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The Two Reactions To A Off Meta Pick

Monsta Moo·2/5/2018, 6:36:22 PM·24 votes·3,388 views

To start things off I have mained support for years. I've played every single support champ in damn near every single role. Bard - Jung / Solo Lane Taric - Top Braum - Top Janna - Mid / Top Etc. I have also played damn near every single champ in the support role - you name I've done it. You name I can make it work. Sion Nasus Syndra Ashe AurelionSol Syndra Etc.

I usually get one of the two reactions. "WTF WHY ARE YOU ALREADY THROWING THIS GAME!! REPORT! RIOT WILL BAN YOU!!" OR "Hey that seems pretty cool, why not. I can see how it would work."

(This is also in norms, I practice my picks there before even thinking of going into ranked with them)

Let's just say I mostly get the latter of the two. It's really a shame though. I make it work, I usually play well in any situation but, I will take the blame for everything.

Now something people need to understand is that when you don't play a person with shields/heals. It's not gonna be as forgiving of a lane. That's the given. Instead you're going to get a kill lane. Or in my most recent cases with Nasus support. It's time to make towers disappear.

When we win the game I get tons of honors and people who enjoyed the lane with me and my roaming to help drop towers. People have one track minds and just want to play every single game like how they did before and no, this is not a "well you're playing with golds and plats, in diamond+ it's different..." No it's not. I get the same reactions and usually even worse as I get higher elo opponents.

If I play my Pick well, I do my job well and borderline carry the lane. It is not my fault you died 7 times in 10mins trying to solo carry bot yourself. People will literally get mad that my pick is working, my own damn teammates. So they will try to fuck it up and go out of their way to "bait" me into going in and then dip out and /all report Nasus for trolling. I preselect my champs so people know who I intend to play and where I intend to play them and people will ban that champ. I'll select a new one and another person will ban them as well. It's really just a shame. I'm tired of playing Janna who's so easy to play and offers no real challenge. I play this game to have fun. I play it because I like the challenge, I could give a fuck about your meta. If it works stop knocking it. I honestly feel like I can take any champ into the support role, like I've been mastering this role for over 5 years. I know what I'm doing. Fuck off.

I don't flame people who choose a "meta pick" and feed. I don't flame others for their picks. I stay quiet and handle my business. If you would just focus on the game at hand instead of trying to get people to 9x me, maybe you would perform better **cough cough ** diamond cait from last game cough cough

/end rant

Honestly though guys, come on. Bard

74 Comments

RenownedWheat422/5/2018, 8:23:53 PM9 votes

Honestly I feel like with the sightstone/supp changes, we SHOULD be seeing a pretty significant shift in support meta. At the very least, we should have more options being opened up. Kill lanes SHOULD be more of an occurrence.

850g is all that's needed for a supp item investment and now you get a) your support income, and b) your vision. Obviously traditional supports will still be good, but why are new picks being discouraged, rather than encouraged? Especially when people always cry about "Support is boring cuz you're the ADC's bitch" meta all the time.

DontTouchMyBall2/5/2018, 9:27:57 PM8 votes

I play every meta support though my main support is Orianna And can confirm. I get accuse of being a troll.

If I do good I get either honors, praise or no recognition which Im fine with either of those. On the other hand I can´t simply have bad a game because it'll be my fault for picking a non-meta champion. "GG report trollpick"

Note: I allways had build SS into support items

Steel Blossom2/5/2018, 6:51:21 PM5 votes

...if you pick off-meta and do well, good job. If you pick off-meta and then fail, as people suspected you would, you can't expect them to let you off...

Leonerdo2/6/2018, 3:04:14 AM4 votes

I can't deny that playing off-meta champions does hurt one's team in a very basic way. (Don't worry, there's a "however" coming.) The meta exists for a reason. On average Janna is better at supporting that Nasus. If you want to climb the ranked ladder as high as possible, or if you want to win LCS games, you'd be remiss to pick Nasus support.

However, we're not talking about climbing. And we're not talking about optimal play. We are talking about one person's play style in Gold 4-5.

Playing Janna and Leona might get Buddha Bard up to to Gold I if he focuses his practice on it instead of Nasus and Ashe. But if it doesn't matter to him, then it shouldn't matter to his allies, AS LONG AS HE IS BEING CONSISTENT.

He clearly takes pride in his picks and does his best to make them work. He's not trolling. He's doing his best on the champions that he enjoys. And he's achieved some level of success on them (Gold 5 is better than 50% of the playerbase, after all.)

Being consistent on those picks is really all that matters, because matchmaking will place him properly according to his overall skill/output in game, as long as he's performing at that level consistently. His contribution to his team is the same as any Janna or Leona player who also settles into Gold 4-5.

Flaming him for his weird picks is equivalent to flaming someone for having slow reaction time. Yes it makes them worse, but they aren't ruining the quality of your games. They aren't single-handedly throwing (or stomping) games because of it. Unless they are completely changing the face of the game or leaving teammates out-to-dry for selfish playstyles (anyone remember "Support" Smite Nunu?), then they aren't making your game worse. (You aren't stealing farm for Q stacks without asking, are you, Buddha?)

I guess I can't condemn people if they just hate change, and they don't want to adapt or figure out how to play with a Nasus support. It's a valid opinion to hold. But I hope that there are more people who would give this man kudos for inventing his own picks and strategies, and who would relish the chance to play alongside something new.

H1 H0w are Ya2/5/2018, 6:41:29 PM2 votes

Off Meta picks are fine and in low elo ranked games they are fine.

Once you get into High elo you are crippling your team by picking something off Meta. You can do it and it isn't reportable obviously but you are hurting your team and they have a right to be somewhat upset.

Nobody in Plat-Diamond is going to be ok with Ashe support while they are against Draven and Leona

SangreDeNoche2/5/2018, 8:18:15 PM2 votes

Even with meta picks people pull that bs where if THEY aren't carrying they have to sabatoge you and/or everyone else. It's so ridiculous.

AgeOfTheMage2/6/2018, 2:19:22 PM1 votes

you seem fun to play with! add me! (I love doing off meta, but I haven't had the chance) give me a champion and i'll play them support and find a way to make it work! diana! riven! fiora! i'll do it! :D(or off meta adc :D)

Mrmiki2/6/2018, 10:29:45 PM1 votes

i had to login because i think exactly the same as you. among my offmeta support champs i have had good performance with kled, vi, jarvan, aurelion, taliya, illaoi, teemo, zed, swain, zoe, yorick, ekko, sion, camille, and some more. even when i play normal supps i never follow the meta build.

what i hate the most is that people blindly blame you for everything regardless of your adc getting caugth, not healing, not following, or your lane being permaganked and not helped. sometimes you play good and sometimes bad like you could do with a nami or a leona but if you are offmeta thats all that matters for them

from my point of view you should be allowed to try everything as long as you try to win and dont steal possitions or farm