It's funny how people label this an assassin meta when winrate charts say otherwise

HateDaddy·Nov 23, 2016·48 votes·3,410 views

Have a nice healthy dose of AP mages to round out your top 15. We threw in a carry and a freakishly weird off tank mage. We actually haven't had an assassin meta since the end of season 3. This game has been dominated by ADCs, tanks and mages. Rarely has anything else been able to compete with that.

But hey, yknow, gutting locket and not nerfing items like void staff to compensate would probably not be a good idea. Check your privilege mages.

116 Comments

JbelsNov 23, 201637 votes

It's not really an assassin meta because Assassins are strong or anything (I mean, Rengar is stupid, but that's besides the point). It's kind of an artificial meta, where the reason assassins are seeing so much play is because they are just popular. It's a fad, and all fads fade

Nameless VoiceNov 23, 201616 votes

More to the point, it's an "assassin meta" because all the assassins have just been changed and everyone wants to try them out.

Jax CramerNov 23, 201624 votes

I laugh at every Talon ban.

ConturbatioNov 23, 20168 votes

He's just fun to play, but not broken, I've played against him many times since the rework and I don't understand why anyone would think that he's banworthy.

Miror BNov 23, 20163 votes

{quoted}

He's just fun to play, but not broken, I've played against him many times since the rework and I don't understand why anyone would think that he's banworthy.

If you want a really fun one, irelia into him is actually not that bad. Not only can you solo kill him at lv4 (even earlier if you take ignite, I take TP still though for "mind games" ), but I think people are forgetting just how annoying she is fed.

EedatNov 23, 20165 votes

I dont. I was recently in a ranked game in high plat ELO and our team had a Talon. He absolutely dominated. Everyone (including Talon himself) was going on about how busted Talon was currently lol. Same goes for Kat. She has a low win rate, yet everyone who actually plays Kat says she is broken OP

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/2348954634/209139549?tab=overview

Troll for TrumpNov 23, 201615 votes

Talon isn't super strong. He has a lot more laning prescence, and a higher chance to win lane, but far from busted.

Real issue is rengar. Literally first timing him and button mashing andn still killing everything

Spice POWAHNov 24, 20162 votes

Talon's real strength is that he can gank pretty much whenever and wherever he wants.

lolouieNov 24, 20164 votes

[{quoted}](name=Spice POWAH,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vKTBRrWH,comment-id=0002000100000000,timestamp=2016-11-24T04:19:14.466+0000)

Talon's real strength is that he can gank pretty much whenever and wherever he wants.

Only in lower elos where

NO Mia's are called
No wards
and NO fks given (srs doe, u gotta be honest. this is true)

MrStealYoGanksNov 24, 20161 votes

No wards are the reason most people don't make it out of low elo hell, if Riot started banning supports in low elo that refused to buy sightstone, half of low elo would disappear in a day at least half.

Granted everyone can ward in low elo, it is sad how many supports refuse to grab sightstone and then wonder why enemy Rengar has 17 kills. Also people not upgrading trinkets.

lolouieNov 24, 20163 votes

{quoted}

No wards are the reason most people don't make it out of low elo hell, if Riot started banning supports in low elo that refused to buy sightstone, half of low elo would disappear in a day at least half.

Granted everyone can ward in low elo, it is sad how many supports refuse to grab sightstone and then wonder why enemy Rengar has 17 kills. Also people not upgrading trinkets.

Well first of all, there is no such thing as elo hell. I think the rank system is pretty accurate. You dont ever see pros "stuck in elo hell".

But still, that proves the original point of why Talon is only "OP" in lower elos, since higher elo do tend to ward more, has better map awareness, calls MIAs more, listens to teams more, and rage less.

LA LostyNov 24, 20162 votes

Besides people always talk about how busted a champion is when someone do well with them for the first time. If you play Talon for the first time and do well even though the enemy has no idea how to play against him -> he is busted. If you do poorly -> he is gutted and Riot ruined the champion with the rework. Its annoys me so much when people jump to conclusions.

Automated RivenNov 23, 201615 votes

It is an assassin meta. The team with the assassin loses.

Edge of DaybreakNov 23, 20168 votes

When I see people ban talon, katarina, and fizz I cry for how delusional people are about what is actually strong right now.

invisiblecat1Nov 24, 20161 votes

Fizz is actaully good Kata can be strong Talon is annoying to face

Edge of DaybreakNov 24, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Fizz is actually good Kata can be strong Talon is annoying to face

Fizz is basically where ap ekko was before the rework where it fails way more often than it succeeds so why play him over a mage? Kat can be strong yes but anything can be strong once you get fed. For the majority of the time she's bad. Talon while annoying isnt strong. Some of his hardest counters are the roles he was meant to fight. That's tragic.

AirKingNeoNov 24, 20168 votes

Realistically it's a CoC meta, support meta (Locket, Redemption).

JackMcSnipeyzNov 24, 20168 votes

Meta means what people play now.

Im an ADC main, and let me tell you - There are a TON of assassins running top, mid, jungle.

Ofc with higher playrate, you also get lower winrates, especially after reworks.

People say kat is garbage, but i've had the plesure of fighting a good one, and let me tell you - she's 10x slippier and flexible

Gregor GysiNov 24, 20162 votes

It's crazy dude, I have an ADC on every team ins LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE GAME.

some in jgl, mid and top occasionally. And sort the list by playrate.. 2 assassins in the top 15 (not including Riven) and 6 ADCs.. Also, there are 4 ADCs in the Top 5.

LA LostyNov 24, 20165 votes

I believe that Meta stands for "Most effective tactic available" so its not neccesarily what people play the most, however that is often the case due to good players using the most viable strats and champs, and people following those players. So your definition of Meta is slightly incorrect. :p

kamikazephyrNov 23, 20167 votes

And Janna this bitch, who's had a top 10 winrate since fucking season 4 lmao

But she's a healthy champion so everyone's cool with it (I'm too)

Big LincolnNov 23, 20164 votes

no she isn't lol

kamikazephyrNov 23, 20164 votes

[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vKTBRrWH,comment-id=00070000,timestamp=2016-11-23T23:48:15.962+0000)

no she isn't lol

She's traded all of her damage over the years + her cooldowms have only increased. Her passive was gutted too. She literally deals the least amount of damage averagely per game of every champion sans soraka. She really isn't that huge of a problem lol

Big LincolnNov 24, 20163 votes

who cares about her damage when she shuts down any attempt at diving a carry. God forbid you picked an immobile melee; you'll be doing nothing but pushing side lanes

kamikazephyrNov 24, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vKTBRrWH,comment-id=0007000000000000,timestamp=2016-11-24T00:11:32.667+0000)

who cares about her damage when she shuts down any attempt at diving a carry. God forbid you picked an immobile melee; you'll be doing nothing but pushing side lanes

I just meant that there isn't really a lot more they can do to her except make her completely unplayable tbh Her kit is just too godlike as a support. I'm fine with it (I may or may not be biased...)

Supreme Senpai69Nov 24, 20164 votes

On the other hand if the team/ADC is bad then you're literally useless unlike Zyra or Sona supports. I played a lot of Janna in ranked and noticed a good ADC can be invincible with Janna but a bad ADC takes the support down with him when you choose Janna

LA LostyNov 24, 20161 votes

Yeah as Janna you probably rely more on your adc than some other supports. That being said i dont have much respect for Janna mains. I think every single pro i have watched has stated at some point that Janna is "brainless", he kit is simple and she doesnt have to do much to be usefull. I think its kinda the same deal with Soraka but to a lesser extend. I dislike playing against Soraka way more than Janna though. To me both of them have always seemed really strong for the amount of skill it actually takes to play the champion.

Supreme Senpai69Nov 25, 20161 votes

I'd say they're sorta like Master Yi in that yea, he is a braindead champion. You don't have to be good to be good at Master Yi. Even so, a good Master Yi can Q through a Lux ultimate for example. I've gotten double kills on Janna using my ult to push enemies back under tower after a failed dive, or pushed them into my team's Nidalee's spear that would have missed. Janna can just brainlessly spam E and win and it's annoying, but she can also make sure Zac never lands an E in the entire game.

It's just unfortunate because a pro Janna and a bronze Janna can do very different things but at the end of the day it won't heavily affect the outcome of the game. That's bad for both ends of the spectrum. Every role/champion should be able to help win instead of just riding along with the predetermined outcome of the game, and no role/champion should be able to make a good teammate invincible.

Janna feels like a carbon copy of her ADC in that if he's good Janna will be good and if he's bad Janna will be bad. It's unhealthy in my opinion but maybe others don't share that opinion which is fine

LA LostyNov 25, 20161 votes

I agree, Champions such as Janna and Yi are very simple and easy to do well with, but a good Yi and Janna still have some mechanics and plays that they can pull off. Its just annoying how easy it is to be effective with them. Take Yi for example, he can dodge abilities with his Q or block dmg with his W, those are his 2 only decently hard mechanics. Now compare that to a Vayne Q. She can only move a short distance in 1 direction. Yi on the other hand can dodge every single incomming skillshot for a short duration while he completely dissapears from the map and he just has to click on someone, not even choose direction. The difference between a good and a bad Vayne is much bigger than that between a good and a bad Yi, and its so much easier to be effective with Yi if you are inexperienced.

RainbowIceeNov 24, 20162 votes

just because she cock blocks you doesn't mean she's broken at all. She's a viable support. but she has weaknesses.

dominusxNov 24, 20161 votes

she doesnt do dmg? ohh weakness any adc with an iq of 10+ is immortal with Janna on the team she is cancer.

Supreme Senpai69Nov 25, 20162 votes

So like 1% of ADCs?

dominusxNov 25, 20162 votes

hehehe i already like you.

Dasdi96Nov 24, 20166 votes

Well guess what, mages had it extremely rough last season with the stereaks+maw abuse.

HateDaddyNov 24, 20164 votes

{quoted}

Well guess what, mages had it extremely rough last season with the stereaks+maw abuse.

And yet they were still picked frequently and that was for a few patches.

Ariel the CruelNov 24, 20165 votes

"Meta" just means what is seeing play.

Personally, I'm ok with assassins not being dominate. Every meta has had it's issues. But the Assassin meta (in my opinion) was by far the most toxic.

Gregor GysiNov 24, 20162 votes

Nope. The most toxic was the Mundo+Shyvana meta in preseason 4 iirc. Or maybe the PvE waveclear mage meta (season 4 aswell iirc, worst season ever).

PennsNov 23, 20164 votes

Top laners complain about ranged champs even tho there are more than enough melee champs strong/op now with cotc up there. Meanwhile there wasnt 1 viable melee mid laner worth picking over a mage since Rylais/Mage meta became a thing lul

GULAG 4 UNov 23, 20167 votes

Yasuo Zed were pretty good actually.

PennsNov 23, 20162 votes

Yasuo was alright maybe because its Yasuo but Zed.. meh.

GULAG 4 UNov 23, 20162 votes

Actually now that i think about it, he was very strong in the top lane, and a strong pick in mid. Zed was stronk against returds that weren't building hourglass, and he was mostly banned because it's pretty fcking stupid to play against, so my point is partly invalid.

SteelflameNov 24, 20163 votes

Most people didn't like Zed because he forces you to build to counter him exclusively in mid lane. And doing that just left him very able to roam. Effectively, you build Hourglass, he just roamed bot after shoving you in twice and your OOM. You build Morello, he kills you, then shoves your wave in and destroys your tower instead. You build to survive, then he just ignores you while shoving your wave in repeatedly thanks to being energy constrained only, you build to stop the roam, he just kills you because you're made of paper.

AstôlfoNov 23, 20164 votes

lmao who needs a squishy single-target skill-reliant champion that needs to get into point-blank range to even attempt at hoping to kill a squishy when you can just get a semi-bulky (HP AP items) long-range AoE CC-loaded burst mage?

IpressbuttonNov 24, 20165 votes

You mean the ones that need to aim their abilities and not point and click melee?

GemCrashNov 24, 20164 votes

We don't care. You assassin players can sit on 10% win rate and still nobody will like you.

Cosmic WarperNov 24, 20163 votes

Privilege? The MYMU was net neutral to bad for classic mages and a buff to sustained damage mages + syndra. Item diversity went down and rylai's + morello's became core after a month or so on everyone because of how busted the item is. Mages are probably the largest class of champs in league. The class can't be allowed to be bad because every mage has unique utility to bring to the fight and magic damage is necessary in a composition. I don't see how that's a problem, but ok. You act as if locket has been nerfed when in fact it's been buffed. Sure the aura is gone, but the team-wide shield has been buffed to give insane amounts of shielding. Auras provide hidden power, and riot doesn't like that at all. That's why sona has been reworked, abyssal was changed, and now locket.

Cloud273Nov 24, 20163 votes

If you look at their win rates, almost all of them have AT LEAST a 50% win rate in challenger (except Katarina). Leblanc is currently the worst at 66% win rate, and she's played more than all of them. So yes I consider this an assassin meta.

http://na.op.gg/statistics/champion/

AptestNov 24, 20163 votes

Assassins are: The single most picked group of champions. The single most banned group of champions.