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Tank, Assassin, or ADC meta?

Athenes Lulu··11 votes·2,939 views

Poll included!

We all know that the meta shifts over time, just like the kind of things Rito would balance stuff around over time.

In case if you don't know what I'm talking about... Tank meta: The more tanks there are, the better. This is the kind of stuff the meta today is slowly transforming into. Also, it emerged long ago as well. Assassin meta: All in for the kills and fishing out the squishies, ladies and gentlemen. This is the kind of stuff we see throughout season 4, and how Rito balance stuff around those guys. ADC meta: Our ADC is the sole objective! Create comps JUST to protect them, and you'll have to do ANYTHING just to keep those little guys in tact. They don't necessarily have to be tanks, just pick anyone that can PEEL. This is what's fresh in season 3 and early season 4.

So, which one would you rather prefer? (And if I made any mistakes in trying to define shit, please correct me D: I started League in S3, so knowledge is somewhat limited.)

EDIT: Holy shit I forgot a poll I am SO sorry omg. EDIT 2: As a Lulu (support) main, I would rather work with/against tanks, because everyone knows that Lulu doesn't engage... Even though dealing with them would be some more work especially trying to peel stuff off.

69 Comments

Kitten of Evil20 votes

I'd prefer mage meta, since I main immobile mages.

Sooko5 votes

[{quoted}](name=Kitten of Evil,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=cHKhJtAP,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2015-03-25T00:34:50.369+0000)

I'd prefer mage meta, since I main immobile mages.

An immobile mage meta would be beautiful! I have recently played Viktor vs Xerath and Viktor vs Orianna (me Viktor ofc) and the battle looked amazing! Two skillshot mages using nothing but their movespeed to dodge the powerful attacks of their enemies, while trying to land their own. Quite a show to see!

Kitten of Evil4 votes

Exactly. Immobile mages are the most fun to play and to play against, imo. My favorite mid-lane opponents: Vel'Koz, Anivia, and Viktor. Each of them have clear moments of strength and counterplay, and they are as good or bad as the skillshot-aiming player.

AFK Push2 votes

I haven't been around for a mage meta, but wouldn't it be kind of what people were complaining about the ADC meta, as in protect our hyper carry mage instead of the adc?

Kitten of Evil2 votes

There has never been a mage meta, to my knowledge... there have been times when a couple mages have been quite strong (Ori and Brand ranges were nerfed, Syndra was more recently nerfed, Ziggs was very much nerfed), but mid-lane has traditionally been one of the most diverse, allowing assasins, mages, tanks, and even a few AD casters.

You could argue that pre-nerf Athene's (i.e. late Season 4) was sort of mage-heavy, but even then, assassins kept up with mages fairly well.

WarlockLaw1 votes

During season 4 the siege meta was more or less centered around wave clear mages like ziggs and ori. Also I'm pretty sure way back in season 1 or maybe even beta before the meta finished developing there was a brief period of time where the meta was aoe mages

Kitten of Evil1 votes

That may be true in Season 1... that's when I started play (right when Vayne was released... oh man that was OP) so I'm not sure what the meta was back then.

Captain Aishi1 votes

season 2 was a lot about the waveclear meta, with anivia, AP janna, morgana, orianna and co. being pretty common sights in the midlane

Painted Celt4 votes

The recent meta changes are good news for you then. Those immobile mages frequently excel in high sustained damage, meaning tanks coming back will give them a chance to outshine their mobile mage-assassin (Leblanc, Kassadin, Ahri, etc.) counterparts that should naturally tend to fall short when trying to chunk a tank's health. Tanks and bruisers also keeping assassins in check is another reason that you may start seeing immobile mages starting to become popular again.

Kitten of Evil2 votes

That's why I'm optimistic!

Silents4291 votes

Swain Swain Train.

Captain Aishi1 votes

it's called tank meta champs like anivia, malzahar, brand all thrive when there are many tanks around (both on your team to protect you and on the enemy team for you to melt)

Kitten of Evil1 votes

Then maybe "Tank Meta" is a misnomer and the game should be called "actually balanced" when it's in this state... since all kinds of champions are necessary or useful.

Captain Aishi1 votes

that's how i like to think of it, since when it's the tank meta, it's the immobile mage meta, which means i can play immobile ADCS like ashe or MF and not be afraid of instantly dying to the enemy zed at the start of every teamfight unless i finished randuins

SlytherinUmbreon10 votes

Mage Meta? Anivia No? Ok :c Honestly, I haven't found anything other then Assassin Meta that I actually dislike.

Athenes Lulu3 votes

{quoted}

Mage Meta? Anivia No? Ok :c Honestly, I haven't found anything other then Assassin Meta that I actually dislike.

Is this something prior to season 3? I guess that must be the case D:

junglerboy162 votes

Mage meta is when the mid lane determines the fate of the game, and mages determine the fate of the mid lane. Champs like Ziggs dominated that kind of meta, along with Xerath, Orianna, Karma, Twisted Fate, and a couple others.

IcyPepper6 votes

Why not all three?

Tank protects the adc, the assassin tries to kill the adc, and the adc does their best to not die while dealing as much dps as possible. One mistake on anyone's part leads to another gaining an advantage.

Athenes Lulu2 votes

That translates to the ADC meta.

IcyPepper2 votes

I, uh, then don't quite understand how the other metas work.

I'm not sure balancing around any class in particular is good. Is it possible to have a balanced meta, or will it always shift to one of these?

LankPants2 votes

You are talking about an ADC centric meta. All of your points relate in some way to the ADC class.

Tank protects the adc the assassin tries to kill the adc and the adc does their best to not die while dealing as much dps as possible

This infers that in your meta the most important thing to win a fight is the ADC surviving. It also suggests a meta where mages are somewhat devalued.

In a completely balanced meta you'd have reasons to dive a mage as an assassin over an ADC other than the mage just being absurdly fed.

Ideally there would also be reasons to protect mages over your ADC as a support or tank as well, once again assuming the mage and ADC are on equal ground.. That basically hasn't existed since S2.

Guineasaurus Rex1 votes

tanks should protect adc and apc, not just adc, while assasins try to get around tanks to burst the adc/apc. When i hear tank meta it makes me think "tanks" are good at everything and therefore more valuable than adc/apc/assasin, as in they can tank stuff like crazy, cc stuff, and also put out enough dmg to get kills which to me seems dumb

Seth Lightheart5 votes

It is shifting to tank (kinda). But honestly I think the meta has been more balanced than ever.

SpongebobIsLife3 votes

it has. everything is viable!!!

Troy2426215 votes

I like the tank meta because ADCs are still important. They are needed to punch through the enemy tanks. I like it because if an assassin kills your ADC is hurts more because your team's tank will be harder to kill.

Here's the problem. Tanky damage dealers, especially mobile ones, are the most miserable thing to fight against. I know I'm in the minority, but if I'm playing against a Volibear, Udyr, Swain, Nasus or the like, I usually dread playing the match. I know what I'll have to deal with.

Yeah it has counterplay and all that but do I ever f---ing*hate playing a match of League of Binary Matches. That's the problem with the tank meta. So, I honestly prefer either ADC or Assassin metas, but above all I'd love to see a meta where team compositions mattered more than they do now. Right now the meta feels like a damned checklist.

Silents4291 votes

I get the hate for mobile tanky damage dealers, but Swain isn't mobile.

Kitten of Evil2 votes

Neither is Nasus.

Captain Aishi1 votes

volibear isn't particularly mobile either

Silents4291 votes

He does have a rather decent movement speed buff. But I guess if mobile is being defined as gap closers, and all the garbage.

Looking over it, all the listed champions he named aren't really mobile.

Troy2426211 votes

I also said "Especially," mobile ones, meaning that I didn't constrain my list specifically to the criteria of having all three. Being just a tanky damage dealer is sufficient to annoy the balls out of me.

SleepyLionCub4 votes

It's funny how most people picked tank meta.

Typically people complain about the meta that they are in. Yet people are actually admitting they are happy in their current situation.

Athenes Lulu2 votes

That's the LoL community for ya.

OperationDEEZ14 votes

Because it's fresh, and it's the first time it has been fresh since patch, like, 4.20.

Painted Celt4 votes

I really dislike assassin metas... I feel like teamfights are a hell of a lot more interesting when they last more than 2 seconds.

I enjoy "tank metas" the most, but I feel like what we have now is just returning to the natural intended state of the game. Teamfights are drawn out with potential for back and forth action. Strong frontlines encourage interesting tactics, since assassins actually need to flank and wait for ripe opportunities (AKA, how they were intended to be played) to assassinate squishies. Protect the marksman/mage strategies still exist, since protecting those characters is one of the primary roles of tanky front line champions anyways. In my opinion, 2 or even 3 tanky/bruiser champions on average per team is how the game is supposed to be played and is the most fun.

I love seeing stuff like: Top: AP/AD Bruiser Jungle: Full-Tank or AP/AD Bruiser Mid: Mage/Assassin Bottom: ADC + Support (tanky/utility/poke supports all being viable options) [Where top or Jungle can be optionally swapped out for another damage dealer IF the support is a tank like Braum or Leona.]

I hate seeing metas like: Top: Mage/Assassin (or glass cannon fighter, like Riven) Jungle: Assassin/Fighter (with J4/Lee being the tankiest character on the team with half of his items being damage...) Mid: Mage/Assassin Bottom: ADC + Support (with supports frequently building as a second full AP mage... Morgana... Annie...)

KatCraft4 votes

Anything is better than an assassin fucking meta. As an adc main nothing makes me want to quit this game more than getting deleted by Zeds and Le blancs with no ability to retaliate again and again.

I for one welcome our new tank overlords Sejuani All bow down to her righteous glory.

Captain Aishi1 votes

Sejuani +item 3800 boosting Darius +item 3102 in pull range to group the enemy team into a glacial prison is the most satisfying thing in the game :D

Athenes Lulu1 votes

Lulu wait! don't go too fast! I wanna ult one of you guys!

ScurvyNave3 votes

Down with assassin meta!

junglerboy163 votes

Tank meta is inherently the ADC meta as well, and the assassin meta is neither. I like the tank meta, because it makes the game less about who can button mash their burst fastest but rather who can play smarter and work together better, which is how things should be. People who complain about the tank meta being a slap fight are just annoying. I'm sorry that you can't stand to fight for more than 3 seconds at once, but some of us like to actually have to think and strategize when playing this game.

Athenes Lulu1 votes

The tank and ADC metas are similar, but the main difference is that the latter is all about protecting the ADC, meaning, you don't have to pick tanks, but rather anyone who can peel effectively. The tank meta is mostly about picking tanks and not just protect the ADC.

junglerboy163 votes

Fair enough, I would then always choose the tank meta, because while the tank meta can partially include the ADC meta, the "deathball of 3 supports and an ADC" doesn't have room for real tanks.

Nucleophilic atk2 votes

Where is vote for "mage" or "pretty balanced".

Meep Man2 votes

I think its balancing to a good mix although I would prefer a slight edge towards Tanks since they dont really kill people. Id rather have to work around that 2 second stun then that 2500 burst of damage.

Guineasaurus Rex2 votes

i hate tank meta. mostly because i play mages and feel like mages just aren't as well equipped to kill tanks as others, with a few exceptions like malz, who can be pretty easy to work around anyway. what i hate about tank meta is that tanks tend to do decent dmg while being stupid tanky, and require several cycles of spells to take down. If you're on a champ that can't kite well or don't have someone tanking the tank for you, you will most likely die. It feels like in tank meta, tank = bruiser

Athenes Lulu3 votes

Especially with the removal of dfg (something that some mages do build), which makes killing tanks a lot tougher.

MarshallBananna1 votes

can i have a "non of the above" option where no class is dominant and every role is equally viable?

Athenes Lulu1 votes

If I have that, then everyone's gonna pick that, which defeats the purpose of this poll.

I mean, I would like to have a meta where everything is balanced in terms of champ picks.

Swollwonder1 votes

While I prefer tank late late game tank meta is unbearable. Alistar with elixer of iron plus ult at full build? Good luck

MrSlowDie1 votes

I don't mind with any meta aside from assassin. It's just not fun imo to see my champ champ getting killed and then they jump away.

Grashnim1 votes

Tank meta would be tolerable if they could only tank. When you start allowing tanks to do serious damage as well, it isn't a tank meta in my opinion anymore. It's a bruiser go fuck yourself LAWL meta.

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