Regarding the newest Riot Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9flvYe_DOA
First of all; Mad Kudos to Riot for wanting to keep the game fresh and trying to give us new ways of playing the game. And of course that entails opening up the rather stale meta by allowing champions to be played in various positions without just being regarded as gimmicks.
One of the things talked about is making Melee champions a viable pick bot lane and what's more important: Allowing Teamcomps to function without a Marksman pick
And I'm pretty excited about that! So, let's use this opportunity to talk not about IF's but HOW's of opening the usual carry position up for different classes!
Why are Marksmen the primary bot lane class right now?
To understand how to make other picks viable we need to first address what makes Marksmen the undisputed kings of bot lane right now;
-Objective Control/Sieging Games aren't won by simply kills alone but OBJECTIVES are usually the thing deciding a game. Be it towers, dragons, barons, you almost always need an ADC to tear them down from range
One issue that would help with tower pushing would be giving Melee champions a damage boost against structures when with their team, to allow them to siege more easily and NOT make Tryndamere a pick or ban champion
-Reliable RANGED DPS Marksmen damage is obscene, and it's both reliable and hurts a ton! They're needed to carry fights where a mage's burst combo isn't enough or when there's a need to shred beefy targets
To make them less of a necessity in these kinds of scenarios I'd revamp the way ADC's work in them becoming more based around both RELIABILITY and RANGE when it comes to their damage and not primarily how much they hurt once they finish their crit items. For Marksmen to become less of a requirement to win they need to deal less damage but be compensated in other ways, probably either durability or trying to flesh out their niches. I.E Jhin and Caitlyn as the sniper characters or Lucian/Graves as the Kiting spellslinger character
-Late game needs to become more than just the domain of Marksmen I'd change the way crit works and help open up late game to other classes by allowing them to scale better, COMPARED to marksmen. It's not about just amping up everyone's carry potential but try finding a middle ground between the classes you intend to go bot lane
#I'd go about this with a mix of both Systemic and Item changes
Allowing certain classes to go bot lane requires more than just item changes but also a slew of system adjustments. Some of the major things worth considering:
-XP gains Duo lane is primarily Marksmen territory because bruisers and mages needs LEVELS to do their job, changing how XP share functions in a duo lane and how it's acquired would be one way to allow these classes to have more early/mid game power to stand up to regular ADC's
-Objective damage and Towers Introducing debuffs or other ways to give Mages/Bruisers a way to contribute to objectives is also a way to make them on par with Marksmen' relentless Ranged dps. Taking X% more damage from melee champions or giving AP champions's AA's a %Ap component to objectives would be one way to do it
In terms of items we need to realize that Bruisers are always going to have a ranged disadvantage and items should help them amend this a bit. They struggle maneuvering through teamfights and thus I suggest changes that try remedy that. I'd COMPLETELY revamp the TENACITY stat and make it more windowed ANTI-CC effects that allow melee characters to skillfully outmaneuver CC and kiting in 5v5 scenarios.
In the same vein i'd introduce items that are tailored to this very task, giving them UNIQUE passive/actives so that they can't be stacked but provide about 3ish alternatives so one may adapt to the given circumstances. Be it situational, brief CC negation against teams with a few very powerful cc's, a persistent CC reduction effect over a longer time frame against heavy cc teams or speedup/blinks/hastes similar to Protobelt/Ghostblade against slippery teams.
As for starting items Bruisers especially struggle against ranged opponents, be it top or bot, and staring items should give them SOME defence to remedy that, though i'd make it less overbearing and more about windowed effects that allow for an interesting power dynamic between Marksmen lanes and bruiser/mage lanes.
#A Mage-Bruiser bot laner already exists though!
One that combines strengths from both melee champions and mages
I'm of course talking about MORDEKAISER
While some people still deem his rework to be a failure I've grown extremely fond of him, more so than pre rework. He was an experiment to open up botlane for other non-marksmen picks but a few issues made him fail in that regard:
-He was SHOEHORNED bot lane Riot should OPEN positions up and not force champions into a specific lane. Morde failed because he could NOT be played in a solo lane for those who prefer to play him there but with the changes in patch 6.1 this was changed Mordekaiser's rework would've been a huge success if he was released in his 6.1 state
-He was overpowered He was nerfed repeatedly after release but in 5.16 he was grossly Op, and a champion should not rely on numbers alone to be a viable pick.
When Riot goes about this on a more widespread angle, allowing MORE champions bot lane Mordekaiser would no longer be a black sheep but actually one of a few select champions that can roll bot lane instead of your usual marksman pick.
And he fits this role to a tee. He's a very selfish MELEE champion who's all about DAMAGE and DURABILITY. One that can serve as a team's main damage pump and who values objectives just as much as Marksmen due to his Dragonforce passive.
When Riot finally opens the map up more Mordekaiser will rise again with more champions to fill the same niche, no longer being a guinea pig but an actual SUPPORTED Niche pick.
Don't trust me that he works still?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/299493047899521024/404628435147816962/kda.JPG
In conclusion I am really looking forward to what Riot has in store for role diversity and I'm fully supporting this notion. It would allow for so many different team comps focusing on different playstyles and it bring more life to bot lane, the lane that has been stale for the past few seasons anyways! With marksmen no longer being the ONE bot lane carry role they could finally be allowed to be their own champions as well, being allowed to roll solo lanes like they did in season 1 and become their own class, beyond just "Yo, you go bot and you do ranged pew pew damage"
But what are your thoughts on this matter, I always enjoy discussions like these!
would be op with it, but they need a rework in the first place so they should not hold the balance of melees in hostage
adc regularly, and it is completely viable if you have a half decent support. His biggest issue is that he doesn’t do major add burst late game like most ADCs, and he has no mobility except the haste on w.
