Midgame needs to be a viable, but non-OP strat again

XinZhao2WinNhao·Aug 10, 2019·1 votes·604 views

In the previous patch, there were 2 types of strategies.

Early game is mostly RNG and who gets their nobles/knights at level 2 before the others so I won't discuss it. But for winning, there are midgame and endgame strategies.

Endgame comps like 4 ninja/6 assassins, 6 nobles + carry, that are weak early and mid game but dominate the end game. If you can survive that far, you'll probably get 1st or 2nd, but you might also die early 7th or 8th if you don't survive that far. With this build, your goal is to hit level 8 or 9 and then roll for the tier 4 and 5 champs. It's high risk high reward.

Midgame comps like brawlers+voli carry or other builds that don't rely on getting a tier 4 or 5 to 2 star that are strong mid game but fall off late game. With these comps, you'll likely either place 4th or 5th, with some chance at 3rd or 6th. You're supposed to stay at level 6 or 7 and reroll for those 3 star 1 cost champs or those 2 star 3 cost champs. Chances are you'll never hit level 8, becuase you'll die before then, savoring your 4th place finish. Low risk low reward.

But nowadays, in this new patch, the midgame strategy does not work at all, I used to main carry until I switched to 6 nobles because the Voli carry just wasn't working. If you stay at level 6 or 7 and start using up all of your rerolls then, you are guaranteed a 7th or 8th place. In all of my games (plat 4), the top 6 players would be at level 8 with a late game comp once they hit 30 hp. The HP is also very close, with 6th place and 3rd place having a difference of less than 20 HP. 1st and 2nd may be a bit higher, like 60 or 70 when everyone else is at 30.

So, everyone is leveling up to 8 and 9, which makes RNG and luck a much bigger factor in deciding who wins as everyone is going for the same 4/5 cost champions (Draven, Chogath, Kayle and Karthus being the big ones). Also, the guy with the Yordles who matches up against the Sorc team vs the guy with the Yordle comp matching up against the Assassin team can decide who's 6th and who's 2nd, and there's no way a player can influence that.

Also, Void Brawlers used to be a strat that fell off late game, but now is OP into the late game, which gives it no weaknesses.

What's the way to fix it?

In my opinion, players die too late and take too little damage in the midgame. Early game damage should be nerfed as it's literally just RNG of who gets nobles and knights. But midgame damage (damage after 3-4 carousel) should be increased. That's when no matter what RNG deals you, you can come up with a working comp by then, unless you're super unlucky.

I hear is getting another nerf. Karthus 2 isn't the problem. The problem is that the player sitting on 50 gold leveling up to 9 to reroll for that Karthus 2 isn't risking enough. That's why Karthus wasn't a problem before this patch. In the previous patch, the guy rerolling for Karthus would have been long dead, and if somehow he is skilled enough to not die with 50 gold in the bank as he tries to level up to 9, he really deserves the win.

Leveling up to 9 should be very risky and difficult and most players should die on their way there, but if you are skilled enough to get to 9 without dying you should be rewarded by for example having a slot in the champion shop be reserved for tier 5 only.

2 Comments

XhandelAug 10, 20191 votes

Thats exactly wht they wanted to fix in the first place, players were taking so much damage, that, by the time you could complete a 6 man comp, you could be at 10 or fewer hp, thing that could net you a bottom 4 if you couldnt grip very good items to endure. The problem is not late game nor mid game not that, the problem are some combinations of items, compositions and champions that makes the game very unfun no matter the phase of the game, Last game i was playing a wild comp, not even the brawlers one, just a common wild + 3 man sorcerers + 3 man assasins splash (7 man comp with yuumi on gnar). I was able to pull a 3* rengar with BT, GA and RFC. At some point, againsta full brawlers comp, he was the only one surviving, revived by the GA, against 1 rek sai, 1 ahri and 1 lissandra, all of them 3*, and 1 cho 2*, all of them at full health and with items... he soloed the 4 of them.

Hell, even items like GA are not the problem, the problem is the design of the game mechanics, why the ults of some champions remain on the reviving time, like kennens ult or swains ult? why do everyone retain the mana they had the moment they are killed for then being revived?

To me, the biggest offenders right now are the combination of void comp, rengar, GA, yuumi, and the glacials stun. It doesnt matter if its early, mid or late game, you will have a very not fun time against any of those combinations.

XinZhao2WinNhaoAug 10, 20191 votes

by the time you could complete a 6 man comp, you could be at 10 or fewer hp

If there's a fix for this it should be to lower early game damage (let's say, players take 50% damage before 1st carousel and 75% damage before 2nd carousel, and then full damage after that) rather than lowering mid-game damage which is what Riot did when they nerfed damage from the 3 cost champs and 4 cost champs.

But I have to say that I've never had this problem in the past.

On the old patch, I played people from Silver to Plat and no player, bar those who DCed due to bugs that used to prevent the client from loading into the game (credit where credit is due, thank you Riot for fixing this) or those who are just super duper unlucky (about 1 in 20 games or so, so about 1 in 160 players) die before they can have a somewhat working level 6 comp unless they're just not playing properly. It may not be winning material, but top 6 is pretty much guaranteed for those who play properly. The ones who don't just made several mistakes. Maybe they reroll too much early game and not leveling up and then rerolling once the 3g units are attainable so they just have 1 and 2g units vs other teams with their Chogaths, Aatroxes and Volibears, but that's on them and not on the system. I climbed from silver to plat on the old patch and yeah sometimes I have games where all I can do is get 5th or 6th, but never have I been so unlucky that the only thing I can do is get 7th or 8th unless I misplayed. In general though, usually 3-5 players are dead by the time the average player reaches Level 7, so it is much more viable to make a comp that forces top 4 just by deleting those 3-5 players quickly before they can hit their spike.

Part of the strategy was deleting other players before they have a chance to come up with something useful.

On this patch, however, at least 6 or 7 players per game at least survive to level 8 and the difference between 2nd and 6th might just be 20 hp and there's nothing you can do to kill them before they hit their spike and finish their core build. From there on, it's just RNG because in Plat at least, by level 8 everyone has a working comp that has a useful synergy, so it's literally getting lucky by being matched up against the guys you can beat while not being matched against the ones who counter your comp. Your Yordle comp is up against the sorcs? Too bad. Your Yordle comp is up against the Assassins, well lucky you, you went from 6th place to 2nd. Your Draven comp is against the tanks and glacials? Too bad. Your Draven comp is against the rangers? You have a good chance of winning.

To me, the biggest offenders right now are the combination of void comp, rengar, GA, yuumi, and the glacials stun.

I agree with glacials being broken.

Rengar isn't that bad, he actually gets deleted super easily since glacials and high CC comps like Chogath brawlers are meta.

Yuumi is fine

GA is quite useless on most carries. I built one on Draven because I got him from the carousel with a chain vest, but if I had a choice I wouldn't build it. By the time he revives, the entire team is dead, the enemy still has 5 champions up and all it does is delay your eventual doom by 5 seconds.