Remember when you could pick almost any champion

Jamener·Mar 16, 2015·42 votes·3,202 views

and have at least a chance of winning? I remember in Season two, even Urgot was viable. Just played a game and, even though we went fairly even in the laning phase, was just absolutely destroyed because certain champions are just plain better than others. I'm not going to name any problem champions because that's just going to invite flaming, but I just wanted to hearken back to the days when you could confidently press the random button and go into a game with a decent chance of winning with whatever champion you got. Those were the golden days.

70 Comments

gr8jobMar 16, 201535 votes

I clearly remember trash picks in Season 2. I also remember always having to start boots because junglers were so gold-starved, that ganks were frequent from the very beginning of the game. Additionally, there was no limit on wards, support income was meager, and supports were supposed to spend much of their gold on wards. I also remember this being the beginning of "League of Mobility," immobile/squishy burst mages became trash and sustain was nerfed to oblivion. Hard-engage supports outshined Soraka, Sona, and the like. Don't remember seeing more than five different junglers being played at this time. All tanks.

I enjoyed this era of the game, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily better. Changes made to the game since then have been certain improvements, such as those with jungler and support itemization. Now most of the problems with diversity seemed to be tied to individual champion strengths, which doesn't signal inherent design flaws with the overall game. Maybe you were able to pick anything and win because you were new to the game at the time, as were your teammates and opponents.

Seth LightheartMar 16, 20157 votes

ya, I was thinking the same thing. xD

I remember HAVING to go fiddles jungle because wraths would kill you because they healed with every attack and early they would heal for more than you could do damage to them.

Also wolves would get random cits on you. xD

doublelift fgMar 16, 20154 votes

Gangplank Chogath Amumu Alistar DrMundo LeeSin Rammus Nautilus Maokai Udyr were the top tier jungler and that's more than 5

there is so much false in this statement but people never played in s2 they will just upvote

DomainSpecificMar 16, 20152 votes

Alistar was god tier for around 2 months before getting nerfed to the ground Rammus was good early in the season, becoming trash mid season after counterjungling became popular Gangplank as far as I remember, was never good after early S2.

However, these two were also tier 1: Shyvana (counterjungling queen), Skarner (those times where you didn't level up E at all).

SammystormMar 16, 20154 votes

GP was never a top tier jungler in season 2.

Cho'Gath jungled for part of the season and was top lane for part of the season.

Amumu although strong and drawing bans in solo queue was only played competitively a handful of times.

Alister had the run of the jungle for a few months

Mundo was considered strong for quite a while.

Lee Sin all though he was a good jungler he wasn't nearly as common as the top tier junglers and he wasn't even played competitively except by like 2 pro players.

Rammus was only good for a short amount of time.

Nautilas was very popular and was a very good jungler at the time.

Mao'kai was the same as Nautilas.

Udyr could jungle effectively but suffered from the same problems he suffers from today and wasn't really seen competitively.

The best 2 junglers for season 2 worlds were easily Maokai and DrMundo with a few JarvanIV thrown in.

It Hertz When IPMar 16, 20151 votes

Don't forget Warwick

DomainSpecificMar 16, 20152 votes

WW was good S1, but he was trash tier in S2 due to weaker monsters, and his lack of AOE.

SammystormMar 17, 20151 votes

Warwick ironically ended up with a slower clear and worse ganks than basically every other jungler at the time.

doublelift fgMar 16, 20151 votes

still more than vi/lee/j4/reksai idk about new patch but before it was this

SammystormMar 17, 20152 votes

No not really. In season 2 we had 2 competitive junglers for the majority of the season. With a basically every other champion playable at some point with varying degrees of success.

this season we had 5 competitive junglers Rengar LeeSin JarvanIV RekSai with basically every other jungler playable.

Excuse me I forgot Nidalee for this season

gr8jobMar 16, 20154 votes

Well, 5 was an estimate. There are currently 22 junglers who have over a 50% winrate in Plat and above. Of course, winrates don't always reflect champion viability, but it does show that there are a variety of champions who are able to perform this role more than adequately over half of the time.

VDc0zCqe0wMar 17, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Hard-engage supports outshined Soraka, Sona, and the like. Don't remember seeing more than five different junglers being played at this time. All tanks.

are you even fucking serious?

Sona was godlike in S2, S2 worlds was pick or ban Sona, and hard-engage supports were not that good honestly, just Blitz was OP

Sailor MintMar 16, 201519 votes

Season 2

You were a troll if you picked an ADC that wasn't Graves/Ez/Corki.
Tank Junglers were pretty much the only things played.
Mid lane is for mages. Top lane is for bruisers. Do not mix.

The game was won at first blood.

ZephyrDrakeMar 16, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=Devi Freak Mint,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=XfNUm6EE,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2015-03-16T15:10:27.270+0000)

Season 2

You were a troll if you picked an ADC that wasn't Graves/Ez/Corki.

Tank Junglers were pretty much the only things played.

Mid lane is for mages. Top lane is for bruisers. Do not mix.

The game was won at first blood.

you could still pick any ADC and still have a chance of winning, just because your didn't pick Graves/Ez/Corki it didn't mean much unless your team made such a huge issue about it. Now? i laugh whenever i see an Ashe or a MF in lane since i know unless whoever is playing them are gods in those champions they have no chance of doing anything

Tank junglers only? pretty sure there were quite a few carry junglers used, unlike today where tank junglers for the most part were irrelevant, or are you saying that unless you build full damage you are a tank jungler?

Games won at first blood? how is that any different from today?

SmokingPuffinMar 16, 20155 votes

Now? i laugh whenever i see an Ashe or a MF in lane since i know unless whoever is playing them are gods in those champions they have no chance of doing anything

Ashe is really strong in solo queue. MF's 51.9% win rate is right next to Graves.

I suspect what's really going on here is that you know more about the meta now than you did then, so you're a pickier player about what sees play than you used to be.

Tank junglers only? pretty sure there were quite a few carry junglers used, unlike today where tank junglers for the most part were irrelevant, or are you saying that unless you build full damage you are a tank jungler?

Season 2 jungle was tanky support jungle era. The correct thing to do was camp the heck out of top lane starting at level 2 and ending sometime after first blood was achieved. Alistar was the dominant pick for this because holy cow, his level 2 is legit. It was typical to buy Heart of Gold first item into full tanky stuff; even Lee Sin was building tank builds.

Tank junglers are not irrelevant today. Sejuani is, by far, the best jungler in the game. Amumu is not far behind.

ZephyrDrakeMar 16, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Season 2 jungle was tanky support jungle era. The correct thing to do was camp the heck out of top lane starting at level 2 and ending sometime after first blood was achieved. Alistar was the dominant pick for this because holy cow, his level 2 is legit. It was typical to buy Heart of Gold first item into full tanky stuff; even Lee Sin was building tank builds.

Tank junglers are not irrelevant today. Sejuani is, by far, the best jungler in the game. Amumu is not far behind.

amumu... what did we revert into being too stupid to not group into tight little groups that he is even relevant again? he is not. Sej the best? she is great if she can get past the early game and her lanes haven't gone to shit by then. She is a teammfight oriented jungler so reach that stage and she is great but best? not really

SmokingPuffinMar 16, 20158 votes

How many games have you played this patch?

Sejuani is the obviously best jungler. She is pre-nerf Devourer Warwick good right now. Don't be surprised if she hits 60% win rate this patch.

PalPlaysMar 16, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Devi Freak Mint,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=XfNUm6EE,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2015-03-16T15:10:27.270+0000)

Season 2

You were a troll if you picked an ADC that wasn't Graves/Ez/Corki.

Tank Junglers were pretty much the only things played.

Mid lane is for mages. Top lane is for bruisers. Do not mix.

The game was won at first blood.

Isn't that...THIS season? Well, except for the whole Junglers thing, you're describing S5!

Sailor MintMar 16, 20151 votes

ADCs are even enough for Lucian to be considered middle of the pack. Bruisers were chased out of top lane by mid lane rejects. Everything gets played mid lane. The jungle is still mostly bruiser centric with tanks slowly making a comeback.

Unlike Season 2, people don't randomly start trolling when you pick a non-mage mid or a non-bruiser top.

VDc0zCqe0wMar 17, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Devi Freak Mint,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=XfNUm6EE,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2015-03-16T15:10:27.270+0000)

Season 2

You were a troll if you picked an ADC that wasn't Graves/Ez/Corki.

Tank Junglers were pretty much the only things played.

Mid lane is for mages. Top lane is for bruisers. Do not mix.

The game was won at first blood.

you're right S2 was not that good

but S3 was 2 cool

LordDarkshaydeMar 16, 201514 votes

Guess what? You can still pick almost any champ and have a chance of winning. It's a matter of communication (assuming your team is willing to listen to reasonable advice). Also don't just play what champ you want to play though, play a champ that will compliment your team composition.

ZephyrDrakeMar 16, 20154 votes

{quoted}

Guess what? You can still pick almost any champ and have a chance of winning. It's a matter of communication (assuming your team is willing to listen to reasonable advice). Also don't just play what champ you want to play though, play a champ that will compliment your team composition.

if only this were true

redniwediSMar 16, 20156 votes

If you don't have anyone who purposely throws because they dislike your pick it's true.

stuartk11Mar 16, 20153 votes

{quoted}

If you don't have anyone who purposely throws because they dislike your pick it's true.

I never understood the logic of people who do this. They'll still lose (well, actually, they'll lose harder), you are still going to be able to pick that champion, and they are still going to have to play with players who pick champions that they don't like. They gain nothing from it, yet still choose to do so.

The Bíg TicketMar 16, 20158 votes

Yeah nowadays lots of games are decided at champ select...soloqueue is basically which team picks the more op champs.

426287Mar 16, 20156 votes

This post could be renamed "Man, some people understand their team comp while others dont"

Jbob2015Mar 16, 20154 votes

I just watched a top lane urgot "outplay" three people along with a support nami to go on and win the game.

SmokingPuffinMar 16, 20154 votes

Current meta is way, way wider than season 2 meta.

Top lane: half a dozen bruisers Mid lane: waveclear mage only ADC: Corki/Graves/Ezreal Support: Janna versus Sona Jungle: Tanky support (Ali, Mao, Amumu) or Lee Sin, because he's always good no matter the meta

Things are so much more diverse now than they were then. There are more viable mids today then there were viable champions in s2.

doublelift fgMar 16, 20151 votes

janna versus sona, let's forget alistar nunu blitz and taric who were nerfed for no reasons

SmokingPuffinMar 16, 20152 votes

Alistar was a jungler in season 2. Nerfed so hard to be balanced for that role that he sucked in bot lane.

Nunu was an occasional thing. Floated in and out of meta, always picked with Cait. A niche lane.

Blitz was not a thing in serious play. Just a pubstomper used in lower elo.

Taric was hilariously broken for a patch or two, but for the vast majority of season 2 he was out of the meta.

Late in the season, we discovered Zyra was a good support.

Of those not mentioned, probably the best one was Lulu -- there were some team comps where her ability to push lanes with Q outweighed Sona's superior all-around game.

VDc0zCqe0wMar 17, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Alistar was a jungler in season 2. Nerfed so hard to be balanced for that role that he sucked in bot lane.

Nunu was an occasional thing. Floated in and out of meta, always picked with Cait. A niche lane.

Blitz was not a thing in serious play. Just a pubstomper used in lower elo.

seriously?

i mean...seriously?

sometimes i think people just spew random shit without even checking: S2 was Sona-Nunu-Blitz as god tier supports (talking about worlds, Blitz was discovered during worlds but he was IN NO WAY "just a pubstomper used in low elo" he was picked and banned ALOT)

SmokingPuffinMar 17, 20151 votes

sometimes i think people just spew random shit without even checking: S2 was Sona-Nunu-Blitz as god tier supports (talking about worlds, Blitz was discovered during worlds but he was IN NO WAY "just a pubstomper used in low elo" he was picked and banned ALOT)

I was attempting to summarize the full season, not the meta of a single tournament. Obviously the meta varies over the course of the year.

Blitz was irrelevant to serious play until worlds. Even at worlds, his presence was largely attributable to a couple players who liked him. His presence in season 2 was comparable to Annie's in season 3.

SolaxoMar 16, 20154 votes

Urgot is still viable... you should stop being LCS sheep dude

KaisadiIIaMar 16, 20151 votes

I've carried games as Urgot mid and I don't even play him very often.

JustMyBassCannonMar 16, 20154 votes

As a person who has played since before Season 1, I call bullshit on your thread topic.

Bad picks have always existed in League of Legends.

DoogmiMar 17, 20154 votes

Been playing since season one, this isn't accurate.

ThePlasticSporkMar 17, 20153 votes

There was never a point where bad champions didn't exist.

FHMarshyMar 16, 20152 votes

Go check all the champ stats.

The "Non Meta" picks are generally the ones with higher win rates.

This means that if you actually know the in and out of a champion well enough, you can easily win with them without them being in the meta at all

Kitten of EvilMar 16, 20152 votes

In fact, if they're non-meta, they're probably even safer to main, because you won't have to worry about them riding the Buff Barge straight into Nerftown.

Seth LightheartMar 16, 20152 votes

Personally I still think you have a good chance of winning even if you went random with 90% of the champions. Most champs have a solid win rate.

SGT SWAGLEMar 17, 20152 votes

Yeah no kidding, I had a game recently where enemy team picked, Jax, Ahri, Nami, Caitlyn, and Lee Sin and I already correctly guessed before match start we would lose lol

JChaosMasterMar 17, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=SGT SWAGLE,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=XfNUm6EE,comment-id=0013,timestamp=2015-03-17T01:00:41.579+0000)

Yeah no kidding, I had a game recently where enemy team picked, Jax, Ahri, Nami, Caitlyn, and Lee Sin and I already correctly guessed before match start we would lose lol

Kind of reminds me of Twisted treeline when I see master Yi and teemo picked. I know we will have a hard uphill climb if we don't keep Yi locked down hard.

Silents429Mar 17, 20151 votes

No tank? Easy. Just lock them down with your own.

Woodsy2575Mar 17, 20152 votes

No one is stopping you but you

A Frisky JacketMar 17, 20151 votes

Nope. Been playing since before season one. Don't remember any of that.

Zero Suit SenpaiMar 17, 20151 votes

There are always trash picks and good picks in competitive games with a lot of characters. This is not a new development. Yeah, champion diversity is bad right now. But don't pretend to yourself that there was ever a time when you could pick "almost any champion" in competitive. This is barring, say, month one of league where no one had any idea what was happening,

Yasu0 is dogMar 17, 20151 votes

No.

Locks in beta buys 5x HoGs, 1v5s your team, rolls down mid and starts wailing on your Nexus

DrackolusMar 17, 20151 votes

If anything, the opposite is true. Remember tier lists? I haven't seen one of those in a while. I also main Soraka , and she's considered weak.

ALthaGreatMar 17, 20151 votes

Oh you mean back when people were still learning the game? Hmm... The weak will always get weeded out.

femméMar 18, 20151 votes

i would say people stopped picking whatever they wanted a month into the games release lol, just because a meta didn't exist doesn't mean all champs were equal and balanced. It's like picking Yamcha in a "Dragon ball z" game. some champs are just gonna be better than others.