Pre-season Changes Cause Outrage Amongst League of Legends Players
The recent pre-season changes to League of Legends have sparked anger and frustration among players. The meta has drastically shifted, with marksman players feeling marginalized and tanks dealing too much damage. Additionally, Kalista is still considered to be weak.
The Biggest Patch of the Pre-season
Patch 6.22, released on November 9, is arguably the most significant update of the pre-season. However, issues were already present prior to this patch. Control mages dominated the mid lane, Vayne could two-shot carries with just two items, and the jungler’s performance was considered crucial. Riot Games had to address these problems, but did their changes create even more issues?
Changes to Attack Damage Items
Patch 6.22 introduced a plethora of changes aimed at resolving these issues. The updates to assassin champions increased their difficulty while compensating with additional damage, making them a viable alternative to control mages. Furthermore, numerous attack damage items were overhauled and armor penetration was replaced with Lethality, making the game more accessible for all attack damage champions. These changes were intended to make armor penetration a late-game solution against tanks, and in this regard, they succeeded. However, they inadvertently negatively impacted marksmen.
The changes to armor penetration severely hurt marksmen, who already struggled in the early game due to the high cost of their items and the fact that critical strike chance only becomes beneficial after purchasing multiple items. Now, marksmen are even weaker in the early game, with only champions like Vayne, who have additional damage and percent-health damage, being able to compete effectively.
The Plight of Assassins
Ironically, despite the changes being seemingly designed to benefit them, assassins have become even more disadvantaged. Control mages still dominate the mid lane, as they possess superior laning and bullying capabilities. Assassins lack the ability to bully opponents and are forced to rely on roaming for kills. However, with the current meta, roaming is often ineffective against ranged damage-dealers. This situation has rendered assassins virtually useless in the game.
Tanks and Bruisers
The biggest nemesis of mobile assassins are champions they cannot burst down, such as tanks, and those with crowd-control abilities. Unfortunately for assassins, the current meta favors tanks, who dominate the jungle, top, and support roles. The addition of Courage of the Colossus, a mastery that provides a large shield upon landing crowd control abilities, has made tanks even more powerful. They are now capable of dealing significant damage while remaining extremely difficult to kill. This strength allows them to shut down assassins easily, even if they lack damage items.
Addressing the Issues
The current situation may seem hopeless, but it is essential to give Riot Games the benefit of the doubt. The development teams have worked hard to implement these massive changes, which were delayed based on pro player feedback to minimize disruption throughout the year. Surprisingly, most of the changes have been successful. The biggest success story is the jungle change, which has made the role more engaging and focused on supporting lanes rather than farming.
Armor penetration was also a broken mechanic, as it was intended to counter tanky late-game champions but was more effective against squishy targets, leading to snowballing. The introduction of Lethality fixed this issue.
The changes to assassins have also addressed their previous balance problems, although there are still some outliers like Akali. The previous problem of potential snowballing has been rectified.
It is essential to remember that the current problems are unforeseen side effects of positive changes. To address these issues, players should communicate openly and civilly with Riot Games, providing constructive feedback and participating in discussions. Riot Games does listen to their fans and values their input.
In the meantime, for those seeking to succeed in the game amidst the post-pre-season fallout, choosing Hecarim may be the best option.
Images via Riot Games
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