My Idea on how to change the MUST of bot lane duo

My Idea to Shift the Bot Lane Duo Meta.

Warning- This is a long post with lots of information in it. It has taken a lot of time to write but I would appreciate you reading the whole post if you can, seeing as a new item like this would spark lots of different possibilities and possibly create a whole new meta. I have so many ideas and thoughts on what this could bring but I wanted to see the reaction before I go too deep into the idea.

_Also I wrote this before the zilean passive change which now allows him to level up other champions over time. This was great for me since at the bottom I predicted riot may be looking at further experience related game changes. /stoked _

Everyone knows that the ADC/Support bot meta has been around a really long time. Over the last few weeks/months I have been trying to think of a way to shift the meta to not have a dire need for having a bot lane duo. Although I do like the safety and consistency it can provide to get your highest endgame dps champion rolling, it does feel a bit unfair that you need to run ADC/support bot to be viable. I have thought of an item that can change this. Before I explain it though I will go into more detail about the ADC/support bot lane.

So why is it a must right now in league to have your ADC and support bot lane?

1. As I have already mentioned it provides the most safety for your highest damage champion. This is through not only having a team member with you but also a long lane that you can freeze waves in. 2. It provides a high number of champions on your team easy access to the dragon pit, which during the laning phase is a hotly contested objective. With a TP in top lane you can have your team ready to do dragon very quickly. Because of this top lane does not rely on much help except from the jungler and picks champions that suit this play style. 3. Having the duo mid lane would lock your (generically mage/assassin) mid laner in the bot lane. This would slow down their levelling due to the longer lanes and only really allow them to roam mid. Although some mages/assassins would be fine bot lane it is more beneficial to have them mid where they get easier access to farm and roaming which is what these champs excel at. For those champs that don’t roam they normally provide your team with wave clear that prevents the middle turret being destroyed along with lots of your team's vision. 4. Having the support lane with your mid laner is not an option due to the fact that these champions scale with levels and therefore need to by themselves to level up as quickly as possible.

How can a single item shift the meta that drastically?

The answer to this is _bonus experience_. The recent mord rework really showed what experience can do for bot lane possibilities. Having a champion in a duo lane turn level 6 while the other duo is level 4 really forces you to change your game plan and adapt to the situation. Because of the juggernaut rework mord really needs to have a nearby member to make use of this power spike of damage and lock the opponents down. But what if this experience advantage was in the mid lane or the top lane on say ahri or gnar? Or even just given to a ADC like corki or ezreal with great mid game potential?

I see an item being made that grants bonus experience to the lowest level team member nearby. It would have a starting item and an upgrade available. Although these numbers might need changing it would grant %75 of solo lane xp to the lowest level nearby champion from their last hits only. It would grant health and mana regen also. The upgrade would up the percentage to %100 and provide more regen and also bonus move speed.

How would this change the dynamics of the support role?

This item would shift the support role into less of a bot lane baby sitter to a truly team wide support, which I believe is what the support should be doing- helping everyone, not just the adc. Providing bonus experience to a team member nearby, movement speed to get around the map and regen to be at reasonable levels when going to other lanes, it can be used to either snowball a winning lane even further, get champs to their power spikes at the right time, or simply help out a losing lane.

Why does it need an upgrade? Why not just the one item?

Having the two items provides less of a power spike early but still gives great rewards for upgrading when you can. I see this being picked up at the start of the game like the other 3 support items with wards/pots and upgraded along with sight stone and boots in the order you choose. Getting boots early will provide movement speed and the bonus effect of the boots you choose while getting the sight stone will obviously grant your team more vision.

Possible changes to the item before release.

1. I'm not really sure on the price and numbers on regen and move speed so it is hard to pick balanced numbers. That is why I have left numbers off and only said my ideas. I think the XP numbers should stay roughly the same with %100 (solo lane expirience levels) being the highest. 2. Change it to a three item path instead of two. This would keep it in line with the other support items and provide power spikes at the same time.

Just some extra notes.

I still want the other support items to be viable against this item. I believe that it is balanced since it doesn’t really provide combat stats and is just used to help others get their combat stats/items/levels etc faster.

I think riot might possibly be looking at something like this already, and have used mord as a sort of guinea pig to see how bonus xp effects games. With the upcoming marksman changes rumoured to be reitemizing and providing different power spikes for different play style champions this could really be useful in that environment. Again my train of thought on this is massive and I could write pages and pages on how this could change the game.

Tell me what you think! If this gets a good conversation flowing or gets lots of views I might go into more detail in another post, just wanted to get the idea out there and see what others though, maybe it will spark an idea for someone else.