The Meta, Team Comps, and Utilizing Champion Kits
Hello! Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night, whatever time it is, I'm Cure Dreamless and I thought i'd make a post about the meta/team-comps/champion selections/utilizing kits and I was curious as to what you guys thought about it.
I'm pretty sure that most of you know what the meta is, so I won't go into too much detail about that and I will get right into how the meta shifts.
Sometimes, a direct buff to a champion will make them more powerful and effective over other champions, making it a priority pick. A prime example of this is the buff to Ahri, following the removal of DFG (which was in patch 5.2? I believe, not sure) which skyrocketed her win-rate across the board by around 6%, which is quite a bit. The buffs to her made her very strong and she became quite a powerful pick in the competitive scene and the everyday average player's games. Or maybe that champion became a very effective pick because of indirect buffs, such as the Cinderhulk item's emergence, quickly becoming popular with tanks, junglers and top laners combined, which also introduced the Smite/TP combination into the top lane (Shyvana plz) . Another example is the recent Runeglaive jungle item being introduced, which AP Ez with Smite in the mid lane really seems to enjoy. AP Ez is only strong right now because Runeglaive solves many of the problems old Ezreal had, which allows him to reach a huge power spike much earlier into the game than old AP Ez could dream of. I can infer that it was probably not intended to buff Ezreal, but did in an indirect way.
Another way the meta can shift is if any certain champion(s) or item(s) work very effectively against the current meta, such as the revival of Urgot. A few weeks/months before Urgot was popular, he would've been considered a troll pick and he was pretty much scorned by the entire community for being bad. But during the tank meta , Urgot found play in the competitive scene and across the different elos as well. His kit would shred the health bars of tanks and he was so strong against just about any tank with those acid hunters.
There are many more ways the meta can shift, mostly with the influence of the competitive scene and with the changes that are being made biweekly. I dread the arrival of Devourer enchant and how it works with afk farming Yi. I played with it on the PBE and against it as well, and it is very, very scary. There is no meta that cannot or will not be overruled by another (thank god no Zeds every game), which is a good thing, and it introduces more strategic diversity into our games. This season we've seen so many more champions in every role and it makes games so much more interesting because we don't see a Lee Sin every game. -_- It takes some time before something new will show up (Hello Bard) and the meta is constantly changing because people are always finding ways to overcome the OP selections.
On the topic of team comps and picking a champion, I'm going to start by talking a bit about Orianna. Orianna has seen play in all regions for a fairly long time. She's a great pick because she brings utility to the team and is a consistant champion. Orianna is fairly balanced, and has a fair amount of strengths and weaknesses, but none of them are overwhelmingly dominant. She has no mobility, punishing mana costs early if you spam, and she's extremely squishy but she also brings so much utility and crowd control to the team. She has solid damage and won't be rewarded for facerolling. Orianna's not a high mobility champ or a mobility creep and if you lose control of your ball, its a disaster. If you miss your ult during a crucial teamfight, you could cost your team the game. But at the same time, if you land a perfect ult, you pretty much just won the teamfight and could win your team the game. She has a fair amount of cc and is a reliable pick that many players might go back to because of how much potential power she has and how she can fill many gaps other champions might leave. When choosing a champ for your team, it's important to think about what your team needs and what that certain champion/build will bring to the board. Say Zed is super OP right now, but your team has no AP at all. It's better to pick a champion that will help your team than a champion that is OP. Selecting a champion just because they are currently overpowered is a gamble as your team as a whole can be easily countered if the enemy Maokai and Sejuani build nothing but armor. You can't be as effective because there is no way to get past those giant meat/tree shields at the front, protecting their carries and locking you down the moment you get in sight. Sure you'll win lane, but you can't win crucial teamfights or objective control if the enemy team plays smartly. Capitalizing on the enemy's weakness is going to help you win rather than just picking what is OP right now.
Now let's talk about champion kits. Unsurprisingly, older champions have simple kits, while newer ones( hi ekko, hi tahm, HELLO YASUO COUGH COUGH) have very dynamic and complicated kits, sometimes overloaded as well (Kalista plz). Champions have different purposes and because there are champions with simple kits and champions with complicated ones, there are different problems and different factors that the certain champion must consider. When playing someone like Annie, who has an extremely basic kit, you don't necessarily have to press a million buttons to get your combo right. A simple Flash+Ult with your passive up is all you really need to help your team initiate. Then there's a champ like Yasuo. Gotta do this, gotta do that, blah, blah, faceroll, pentakill. But there are different things that each needs to think about. With Annie you need to think about when you should Flash+Ult, is charging up your stun now a good idea if there's a minion wave approaching but the enemy team seems to be prepping for a fight, when should you use your abilities, is the CD going to come back up in time, etc. With a champ like Yasuo, you gotta worry about positioning, and how to get your combo right, what combo to use, is this a good time to ult, where might they dodge, etc. They've both got things to worry about, but one requires a higher level of skill over the other.
Synergy with champion kits is also very important. Take Ahri for example. Her kit has very good synergy. Her ult sets up good charms and helps with positioning, her charm allows you to land your Q easily and your W is great when you ult in. It fits together very nicely but can be punishing if you mess up her combo. When you decide to break the meta and play an unconventional pick or play a champion with a strange build, looking at how your kit will work with your playstyle is a crucial part of success. AD Janna. Has a slow, good for chasing down stragglers, has a shield that grants a fair amount of AD, which is great, and 2 forms of disengage or engage (depending the use). Picking someone off, you're going to want to use your w to slow them down first, shield yourself so you can do more damage and q them to make sure they don't get away. You got to try to make your abilities work well with your auto attacks. Some kits have great synergy and how they fit together really shapes their playstyle.
Some kits are ok but they are really one-sided. A wonderful example is Elise. Season 3/Early Season 4 Queen of the Jungle, one of the Holy Trinity of the Jungle, spider lady supreme. Season 2015 fits her with Galio and Skarner. Elise's kit makes it to the point where she's either the one of the most dominant junglers, or a trash tier jungler that no one plays except devoted Elise mains. There's nothing really wrong with the individual abilities but rather how they fit together. They're just not able to work together without something being changed. A balanced kit has prominent strengths and weaknesses and really comes down the skill of the player on how they perform, such as Orianna's kit, as I mentioned earlier. I would say Janna is another good example, which could be easily countered, but IMO, Janna is super squishy and if played incorrectly, will not be as effective and powerful as she could be if in the right hands.
Those were just the thoughts off the top of my head and probably could be argued against. What do you think is next for the meta, and what do you think is a balanced champion kit?
