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PSA: Counterpicking is not a valid form of counterplay

Eedat··5 votes·255 views

A) You don't always get the opportunity to pick after your lane opponent, which makes counterpicking literally impossible

B) Being forced to play a champion that you dont normally play negates the counterpick. If you aren't familiar with why or how to "counter" the other champion, it doesn't really work. You'll just end up feeding anyway because you have no idea how to play the champion

C) Being shoveled into picking a champion that you don't like playing makes the game not fun. Why would people play a game that isnt fun? It is a game after all.

With that being said, if you do enjoy and know how to play a champion and know that champion does well against the enemy, that is acceptable. Just getting tired of all these BS comments and threads "just pick X champion and you beat Y champion". Well what if I dont like playing X champion? What if I don't play X champion for a reason? What if I have no experience playing X champion? What if playing X champion isnt even an option?

#Counterpick =/= Counterplay

7 Comments

Astôlfo8 votes

People who say counterpicking is counterplay aren't entirely wrong. It still does count as counterplay. It's just not reliable counterplay and thus not the only factor one should rely on to check for balance.

But people who say that there's only counterpicking and no other counterplay to a champion are always dead wrong. There is no champion in the game whose counterplay is solely limited to matchups.

EDIT: oh look random downvotes for no reason, cute.

EndlessSorcerer3 votes

Counterpicks are used to take advantage of weaknesses in the champion's kit or playstyle.

However, you can use those weaknesses as any champion. A counterpick is just a simpler solution for those who don't know those weaknesses, can't be bothered to learn what they are and how to use them, or

MagicFlyingLlama1 votes

Welcome to Top lane. It sucks. The champs suck. The binary matchups suck. The only thing that does not suck is how almost all the champs are completely strategy-based and require zero mechanical skill.. Except that is part of the problem.

Astôlfo1 votes

Except you are just flat-out incorrect. Lots of champions require a lot of mechanical skill.

MagicFlyingLlama1 votes

Of course they do. just not any of the ones that infest top lane currently.

Did i mention i dislike top lane?

Apocalypsic1 votes

I mean, if you're good enough with a champ you usually can play into even unfavorable matchups.

Schàdenfreude1 votes

A) There is still a tiny chance your lane opponent is a scrub, and counterpicks himself. And when you do pick after your oppenent, you can counterpick him. Not sure where you are going with this because on the other side oppenents can still counterpick you and there can still be a counterpick. Therefore, the probability of counterpicking on both sides can be quite high.

B) Sometimes this happens, sometimes it doesn't. Just because I've never played that champion before doesn't mean I don't know how to play him. You get experience from simply playing champions and therefore get a feel for the game.

C) It's your choice to pick that champion. If you want to play a champion you don't like in order to beat someone, It's your choice. People have other reasons to do this, such as gain elo. They don't have to have fun.

With that said, counterpicking can be a form of counterplay, but not always. However, I'm getting the feeling that there is so much BS out there about how you shouldn't play a champion first time in ranked or something. I do that all the time and it usually doesn't end up that badly.

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