Off Meta Does Work but...

JAGMAG·1/11/2016, 4:28:04 PM·3 votes·572 views

It usually works because of cheese factor (the opponent has no idea what to do against what you are playing) or specific hard counters.

this advantage is usually lost outside of lane unless you just crushed the enemy lane. The meta is more set up around the needs of the team as 5 members (need ad damage from range, need tanks, need support, need ap damage) so to were you might smash their lanes if your overall 5 man is very off meta (5 melle, all squishy, low overall damage from building wrong damage type) team fighting could become very difficult and allow the other team to come back from the one or two lanes you smashed. not to mention that usually off meta dose not use the champ to its full potential.

tl;dr: yeah off meta can work but the meta is meta for a reason.

21 Comments

Maximum Morde1/11/2016, 4:38:16 PM6 votes

I reject your definition of meta.

DrNova1/11/2016, 4:57:48 PM3 votes

Meta just exists to make you have less fun.

Paroe1/11/2016, 6:58:54 PM2 votes

Off... you dont know what off meta means, clearly. Off meta doesnt always use some kind of cheese - some champions genuinely shine in off meta variants. Attack speed vi, for example, is one of the best objective junglers out there and can shred tanks so well with sated.

AP bruiser volibear is one of the most potent teamfight-supports around if he gets his raylais and RoA.

Support karthus was a stellar anti-all-in support until his W was nerfed (decaying slow fragged his attack speed slow immensely)

AD malzahar is an incredible anti-squishy and objective taker; 45% CDR and 200AD ~600 damage on a 1.25 attack speed. (not counting malzahars own AD)

Champions have different strengths than what the meta dictates; its not "cheese factors" that these champions have very real success rates when played differently. However, non-meta variants are often only as strong as the player behind the screen; it takes a lot more skill to do APB volibear than it does to go ADB or tank.

Spoofghoul1/11/2016, 7:19:55 PM2 votes

Meta is for sheeple with no more then 2 braincells so they have a way to play the game too and wont have to bother and think about teamcompositions and counterpicking.

Just pick meta group 5 mid after lane any more and metasheeples brains go tilt and will combust into flames because it requires too much thinking

DeathBurst1/11/2016, 6:54:06 PM1 votes

The meta is "the most efficient way", but the difference in efficiency between the LCS meta and a lot of off-meta picks is really small. It has an impact for pro-gamers, but at most ELOs, a tiny bit less efficient pick is still worth it in a lot of circumstances (if you have better knowledge of the champion, if it's a hard-counter, because of the surprise factor, etc.).

I'm not saying playing AP Renekton mid is a good idea. But playing AP Kog'maw mid if you main Kog'maw, you are last pick and forced to play mid, and your team really need some AP threat is not absurd by any mean.

SeargentAnus1/11/2016, 4:37:15 PM1 votes

It also only works if you know how to play that champion before you take them off of their recommended path. If you can't play Malphite as a Tank you aren't going to be able to play him as a mage lol.

Bandle City11/3/2016, 11:27:14 PM1 votes

You know why the meta changes though right? I mean aside from buffs and nerfs.

Oft times aspects of the meta will change as a result of people breaking it. If you're breaking the meta the right way then you are looking at the current meta and determining your off meta pick based on the weaknesses of the current meta.

For example let's say we enter a health tank meta for some reason. That means the best way to counter it is with high percentage health damage hence the percentage health damage meta could become a possibility. The meta is determined both by those who choose to break it, sometimes making their off-meta picks meta, and by the many buffs and nerfs released by Riot including the indirect ones.

The meta-breaking you're describing is the short sighted immediate gratification sort. The people who do this are mostly only looking to dominate the laning phase but not so much the game as a whole and that is why their success is limited.