I'm just going to say it, I miss season 5.

CitadelOfIce·Feb 8, 2016·256 votes·8,409 views

I know most of us look back at S5 and see nothing but fire spewing tanks of the cinder hulk meta, the complete uselessness of assassins, and the terrifying what the hell Juggernauts. But you know what, things felt meaty. Tanks felt tanky, ADC's and mages still felt squishy by comparison, but not too squishy, and it felt like towers took time and effort to take down.

Everything feels like its made of wet paper now. I think the longest I've seen a Juggernaut last now is like 4 seconds and that was a Darius spinning like a top to heal. It's just so squishy and pretty much who ever can land the first CC or poke chain wins. It's like theirs only one play style now, DPS. And for a company that was calling to the hills "Strategic Diversity" it really feels like they gave up and are just rolling with this one way to play.

193 Comments

DreadlocksFeb 8, 201697 votes

I miss the patch right before cinderhulk got nerfed and the juggernauts were released... you saw pretty much every type of jungler.. You saw: Sejuani Gragas JarvanIV LeeSin Evelynn Nidalee Elise RekSai Nunu at least @ the professional level, and i loved it.

1 800 MID LANEFeb 8, 201621 votes

I so badly wish that your name was "Rectum."

DreadlocksFeb 8, 201616 votes

WE RECTUM ;)

1 800 MID LANEFeb 8, 20163 votes

PLEASE

DreadlocksFeb 8, 20168 votes

They were already taken so i settled with this meme.=]

AMYS GRAVEFeb 8, 201628 votes

Post cinderhulk and pre juggernaut was the best the game had ever been both in diversity and overall enjoyment of the game. Tanks being viable means everyone is viable as they can get the protection they need.

DreadlocksFeb 8, 20166 votes

I agree, i was just saying to someone else, since i started playing (which was around braum was released) in season four, that was probably my favorite patch.

KeevalroyFeb 8, 201616 votes

That was at the pro level. In addition to the pro picks, in our regular games there were also Amumu Chogath DrMundo Malphite Olaf Rammus Sion Skarner Volibear and I swear I saw an Aatrox once in a while. They did exist, I'm sure of it.

UrPalAlFeb 8, 20162 votes

Assassins and ADC's sucked ass though (Not that I hated that but still).

KeevalroyFeb 8, 20168 votes

I don't know, I'm an ADC main and I_ loved_ Cinderhulk.

PartholonianFeb 8, 201610 votes

No, they didn't. Assassins could murder squishies, and only squishies -- bruisers would wreck them unless the assassin was stupidly fed. But bruisers also couldn't chase down an assassin that wasn't foolish enough to commit to engaging on them in the first place, unless they facechecked or something.

ADCs were squishy, and could be murdered by assassins, but if you could keep them safe they could take objectives better than any other class, so they were still really important even if they didn't get as many pentas.

It was actually good class balance with multiple classes having useful roles.

Spaceman5pffFeb 9, 20161 votes

Nah man, ADC's were fine. Yeah assassins were crap but they are only fun for one of the 9 people in a game they are in. Whilst tanks are fun for at LEAST 5.

UrPalAlFeb 9, 20161 votes

3/4 of the ADC's were complete shit, and only a small portion were strong.

Spaceman5pffFeb 9, 20161 votes

And now we have Ezreal, Corki, and Lucian.

That is 3 strong AD Carries. 2 of which were part of the "holy Trinity" a while back.

Diversity at its finest

UrPalAlFeb 10, 20162 votes

Also, practically blatantly stated in the 6.3 notes that they will be nerfing the big 3 and buffing kog. This pretty much fixes all the current issues.

JasiwelFeb 8, 20169 votes

This. SO much this. Diversity everyone. A lot of strategy involved. Was it perfect? No, but that's subjective. Assassins could still wipe out carries if the team was disorganized - so teams started trying to disorganize the other team for the sake of allowing assassins into comps. Itemization wasn't bad either, though I actually prefer this season's AD itemization over Season 5's.

Here's what I don't understand - think about it, Season 5 with the ADC/AD-Items reworks just sounds delicious. Strong Tanks. Strong ADCs. Formidable Assassins. Raid Boss Fighters. Diverse junglers. Meaningful Supports. Intense Mages. The list goes on. I truly feel like Riot missed a crucial step to the season we currently have because they saw where they wanted to go, where Season 5 ended, and believed they didn't need a transition between then/now. That's my belief as to why this season feels so out of place and off-kilter.

Spaceman5pffFeb 9, 20162 votes

RITO LOGIC: Tanks "outclass"? -> nerf tanks Now everything is sorta balanced? -> Buff the classes that just got to level from tank nerfs

OK now we buff the DPS more whilst nerfing the tanks a tiny bit more....

CoffeeDaveFeb 8, 20162 votes

Up vote just for the name alone.

NimmerFeb 9, 20163 votes

Yeah at one point last season Riot had achieved the perfect level of balance and almost unanimously everyone agreed; before juggs, pre-cinderhulk nerf (the last one, the initial cinderhulk was kind of OP). I understand the game needs to change to stay fun but they should have worked around what they had instead of... this.

shyvFeb 8, 201658 votes

i miss pretty much everything about the game before preseason. i feel like this preseason ruined so many things. no wards, useless objectives, towers aren't even worth defending anymore.. just a lot less fun

ScramrailFeb 8, 201634 votes

Personally, I feel like any time Assassins are powerful the game is garbage. For the most part Assassin kit design provides little counterplay if youre a squishy unless they are super far behind. At least with tanks you can always engage a fighting retreat to beat them down and keep them away from your backline, but with assassins the second they get within range of a squishy you already lost.

I dunno why Riot felt the need to speed up games by buffing assassins through itemization (and indirectly through mage itemization fuckery), but the game was never better than when tanks were stong.

ZorasamaFeb 8, 201618 votes

I miss S1-S2 back when riot doesn't balance things around current meta

The LovelessFeb 8, 20164 votes

I miss seeing anyone in any lane myself, but perhaps that's more on the players enforcing metas. Riot should do more like what they tried with Mordekaiser & Kindred to make uncommon champs viable in duo lanes & jungle respectively.

KeevalroyFeb 8, 20169 votes

Let's not have anything like Morde happen again please.

Count ZubatFeb 8, 201616 votes

The moment in LoL I loved the most was the time between smite top being nerfed and juggernaut patch. So many things were viable, the game was interesting, team fights were just awesome. Yeah, some tanks (notably Sejuani) were out of control, but still, it was only 1 champion you had to ban and 5 bans still open, instead of 10 broken champs and wishing nobody picks one you didn't ban. I'd say it was bad time only for assassin mains, because yeah, in meta of tankiness their effectives was low.

Spizzle9000Feb 8, 20162 votes

Well, as someone who played pretty much everything other than tanks during that time period, I thought cinderhulk meta was hell. Mostly because I played Teambuilder, so I couldn't escape the op POS known as Sejuani (who is actually rather UP atm). Playing against a tank that does more damage than an assassin, has decent mobility with her dash, tons of CC, and hard af to kill.

As a Vlad main, I give Cinderhulk meta a 0/10 too many fucking tanks.

Count ZubatFeb 8, 20168 votes

How Vlad main could not love tank meta? The meta which focuses on late game, team fighting and sustained, non-burst damage? Vladimir fcking loved that. During tank meta, his worst counters like Riven and Irelia weren't played. He could play farm lane until getting power spike and shit over tanks while they can't do anything to him. I was just building Rylai and Liandry and those tank shitheads couldn't do shit to me while I was slowly but surely taking 'em down. There were no burst champions played, thus Vlad with WotA and Spirit Visage was pretty much unkillable.

TheDrácoFeb 8, 201614 votes

The only good part of Season 5 was the 2 month range before item 3742 item 3053 were added.

Xela SyabFeb 8, 201613 votes

I think people forgot that early season 5 was just LeeSin RekSai JarvanIV in jungle. Issues I've had this season is that Dr.Mundo my favorite champ got overtuned and is now permabanned :( my favorite sup Shen got reworked and has a wonkey kit now. Seems like all the bans are towards top lane. Reworked ADC's are viable top lane now.

Things they should fix this season:

Tune Graves so he's not better than Kindred in Jungle, make Kalista have a cooldown on her passive.
Top Lane balance changes, this lane seems to effect games more than any other lane now. Reduce kill xp, early game death timers so solo lanes can't snowball out of control. I've seen matches where even 2 deaths can put an enemy 2-3 levels ahead of their opponent.
Rift Herald mechanics on buffs, allowing buffs to work as a pick up for allies would really help help early and inexperienced junglers help their mid or bot lane take buffs if they don't need them.
Towers and sieging need some fixes, tower ai needs more clarity on focusing champions in combat, I see way too many unscathed dives just simply from tower ai focusing minions or random tank damage dealing sunfire cape dps.
Tank, and boot Itemization needs an overhaul. I also think Boots need to act as a pink ward slot. Bruiser and adc practically have every item they could possibly want or item combos they can switch up depending upon situation but tanks pretty much build Randuins, DMP, and Spirit Visage. Thornmail and Frozen Heart feel entire useless and Warmogs and Sunfire have hp and level caps on them to be effective Banshee's Veil needs a cost decrease since it's outshined by Spirit Visage and Locket.

PikaCHU567Feb 8, 201611 votes

I miss the old yellow trinket. :(

ChaddyFantomeFeb 8, 201614 votes

I miss wards. :(

EmExFeb 9, 20162 votes

I miss wards being 3 minutes now they last so short and the trinket is on cooldown all the time

KeevalroyFeb 8, 20169 votes

It's not that assassins were useless - it's that they were risky to play...kinda like they should be. You had to be careful about when you went in because there's a wall in front of you that will cc you down the minute you come in range. You had to think about your engages rather than mindlessly throw yourself at a team, get a kill, and get out unscathed like most people were used to. You could still be an assassin - you just had to play like you'd expect an assassin to play.

ZT XperimentorFeb 8, 20168 votes

I agree, though I miss season 2 & 3 the most.

Xenos11111Feb 8, 20166 votes

Just yesterday I was playing against a Mundo. That's right, the permaban unkillable butcher of top lane. It was sad to watch, as soon as I hooked him (me being Thresh) my team blew him up in a couple of seconds. I don't think he was ever the same after that.

Also, with jungle being my secondary role and my primary carry role for ranked, these days I only find myself playing Master Yi because he's one of the few junglers who can shut down the enemy carries without being destroyed before he can even reach them.

AbyssphereFeb 8, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Just yesterday I was playing against a Mundo. That's right, the permaban unkillable butcher of top lane. It was sad to watch, as soon as I hooked him (me being Thresh) my team blew him up in a couple of seconds. I don't think he was ever the same after that.

Also, with jungle being my secondary role and my primary carry role for ranked, these days I only find myself playing Master Yi because he's one of the few junglers who can shut down the enemy carries without being destroyed before he can even reach them.

Mundo must have been doing quite badly in that game to be fair. He's been nerfed a lot since he became broken but Riot haven't made him any squishier, they've just lowered his damage.

Xenos11111Feb 8, 20163 votes

Yeah, but with marksmen doing more damage (particularly LDR buff) he is effectively squishier even if his stats weren't changed.

Jukuren RorikonFeb 8, 20165 votes

I miss S4!

Monkey D LuffyFeb 8, 20165 votes

here's me missing season 3 lol

TheVishualFeb 8, 20165 votes

{quoted}

I know most of us look back at S5 and see nothing but fire spewing tanks of the cinder hulk meta, the complete uselessness of assassins, and the terrifying what the hell Juggernauts. But you know what, things felt meaty. Tanks felt tanky, ADC's and mages still felt squishy by comparison, but not too squishy, and it felt like towers took time and effort to take down.

Everything feels like its made of wet paper now. I think the longest I've seen a Juggernaut last now is like 4 seconds and that was a Darius spinning like a top to heal. It's just so squishy and pretty much who ever can land the first CC or poke chain wins. It's like theirs only one play style now, DPS. And for a company that was calling to the hills "Strategic Diversity" it really feels like they gave up and are just rolling with this one way to play.

I miss season 3

VelasanFeb 8, 20165 votes

I disagree... mostly because I'm still waiting for that moment where mages get to shine. I've yet to see a mage meta.

Plus more things are actually playable right now even if there are like 10 or so top tier champions.

BetaDude40Feb 8, 20164 votes

Mage meta is probably not going to happen unless we get some pretty drastic changes to AP itemization. If mages are strong, people will play lots of assassins to counter them

Zenthon PrimeFeb 9, 20165 votes

This is why I hated the tank meta more than anything else. I'm a mage main. Back during the assassin meta lanes were hellish, but if you were skilled you could beat enemy assassins in lane (because pretty much all of them were FotM abusers) and go on to do serious damage later in the game if you had good positioning. On the other hand, most mages are completely useless against tanks because mages have garbage %HP itemization and rely on burst and poke instead of sustained damage for the most part.

I mean, when you're Viktor or Xerath or whatever facing a Cho/Urgot, you ain't doing crap. You basically get to play PvE the whole game and hope the enemy ADC (the only person you can actually damage) is stupid enough to overextend and you don't just get dived on or CC'ed the whole game.

I will say that my favorite meta was probably the very late Cinderhulk phase, the period right before the Fiora and GP reworks. I saw literally everything played back then, although admittingly carry junglers were kinda rare.

Joe DreddFeb 8, 20165 votes

Tanks should die in four seconds if they are focused by the entire enemy team

SuicideJFeb 8, 20161 votes

This should only depend on how the tank is built and it's abilities, and the enemy players attacking him and their items and abilities.

Zenthon PrimeFeb 9, 20161 votes

Let's say equal farm, mixed defensives and damage on both the tank and the enemy team.....yep, about 4 seconds unless you're Alistar or Braum. Pretty fair honestly given how much damage the other team should be doing in the meantime.

SuicideJFeb 9, 20162 votes

Are they all damage? Do they have a tank? Why SHOULD they be doing any one particular thing? A good team comp could potentially kill a tank in 4 seconds. However, a good tank will also have a good team near if you apply the same logic.

SpecterVonBarenFeb 8, 20164 votes

Welcome to Season 6: The Revenge of Season 4.

Tornado of DOOMFeb 8, 20164 votes

You mean LoL Wars Episode 6: Return of the Assassins.

summonermhrysosFeb 8, 20164 votes

We thought that the juggernauts were stupid. We thought that there could not be a stupider idea than that. But before we knew it: Rito:Hey guys!Guess what meta it is now?Crit meta!

(On a serious note though,we can just buff the underpowered/less picked tank items to deal with this problem.Just a suggestion.)