The New Runes Reduce Champion Diversity

We all know that champions that have synergy with one of the new keystone runes will be stronger than champions that don't synergize particularity well with any rune. This is one of the reasons why was the best bruiser at the start of the season. She had comet while the other bruisers did not yet have a keystone. This problem can be fixed by adding new runes into the game as riot did with conqueror (even though fervor was still healthier).

But: the old rune system had another advantage over the new rune system that I do not see anyone talking about. The old rune system helped re-arrange starting stats to make non meta strategies and picks more viable. Losing the ability to chose your starting stats reduces the amount creativity in the game as a whole, while also reducing diversity in both builds and champion select. This makes the game less fun, and also increases the oppressiveness of the meta.

I used to play a lot of so I will use her for an example.

• When mages were strong ( etc.) you could go a more standard rune page on kat with mr and ap. You could then rush . With this you would try to poke them down in lane for an all in.
• When bot lane was strong you could go a movement speed quint or 2 and sacrifice some dmg to roam bot. You could also get an early . I personally did not use this strategy but I know of other kat players who did.
• When tanks were strong you could do the legendary full magic pen rune cheese (except for the armor yellows of course) and max w. You could then build tanky and proceed to shit on ad champions. If the enemy was heavy on the ap you could go for the old abyssal into instead of going armor. I am pretty sure katlife used this build to get masters in season 6. Here is a montage where he used the build. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUHaSApvYp8

The new runes simply do not allow for this level of customization and If she ever falls out of the meta, it will be much harder to adapt that it was before.

Some champions have already suffered from the lack of flexibility in the new rune system. is a great example. Without the cdr from runes she is much harder to play at higher elos and effectively bullied out of the meta. I am sure there are plenty of other examples of champions that were enabled by the old runes system.

As a man who dedicated much of his time to breaking the meta in plat elo, this season it has been a particular struggle due to the rune change.

tl:dr - The old runes system helped to make up for champion weaknesses. This lead to creative and fun builds while also allowing non meta champions to adapt to the current meta. The new rune system does not help champions who are off meta. In fact the new rune system does the opposite and make the meta more oppressive due to the fact that the old keystone masteries were simply superior in terms of flexibility and game design (ex. bruisers did fine with fervor WITHOUT removing tanks from the meta).

May we pray to riot for the old rune system back so that we may be released from the oppressive bondage of meta slavery. Those of you who had a favorite off meta rune page and build PLEASE DESCRIBE IT IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. Let us reminisce.

EDIT: The bot lane changes are a step in the right direction. The meta is shaken right now due to the changes and I support this. However I still see the same champs that I normally see (minus adcs ofc) they are just going in new lanes. They are also usually using standard builds. We would probably see more champs and builds if we had the old rune system.