Is the Poke Playstyle in Bottom Lane too weak?

AstralAbyss·3/13/2016, 6:37:07 AM·3 votes·785 views

Currently, I feel that since pre-season, and perhaps even before then, the decline of "poke" based bot lanes has grown and grown. The changes to how sustain worked (Vampirism and Feast) in the pre-season as well as a constant support meta where poke isn't good due to their weakness to ganks and their susceptibility to the "5-man bot party". The likes of Karma, Lulu, Zyra, Sona, and Nami are gone from the bot lane if not from a champion being "bad" then from meta, or in Lulu's case, nerfs. Even worse is that poke supports and adcs don't scale as well into the late game as their counterparts, so they transition into the mid-late game poorly as it is more difficult to achieve a lead in-lane with poke's current state. The current weakness of poke also shows in how Caitlyn is still not as lane dominant as she was in her prime, when arguably the rework she received was a strong buff. I think that bot lane is either sustain or all-in, and that the poke playstyle is just gone. Poke is difficult to make stick, and the best way to favorably trade atm seems to be an all-in that results in summoners or huge health decreases. Another issue is that the heal on Targons as well as Windspeaker's Blessing are helping out the sustain and all-in supports whilst poke supports only get Deathfire Touch and Thunderlord's which are much weaker as they only reach their full potential with bonus stats. I guess Riot gave poke supports Expose Weakness in the Ferocity tree, but that's almost nothing as it doesn't really assist too much in solely support poke. Also putting 12 into the Resolve tree is so much more appealing for supports than Ferocity atm even with the addition of Expose Weakness.

That's pretty much the gist of my thoughts; I'm curious what you guys have to say. Do you think this is even an issue? If you do how can Riot go about in addressing it. And despite my side in this argument I'd like to say that I'm just a support main who enjoys all different kinds of playstyles and I'm just sad to see poke so unfavorable.

TL;DR: Does poke in the bot-lane suck now due to Vampirism, Feast, and the prominence of the 5-man bot party?

2 Comments

ViiLLAiN3/13/2016, 8:24:10 AM3 votes

I feel like adc should be taking expose weakness instead of feast the 20 hp is pretty negligible if you and your support have a opportunity to output more damage. Although I don't see poke supports being weak at all or unfavorable. I think its quite the opposite.

source: adc main

manbearswine3/13/2016, 12:42:55 PM2 votes

{quoted}

Currently, I feel that since pre-season, and perhaps even before then, the decline of "poke" based bot lanes has grown and grown. The changes to how sustain worked (Vampirism and Feast) in the pre-season as well as a constant support meta where poke isn't good due to their weakness to ganks and their susceptibility to the "5-man bot party". The likes of Karma, Lulu, Zyra, Sona, and Nami are gone from the bot lane if not from a champion being "bad" then from meta, or in Lulu's case, nerfs.

I'd say the meta is defined by strong champions,zyra/karma/lulu(AS SUPPORT)/sona/nami aren't out of meta,they are plain weaker than tanks,they are out of meta because they are bad(not to be confused with "they are bad because they are out of meta"),janna/morg on the other hand are tank counters,so they are doing rather well.

That's pretty much the gist of my thoughts; I'm curious what you guys have to say. Do you think this is even an issue?

Everybody who doesn't suck knows this,mind you most of the boards do,and they also live in a bubble and won't listen to anyone else,this is just one of the worst kept secrets in this game.

If you do how can Riot go about in addressing it.

The first step in addressing a problem is admitting you have one,mind you they are kinda busy trolling the boards at the moment,so who knows when that'll happen.

And despite my side in this argument I'd like to say that I'm just a support main who enjoys all different kinds of playstyles and I'm just sad to see poke so unfavorable.

Just play tanks,riot doesn't really give you any other options(though I guess janna/morg/raka are an option,but they seem rather boring).

TL;DR: Does poke in the bot-lane suck now due to Vampirism, Feast, and the prominence of the 5-man bot party?

Don't forget golems/gromp,level 2 power spike,and roam,all go in favor of tanks.