Why is the meta the way it is? Are there other metas that could possibly work? If so, what about the idea of counter metas, as in using one meta to counter another?
EDIT:
I feel I need to be clearer. I am not asking for someone to explain what the current meta is. What I am asking is for at the very least a discussion about why the meta is this way and not another way. If someone would do more than address the first question, that would also be grand.
The meta, as it is now, is the most reliable and longest running way of beating any perceivable team comp given an equal balance of player skill.
The other "metas".... Duo top, Duo mid, Mage Bot carry, Roam support, and 5-Man Mid ALL have weakness that the 1-1-1-2 Meta exploits hard enough that the chance of success is too low for most anybody to use them outside of gimmick matches.
A brief overlook would be like:
Duo Top: You drop your dedicated Jungler for some more power in the top lane, whether you set it up as a Carry/Support, Bruiser/Support, or Double Bruiser does not matter. You lose Jungle pressure and setting up for Dragon. You may be able to claim Dragon, but ensuring an easy one is significantly harder sans Jungler.
Duo Mid: More power in the most important Lane is a good thing, right? Wrong. Most Mages and Mid-Laners (champions who rely on the relative safety of mid's geography and location to produce an easier laning phase) scale with LEVELS, especially the level 6 powerspike most of them receive. Splitting the EXP just means weaker mid laners on your team, and an enemy that's playing defensively. With this set-up, you can take Dragon easier than say, Duo-Top, but ganks from mid won't mean much with their lower levels AND the certainty that the enemy will be warding their approaches for counter ganks.
Roam Support: This is probably the second most reliable meta, and the previous main meta before our current one. The enemy has to ward more and play more defensively, you have a higher chance of pulling out larger ganks, and except for the Support, everyone tends to get more EXP and Gold. That's the problem though. In this set-up, the Roam Support could possibly get NO GOLD beyond their passive gold gain. If they cannot secure their team objectives and kills, they will be so obscenely weaker than anything else on the map that they're better off staying at base, only venturing out to place wards they bought with the passive gold.
In addition, if the enemy team runs the 1-1-1-2 line-up, which ever player lanes against the Duo-Lane could ALSO be ruined. You can see it in last season's games when pros would send their Carry/Support to Top Lane for an easier early game. The solo-laners fighting a duo were left on their own, to grab what minuscule gold and EXP they could muster, and sacrificed their turret the moment the two pushed in. Not until late game could the Top Laners recover from such an offset that they were even a small threat.
By not answering a Carry/Support duo with a Carry/Support, you risk handing the other team the win on a silver platter with a "please come again" note tagged to it.
Now, there COULD be a better meta out there, one that shits on the 1-1-1-2. We won't find it, you and I. There are smarter people than us, the pros and coaches who make a living beating other people at this game, who would likely find the chink in the armor. They haven't though, and I think that speaks volumes about the current meta (and how the Devs balance the game). We probably won't change the meta as it stands until Riot significantly shakes up the game. Which they won't. They like the easy balance (as seen in the Cass rework, they didn't change her because she was a lane bully or too weak, they changed her to make her easier to balance for themselves).
Riot is lazy, and the current meta is a nice and simple way to play the game.
Just play what you feel is fun don't even acknowledge that "meta " even exists .. riot doesn't support any "meta" truest in the randomness
Here's an excerpt from my 'rags to riches' guide on the basics of league.
The Meta: The meta is the basic framework in which pro players chose the very best way to play League of legends. The meta shifts because as new updates settle in, what we knew before as the meta now is outdated. Nothing stays the same.
There are 5 roles in league of legends. =Adc = Top = Mid = Jungle = Support = There are 4 lanes (Technically speaking). Top, Mid, Jungle, Bottom. There are 5 players.
This means to maximize gold efficiency, somebody needs to give up their bank account. If there were 5 people who only had 4 cars, you don't split one in half and share. You take a ride in one of the cars. That's what the duo bot is, a way to mitigate gold loss while still having a viable 5th teammate.
The reason WHY they are bottom though is the real question, why not mid or top? Simple, the bot lane mid would be responsible for roaming, not like the assassin mid is now . The primary reason why they are bot is because they are closer to dragon and have a longer lane to fight in, versus mid lane who usually has gap closers. They are relatively the same distance from dragon, and it wouldn't hurt to swap laners. HOWEVER, a smaller lane for an adc reduces all in potential because of the safety from tower, and a mid laner bot will stop all possible roam routes top.
Why are mid laners mid? Typically speaking, mid laners are usually assassins. They pop in, and they pop out. Kha zix , Katarina, Fizz, Jarvan, Diana, Lee Sin are all potential assassins that can really 1 combo a target. Because they have a gap closer and fast burst, it's only right to put them mid, where tower will do massive damage early if you're mot careful and its easier to run back to.
Why are top laners top? Usually, top laners are champions that do well later, not so well now. Exceptions to that would be bullies like Riven and Jayce who focus on knocking their laner out like Nasus or Ryze. They are here because they need a long lane to farm and fight in for the majority of the game. Before their powerspikes, they will probably afk farm top unless they have tp.
Why are junglers jungle? Why not 2 or 3? Junglers are there to carry their team through the early game, they are expected to balance out farming the jungle and ganking a lane. Having 2 junglers certainly does alleviate the pressure on having to gank 3 lanes, but you will have to gank a certain lane twice as much. Yes, bot lane. The 2v1 lane that is stuck without a support because there are two junglers, you will have to 'gank' him so much that you tell yourself 'might as bee a suport' because if you don't and you hit tab. You will see 1 dorans blade at 20 minutes because he was stuck at tower all game. END.
there are different ways to break the meta. One way would just to be play a champion that isint super popular, like nautalis and such. This is perfectly acceptable. Another way is to play a champion in a way that hasent been played for awhile, like nasus jungle, or skarner or udyr top. This is alright if you do good. And than you can just go crazy, like adc malzahar. If you do this, than fuck you.
they put 2 people bot for dragon control. The reason for adc's and supports bot is because adc's are auto attack reliant, thus relying on gold more then levels.
no, that would be analyzing the meta. You said explain it, which i did. case closed just drop it its w/e
the current meta is bassicly a fighter or a bruiser top, fighter jungle, assassin mid, adc and support bot.
Which "meta" are you talking about? Our Solotop, Solomid, Duobot, Jungle team comps for example are extremely easy to explain.
Think of it like this, there are 3 lanes with enemy minions, which means 3 lanes people can get gold from. Since we have a team of 5 people, naturally we'd chuck at least one person into each lane so that you can take advantage of the gold flow optimally. Currently, our lineup looks like: Solotop - solomid - solobot
Now enemy minions isn't the only way to get gold; there's a Jungle to take advantage of. Using the same logic as before, putting someone where the gold is to take advantage of said gold, we'd chuck someone into the Jungle. Solotop - Solomid - Solobot - Solo Jungle.
What this means now is that we have one last player and no gold left on the map itself to utilize. Old League of Legends players will tell you about the history of roaming supports, champions who simply ran around everywhere looking for kills and assists instead of minions or monsters to get gold, but that's the old meta. Why do we put our 5th player in the bot lane?
I'll leave this as a challenge to you. I mean, putting the 5th player in a lane makes perfect sense thanks to the Support Items, thus creating a (weak) 5th steam of gold for the 5th player to take advantage of. But why bot lane? Why not put the Support player top or mid?
You explained what the meta is and why each particular role is in what lane. This, in my opinion, is not explaining the meta
please be any less clear about what you want because i would give you tons of rp
