No runes and no masteries in ranked?
Has anyone ever tried this? I am really tempting to try this to see how good my raw skill is in the game.
Do you automaticaly lose lane, catch back up, etc.? For those who tried it, how did it go? Was it fun?
3 Comments
Ranked is not the end all be all of testing your skill. MMR will keep normal matches fairly challenging, so that you can practice and do crazy things like this without messing up other people's ranked matches.
As for your actual question, runes and masteries mainly assist in the early game. Flat runes help right off the bat, with scaling runes overtaking them around level 6-7. Masteries are closer to flat runes, however they add utility that is harder to judge. Against an equally skilled opponent you will be at a constant disadvantage and will have to play very well in order to not fall behind.
That's not to say you shouldn't try it. Practicing in a disadvantageous state will do wonders for when you end up against an opponent who is more skilled than you are. You will learn the smaller details of trading and playing safe that can be difficult to learn with your opponent's skill being inconsistent between matches. If you're willing to smack your head against a brick wall a few times you'll learn a lot about the density of brick and bone and the third law of motion.
stay out of the jungle when doing so as your clears will be horrendous and you won't be able to do anything, and definitely recommend a top laner for this. Since it mostly matters while in laning phase you'll see the biggest effects while in the lane that is "the island".
I forgot that I had cleared my rune pages to redo them in the morning once and played a game without runes, it is harder to trade early so you pretty much have to make it a farm lane (and as Fiora vs Riven that was rough lol) I did end up out scaling because I out cs'd by a ton and Riven died to a jungle gank, but it was definitely rougher than it should have been. I feel confident in that lane matchup now though, where before I had considered it a lane heavily in Riven's favor I feel I can take advantage of the knowledge I got from that 1 match and play effectively against her.
You should try it!