Overall Direction I Hope To See

Over the past season, Riot has worked to break the stale competitive meta of tanks and hypercarries, which had existed for many seasons before. It has nerfed tank items, critical strike marksmen and their items, and the waveclear and shielding of the mages and enchanters that enabled it. This not only broke the meta but also almost eliminated its playstyle from both competitive and ranked play.

With talk of another marksman and crit rework, buffs to enchanter items, and acknowledgement that having a tank on each team is desirable, it seems Riot has recognized the unintended consequence of its changes. Namely, that when tanks, control mages, crit marksman, and enchanters are weak, building a teamfighting comp is difficult. Instead, teams will draft carries in all three lanes. Without the protection of tanks or enchanters, these carries will need to be self-sufficient and, at least in the top lane, have strong dueling.

Consequently, when teams meet in fights anyway, everyone is a damage dealer. With mage supports, even the support may be one. Each one of these champions deals a reasonable amount of damage for their class and build, but when four or five carries unload on a squishy or semi-squishy target that does not instantly cleanse or flash, it’s just gonna die without being able to disengage. The outplay is technically there, but what led to it and the consequences for not making it are too ‘sharp’. You either dodge all the skillshots, make a snap reaction, or die.

Were the classes I mentioned around, especially tanks and enchanters, that wouldn’t be necessary. Tanks could absorb burst and body-block crowd control. Enchanters could shield caught allies. Control mages could peel within the backline and shove waves to force sieges. Crit marksmen could scale into threats both teams would need to play around. While such gameplay should not be the only, or the deciding, element of League of Legends, it should be regularly encountered both for its own sake and to make early or mid-game comps appropriately risky. You’d have to win before they scale.

With season 9 approaching, I hope Riot’s continues the efforts its undertaken to make teamfighting something worth drafting and playing for. It’s a fun, tense, and satisfying part of the game, and I wish we got to enjoy it more often.