Riot is looking forward to a handful of work with meta fixed, role adjustments, as well as updates
The League of Legends scene has been treated to one of the most diversified metas in a long time during the previous month. Bryan “CatchesAxes,” Riot Games’ lead champion designer, provided his opinions on League of Legends’ changing pre-season meta in a Quick Gameplay Thoughts post on the title’s official website.
“The meta in bot lane is in a weird state, with a number of related problems we’re trying to solve.”
Riot Games highlighted some of the rising tides within the support role, as well as how enchanters and marksmen supports have risen to prominence since the preseason began.
ADC Supports picks like Caitlyn and Jhin gained prominence in pro play, with others tank supports left in the dark. To maintain League of Legends’ strong reputation for quick game balancing, Riot addressed the bot lane’s chronic overwhelming problem.
The team has already shown some love to melee supports such as Alistar, Braum, Galio, Nilah, and Leona in patch 13.3, and some bigger discussion for larger systemic solutions will be given in future releases.
Riot also plans to weaken AD-build items like Umbral Glaive and Yellow Trinket in addition to balancing champions and tweaking gameplay. They’re also hoping to increase early ward availability to assist laners in protecting themselves.
“Besides looking at the champions in the meta, we’re also acting on Umbral Glaive and increasing early ward availability a bit this patch to help laners protect themselves, and are looking to trim some power from the jungle.”
Riot will be implementing some direct nerfs to the jungle as well in order to reduce its effect on games through rapid ganking. Early dives and roams will be considerably more severe if they aren’t effectively completed, thanks to adjustments to yellow trinkets, Umbral Glaive, and tower buffs.
The devs are also exploring a buff to power farming to encourage fewer ganks, although Riot is still experimenting to ensure that any adjustments do not significantly enhance the jungle’s net power.
Looking ahead to the midseason, Riot will be making some broad sweeps at enchanter items and support items from a gameplay satisfaction standpoint, since many enchanter fans believe there aren’t enough build choices that are realistic to follow.
Riot has promised the community that it will be closely monitoring the problem, and it is probable that multiple further follow-ups will be required over the next several patches.