Does melee even belong in lanes anymore?
So this all based off my personal experience across a few accounts (each specializing in a "class"). From what I've seen, melee doesn't really have a place in lane, except for tanking. It would really be more easy to balance if EVERYONE were ranged. To back that up, let's look at some statistics. I use champion.gg so results may vary.
Let's look at bot lane first, since everyone knows it's the most important lane. Obviously, all ADCs are ranged (might be a clue right there, hm?). As for support they're all either ranged or tank, depending on what you consider Blitz. (A walking Q bot, but that's not the point).
On to middle lane. The top 10, in winrate and performance, are all ranged expect for GP. He's technically melee, but plays mostly like a ranged chanp with his Q and E.
Now top lane, which is supposed to be THE lane for melee. Several melee do well here, but often struggle vs ranged laners. Yas, Illaoi, Nasus, and Irelia struggle for control vs ranged laners like Quinn, Kayle, GP (kinda), Jayce, and Kennen.
As for jungle, this is where melee actually shines. Almost certainly because they don't have a ranged laner beating their face in. Also because AP jungling is mostly awful.
So overall, it looks like lanes are completely dominated by ranged and melee get to take the jungle since they cant be bullied out of it (usually).
Is there a way to fix this? Are melee laners like Garen, Aatrox, Trynd, etc just broken or obsolete? Is it learn to jungle or be useless? Why must it be this way? Why does RIOT insist on HELPING the ranged champions? (it's only going to get worse with new masteries imo) Should melee adapt to be pseudo-ranged like Gangplank?
Leave any answers or comments, I'd love to see what people have to say, ESPECIALLY RIOTERS HINT HINT.
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have ALL seen success in top lane. These are champions with plenty of carry potential. Gangplank also counts as a melee because his laning phase consists mostly of proc'ing his passive or farming with Q, and yet Aatrox also uses his E to poke and CS with.