EPTI posted earlier about how I was trying to discern what is operating well in this new season five meta of League of Legends. After a good stint of fifty games, all be it a small sample size I think I am beginning to grasp what is winning games this season. All lot of these things were confirmations of what Dino and I had discussed from his own personal experiences. Dragon control is what really matters in games.
Lanes to Carry From
I personally feel that ADC, Support and Jungle are currently the two most important roles one can play right now. My experience is that controlling the dragon pit is of the highest priority in this meta and controlling bottom lane is the best way to secure easy dragons. There is something to be said about controlling mid being advantageous as well but unfortunately I do not feel it has nearly the same impact. I am not entirely clear on why that is, but the way it feels to have bottom vs mid controlled, I would always lean towards bottom.
Jungle, ADC and Support as a result are the roles to play to make this happen. Supports now have a lot more interest in keeping higher up the river wards in place, just creating more map vision in general. This is just going to win you more games anyways, but it is boarder line essential in the current meta to know when things are happening in the dragon pit.
At this point I wont make any specific comments about the correct champions to play in these roles to optimize success as I feel I am still figuring that out to a degree. However, safer bottom lanes and hard to move around (CCing) junglers seem to be what I am favoring at the moment. You are going to see a lot of J4 only because his ult is so good for taking dragon (and Baron) but I personally think there are more well rounded choices. He requires a specific team composition to be very successful. Something that you just basically cross your fingers for in solo queue.
The viability of junglers is mostly out the window and requires a whole new feel and approach. How this new Smite operates effects dramatically who can be an effective ganker. I have been having amazing success with Skarner because of his ability to layer slows, in to stuns, in to suppresses now. Where a champion needed flash to be successful, they may now just need smite. However, I reserve any real judgement still to what is really going to work this season.
These are just a couple example games from me figuring things out.
A Note on Top
I already posted a game of me playing Pantheon top, and to be honest, I believe global ult top laners as well as the necessity of port is going to take a demanding prominence. Being able to get to dragon from top lane is going to make all the difference, especially if you do it with out losing your tower.
A Note on Mid Lane
There are Mid's that are a lot better at taking dragon than others. Now I think it is unlikely we will see the meta shift so hard to favor these champions, but for isntance, Malzahar can use a voidling to tank the dragon and take it himself. It takes forever, and uses all his mana but he can do it. Really what it opens up is more options to two or three person dragon and that is a powerful prospect.
Wrap Up
I will leave it at that for now but I feel like this is going to be an on going thing where I keep coming back to voice my points of interest, most likely with Dino on what is and is not working in the meta. I think it would be better in the form of a podcast or something of the sort, so you can probably expect a lot of that after Dino gets back from holidays.
Regards,
Basic
