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Discussion. How would/will tanks being popular affect the Meta picks?

JJI744·2/28/2015, 4:54:30 PM·2 votes·821 views

TL:DR I think our current popular picks are bad against tanks. And tanks making a comeback may cause some far-reaching changes to the Meta, what do you think?

Just something I would like to hear some opinions about. With the upcoming jungle changes (new tank enchant) along wiht the buffs to some weaker tanks, we may see a lot more tanks in the next couple of patches. That is certainly a change in and of itself, especially for the jungle. but I wanted to ask:

Do you think tanks being popular will change the common picks in other roles?

Right now, a lot of the Meta picks are champs that deal really well with squishy opponents, but fail kinda miserably against tanks.

Ever see a Graves buckshot a Malphite? A full build Graves might manage to break a full build Malph's shield with a point-blank buckshot, maybe. Hurricane Kalista loses drastic amounts of damage when forced to deal with a tank pushing her away from the main fight. Corki has always had itemization issues against tanks. Sivir vs. tanks... it isn't pretty.

Lissandra almost relies on the enemy team being squishy to get away with her CDR heavy build. Irelia (at least Trinity-Force builds) can barely scratch tanks past the early-mid game.

Even our support picks are tailored to either make up for a lack of a tank on our team (engage supports like Thresh) or supports that can have a big impact in a fight you expect to last only a couple of seconds.

Well, clearly I think a rise in tank popularilty is going to have a big impact, what does everyone else think?

7 Comments

SmokingPuffin2/28/2015, 5:08:04 PM1 votes

I think you are way overrating the ability of tanks to make things uncomfortable for this list of champions.

Back in metagolem era, Graves, Corki, and Irelia were all staple picks.

Kalista absolutely loves the idea of longer fights. It's not clear to me how a tank will zone her - say Malphite wants to keep her away from dragon. How do you think he'll do that?

Lissandra is one of the best ways to bypass a tank line and lock up the squishy target behind it. She won't be going anywhere without nerfs. Even with nerfs, she's a fantastic champion.

I would not expect much change in support picks in a world where tanks are good. Thresh will still be a thing. Leona and Janna might become even more of a thing. Annie won't do so well in a tank meta.

Volt Cruelerz2/28/2015, 5:20:19 PM1 votes

Mid (and more specifically, Azir) main here.

Mid lane will change. I think we'll see a lot more DoT mages and a lot less glass cannons. LeBlanc and other assassins will be less frequently picked. Anivia and Malzahar are likely the first to rise to prominence given that they're both already very powerful. Both will be nerfed. Malzahar will lose power on his ult and possibly his Silence (though honestly I think his Q is the only healthy silence in the game). Anivia will probably get a number drop somewhere. Azir will rise to prominence in this new meta, particularly Nashor's+Liandry's+Rylai's builds of him. Hopefully he'll have been largely fixed before the meta shift happens or his balance will become a nightmare (Riot: please nerf his Q now!). Karthus will also likely see a bump in popularity. Xerath will likely see a drop in popularity with Liandry's becoming more important on him.

Bot lane will change. Burst ADCs such as Lucian and Graves will fall off in popularity while sustained ADCs such as Vayne, Kalista, Varus, Jinx, and Caitlyn will flourish. Tanky supports will be less necessary. Less Leona, Blitz, Thresh, and Braum; more Sona, Nami, Janna, and the like. Support tanks will decrease in popularity, but not nearly on the scale that glass cannons will in mid lane.

I have less experience with top and jungle so I do not feel I'm able to make an educated prediction for those roles.

Yandere Carry2/28/2015, 5:44:25 PM1 votes

Maokai is top tier, Maokai is a Supertank

Erockandroll2/28/2015, 7:56:40 PM1 votes

If Jungle Tanks become meta, I could imagine that Top lane might shift from Tanky or initiating champions (lissandra, Kennen, Maokai) and Possibly fall back to the more Split push dueling threats (Jax, shyvana, Kayle)

If we assume that Jungle tanks have better CC. laners might be more damage oriented when it comes to gank assist. Also you would have to be more reliant on your laners for damage and objective control.

Also because you would have a Tankier team over all, you would definitely need more DPS, Probably at the cost of Burst. Assassins would likely lose favor if that happens. also, if the do anything to help mana costs, we might see more siege mages, widdiling down targets from a safe distance.