Preseason Freakout: Relax, the Rune System is Much Better

This happened last year. Games felt too snowbally, they ended quickly, we are all confused, etc., etc. It's kind of sad to see so many complaints on the boards after Riot evidently spent countless hours working on this new system. It declutters the game so much, you have to admit that even if it's tough to find the right place with all your picks, it is undoubtedly a more streamlined process. No more picking through a whole list of runes that get tweaked every season, instead, just a mastery tree.

It's a huge sigh of relief, for me.

Part of the panicked observations for preseason games are real, but I think most of it is our expectations. We walk out onto the rift looking for all of the different details and changes, looking for outside sources to blame when we get caught out or die or get stomped by an enemy. Playing with my beloved duo partner and life partner on bot lane after grinding a whole season to Platinum, we found it to be not too much different. And it was a lot of fun trying out different styles with the new runes. We won some games, lost some others, crushed the games where we played our one-tricks. Usually stuff, really. Nothing too crazy. In fact, I was surprised how things felt so smooth.

I tested out one Domination, one Precision, and one Sorcery rune page for Jhin, finding that Domination worked the best. After that, I played around with some supporting and a few other adc's like Vayne and Ezreal, whom seemed to work fine so long as you picked the right runes. (Precision on Ezreal is dumpster town.)

After seeing three preseasons, I must say that this rune overhaul has to be one of the most impressive patches considering that it was replacing a system that had been engrained in League of Legends since its conception. I expected it to be Armageddon out there. Although it's not perfect, for it to be this smooth at the outset is a gods damned miracle in my eyes.

Furthermore, it's fun to see some champions like AP Ezreal getting a place in the spotlight after being in the mud for so long. We've been looking at the same stars for a whole season; it's nice to see some fresh faces.

But if there is one thing that really made me smile this today ... it's Hexflash.

I mean What. Is. That.

It was the funniest thing I had seen in League all year. I took it with Rakan thinking, "This mobility will be OP on him." Instead I ended up falling out of my chair from laughter after seeing the casting time and the flash animation followed by the sliding walk that ensued. I could imagine some plays with dodging vision in the river for a future tower dive, maybe surprising enemies from a brush, but for the most part, the Hexflash mechanic seemed like comic relief.

Priceless.

Enjoy the preseason madness, guys. And relax!