, off meta doesn't typically work for long. GG WP no re. No, but seriously, just play your game. You can't force people to accept you, if they rage then they're in the fault, if you start complaining about why you should be fully accepted, despite doing something that just isn't as efficient in most cases, then you're no better than them.

Long Rant - There's a lot of Off-meta topics again, it seems like this happens every few months for whatever reason. Most of these feel like the same things rehashed in different ways to try and get upvotes like some sort of Reddit sub forum shit. But I keep seeing that somethings are ignored in a lot of these threads, and even in the comments.

First, let me say that most people probably don't give a fuck if you go off meta, you're not special just because you go off meta. It use to be way more popular in Season 4 when you could potentially take anyone jungle with the right masteries, runes, and builds; but it still happens. Is it less common, yes, but that's only because in the current season, it's much more reasonable to follow meta most of the times.

It's good to have fun with your champion selection, but realize that there is typically something within the current meta that is strictly better than whatever your off meta is, typically.

Top isn't going to do too well against or in the long run. The only way jungle is going to beat or is if they're bad. This is just the way it is. You can always argue that they will bring something to the table that other champions can't. or say because of something they can do they can still do their task well. But this is, again, probably already covered by someone in the current meta.

can probably set up some good ganks, but there are tons of junglers who can do this already, and have actual good reliability in the jungle. Top lane has a lot of poke, sure. But there are already top laners who not only have poke, but can be pretty tanky and still deal good damage like .

So there's that, most meta picks will just do better in terms of what they accomplish and how well they fair under ordinary circumstances. Now, I'll grant a few off meta picks can do better sometimes, but this is typically short lived. Those with actual reliability, over time, become more of sleeper picks.

But the last thing I wanted to bring up is that most people who end up going off meta, in my experiences, end up failing miserably. Thing is, most of these summoners do so without any real experience as to what its like using that pick, or the parameters for success just can't be met every game. A good counter jungle or a few ganks can typically shut down a lot of meta picks, and just destroys off meta picks who often seem to rely on gimmicks to win.

Additionally, I also note that a lot of the people who go off meta do so after watching a streamer do so. And in that case, they typically do so without truly knowing how it works, and fail. This is just how the bulk of my experiences have gone.

Personally I've recently watched a few jungle fail terrible all game. I don't know why, but this happened within a few span of games, 3-5, and ran into 3 of them. There was also support for a while but that was quite some time back.

These summoners did not do well, and obviously it left a bad taste in my mouth. You have to realize that even after you explain why something works in theory, it might not. You also have to realize that any good number of champions will fair better against you in whatever role you're playing. You're fully allowed to take whatever you want, but just like your team shouldn't rage at you, you shouldn't expect them to accept it, or even like it.

I've personally taken the philosophy of giving 0 fucks, but I still role my eyes when I see someone go off meta, as it typically doesn't end well. I see more failures than I see winners. That's just the way things are. If you're good with your off meta, grats, it must have taken a lot of practice. Just realize you're in the minority when it comes to off meta enthusiasts.