Patch 5.22 Support Group.
We have boards full of posts identifying problems and difficulties with the pre-season patch. Since we no longer have a "tips & tricks" board, I started this thread for players to discuss how they are successfully adapting to some of the more disorienting changes to items, champs, and the meta. I'll lead with a few examples of where I'm struggling.
VISION: In general I feel like it's extremely difficult to get and keep vision of anything. Stealth wards are short duration on very long CD. Plus everybody's buying pinks now, and the stealth wards we have access to are destroyed more often. With pinks visible, they get destroyed, too. It feels like a mini-game of everyone placing wards that end up lasting maybe 10-20 seconds in the high-traffic points where you really want vision. What is the best team strat for vision in 5.22?
POTIONS: Pots are more expensive and mana pots are gone. I use a lot of pots, so I've been getting a Refillable very early and upgrading whenever I have the 350 gold and nothing else I can get with that amount (usually pretty early). I like having a Corruption Potion, but 500g early does feel like a setback. Plus the Refillable pot is pretty garbage early when you just want to stay in lane for xp. So, get the flasks or waste more gold throughout the game on consumables? (As an aside, this seems to be a compound buff to champs who use lifesteal/vamp effectively.)
META: Overall I haven't seen a huge shift in what's viable. ADCs are stronger earlier, which is keeping tanks viable. Dangerous ADCs and low vision are making mobility (mostly assassins) all the more valuable. ADCs and assassins are getting melted by DoT mages. Overall the class balance seems to be intact with the caveat of the big shift to early and mid-game dominance. Winning lane is translating more into winning the game. Notorious early bullies who fall off late (Draven, LeBlanc, Renekton, Lee Sin, Elise, etc) aren't getting to the point where they fall off. Mid game is now late game, and late-game hypercarries are now just bad champs. How is everyone dealing with this shift, and are later-game carries simply out of meta now?
TURRETS: Now that they are made of paper, I have started running TP in almost every position. The problem most people have identified is that there is really no safe way to base, especially in bot lane. You can force the enemy out of lane, shove, and recall, only to find the enemies shoved hard into your turret and burning it down with the items they just bought. With the added lack of vision, it's harder to keep track of the junger and roamers to respond to pushes in time. Is TP now our second mandatory spell (even after it's nerf)?
Looking forward to discussion here. Let's talk about how to play the game as it currently is instead of just complaining that it is the way it is. Changes are coming, but I'd like to adapt and do well in the meantime.
