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Picking Off-Meta is fine..

A Retarded Clown·10/31/2014, 1:34:30 PM·2 votes·829 views

But not if you fail miserably with said pick because you have no clue how said pick works. It takes TONS of practice to get good with any champion that isn't meta, and if you haven't put that in, forget about making that pick work. Because the thing about meta champs is....that even if you're not anything special they will do a specific job more often than not which is why they are so valued.

With niche picks...you need to know EXACTLY what you are doing and what your goal is. If you don't you are going to fail even if you get 3 kills early and massive lane advantage.

You can't pick Vayne top as a counter without first being a master of vayne, you can't pick Shaco or Rengar or Diana Jungle without knowing eveyr little tip and trick that allows you to truly carry with them. You CAN pick Syndra/Ori/Lucian/any support/j4/Kha'Zix/Amumu/etc. and fuck up hard and still be relatively OK because their base kits just bring so much to the team that even without expertise, you will be providing something. Long as you do the basics.

Not so for picks like Malzahar, Shaco, Cassiepoia (or any mid mage that isn't either super long range or assassin) you're just gonna get fucked and contribute nothing to the team.

The exception to this is hard CC champions - these contribute no matter what unless you lack even a basic grasp of what this game is about in which case your pick isn't even close to the problem.

6 Comments

SummonerSquid10/31/2014, 4:41:36 PM2 votes

It takes TONS of practice to get "good" at any champ in the game. Champion difficulty isn't related to who's in-meta. Annie is one of the easier champions to play, but she isn't in-meta right now. Lee sin is in-meta, and isn't easy to play.

Meta champions are generally the "best" champions in the current state of the game, but might not be better than the non-meta champions by that much in reality. The distinction is also made at a very high level of play and might not apply to lower levels, such as 90% or more of solo queue. The reason a pro player picks a meta champion instead of a very similar non-meta champion is often to address a very specific discrepancy between power spikes, which the everyday player doesn't even realize.

It is good to pick a meta champion for the sole reason that people generally know how to play with them on their team. I would much rather have a Lucian than an Urgot on my team, simply because I know Lucian's abilities in more depth than I do Urgot's and can play accordingly.

I agree with your initial statement, but disagree with the majority of your post. Every champion potentially has something to offer. Malzahar, Shaco, and Cassiopeia can all potentially do damage and provide some sort of CC, which could help your team win the game.

ValyrianBlade10/31/2014, 2:06:58 PM1 votes

For the most part, so true.

Pick what you want, I'll try almost anything, as long as you can honestly tell me you're great with the champion and you've practiced what your asking to try on your own time and not mine.

I'm still in normals so I have no problem with people trying something like Shaco or rengar jungle, even if they've never done it before, but it's the picks like volibear support or talon/kat adc or top, that bug me. I mean in 99% of these cases I bet they saw some smurf do it against their low level team and wipe the floor with them and then assume it's OP and they can do it too, when really it was just a diamond crushing some cardboard.

Narasimha10/31/2014, 4:17:04 PM1 votes

Fun fact: Picking a vayne top is not against the meta at all. This is because thats not even considered in the meta. META stands for Most Efficient Tactics Available. Its not on the micro level of specific champions. For LoL, the meta is currently defined by "Top, Mid, Jungle, Support, and ADC", while leaning towards high mobility. Picking something like Shaco top or Katarina support is not by itself breaking the meta or any such nonsense. Its just a weird pick.