The state of bot lane in 2017.

First of all let me mention I'm leveling an account for ARAM at the moment, if you are wondering about the level 23 thing.

I'm a pretty good example of your average LoL player. Mid Silver Elo, plays everything but support at a similar level but has a couple supports he can play if it's needed. I tend to be inconsistent as hell going from hard carry to feeder one game to the next. Every now and again I'll rage quit if I'm tilted enough. I watch some esport pro play and occasionally fail at copying the "l33t outplays."

In other words... your typical LoL player.

My thoughts are bot lane are also probably very similar to your typical league player. It's cancerous. No one wants to be the Sup, few want to be the ADC.

Why? Well a few things.

1. Even post nerf JG is strong. Hugely so. No one has anywhere near the influence on the game as a good jungle.

2. Itemization. Damage values have gone way down since season 5. Due to the multiplicative damage of crit and IE no where is this more noticeble than as an ADC. It feels like it takes ages to kill anything that builds a single armor/hp item. This is compounded by both the new keystone and generally increased mobility of melee champions. More time kiting is less time dealing damage.

3. The strength of the new dragons makes bot lane a hot spot. Bot lane is rarely the safe farm lane it was in earlier seasons. It generally a 4v4 cluster fuck of roaming mid + JG trying to kill the poor squishy ADC so they can get a free dragon. With TP still being the top summoner for top lane this often becomes a 5v5 or 5v4 if your own Top lane either used it to return to lane due to an early jg gank, or doesn't have it. (For shame.)

4. While sustained DPS is down burst damage is mostly back with the buff to lethality. ADC's primary means of self defense is lifesteal. Guess what counters sustain as a form of defense? Burst damage.

5. CC. Every newer champion added in addition to mobility typically has some form of hard CC, often at a range that can avoid wards. Be it Camille or the reworked WW it's getting impossible at the skill level of your typical G5 and below player to avoid the CC lock.

I linked a typical game above as an example. While my team was for the most part getting spanked, other than the Garen it wasn't so much their fault. I was doing well enough, farming "decently", staying alive, and out damaged everyone but the Yorick. The issue being with the amount of pressure they had, and the amount of CC as your typical auto-attack stat stick kind of ADC there wasnt a lot I could do. In hindsight I wish I'd have built differently, mostly likely Runaans/Static/QSS for better wave clear/anti CC but regardless I doubt I'd have done more than prolonged a losing game with waveclear.

Generally even though I played well enough I wish "I" had been the JG or "I" had been the top laner. I know I could have potentialyl has a much larger impact on the game that way.

I think this is why Jhin/Ashe are both currently top picks for bot lane. They contribute so much more than their ability to autoattack. They have an impact on every teamfight regardless of whether or not they get off a single auto.

I'll add some more to this at some point if there is an interest but it would be great to hear some feedback on my thoughts.