Source: Riot Games — Yasuo

Aatrox. Irelia. Yasuo. Not the champions you would usually associate with the likes of Bang, Doublelift and Rekkles. However, with the introduction of Patch 8.11, the bottom lane meta has drastically shifted away from the norm less than a fortnight before the opening of the LCS Summer Split.

For the majority of League of Legends history, one of the key aspects of the game has been AD Carries scaling into the later stages and becoming the main source of damage for their team. This is due to the need for these Marksman to intake gold in order purchase 3 or 4 items, combining attack damage, attack speed and critical strike, before they can take over a game.

Most recently, bottom lanes were aided through the laning phase and allowed to scale with the help of sustain with Fleet Footwork, Doran’s Shield, health regen and even healing supports. This allowed late game hyper-carries, such as Jinx, Kog’Maw and Sivir, to lane safely through to their first item relatively unscathed. This led to the prioritisation of safe bottom lane duos over aggressive picks like Draven and Leona.

In Patch 8.11 Riot addressed the problem of carries finding it too easy to scale into the late game by nerfing the health regeneration of marksman and reducing their base attack damage, instead moving these stats to later in the game. On top of this, Fleet Footwork saw a hefty nerf in 8.11 meaning sustaining through auto-attacking minions in lane has become a non-factor. As a result of these changes, AD Carries are extremely weak through the early levels and are very vulnerable to ganks and hard engage in lane.

Source: Riot Games — Patch 8.11

Essential marksman items were also reworked in the latest patch, changing their stats and making them more expensive. This means that carries will have to be patient and wait for more gold to hit their item spikes (e.g., Jinx’s Runaan’s Hurricane, Infinity Edge, Rapid Firecannon spike). However, forcing bot laners to wait until post-30 minutes to reach their optimum point, in a season where Riot has been constantly making changes to reduce the average game time, is always going to bring adaptation.

Since the beginning of the Spring Split, the balance team has been tasked with the job of shortening game lengths in response to viewer feedback from early 2018 LCS games. Changes to Baron and Elder Dragon, along with the removal of Tracker’s Knife, has moved the meta from regular 45+ minute games to teams being able to close out much sooner.

Initially this led to the rise of bottom lanes that focused on sustain to make it through the first 15 minutes and allow the carries to pick up items before the game could snowball. But now with the removal of a lot of those sustain components, and base stat nerfs, AD Carries are being forced out of lane by the influx of bruisers, mages and hard engage champions.

Aatrox, Darius, Irelia, Jax, Mordekaiser, Yasuo, you name it, they’re being played in the bottom lane this patch. Through a combination of these bruiser/fighter champions and hard engage supports, like Leona, Nautilus, or Rakan, AD Carries have a tough time farming in the bottom lane with their reduced stats and immobility. It has got to the point where at extreme high elos you are more likely to see a Yasuo ADC than a Marksman ADC.

Source: Op.gg — Doublelift’s Match History (Sorry Doublelift)

Variety in the bottom lane is healthy and can keep the game from becoming stale as it heads into its 10th year since release but phasing out a whole class of champions from competitive play could be ill-advised. Whilst it is great to see a whole bunch of new champions being played in the ‘AD Carry’ role, creating a climate where 18 champions may no longer be viable options is obviously undesirable.

Nevertheless, while this is a big change for higher tiers and professional play, lower elos shouldn’t be affected too much. This is not because Yasuo ADC was already being played regularly in Silver tier, but because lower skilled players tend to be unable to close out games with their advantages. Thus, late game scaling marksman can reach 3 or 4 items and can output damage for their team before the game ends, even if they get countered by a bruiser in lane. That being said, there will undoubtedly be a shift in the most popular champions when the LCS starts as players tend to copy what the pros play.

Pro Coach/Player Thoughts on Patch 8.11

Much like with any large meta change, it’s all just speculation until competitive leagues have had a chance to adjust to the new patch and find the strongest strategy. According to pros on Twitter, scrims are very chaotic at the moment and the first few days of the LCS may be very different to what we’re used to seeing.

With these bottom lane changes along with the updates to Scuttle Crab, Banner of Command and the potential for Taliyah in the jungle, we have a lot to look forward to with the LCS beginning next week. Before that, already infamous for their crazy playstyles, strategy and champion picks, it is very fitting that the LPL will introduce us to the Summer Split on Monday.