A reason why most hate Damage Meta over Tank Meta

WARNING: This is my opinion and I had to get it out. You are free to agree or disagree with me, so read on.

A lot more people on these forums talk about being one-shotted these days; and that might be the biggest problem about Season 8’s design philosophy. However, I do have worse nightmares about the Tank Meta: how new Chogath, Braum and new Maokai were the best of the best a season ago. I do remember struggling against those three in an in-game tournament last year, and it was no fun at all.

But from what I have seen and analyzed, people hate damage more than tank. The reason: more damage, in Riot’s eyes, might bring more satisfaction, yet instead, the ones on the receiving end bring more frustration, enough to vent and express it towards others on a stream or a forum. And with new Dark Harvest fueling the fire, it was only a matter of time.

However, I will always fear the tank Meta over the damage Meta. The damage Meta is something that, in my personal experience, can either be outplayed your opponent, or fought back with fighting fire with fire. And if my skills are unfortunately not enough, then it frustrates me, but it also teaches me to formulate plans and adapt to the opponent’s gameplay, like Street Fighter laning phase style. Yes, there are bad sides, like the bounty system for one and dying more due to the increased damage means that you can’t play the game more often. Plus, I thought the fights were more exciting and skill-based, and the pressure was enough to make me excited.

Tank Metas on the other hand, feel like a slow-moving, unstoppable glacier. Not only does the game move so much slower, the fights and pace also feel drawn out. Assassins barely had ways to stop the unnerfed carries (‘‘twas the time of neutered Rengar and unremarkable Leblanc) and peelers were all the rage. But what kills me most is the fact that comebacks were almost impossible to pull off, and when one side has the gold advantage for tanky items, it is almost a guaranteed loss. So not only do I feel frustrated, I also lose any sense of hope of winning as the game drags on.

The reason why Riot wanted to walk the damage Meta route was because 2017’s World’s was so agonizingly boring. Players rarely got kills, tanks just slapped each other in top lane, and peeler supports and junglers stopped any sort of skirmishes and team fights, until someone makes a mistake. Essentially put, EVERYBODY played safe.

And there’s the key word: safe. Playing safe means that you won’t have to die often. Thereby not dying means not giving the enemy the advantage and not trading with the enemy means not getting killed yourself, thereby letting you play the game for a longer amount of time. If that is what most people want from League of Legends, then I seriously hope you’re ready for long drawn out games.

TL;DR: Sure, damage metas are terrible, but in my honest opinion, tank metas are worse. Everyone hates the damage Meta because fucking up means dying and not playing while dead sucks. But I will always abhor tank metas for making the game so slow paced and safe through peeling just makes me lose energy and hope for winning a game. Riot made a good decision for bidding damage in the game. It’s just the other decisions like gutting ADC items and making mobility so plentiful that also make me sometimes dislike the game.

But what do you guys prefer? A damage Meta? Or a tank Meta?