Boards›Player Behavior

Off-Meta Picks

71771675_DEL·5/11/2016, 6:53:03 PM·9 votes·2,492 views

I'm so fucking sick of people complaining in the lobby whenever I put that I want a champion not considered 'meta' for my role. So many League players are completely obsessed with "what is meta" that they just assume an off-meta pick will cause the team to lose, and proceed to bash anyone who wants to try something new and interesting. Even before ever discovering Disco Heat, my friend and I enjoyed a duo botlane with me playing Rengar ADC and him playing Blitz support, with which we usually experienced great success. For the past several days now, I've been experimenting with ADC's top, and in almost every lobby, some jerk immediately starts questioning my desire and I've had my champion banned by my own team on multiple occasions just I don't want to play them in the usual, ordinary, disinteresting role. I've even been reported for having an off-meta pick. Honestly such a large portion of the League community has forgotten how to actually have fun, and they're ruining the game for others too. I feel like one of the report options should be to report someone for harassment over an off-meta pick.

22 Comments

Firu5/11/2016, 7:34:20 PM6 votes

If you were punished, it wasn't because you picked an off-meta champion. It was probably because your team got upset with you and then you got upset back at them. Thus it was the behavior and interaction with your team that got you punished. Not your champion pick.

I would just pick your champion and ignore your teammates if you can. If you can't, just mute them as soon as the match begins. I personally have no problem with off-meta picks but many players do get upset at them (especially in Ranked). Unfortunately, you just need to expect some level of apprehension and know that you CANNOT respond back to their anger with toxicity of your own.

scazzman5/11/2016, 7:59:09 PM3 votes

in my experience there is a difference between playing off meta. and taking soraka with ghost smite and building full ad. an assassin botlane. i wouldnt play it in ranked unless you're in a premade. but as long as you're not feeding. i wouldnt care. same with an adc top

Kei1435/11/2016, 7:11:09 PM3 votes

if you are doing off meta, don't hover your picks.

when they b!tch, just say "let the game do the talking" and most the time they shut up. Of course, have some skills to back it up as well.

I do creative picks as well when I'm bored. JG / support Urgot are my popular examples. But with 6.9 right now, I really wanna do Jg ziggs. But I can never get my first clear right to do that. So I'll have to practice a few more times in custom games first before bringing him out.

BudgetMessiah5/15/2016, 12:22:17 PM2 votes

One thing to recognize about "bot lane revolution" and "AP Doge" is that, while they aren't conventional, they are viable...to a degree. AP Nasus is like AD Renekton: he's a bully, but if he doesn't make plays and earn kills, he has a sharp fall-off. The ADC Rengar you see is more about the support Thresh (offering CC, tanking towers, and providing lantern escapes) than the Rengar (although his bush-leap mechanic and snares are important facets to his viability).
Contrast this with a post I read on this very board earlier this morning: ADC Braum. That's not even kind of useful. That sort of "off-meta" pick should be punishable. It's the same thing as running down mid lane: you are purposely throwing the game.
I have no problem with off-meta picks that are made in good faith. Idiotic trolls who hide behind the 'break the meta' concept with choices that can only fail make me hate this game.

runedara5/11/2016, 10:36:08 PM2 votes

Think the flip side of that is some people want to practice things in normals before ranked. People get mad when people try to learn champions in ranked. Then when you go to normals people do weird things like syndra jungle.

Billybaroo23145/12/2016, 1:43:41 AM2 votes

I don't mind off meta picks, one of my duo queue partners does it quite often mid and in bot lane. I don't mind when I'm the sup and we know what we are doing. Thing is, yes he gets flamed for it, and just saying the game do the talking is enough. Most people though have had bad experiences with people going "off meta" in ranked that led to a loss. This is why people hate seeing a shaco mid, or a rengar sup. People who play ranked would like to win if possible and playing against the grain sometimes is frowned upon.

If you want to play Sivir top "because it's so fun" then do it in normals, if you play it in ranked, expect people to question it, but if you carry most won't worry about it. Just don't think going 13/3/5 and giving away top lane and losing the game because "I tried to carry and got kills" but not protecting an objective is cool also. There is a lot wrong with people's attitudes in ranked at moment, and people are tired of trying to play in a competitive atmosphere and improve their skills and ranked, to be stuck with so many trolls.

It's not just off meta that is the problem, you just sometimes get the backlash because of the trolls man.

stealthfox945/12/2016, 1:49:06 AM2 votes

Most people won't like the idea of Rengar bot lane. It is by nature somewhat trollish.

Unfortunate Game5/13/2016, 10:49:18 AM2 votes

Heres my view on meta vs off meta. I believe you should be able to play whatever you want (ranked or not). I play ahri jungle and my winrate with her in the jungle is 70%+, I play a lot of orianna, syndra, katarina, lulu, etc. jungle.

I have zero problem, but in order to do this you need to be not totally bad at that spot.

My most recent ranked game I had an annie top, ahri jungle (me), dr mundo support. The annie top had no map awareness, did not move to follow/match renekton, and ended up feeding him uncontrollably. The mundo brought fervor of battle and it was his very first ranked game (in a gold elo game), so it was quite strange and unlucky to say the least. But the point im making is, some people troll with off meta picks, and some people (like me) take it seriously and actually try to play other than feeding/trolling.

Most people who do go off meta do troll, and you really need to realize this, so it puts people off, especially the "meta slaves".

But thats no reason to take harass from them. Let them know that youre confident in your off meta pick and that youll try to secure a victory. Pretty simple. If you happen to be consistent with it and do well, tell them if they care so much about it to look up your match history.

Im super confident in my off meta jungle picks so I normally just dont worry about what other monkeys think of me.

OnlyTheSpiciest5/15/2016, 12:03:45 PM2 votes

Yes off meta picks are ok in my book because I do occasionally do them, but also people have to look at the composition of the team. I had a team where they wanted to do kat bot however we had 0 range we were all melee's. It would have been better if the kat had picked an adc and starts raging at me how I wanted to do Illaoi support. Which yes she is non traditional, but it works if you play tank Illaoi. :)

SonaTitsAndAss5/11/2016, 7:02:32 PM1 votes

sigh how about just getting a group of friends to play with? or are you so hostile that when someone goes "are you sure" that you have no friends? as for off meta picks do you know what meta means? it means most effective tactic available. This can change from case to case because it could be the champ you best on or the champion that currently is busted as fuck. However deliberately picking something overly weak is not consisted meta. And for a game that is literately nothing but a pro scene and competition its fair to see why people dont like you playing stuff like an adc top unless it has a cause for not being bot like Graves and Quinn .

Soldier of 4Jhin5/12/2016, 5:02:32 AM1 votes

Feels bad man people question my jhin mid and even ban me out so im forced to play the only other champ that im good with that i can 100% carry and that is lucian like at least look at my stats before talking shit about me

Ada Wong5/12/2016, 12:46:23 PM1 votes

I still debate about how everyone thinks Blitzcrank and Thresh are the most useful supports in the game when going (ALL IN) not (PULLING) or (Kiting.) Directly into fights then ask (WHY ARE WE LOSING FIGHTS???)

4th Chiming Lamb5/11/2016, 7:53:04 PM1 votes

The next time someone bitches at you for not choosing a meta pick, ask them this:

"So, since you're so sure that this is off-meta, do you want to tell me what the meta is?" Append this to it, maybe: "And not who I should choose, tell me what the current meta for the game is."

aj502 Oneill5/11/2016, 8:08:37 PM1 votes

Sivr top is fun. ;)

Lothàrs Edge5/11/2016, 8:51:43 PM1 votes

Yeah it's kinda funny to see people calling you a troll/retard/etc and then having them feed half way through the game or right away, while still being able to blame you somehow because it's our fault for picking something that lead to their death in some way.

DorkunedAuras5/12/2016, 1:52:22 PM1 votes

Just do what I do. Silence the haters by decimating your lane and creating global havoc and confusion. Top'Sai FTW

71883083DEL15/13/2016, 2:47:41 AM1 votes

People really just like to use and abuse, don't let it phase you kk? :)

Have fun with the game