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For this article, I’ll try to be addressing competitive play primarily. However, as far as balance goes, League must be balanced around both competitive play as well as solo queue. Although the two are wildly different in terms of balancing and viability, League is both a game and a spectator export, so it’s important to consider both. While some champions might be overwhelmingly strong in solo queue due to high carry potential if their opponents make mistakes (Such as 
Riven) and useless in competitive due to opponents making fewer mistakes, you need to be careful in hurting their competitive possibilities unduly or giving them unnecessary buffs in solo queue. With that being said, lets get to the main piece.
The professional meta (at least in NA, since that’s my primary source) has become incredibly stagnated. The list of viable ADCs is super limited, with Lucian and Jinx being strong due to lack of nerfs thus far (as well as strong kits), Sivir being strong due to her damage and hard engage, and Caitlyn due to her high range. The supports that flourish in the current state of bot lane are similarly limited: Thresh, Leona and Annie forming a holy trinity, with Alistar appearing on occasion. Up in top lane, Renekton, Dr. Mundo and Shyvanna are either picked or banned the vast majority of the time, with a few other champions that appear just to counter these tanks ( Warwick and Trundle for instance). Junglers have to be gank heavy, but certainly have the most diversity of all lanes. Although Wukong, Vi and Elise might be overwhelmingly strong right now, we still see a variety of others from time to time ( Lee Sin, Olaf, Kha’Zix, Pantheon). Mid lane is also relatively varied, with four champions being overwhelmingly picked/banned ( Yasuo, Gragas, Ziggs, and Kassadin (who is almost a 100% ban in LCS at the moment)).
Is the current state of League in professional play a bad thing? Of course there will always be certain popular champions, and people will always get sick of the meta after a week or two of games. On the other hand, the tank meta isn’t just boring to watch because of repetition, it’s boring to watch because of the lack of plays involved in playing tanks, as well as lack of build variety. This split we’ve been treated to some amazing games, despite the meta, so it’s not the end of the world. But as the season continues and Riot rolls out balance patches, I think it’s time to consider what champions, items, runes and masteries should be addressed in order to mix things up. League will never be a perfectly balanced, but I think it can strive for a better balanced state. In the next few days, I'll be posting a proposed balance patch to change the current state of League (without ruining the current tank meta too completely.
Riven) and useless in competitive due to opponents making fewer mistakes, you need to be careful in hurting their competitive possibilities unduly or giving them unnecessary buffs in solo queue. With that being said, lets get to the main piece.The professional meta (at least in NA, since that’s my primary source) has become incredibly stagnated. The list of viable ADCs is super limited, with
Lucian and Jinx being strong due to lack of nerfs thus far (as well as strong kits), Sivir being strong due to her damage and hard engage, and Caitlyn due to her high range. The supports that flourish in the current state of bot lane are similarly limited: Thresh, Leona and Annie forming a holy trinity, with Alistar appearing on occasion. Up in top lane, Renekton, Dr. Mundo and Shyvanna are either picked or banned the vast majority of the time, with a few other champions that appear just to counter these tanks ( Warwick and Trundle for instance). Junglers have to be gank heavy, but certainly have the most diversity of all lanes. Although Wukong, Vi and Elise might be overwhelmingly strong right now, we still see a variety of others from time to time ( Lee Sin, Olaf, Kha’Zix, Pantheon). Mid lane is also relatively varied, with four champions being overwhelmingly picked/banned ( Yasuo, Gragas, Ziggs, and Kassadin (who is almost a 100% ban in LCS at the moment)).Is the current state of League in professional play a bad thing? Of course there will always be certain popular champions, and people will always get sick of the meta after a week or two of games. On the other hand, the tank meta isn’t just boring to watch because of repetition, it’s boring to watch because of the lack of plays involved in playing tanks, as well as lack of build variety. This split we’ve been treated to some amazing games, despite the meta, so it’s not the end of the world. But as the season continues and Riot rolls out balance patches, I think it’s time to consider what champions, items, runes and masteries should be addressed in order to mix things up. League will never be a perfectly balanced, but I think it can strive for a better balanced state. In the next few days, I'll be posting a proposed balance patch to change the current state of League (without ruining the current tank meta too completely.
Jax is really stinking good right now...
shhhh >____>
I enjoy free wins.
I think reminiscing about Jayce, Elise, Rumble, and the various other ranged lane bullies is a little short sighted. Most of us were sick of the ranged top meta when it was in full force. But on the other hand I'd prefer to watch that over watching invincible farmers.
Also...I miss the
I'd love to see some different top laners. I miss carry ones such as
ZionSpartan played with him twice and carried hard both times! I think they can come back, but the defensive tree either needs a nerf or there needs to be a buff to the anti-tank counter items (LW, Botrk, etc).
I do not get why people don't play
Although, to be honest, her popularity is currently climbing. As for the rest, I get the whats and whys but I think people, as usual, just narrow their styles to something they believe is comfortable although a lot downright fail at it. You should play champions fitting your style not try and fit your style into champs just because they're "le ops" IMHO.
I love Lulu, and I'm glad she's gaining popularity (even if it is as a midlaner), but solo queue winrates aren't always the best indication. Since she isn't flavor of the month, non****ty players are playing her, whereas all the bad players play the FOTM supports (see Annie and Leona). She does poorly against Thresh, Leona and Annie because of their burst and control makes it hard for her to cast spells and mitigate their power, particularly if they focus her. If the enemy support has good reflexes and a competent carry playing a relatively bursty adc (most of the viable ones), they can lock you down before you can ult/shield and kill you before you have the chance to polymorph and run. That being said, she does **** on Alistar, so that helps.
I don't play FOTM champs in solo queue. I still love Draven, Sona, Zed, Master Yi, and Darius even if they aren't considered "viable". I prefer stylistic champions rather than objectively good ones. But I don't think that my solo queue preferences, or anyone's for that matter, should dictate whether or not a champion is balanced. Also, I hope you got more out of my thing than listing just the OP champions, if you didn't then I hope to clarify it in my next post.
Although, to be honest, her popularity is currently climbing. As for the rest, I get the whats and whys but I think people, as usual, just narrow their styles to something they believe is comfortable although a lot downright fail at it. You should play champions fitting your style not try and fit your style into champs just because they're "le ops" IMHO.