I think it's time to move the duo lane to mid.

Knalxz·Nov 11, 2015·5 votes·769 views

With Rift Herald, Dragon isn't the ONLY source of major power early game and not only does mid technically get it's farm faster but there is also more roaming potential but it allows for supports to go warding without having to stretch everywhere leaving their ADC behind.

So anyone ready to test out the Solo, Duo, Solo or are we going to try and keep the same old? So far the only down side seems to be that mages on the blue side won't get blue buffs, but then again ADC's or Supports could use it just as effectively.

Not to mention that alot of mids have been taking TP lately so, why not?

19 Comments

UberAffeNov 11, 20152 votes

The bigger problem I see is that it is prime time gank area on a champion pool that is notorious for having no escape. Granted there are still supports and a shorter distance to turret.

I can see it.

MisterHealYoGirlNov 11, 20151 votes

But that means that you're leaving your AP carry, who has even fewer escapes (most ADCs have SOMETHING) in a longer lane (bot). Sure, particularly mobile mages like Ahri or Ekko might make it out, but if you're Malzahar, you're flat out of luck. Mid is also a lot better at roaming than bot, and it's not just a positioning thing. ADCs scale almost exclusively with gold, so if they can't farm well, they're not very useful: ADCs generally don't roam unless they're going for an objective or leaving the laning phase. AP carries, on the other hand, have both a better mix of damage and CC for roams and a less extreme dependence on gold.

KnalxzNov 11, 20151 votes

If anything it will encourage them to play safer. I normally play Talon or Malz mid. Two champions who have little fall back the shorter lanes might/will be harder to deal with but that's only if the player doesn't know your role.

MisterHealYoGirlNov 12, 20151 votes

What? This seems to be an argument for why AP carries SHOULDN'T go bot; they tend to be immobile and you'll be a lot further from the safety of your tower.

KnalxzNov 12, 20151 votes

How so? I was saying those people who know how to play their champions will find success while those who're just picking the favorite of the month won't do well.

MisterHealYoGirlNov 12, 20151 votes

You were saying that these two champions' lack of escapes puts them at a greater disadvantage than others, which makes playing them more of a risk. The long and short of it is that this can definitely work; it's certainly possible, but the champion pool that can pull it off is pretty small. Basically, if they couldn't feel safe while pushing into the enemy tower all the time, they couldn't feel safe alone in bot. As I said, high-mobility champions like Fizz and LeBlanc and hard-to-gank ones like Lulu and Heimerdinger could pull it off, but your average immobile mage like Xerath or Cassiopeia wouldn't be viable in this position.

tl;dr You could always do this, but now it's more viable; however, as always, you'd have to draft your team comp around it, picking a mobile or safe AP carry and a strong roaming support.

UberAffeNov 11, 20151 votes

Most APC's can farm from a distance and having them bot or top makes it easier to over extend and get ganked. Putting the ADC and supp midlane also opens up for more of a roaming support playstyle.

Idk there are enough changes happening this season that I at least want to try mixing things up a bit.

MisterHealYoGirlNov 12, 20151 votes

Oh, I'm not saying that it WON'T work, just citing the reasons it historically HASN'T. It's worth noting that spamming abilities is a lot harder with the removal of mana potions, however.

LegendaryLemurNov 12, 20151 votes

There are workarounds though. Some mages have more mobility or survivability (ryze, vlad (ok grievous wounds so probably not vlad), ahri), you can play ad top and bot and have corki as your marksman mid since he does considerable magic damage making itemizing for armor less than great, quinn is a great roamer so that could be another possibility, i'm sure there are other creative solutions.

Whoever is in the longer lane is at more risk than whoever's mid, but then again if only one team flips lanes, it's not like the solo laner bot is really going to venture too far up in lane anways.

MisterHealYoGirlNov 12, 20151 votes

Generally speaking, each carry gets some kind of protection: mid gets a shorter lane and bot gets a support. Putting both the support and the shorter lane in one place puts whoever ends up bot at a much greater risk than they were before.

Clockwork MouseNov 11, 20152 votes

The only real problem i see that the mid laners will fall behind in levels slightly and it might make them feel a little like the 3rd wheel. The meta formed how it was though a lot of reasons, not all of which I know, but with the changes to this season it might be worth it to shake up the lanes some.

AtheosisXNov 11, 20151 votes

If you mean adc + sup mid, no I don't think that's a good idea. Where are immobile mages supposed to go? How are mages supposed to get blue buff when playing from blue side, always go top? Just sounds shitty to me.

KnalxzNov 11, 20151 votes

As someone who went from a Jungle Main to mid main not mids don't NEED blue buff. All the change will do is simply make assassins and mages play safer, rather than just face rolling and walking two feet away.

Overall I see the good outweighting the bad here. Not unless mid start heavily roaming, placing wards will it get a slightly better choice to put mid then they are now but they're still overshadowed by duo mid. Now the ADC or support can get a blue/red buff easily and even Dragon or Rift Herald.

LegendaryLemurNov 12, 20152 votes

You can also just put the mage in the lane nearer blue buff, even if it means the 'top' goes bot lane.

fattyhotdogsNov 11, 20151 votes

I always figured the best part about having a mage mid is that they can more easily roam in either direction from there

KnalxzNov 11, 20151 votes

There are many reasons, most of which I see being done better with two players.

fattyhotdogsNov 12, 20151 votes

But the thing is that most mages scale well with experience, allowing them to hit their spike and roam for a bursty gank without being ruined too harshly by missing a wave or two. Whereas most adc's obviously need to farm farm farm, so it can be detrimental to leave lane to roam

C4KENov 12, 20151 votes

I would have to say, maybe... Maybe because this would depend on some things.

Sure it would be nice to have the support ADC support mid lane for the pressure, but ranged attacks to rift herald deal 35% less damage. This would mean it would be best to have a melee support who could help. You might as well use a melee mid laner instead.

Second, AP carries who lack escapes, or who are best in roaming may have difficulty in bot lane, and without TP, it would definitely be useless. Not to mention TP is nerfed in this patch. TwistedFate could handle this best IMO, even though he lacks a good escape, but his ult pressure would be pretty good. Your AP laner in bot, considering you would take one, would be sort of out of loop.

Thirdly, your ad carry would need to be relatively strong early mid game, so that you could apply that pressure in that important time. If they didn't that could be taken advantage of.

The question is, would a "normal" meta, 1-1-2, be able to beat this setup? If this setup suffers to the meta, probably not.

TL;DR You would need an ap laner with tp or global presence, and an AD carry needs to be strong early-mid game, and you would need a melee support preferably for that pressure.

KnalxzNov 12, 20151 votes

1-To be fair, most mages are ranged and the reduced damage would still apply. If anything Rift Herald would be easier to take because you'd possibly have 4 people there, Support, Top, Jungler and ADC rather than 3 with Mid, Top and Jungler.

2-As I've said before, it quickly will come down to if the jungler NEEDS to gank the APC. If you're already at risk of ganks for lack of mobility you should already know how to play safe. As someone who plays Malz and Talon mid I know this well. You'll also technically be safer since they're are less routes to be ganked by at bot or top.

3-That also applies to every role. If you're not an early or mid champion roaming is hard, it's not just an exclusive pain to ADCs.