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Didn't Riot once claim that all champions are viable in any position?

JavelinJoe··1 votes·542 views

I seem to remember that being true. Maybe I am wrong, but if that is true, then why is the game currently seeming like it is deadlocking certain champions in specific positions? For me it seems to mainly occur with healing/squishy supports (but not limited to just supports). Please be aware that by viable, it means that they can have decent success relatively often, not necessarily 50W/50L, but enough to at least stand a chance in any match-up.

Soraka because of her rework can not really go mid since mid has become so heavily focused on burst damage that soraka's low burst damage output and delayed healing just can't keep up. Soraka top like Soraka mid may work very rarely if you DO NOT have an aggressive opponent, but then the lane is more a farm lane than anything in which she still loses due to scaling differences and having her w be useless since it can no longer heal minions.

Sona up until recently could be viable both top and mid as well as support. But since her timings are being changed with her proposed update, I fear that she too will find herself locked in the bot lane since she is too squishy for any other.

Janna while no she has not received any major updates or anything, she still seems to be only viable in the support role. Her cooldowns are long, her Q needs a "Warm Up Timer" to deal full damage and CC duration which makes it very telegraphed. Her passive does not actually apply to her so that is another solo lane disadvantage for her.

Jinx Because she lacks any mobility or real early game damage to make it as a solo laner. Usually she ends up being either pushed under tower or ganked repeatedly due to her low mobility. What made soloing possible was that her rockets could put out decent damage in a gank, but with those nerfed by 15% attack speed the damage isn't there anymore until after a few items.

Nautilus earlier this season was seeing gameplay n the top, jg and, mid lane as opposed to the normal support/jg only role. But then he was hit by a few nerfs and now can't really manage a solo lane as well as he had been.

Maybe it is just me, but it seems that when a champion starts leaving their typical meta role, they find themselves receiving a few tweaks/nerfs to set them back into those MTEA roles.

Does anyone else feel this way?

5 Comments

Irelia Bot2 votes

The Riot comments of season 1 and 2 no longer apply sadly

Leopards Ghost1 votes

well the new villains are more training bots than champs. Riot is asking alot, perhaps too much, from new & practicing Champs with regard to mechanics.

there is also some considerable discomfort for League players in ban-selection because the number of bans has not grown with the growth in Champions.

it may be advisable to create some sort of casual-mode where you can select/ban champions by chronological epoch (for example the 8? original Champs would be Division1, the subsequent 8 Division2, etc, & you play the Division rather than a FFA).

As it stands ban-selection is more formality than function; which has given trolls more flexibility & also resulted in some epic nerfs for otherwise nomial Champion statistics.

Sniper 01 votes

Nautilus can still solo lane properly. He was just overbearing with the new masteries.

Jinx has never really been able to lane without a support.

Sona used to be able to mid but they screwed her over. Janna has a lot of utility and no waveclear so she's way more suited for bot lane.

I get what you're saying though. I don't think riot should overlimit a champion just because they want them to perform in one lane only...

item 3070 Vi item 3070

Leopards Ghost1 votes

you have to build for the lane. this includes runes, spells, starting gear, & team comp.

for example: naut or jinx solo laning probably needs a highly-mobile jungle like quinn.

but yes, meta has far too much of an impact on, well, everything.

imo meta should be a standard not a rule. it doesn't help teams win if you have an adc saying "dont earn any gold in MY lane, even if i'm recalled" truestory or a champ who forfeits because someone plays "off meta" spells or builds. or a team reports because they don't try to integrate & accommodate any playstyle other than "meta".

essentially meta is every rioters excuse to cry, report, & troll matches. if you sincerely care about the quality of gameplay (not stats, but the actual enjoyment of the game) you would realize META is utilized effectively by pro's because it offers the best diversity of role & champ selection DEFENSIVELY; but meta is used in semi/casual gaming (which is what most of us are doing) BY trolls to give them a competitive advantage in reports, rankings, bans, griefing, & trolling. it isn't in the League's best interests to create what you're pushing for; and sadly, reading through your comments, it is likely that aside from the tweaks made to keep competitive play competitive there are some devs who push meta onto League for personal reason.

OFFENSIVELY speaking there are a plethora of "off meta" styles, builds, comps, & spell selections that can give you an advantage against an unprepared opponent - which is ~90% of league players, even negating minor gaps in mechanics in an appropriately-matched game. that shouldn't be discouraged & imo that is the best part of metal-elo playstyle.

yukumari1 votes

That's because as soon as any champion leaves their meta role, people complain that they're too strong (I.E Graves jungle, Tank ekko Top, Annie and Brand Support etc etc). If they're fine to go in whatever off meta role they choose, then you either don't hear about it much because it's not overwhelmingly strong, or it's too weak of a role for people to even bother trying, when they can just play a character designed for that role who does it better.

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