Can we have a counter engage/dive champion next?
Kindred was arguably the last one released if we count their ult, if not the Tahm Kench was, and Taric's rework could also count. But with dive champions and assassins becoming more and more dominate (Camille, Rengar, Kat, LB, Shaco, Lee Sin, etc...), and with nearly unstoppable back line access, we are potentially seeing a major shift in how League of Legends is played. We may see the removal of 2 of the main "META" roles as a result, ADC and Support. APC Ziggs is the start, but more and more "non-ADC-esque" champions are finding a potential home in bot lane, and as a result, though this has been happening since last season, Supports are becoming more and more carry-like as well. It is more common now to see Vel, Brand, and other mages/burst assassins in that role, who either cant or not as easily win the lane in mid (or just salty because they did not get placed in mid).
This change is highly toxic to most ADC marksmen who struggle in most if not all 1v1s due to their "glass cannon" build requirements. And since they are so vulnerable by design, AP mages/burst assassins who go as the "support" can delete them easily if they are not defended properly. There is a reason why the top 5 current most player ADC marksmen are Cait, Ez, Jhin, Vayne, and Twitch. They all have either long safe range, stupid damage, self-peel/invisibility/camoflague, or a combination of the 3. If the support is not going to help you defend yourself, then you have to be able to do it your self, or play way safer than the usual ADC.
Marksmen are flawed by design. The only reason they are played is to take towers quickly and deal a lot of AD damage in fights. But that comes with the worst cost. Near 0 defensive scaling/builds. If they want to do their job, they can not be defensive, and vise versa. However, towers still fall without an ADC, and many other champions can deal a lot of AD damage in fights, while still being defensive. SO their need is more or less removed, with the sacrifice of a little efficiency.
Another factor that is pushing this, is true/% health damage. Most new/reworked/updated champions/items recently has had or has been given some form of this, sometimes multiple. Since this kind of damage is usually not based on how much AD you have, but as a consistent amount, you do not need 300-500+ AD builds to deal a similar amount of damage (mind you I said needed, I am not saying there is not still a place for it, just that the game can be won without it and without a ton of added difficulty).
So back to the point of the post, I think that if a new "defensive focused" support was released next, then ADCs would still have their place in games. But if all they are going to get in fights is a Rengar or Kat 2-shoting them from a bush or with their ults with no decent way to combat this (I've seen plenty of Rengars and Kats delete a fed ADC who had 3-4 levels on them and 2 items more before they could even get 3 autos off), then they cant be played healthily anymore. According to op.gg, 5 of the 17 ADCs in the game have over a 10% play rate. Only 8/17 have a 50% or greater win rate with the highest being 52.95%, the lowest of all roles.
My idea would be that this new champion would be ranged and would need something around a Janna level of defense and/or peel while not being as squishy as Janna or have means to counter the damage. Maybe a stationary AOE ability that gave true vision could be added so that hidden champions who attack, hide, and repeat cant do it as successfully in that area. Or maybe some ability that lets them "bind" to an ally like Kalista does, and allows them to re-position them over a short distance without interrupting channels or stationary abilities. Maybe a passive that occasionally lets them drop a vision granting "object/pet" similar to Zyra's seeds or Teemo's shrooms, maybe at a distance too (like a blue trinket ward but nor as far of a range). Or even a gold income boosting ability to aid in their item purchases. But at least 1 of their abilities should have some kind of instant hard CC. Now, these abilities/passives are just ideas and not actual well thought out abilities mind you. However, they would make for an interesting champion IMO.
While the decline of the "META" ADC/Support bot lane is not very prevalent quite yet, there are signs that point towards this happening. And with the recent marksmen update, Assassin reworks, and item/invisibility changes, it is unlikely that they will be next for another update anytime soon. So likely a new champion will need to be released to add some more defensiveness as well as counter dive/engage to compensate.
