Banning Off Meta Champions

Ap2626·Jun 8, 2017·4 votes·887 views

I have been playing a lot of Akali lately and last game I got jungle and decided to play her there (yes, I have tried it before). I showed my team that I was going to play her and she immediately got banned by my own teammate probably because it is "off meta". I picked her just because we needed more ap damage. I feel like this is not the purpose of a ban phase as it should be used to prevent strong champions, lane counters, or team comp counters from appearing on the enemy team. It is not like a random bard ban to prevent ult trolls... they can clearly see who you are going to play and ban accordingly. I understand that RIOT preventing the banning of champions that have been shown by an ally could result in some issues(ex. someone shows a champ that they really don't want to play just because they feel like it and now it can't get banned), but I feel like it is really difficult to bring an off meta champion into the game now that 4 other teammates have the choice of preventing it.

TL;DR - I don't think people should have the power to prevent others on their OWN team from playing the champion that they want.

Thanks, Ap2626

24 Comments

420 gramsJun 8, 20172 votes

I always play kalista with smite and ignite when someone bans my pick because I assume that means they want me to mess around and not play what I'm good with. Although if you're jungle, tp might be better than smite.

Kirius DarkJun 8, 20172 votes

You troll picked and forced your own team to fix it. Your fault for making them waste a ban

Off meta doesnt mean picking some shit that doesnt belong in that role. Off meta isnt going ADC raka which is a jackass troll pick, off meta is going ADC trist who belongs in that role but isnt in the meta strong picks

Ap2626Jun 8, 20172 votes

But Akali jungle is not a "jackass troll pick", it is actually decently strong and has the ability to carry...but going back to my point above^^ that should not be the point of the ban phase...

DeathBurstJun 8, 20172 votes

What you're saying in this post right here? It's bullshit.

What's the difference between Akali Jungle and Elise Jungle? Not a lot. Elise has more CC, but Akali has more burst, they both have similar levels of durability and mobility, they are both AP. Elise is meta, Akali is not. But picking Akali isn't a troll pick. Especially not if it's your main champ and you can actually pull more than your own weight with it, whereas you don't know how to play Elise.

And based on your own reasoning, we would have never got Ziggs bot, it would always have been considered a Troll pick. Except it was played at the top competitive level...

Bullshit...

DrCyanideJun 8, 20172 votes

So close, and yet so wrong...

Your Tristana example is only considered "off meta" if you're looking at the professional scene. Tristana is a Marksman, she's played ADC about 99% of the time. No one would look at you playing Tristana ADC and say "wow, that guy's really going off meta!"

An actual off meta pick, such as AP Ezreal Mid, Sion Support, or Lucian Mid (recently adapted as "meta" because some Pros did it) is a pick where you take a champion and play them in some position or in some way that they aren't typically played. BUT you do so because you think there's a distinct advantage in playing that champion that way. AP Ezreal trades a lot of his safety for higher burst damage and devastating ultimate damage. Playing AP Draven is trolling (not off meta) because there's no advantage to it.

Back to the Akali Jungle, there is actually a lot of merit to the idea. It skips her weak laning phase (where she's most likely to be set behind) and makes it harder for the enemy team to track her location, making her roams/ganks more effective. In exchange for this, she levels up a little slower (Jungle XP vs Solo Lane XP) and needs to manage the jungle agro she takes (personal skill). That sounds like the definition of a good off meta pick!

Zykklon BJun 8, 20171 votes

What about One Tricks doe

Is it troll to play Blitz jg?

Are you gonna ban my only champ I play?

Kirius DarkJun 8, 20173 votes

yes x2

Zykklon BJun 8, 20171 votes

and lower your chances of winning then report me because your dumbass made me play a champ i dont play?

DrCyanideJun 8, 20171 votes

Why don't you know how to play at least 1 champion in each role? "I'm a One Trick" isn't an excuse not to have a backup plan, and you know Auto Fill/Bans/Enemy Picks exists, you need a backup plan.

Zykklon BJun 8, 20172 votes

When the enemy does it its understandable and yes I do have other picks such as Mord/Urgot/Pantheon for situations like that

Now if your own teammate bans your pick when you have it hovered then its not really fair

DrCyanideJun 8, 20171 votes

It sucks when an ally bans your champion, yeah, but your reaction is the same - pick up your backup plan. The only thing that has changed is your impression of your teammates.

Ap2626Jun 8, 20171 votes

I understand that....this is exactly what I did in my situation...My point is that this should not happen in the first place.

DrCyanideJun 8, 20171 votes

It shouldn't happen in the first place and there should be no need to do it in the first place. But sadly there are cases for both.

I, for one, will always ban new champions in Ranked for a patch or two, regardless of what you hover. I am not willing to forfeit that right just so I'm immune to my champion being banned by my team while I hover it.

Ap2626Jun 8, 20171 votes

I realize that, but my point is more against people target banning a player for being off meta...yes that is another side-effect of not allowing people to ban hovered champs, but the way I see it, it is not a major loss as for the most part, the people who are willing to take a champion into ranked have experience with it (unless they are trolling in which case they would do the same thing with another champion). If anything, banning someone's champ (especially on your own team) tilts them unnecessarily.

Ap2626Jun 8, 20171 votes

TBH I would consider blitz jungle a "troll pick", however I would not ban him if my teammate hovered it...I would either assume they are just hovering a random champ or that they are good enough with the champion in that role seeing as they chose to play it in ranked.

Zykklon BJun 8, 20171 votes

I been playing Urgot top, teams have wanted to ban it LUL

So ik how it goes

Zykklon BJun 8, 20171 votes

Plus when I get mid I always ask for top if they deny me top then Ill play my top champ on the mid lane which is Singed Singed

Sometimes they ban it and get mad i do bad on some other champ which is funny tbh

Other then that I hope Rakan is viable mid, if this happens again

ShahamutJun 8, 20171 votes

Suggestion: don't show your off meta picks during ban phase, unless you believe it likely to be banned

Ap2626Jun 8, 20171 votes

Agreed, but the point of showing your pick is so that your team can potentially change their team comp to go well with it...your team should not be able to ban YOUR champion just because they don't like it

ShahamutJun 8, 20171 votes

It's solo queue... I don't trust my team to build a comp with me anyway... :-P

Not that it never happens.

But I once firsy picked AD mid lane, the watched as Lee jungle, trynd top, jhin and bard bot.

Needless to say, we have no real AP threat, no engage, no tanks, and limited cc... We got rolled after lane phase.

Lucian WaifuJun 8, 20171 votes

Yeah that player is a jerk. I have played zyra jungle even in ranked and never was that banned away from me. BTW is have a 75% win rate on her jungle so it does work.

R18Jun 8, 20171 votes

It's jerky, but it should be allowed. If you someone first timing Urgot in ranked wouldn't you ban it? Of course.

I feel you though. I play quite a few off meta picks in ranked and it sucks when they get banned, but I just suck it up.

Ap2626Jun 8, 20171 votes

Yes, but for all you know this guy is a challenger Urgot one trick god (obv not just making a point) <---- I mean you have no idea how skilled the player is with that champion. I would rather have an Urgot one trick on my team playing Urgot than forcing him to play another champion that he is horrible at. Also, back to what I said in my original post, the ban phase should be to prevent champions from appearing on the enemy team instead of target banning your own teammates.

R18Jun 9, 20171 votes

Op.gg exists...

If someone locks in azir and has a 0% winrate with that champ over 4 games, i will ban it. Think of it this way. By banning that champion, I prevent a bad experience for 4 players, at the cost of 1 player who wouldve lost.