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If you say best season was season 3 and hate this meta, you didn't actually play during season 3

Rins Thigh Socks·7/19/2018, 3:30:55 AM·26 votes·10,202 views

Then Stack Cleavers in the preseason Mage dominance that transitioned into an mid-centric assassin meta halfway through the season (TF/Ryze nerfs) Supports were almost exclusively aggressive, big beefy guys who got innate tankiness to survive assassin burst and initiation for fights. Only Enchanter was Janna and Zyra was only picked as a pair with Ashe ADCs did almost nothing. Mostly picked because of how well they can bully the lane (Caitlyn) or can survive and scale up. You mostly just wanted the bully. Top lane was bruisers. If you didn't play Jax, Renekton, or Irelia you were probably trolling. Junglers were fighters that could run you down and duel you in the jungle (Lee, Jarvan, later Vi) 4-6 ignites per game "Zhonya's is broken, fundamentally flawed item"

Now Transcendence inspired people to try stack Cleavers during the preseason Mage dominance that, due to waveclear/mana nerfs, transitioned into an aggro assassin/fighter heavy meta halfway through the season Supports are aggressive picks that pick fights and have innate mobility or tankiness to survive and initiate fights. Only really good enchanter right now is Nami Botlaners are picked because they can bully lane (Swain, Donger, Vlad, Lucian), or how well they can survive those champions to scale into the game. You'd rather have a bully. Again. Junglers are fighters and assassins that could run you down and duel you in the jungle (Xin, Nocturne, Graves) 3 ignites per team "Stopwatch is broken, fundamentally flawed item"

Don't get me wrong, a lot has changed. There are many more champions in the game, metas changed, reworks, graphics, you fucking name it. Hell, towards the end of the season ADCs got a lot better and that's the reason people still have Vayne PTSD (in a horrifically ironic turn of events, she just got her true damage buffed)

But this was the meta. After the best mages in the game got nerfed, after the premier tanks (Shen, Malphite, Amumu, etc.) got nerfed, it was just this huge transition to fighters and assassins in every solo role. Bot lane was there to get fed off of because ADC was so damn squishy and supports had little to no innate defenses. This is why Janna (massive MS buff), Thresh (who had higher armor values as well as his passive), and Alistar were so popular. They didn't int as hard when they went to ward and/or give the opposing team's assassin his big ticket items an item a few minutes earlier.

And don't forget mid. For all the shit this meta gets, you don't know stupid until LB can QR you to instakill you and you're silenced the entire duration (btw her QR one shots started around level 11), if Zed gets on you, you die, or Ahri pressing DFG RWRR with zero counterplay. Oh yeah, and 95%+ banrate Kassadin for months at a time. This was actual zero counterplay, not the shit you see today.

I'm not trying to say this meta is perfect. There are issues, and I'm sure people feel shafted because they miss playing their ADCs/tanks/mages. Just remember a few things.

  1. The meta WILL rotate back around. That's just how it goes. Riot is in the middle of putting buffs to ADCs, mages, and indirect tank buffs on the PBE.
  2. Try not to be so derisive to bruiser and assassin mains next time the meta doesn't favor them and they say their champs need buffs. Because I guarantee they'll sound just like you do right now.
  3. If at any time the game gets too overwhelming or unfun for you, take a break or quit. There's no shame in it. If League is not fun for you the last thing you need to do is force yourself to enjoy it. I've taken a number of breaks, especially during Ardent meta because it felt impossible to kill people and if, for some reason you did, it wasn't ever meaningful.
  4. Just because you don't enjoy the experience, and that's the common consensus between a small sample size (like this forum) doesn't mean there aren't people who do. I love this meta. It's finally more rewarding to be proactive than reactive, which is as it should be. If you're more rewarded for being reactive games would stall out way too long. I'm sure there are tons of other non-disgruntled boards users that feel the same way.
  5. Welcome to the season 3 experience.

75 Comments

Love Anastasia7/19/2018, 4:39:53 AM29 votes

I played Season 3, i prefered it than this bs

The main point is, you couldnt one shot without being fed. Now, you can pick talon and 100-0 at lvl 2, which is kinda stupid.

Cybernetic Ghost7/19/2018, 5:33:17 AM8 votes

There are a lot of things about Season 3 I miss:

  1. When a fed Yi/Kat on the enemy team made your team run in vain for dear life.
  2. When it was possible to stack Warmog's Armors and lose the ability to die. Especially on Volibear.
  3. When Karthus could stack Archangel's Rods and ult your entire team for roughly 2-2.5k damage per person. Unless you were a tank, you were going to die at full HP or lose about 2/3 of your total HP.
  4. When a fed-enough Sion (old kit) with the right gear could stand in the enemy team's fountain and kill each person as they respawned.
  5. When both teams had a Xin Zhao and both maxed lifesteal, and would spend the rest of the game trying unsuccessfully to kill each other.
  6. When Shaco was scary. I miss what his clone used to do when it died. Now it sucks.
  7. When Teemo was scarier than Shaco. Now Teemo's a mild nuisance.
  8. When games were not as snowbally as they are now.
  9. Dominion

and...

  1. Force of Nature
Unstoppable Monk7/19/2018, 5:23:52 AM7 votes

Season 3 was best because:

the culture of league was way better than seasons 4+

still had season 1 pros for the most part

griefers weren't really part of the playerbase

less certainT champs

people actually understood the jungler role

team actually warded instead of 7 vision score midlaner at 28 minutes and having to mmo up some wards while at the same time your team would have a stroke if a non support took a gp5 for ward

montecristo was still around kappa

people didn't know who everyone really was so we were just nice to each other

GigglesO7/19/2018, 5:24:34 AM5 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ahri Lover Rock,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=rubVmhPv,comment-id=,timestamp=2018-07-19T03:30:55.506+0000)

Don't get me wrong, a lot has changed.

I actually think the best season was season 2 when we still had high as fuck base health regen, and if the jungler ganked we could just simply walk back to tower, farm safely under it for 2 waves, and be full hp because of the regen... I also really liked the balance of assassins being janitors, with tanks being able to completely negate one type of damage. Its also my highest number of pentas (Twitch) so I know for a fact adc's were viable.

I guess I do however still miss fortify, and wish that we could have S1 soraka/warmogs/fon/randuins back during our times under the heal meta that was fucking hilarious. Honestly way more fun having 5 minute long heal fests than this one shot bull shit. It was so back and forth rather than these one sided stomps.

Anyways, I would also take any of the previous seasons over this one, because at least back then defense items were viable on everyone.

redniwediS7/19/2018, 4:42:51 AM5 votes

Main reason I liked season 3 was because League was still early into it's massive growth stage, and I met a ton of really great people. Season 4 was pretty darn good with it's better balance, but season 3 made the better memories.

That's not to say season 3 was great balance wise, but for non-game reasons it was the best season for me.

D4M2X07/19/2018, 10:50:14 AM4 votes

season 3 nidalee+jayce or kass/gragas at midlane every single game

oh and rengar pick/ban and khazix mid lee sin mid occasionally renekton every single game, riven in 90% of games ap tris/yi mid

people look back at season 3 with nostalgia, it was a broken season. season 5 was the best cause meta champs werent essential like they are now

KnifeCat7/19/2018, 3:47:17 PM4 votes

It’s not about the meta. It’s about the game state. The fact that damage creep is through the roof. That’s my problem with this season, the meta is always evolving, sure maybe s3 meta wasn’t great at times, like in any other season, but the game state was far better.

SugeMinPikk7/19/2018, 4:40:32 AM4 votes

Favorite seasons were 4 and 5

Madstone Udyr was fun. Making junglers ragequit was fun. Nunu

Boot enchants were fun.

TheFancySkeleton7/19/2018, 9:01:00 PM3 votes

I miss the cinderhulk meta.

Risk of Fate7/19/2018, 4:50:09 AM3 votes

[deleted]

Trollmanship7/19/2018, 10:13:27 AM2 votes

Defensive items would generally prevent you from getting 1-shot. 1-shots during laning phase rarely happened. League of cleavers was actually patched fairly quickly (by Riot standards I mean, it was only a couple months wasn't it?). Towers weren't a joke. Baron wasn't an autowin button.

Sounds pretty fun to me.

Swarmer7/19/2018, 7:33:44 AM2 votes

Well, this meta change is so radical, that most people have to learn game again from the 0, its not the same game anymore. Assassins have been dominatnglol for past year and a half, and now make a role, that isnt similar to any other completely useless, and those people have played adcs as main for years, they ave to switch, for example in my case, their worst possible champs if they want to play botlane, which previous 3 seasons was most active lane, because of a lot of ganking and fighting and dragon controll, and weaker turret.

Top lane has always been the most boring role in lol, if you win, your enemy will always pussy under turret, if you lose, you will get 1hotted always, and botlane has turned into that same shit, except, you cant take adc, because adc gets oneshotted at level 1.

In mid, well, i dislike playing assassins, except, very old akali, and mages compared to assassins are quite useless, so why should i learn to play what i dislike to play, rito killed the game for me, and actually literarily for every adc, even pro teams are replacing adc players.

I am bIack7/19/2018, 12:54:17 PM2 votes

Imo, the game was simply just more fun back then for many reasons.

For one, it was new to me - this was around when i started becoming addicted to league in general. I still remember being an entirely new player and having to solo 1v4 enemies as Volibear. I was trying to run but couldnt escape so i knew i had to try to kill at least someone, and i ended up scaring them all off. Honestly, season 3 was so fun. That season and onto season 4 i was just eagerly buying new champs to try out and maining different things. The game was just fresh and exciting though frustration gradually edged onwards as I became more in desire to climb the ranks than enjoy the game for the purpose of improvement.

Not doing that again.

Still, for the alone and despite not knowing the meta or anything because i was new, I never really struggled or anything i just played and either fed my ass off or did really well. I even built random nonsensical stuff because i thought it looked cool. Like bloodthirster renekton first item. Or static shiv after.

I feel like as of now, damage with assassins is pretty stupid. Their builds aren't even unique at all. And it's true in some cases that an assassin who is 0/4 or even 1/5 can easily kill someone who is 4/2.

I mean their build variety is just this...

Duskblade (ALWAYS) > Ghostblade > Stormrazor = dead.

I feel like that really needs changed. The fact that every assassins basically follows this path is just boring, and the fact that it yields so much success is even more disappointing. I hope they change things up, because these same itemization patterns just offer no variety when its clear that this is probably the best build path for assassins atm. Especially the Duskblade rush in most cases. It's such a dominant item in the assassin meta atm. I guess it has been for a while though. Still wanting it to change.

Just my thoughts.

Mizaya7/19/2018, 4:15:39 PM2 votes

I remembered Faker completely 100-0ing supports at worlds with Ahri, those were truly "fun" times.

However I miss old BT and old Graves from that time. It was also before they reworked Xerath who I had like a 70% winrate on.

Malix Farwin7/19/2018, 6:19:34 PM2 votes

People have nostalgia goggles on when they think of previous seasons they like there has not been a single season since ive been playing(season 4 pre-season) that has not had any problems.

Anin7777/19/2018, 8:58:33 PM2 votes

Huh?! what? Stopped reading at "ADCs did almost nothing". You don't remember that season well lmfao. That was the season lucian, quinn and jinx got released. Don't get me wrong, S3 wasn't the best season imo. S5 was. But you can never and I mean NEVER, compare this BS we have to back then. Back when towers weren't paper. Back when fights actually lasted a lot more than 5 seconds. Back when you actually had a chance for a comeback. Back when you couldn't get mindlessly dived. Back when you could siege without worrying about baron empowered minions. Back when true dmg was rare. Back when dmg was not actually stupid. Watch that faker vs ryu zed fight and tell me if you think it would have lasted that long in this current season.

DNFVixen7/20/2018, 12:42:12 AM2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ahri Lover Rock,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=rubVmhPv,comment-id=,timestamp=2018-07-19T03:30:55.506+0000)

Then Stack Cleavers in the preseason Mage dominance that transitioned into an mid-centric assassin meta halfway through the season (TF/Ryze nerfs) Supports were almost exclusively aggressive, big beefy guys who got innate tankiness to survive assassin burst and initiation for fights. Only Enchanter was Janna and Zyra was only picked as a pair with Ashe ADCs did almost nothing. Mostly picked because of how well they can bully the lane (Caitlyn) or can survive and scale up. You mostly just wanted the bully. Top lane was bruisers. If you didn't play Jax, Renekton, or Irelia you were probably trolling. Junglers were fighters that could run you down and duel you in the jungle (Lee, Jarvan, later Vi) 4-6 ignites per game "Zhonya's is broken, fundamentally flawed item"

Now Transcendence inspired people to try stack Cleavers during the preseason Mage dominance that, due to waveclear/mana nerfs, transitioned into an aggro assassin/fighter heavy meta halfway through the season Supports are aggressive picks that pick fights and have innate mobility or tankiness to survive and initiate fights. Only really good enchanter right now is Nami Botlaners are picked because they can bully lane (Swain, Donger, Vlad, Lucian), or how well they can survive those champions to scale into the game. You'd rather have a bully. Again. Junglers are fighters and assassins that could run you down and duel you in the jungle (Xin, Nocturne, Graves) 3 ignites per team "Stopwatch is broken, fundamentally flawed item"

Don't get me wrong, a lot has changed. There are many more champions in the game, metas changed, reworks, graphics, you fucking name it. Hell, towards the end of the season ADCs got a lot better and that's the reason people still have Vayne PTSD (in a horrifically ironic turn of events, she just got her true damage buffed)

But this was the meta. After the best mages in the game got nerfed, after the premier tanks (Shen, Malphite, Amumu, etc.) got nerfed, it was just this huge transition to fighters and assassins in every solo role. Bot lane was there to get fed off of because ADC was so damn squishy and supports had little to no innate defenses. This is why Janna (massive MS buff), Thresh (who had higher armor values as well as his passive), and Alistar were so popular. They didn't int as hard when they went to ward and/or give the opposing team's assassin his big ticket items an item a few minutes earlier.

And don't forget mid. For all the shit this meta gets, you don't know stupid until LB can QR you to instakill you and you're silenced the entire duration (btw her QR one shots started around level 11), if Zed gets on you, you die, or Ahri pressing DFG RWRR with zero counterplay. Oh yeah, and 95%+ banrate Kassadin for months at a time. This was actual zero counterplay, not the shit you see today.

I'm not trying to say this meta is perfect. There are issues, and I'm sure people feel shafted because they miss playing their ADCs/tanks/mages. Just remember a few things.

  1. The meta WILL rotate back around. That's just how it goes. Riot is in the middle of putting buffs to ADCs, mages, and indirect tank buffs on the PBE.
  2. Try not to be so derisive to bruiser and assassin mains next time the meta doesn't favor them and they say their champs need buffs. Because I guarantee they'll sound just like you do right now.
  3. If at any time the game gets too overwhelming or unfun for you, take a break or quit. There's no shame in it. If League is not fun for you the last thing you need to do is force yourself to enjoy it. I've taken a number of breaks, especially during Ardent meta because it felt impossible to kill people and if, for some reason you did, it wasn't ever meaningful.
  4. Just because you don't enjoy the experience, and that's the common consensus between a small sample size (like this forum) doesn't mean there aren't people who do. I love this meta. It's finally more rewarding to be proactive than reactive, which is as it should be. If you're more rewarded for being reactive games would stall out way too long. I'm sure there are tons of other non-disgruntled boards users that feel the same way.
  5. Welcome to the season 3 experience.

Get off riots dick. Season 3 was bad but not this bad, I played during that season. Season 3 was bad but not nearly as bad as this season and no season will ever be as bad as this season, no the best season was season 4 followed by 5. Ghostcrawler has ruined this game.

TLF brubie12/5/2018, 12:18:01 PM1 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOeBPLcYGFU Im gonna just drop this in there for people who think that oneshots etc are new to league. Old league of legends had way more egregious balance problems (worse than worlds aredent censor level bad) Black cleaver when it came out (termed league of cleavers) was so egregiously overpowered that it was arguably the correct build to build 5 of them as many champions (eg talon). Champions on release were way more overpowered (or on occasion underpowered) on release before getting hit with nerfs that make today's balance changes look nonexistent (examples include zyra, diana, rengar post-day2 hotfix, ap rengar, tank rengar, insta-triple/quadra q rengar. Champions like olaf and evelynn were given the nerf bat so hard they became literally unplayable. Evelynn in particular was made so bad that she was forced to take the revive summoner spell because she died clearing the jungle. Most metas were literally 3-4 viable champions in each role (particularly adc and jungle) and you were basically trolling if you chose anything else. Kassadin had the highest ban rate ever to exist excluding perhaps when zac's banrate was well over 100% ban rate because both teams banned him almost every game. Builds that sound weird and wrong for the game were strong and unbalanced. Atma's impaler + warmogs were so good at one point even adc's built them. And this was warmogs without warmogs heart or cdr, it literally just gave hp and hp/5. Smite top laners like shyvanna and hecarim (also homeguards 1st item hecarim because why not) because skirmishers sabre/juggernaut was super broken. Also champions like fizz, ekko, akali, katarina building tank items (fizz and ekko went trinity force tank, akali katarina literally would go sunfire +other tank items) During multiple seasons there were 2 champions on each team that didnt build items because they spent all of their gold on oracles and wards (jungler at least got some items sometimes). Supports build at 40 minutes was literally boots and sightstone.

Check out the builds season 3 world finals. The final game, the winning team's top laner had trinity force vamp scepter and item components, the jungler had locket and mobis, the adc and mid had 1.5-2 items and the support had tier 1 boots and a sightstone at 20 minutes. Not even tier 2 boots, just a sightstone. The losing jungler also only had mobi's, machete and a sighstone.

Veraska7/19/2018, 4:45:36 AM1 votes

Remember back in season 3 (pre spirit stone) you had to just pick junglers who had a lot of innate value in their kits, like zac and nasus were super busted tank junglers