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I took a long (*ahem* 4 year) break from LoL. What's changed?

sun statue·8/18/2015, 5:45:12 PM·2 votes·2,075 views

For various life-related reasons, I stopped playing League of Legends back near the end of Season One. Needless to say, things have changed. There's the obvious things, like new champions, new game modes, new items. I've noticed some other changes, like warding totems (which are very cool imo) and new jungle minions. With so much going on that there never was before, I feel as overwhelmed as though I was a brand new player. What are the most important changes, which champions should I look out for, and in general how has gameplay changed since I stopped playing years ago?

24 Comments

ForgottenLuck8/18/2015, 5:58:13 PM5 votes

Allot of things and I mean allot so I would say to play a bit with bots and get yourself reacquaint with the game mechanics look at builds to look at item's and how are good forms to builds a new patch is coming soon that will change,Mordekaiser Garen Darius Skarner , nothing to mayor on most (except for mord) but I would still say hold off on playing these 4 till their changes have arrived, TF and Graves are BFF now and MF turned out to be a bit psycho GP died and revived and Fiora turned old... I think that handles most things.

GummyBearWookiee8/18/2015, 6:01:34 PM5 votes

The clear Meta has changed with how the game is played....so as a quick discussion.

Top lane - Tends to be either a Tank or heavy bruiser...things like Gnar, Irelia, Hecarim, etc. Your basic "Fighter"...but not true old school tank like Leona (they're now support).

Jungle - Honestly...half the junglers that were around in season 1-2...are still used in some capacity today. Major change here are the scuttle crabs in the river...killing them provides some vision and gives you a speed boost in the area near the dragon and baron pits respectively. Also using smite on camps gives different effects. Smiting Red and Blue buff give you HP and Mana back respectively. Smiting gromp (the frog) gives you a poison damage over time to anything that attacks you. Smiting raptors (where wraiths used to be) gives you a short term oracles that lets you find opposing wards....honestly I can't remember what smiting the golems gives you.

Mid - Ashe mid is no longer a thing :D. Mid is your typical AP carry mage or poke AD/assassin. So you'll see the occasional Kogmaw, Varus, or Yasuo mid...mixed in with your standard Orianna or Annie.

Both - ADC/Support...ADC hasn't changed really except some itemization. Support...you have your GP items...basically items that generate gold to help out support. You also have your sightstones which are essential...your supports tend to be initiation play makers like Thresh, Leona...or more passive sustain like Janna/Soraka.

Just take it slow....check out things like Probuilds.com to see what people build item wise and rune/masteries.

Hasztalan28/18/2015, 5:51:58 PM3 votes

Game gone shit. Play Smite.

Merxamers8/18/2015, 5:57:12 PM3 votes

the jungle has gotten much more complex- watch some pro-streamer games and play some bot matches to get used to it, also the support position has been changed a bit since you stopped. It's now much easier for supports to get gold, and there's a lot more support items (like sightstone- gives ward charges and health!)

ZT Xperimentor8/18/2015, 7:07:26 PM2 votes

In an attempt to sum up, the meta has become absurdly focused on mobility. Watch out for kalista as she's a carry that can dash with each auto attack, making her more dangerous to chase than singed. Then there's the assisins like ekko who have such high damage potential, they'll telefrag anyone but tanks like a fed annie but with just an item or two. Sadly straight tanks are practically badgered into support only roles since bruisers are usually more effective top & jungle.

Several champions have been reworked, but since most of them weren't around when you were, I won't point them out. Annie, chogath, warwick, and nunu have been buffed/nerfed a little but nothing major, just some number-nudging. Sona, soraka, veigar, and zilean have been significantly reworked though; Sona's auras are slightly stronger, but only last a couple seconds and are significantly shorter ranged Soraka's silence is now a long range area silence, and her heals now cost a little health along with mana Veigar's baleful strike is now a skillshot but with more range so farming it is slightly easier, and his stun now has a 1 second delay Zilean's bombs are now long range grenades that stick to the first unit to collide with them, but stun anyone blasted by two; and his ult has a shorter cooldown but a smaller window to work.

Crowe Stalker8/18/2015, 5:53:36 PM2 votes

Literally. Everything. Go play bots for like a few games and get used to some of the really big ones like Trinkets and item changes. It may take a few days to get used to it all.

DWT123458/18/2015, 5:58:33 PM2 votes

I can't possibly explain everything to you, i suggest you look at all the new champions first, and new items and stuff. There are a shitload of changes, so just play bot games until you get the hang of it.

Bob McFreewin8/18/2015, 10:13:15 PM1 votes

new server location new champions a new summoners rift new ranking system the jungle

OverpoweredSoap8/18/2015, 5:55:25 PM1 votes

Karma (Karma) Sion (Sion) Fiora

Got changed a lot, if you're interested in that, take a look/test at 'em.

The12thman948/18/2015, 6:00:50 PM1 votes

Just curious, what champs did you play before you left?

The12thman948/18/2015, 6:05:45 PM1 votes

Also, dragon now gives buffs. There are 5 of them and they help a lot.

TurquoiseYoshi8/18/2015, 7:24:17 PM1 votes

Honestly... pretty much everything. The jungle is extremely different even to what it was in Season 4. I haven't been around long enough to know what the Season 1 meta was, but here's some stuff:

Top lane: Tank/Fighter(bruiser?). CC tanks Gnar and Mao'kai are some top picks, unless you're in Solo Queue and then you mostly see Riven, Darius, and some marksmen, because people like trying to carry.

Jungle: There have been EXTREMELY recent changes to jungle itemization that have made AP junglers (Elise, Evelynn, Nidalee) some of the top picks. Additionally, there's Devourer. And we don't talk about Devourer. We watch it demolish our team while we all try to attack this one GOD DAMN RENGAR WHO WILL NEVER DIE BECAUSE HE IS LIFESTEALING MORE THAN WE DO TO HIM AND HE KILLED OUR CARRIES BEFORE THE FIGHT BEGAN!!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm better now.

Mid: AP carries, most mages, and assassins. If somebody is heavily AP, and don't have a specific other role to go to, they're mid. Additionally, even if an assassin is AD (Yasuo, Talon), they go mid. EXCEPT FREAKING RENGAR!!!!!!

Kats R evl.

ADC: The role where every marksman except Urgot, Quinn, and Teemo go. Because they're trash at ADC. Or, in Quinn's case, just trash. In any case, marksmen go here, buy either Infinity Edge (for most ADCs), or T-Force (for AP-using ADCs like Corki), and feed off of the other team's bot lane.

Support: They engage, disengage, or heal things. Most champions with high CC but low base attack stats go support. Engage supports like Alistar and Thresh are at the top right now, and Zilean is at the bottom. Because he isn't good.

Dragon: Gives you stats. 1st: Damage; 2nd: Damage to towers; 3rd: Move speed; 4th: Damage to minions; 5: Doubles all of that for a short time. Expires on death as well as after 3 minutes.

Baron: Gives you 3 minutes or a single life of up to 40 extra AP & AD, faster recalls, and ridiculously powerful minions when you are near them.

Smite: Smiting jungle camps gives you things.

Summoner spells: You bring Flash every game. If you are Top, you bring Flash/TP. If you are JG, you bring Flash/Smite. Most ADCs bring Flash/Heal. Most supports bring Flash/Exhaust (Flash/Ignite is better in a kill lane). Mid is where all the other ones are used. If you are an aggressive 1v1 mid laner, pick Flash/Ignite. If you are expecting a lot of ganking to kill your enemy laner, pick Flash/Exhaust. If you are expecting a lot of stuns (against Twisted Fate or Annie, for example) pick Flash/Cleanse. If you are expecting a lot of enemy ganks to kill you, use Flash/Ghost or Flash/Barrier, depending on the opponent. If you're trolling your team, pick Clarity/Clairvoyance because those spells are useless.

If you have any specific questions, I can answer them. Probably.

Minrog8/18/2015, 10:11:39 PM1 votes

Nidalee is still OP except now she's great in the jungle and her spears are invisible. Stampede comp is still great, Alistar Sivir 4life. Leblanc got nerfed but it took like 3 years, they also copied her into an AD clone who might still be OP Zed . Irelia is still awesome, Renekton got nerfed bad and Nasus only works in low Elo solo Q.

That's probably good enough to get started, the more things change the more they don't I guess.

Oh, Annie Morgana Shen all work in the support role now. You can play them in other lanes too.