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Assassins are Ruining Mid Lane Diversity

Axel Gear·12/20/2014, 4:12:03 AM·6 votes·2,264 views

I've been a mid laner for pretty much my entire League experience. It's a role in which I feel I can make the most impact for my team, while still mostly being left to my own devices. I don't have to worry about my jungler or support being good in order to win my lane, as would be the case with bot or top lane. Up until recently, I also thought the champ pool for mid lane was the most diverse. You have a couple of good jungle champions, a few decent supports, and only about 3 marksmen that are worth picking. Mid lane, however, was always a diverse experience, with a large pool of 15+ champions that could be picked and expected to carry.

Now, however, I feel like assassins have become the hard norm for mid lane. Zed, Leblanc, and Fizz in particular. Last season, I was comfortable facing against any of these champions with my favorites (Ahri, Syndra, Lux, Velkoz, Ziggs). I was sporting a 60-70% win ratio mid lane all of last season with these champions. As it currently stands, however, I am rarely winning any of my lanes against assassins. Which really bugs me, because assassins aren't supposed to be exceptional laners. They're supposed to be tricky, and act as somewhat of an "off-jungler," or a strong presence in the middle of team fights. But because most assassins now have low resource costs, high burst, high mobility, and low CD's (thanks to a slew of buffs, reversals of nerfs, item changes, map changes), they've become top tier in the mid lane. There's very little counterplay against these champions, because if you catch them out of position or harass them a bit, they can return damage so much better than you can. So you're constantly forced to farm as best you can under the tower, until they reach the power level to just dive you and jump out after you're dead.

I don't know if this is healthy for the game. I never used to go 5 games in a row seeing the same champions played mid. Now I just see the same 3 over and over, with the occasional Yasuo or counter-assassin like Morgana. Maybe I'm having a rough patch, but does anybody else feel the same? Do you think the current meta is very favorable to assassins in mid lane?

21 Comments

Sozan512/20/2014, 9:57:22 AM5 votes

Yeah, I agree.

Last time I picked Ziggs into a normal game and was fighting against Zed. And before anyone says: "Oh he was stomped by Zed and now he's crying" - I got FB and a few more kills on him and the game resulted in our victory (we didn't stomp them though, it was an even game and it was fun).

However, around 5th minute into the game I started to think: "Why would anyone ever pick Ziggs when you can pick Zed?". Both his poking and his waveclear were on par with mine, but he doesn't use mana and is much safer due to his high mobility (Ziggs have his W but it's on significantly longer CD than Zed's W).

That isn't to say you can't outplay him, but you are punished for mistakes way more harshly than he is, while he is rewarded for good plays significantly more than Ziggs.

Anyway, in short - I think Assassins should have below-average waveclear and poke (instead having a good all-in and an escape). Also, their defensive stats shouldn't be top tier (Zed - I am looking at your armor that is significantly higher than Garen's from level 2 onward) since they already have mobility to completely avoid damage.

SouL1ess12/20/2014, 4:29:04 AM2 votes

assassins aren't supposed to be exceptional laners

where did you get that idea from? Assassins can't tank the jungle damage, and actually require gold to scale (so they aren't good supports), so aside from a solo lane where else can they go?

They're supposed to...act as somewhat of an "off-jungler," or a strong presence in the middle of team fights

There is no assassins roaming as a ganker before finishing laning phase. They still require gold to acquire kill potential, they don't acquire that plainly through levels.

Assassins are not supposed to have strong teamfight presence and should be better suited toward duels or picking off lone targets, aka 1v1 scenarios. Unfortunately, this also means assassins are made to have an advantage in mid lane 1v1, while they also use their mobility to act like gankers - the "off-jungler" you are talking about. Any champion with mobility could act as a off-jungler once they have the freedom to roam, though.

They're supposed to be tricky,

Not sure what do you mean by this? If you are dying to assassins, aren't they being tricky enough?

Duroxxigar12/20/2014, 4:54:45 AM2 votes

Through all of this, I honestly find it funny how you said that you don't have to rely on your jungle like Top Lane does. There is a reason it is called "The Island"....

7ha7guy77712/20/2014, 5:20:23 AM2 votes

i highly suggest Malzahar against Zed . sure, an immobile mage isn't the best champion to play against assassins, but his kit has 2 main ways of countering them.

an up to 3 second silence. Zed's ult lasts 3 seconds. if you can land the silence right as he appears from the gap closer portion of his ult, he'll be stuck with just his autos for damage provided your ult is down. you can place the Q on yourself so he gets hit by it as soon as he appears. he'll only be able to hit you with autos and he won't be able to run using his shadows.
your ult. provided you're fighting him in a 1 on 1, if Zed ults you, all you have to do is drop Q and W on yourself and hit R when he shows up. he'll be suppressed for most of the duration of his ult and silenced for the rest if Q is max rank unlesss he bought qss. on top of that, you can build a decent amount of hp through items like RoA and Rylai's and you can buy Zhonya's

another plus, malzahar can solo dragon with minimal damage taken after finishing RoA and grabbing blue buff (if you build ap) obviously, my advice should be taken with a grain of salt because i'm unranked

Kowe The Ewok12/20/2014, 8:52:29 AM2 votes

Have to agree with the open post.

Want to play Brand? Here's a hyper mobile Zed who can dodge all of your skillshots including your ultimate by triggering his invincibility. A splitt second later he'll simply 100-0. Ow - you need a blue buff? Zed doesn't. Fk mages. This is now a Zed only lane. (Ever played Teambuilder? 90% Zed vs. Zed) Sadly we have to sacrifice a ban slot for this broken sht in draft.

Please don't start the QSS bullsht here again... Rush expensive magic resist against an enemy with high armor pen burst and DPS... It just means you die to him without him having to use R. (Or Zhonya... Zhona counters Every. Freaking. -Body.)

NewGrange12/20/2014, 2:26:30 PM2 votes

assassins?. Heimerdinger Malzahar Chogath lol

Leti the Yeti12/20/2014, 4:37:16 AM1 votes

I play safe long range poke lane bullies who totally ruin assassin mids day cuz my range is 2 to 3 times their gap closers range hah :l

Zed and Fizz havent gotten past me as Ziggs thats for sure

FiraBurn12/20/2014, 11:14:49 AM1 votes

Deal with it I mean no matter what riot do assassin will always be better than immobile mages. There's no way the meta will shift back to a diverse mid lane you use to love.

Jared Fogle Love12/20/2014, 4:40:11 AM1 votes

League of Mobility anyone? For now I would recommend buying an assassin and learn how to play as one. There is no question that the more mobile champs are the top tier of mid lane right now. Just the phase the game is in. Adapt or just wait it out until the meta changes. Those are the best options you have at the moment in my opinion.

Kuroi8612/20/2014, 11:57:51 AM1 votes

Hm, maybe it's just me, but I remember assassins took over the mid lane LONG ago, like late season 3, beginning of season 4. Then came a rolling storm of nerfs to one assassin after another. Mages have resurfaced mid lane, not dominant, but now played and viable. And some people are starting to realize that a good mage can actually win against some assassins. o.0

Drunkèn Master12/20/2014, 1:41:41 PM1 votes

Universal constant - change...that being said, I can see where your coming from, but I can't totally agree. At lower tiers sure, assassins are reigning tall, cause they can help better players carry to a win, helping facilitate them getting out of that medal. As you get higher in tier, you see a far more diversified champ selection in mid lane, where team cohesion and cc are a necessity. Like someone stated, nothing helps you better understand a champs weakness than playing them.

Rilasha12/20/2014, 4:59:27 PM1 votes

Whenever I play mid, I see Zed at least once every three games or so. It sucks because I can't lane well against Zed to save my life. @.@ Then again I lane terribly and do better the more longer the game goes. When he hits 6 he just straight up dives tower and kills me unless I'm full HP. :/

I've learned how to deal with Fizz and I actually haven't played against LeBlanc much, though this sample set is small since I only play with a premade 5 of friends.