With the World Championships looming, professional players and their teams, eager to prepare for the matches of their careers, look to Korea for scrim partners and ladder climbing bootcamp tactics. Yet, one query on everyone’s minds is the recent patches and how they will effect the grand tournament this October. Patch 5.16 brought around a handful of changes - the kind never seen before in League of Legends, with the introduction of the Juggernaut role. Champions introduced to this role, such as Skarner, Garen, Darius and Mordekaiser, have all had changes to their kit, which as refreshing as it is to see, has caused confusion and anticipation as to what to expect in terms of strategy and the impact on the competition - and here’s why.
First up on the docket, we have the once forgotten mid-lane pick: Mordekaiser. Perhaps the largest change of all to come from this patch is the transition of the heavy-footed AP champion to the botlane. His kit change included a ton of alterations to his base stats, to match the other ‘Marksmans’ he’ll be facing, and further complimenting this change, his skills now scale with Attack Damage along with the usual Ability Power, to allow him to fit in more comfortably with his new playstyle and buildpaths. He received nerfs in Patch 5.18, weakening his early game to balance out for his mega late-game.
Now we know the basic jist, let's talk about strategy. Dragon control has always been a major part of competitive League of Legends, and nothing shows ‘dragon control’ quite like Mordekaiser… No-no, I’m speaking quite literally. Let’s consider this in competitive play using one of the most commonly used strategies: the laneswap. Typically, in the laneswap situation, having your duo on the bottom side of the map causes the bottom tower to go down early and thus give more chances to take an early dragon. If Mordekaiser is applied to this, the control of the dragon could mean an early mid tower, or complete control of their bottom side jungle, as well. This would provide huge map pressure, add gold to the team’s pocket and is obviously, not what the enemy want at all. We may see laneswaps abandoned as teams try to suppress Mordekaiser in his weak early game. Thus, causing a resurgence of the 1v1s and 2v2s we love to see! (Especially on the Worlds stage).
Will some regions be able to use the Mordekaiser pick more effectively? The Korean and Chinese scenes are notorious for incredible objective control, using the synergy between their junglers and mid-laners to open up chances, picks and rotations. Will this playstyle transfer over to a Mordekaiser pick-up, proving an increased threat? All that can be seen for now is the avid use of the champion in solo queue, with players from every region, racking up games on the ladder. Maybe Doublelift will be swapping out his Vayne for ‘the Master of metal’, come this fall.
The second change we’ll talk about is Skarner, who saw buffs in 5.16 and subsequent balance adjustments in 5.17 and 5.18. These patches brought around overall improvements to stats and abilities, with the main feature being the addition of buff-crystal areas around the map, that can be captured by either team. Strategically, his quicker clear speed and the ability to spend a longer time without backing, allows him to itemize faster and speed him towards his powerful level 6. When paired with having your duo lane on the bottom side, extremely fast dragon pickups are likely, thanks to the conveniently placed crystal next to it. His additon to the compisition is teamfight utility, using his (E) slow and ultimate - which can also be a great addition to a comp based around catching out enemy champions.
His versatility matched with his good jungle time is the reason he’s a popular pick in solo queue. Fighting in his buff zones around the map greatly increases his effectiveness and provides a lot of strategy in keeping control of the zones, prior to any skirmish. This has transferred over to competitive play well, showing large cs and xp advantages coming from the jungle, matched with high winrates from the likes of EDG's Clearlove during LPL regionals on Patch 5.16. Unlikely that he’ll be a pick/ban priority at Worlds, due to recent nerfs in 5.17/5.18, and a maybe as to if he'll be picked all that much either. Yet still, he’s a mid-high tier jungle pick that can definitely fit into stylised comps, and one to look out for at Worlds.
Garen saw buffs to his (W), allowing a stackable Magic Resist and Armour bonus up to a cap of 30, along with an added effect to his passive, allowing him to do more damage with his ultimate to the ‘villain’. (Nerfs to movement speed, from his (Q), occurred in Patch 5.17 to keep in tune the low speed of the Juggernaut class).
The main strategy with the new and improved Garen is… well, there isn’t much of one. The basic idea is to farm up a storm, silence those pesky lane opponents and become an AOE-damaging supertank with a special hatred towards the enemy villain - which is likely to be one of the carries. Now this all sounds fine and dandy, and because of this, he’s become a hit in solo queue, racking up a 53% winrate but will he strive in the competitive scene? Kinda unlikely.
His recent perks from 5.16 seem to be a step in the right direction but teams are constantly playing around picks of much higher versatility than him… So, a champion like Garen, who just runs at the villain with a hearty cry, may not pay off in the same way on the Worlds stage. Especially, when the vision coverage of flanks is at an all time high and disengage picks, like the odd Janna here and there, are ready to crush his dreams of reaching the backline. That being said, there’s an overflow of skillful top-laners in the tournament (such as Huni, Ssumday and Flame), who have a chance of making any Juggernauts work in the correct team comp, so it’s not all over yet for the might of Demacia.
Darius has truly embodied the fearsome, battle-hardened warrior that his lore suggests, in recent patches, with buffs to his whole kit as part of the juggernaut class. A huge problem with Darius, in previous seasons, has been his lacklustre showing in the late game - but this has been completely reversed as his new kit actually renders his teamfight ability as an incredible asset to a team. His health regen from his Q ability, (that increases with each enemy hit), has vastly improved his survivability in teamfights, allowing him to constantly put out DPS in order to splinter his opponents one by one with his resettable ultimate. Much needed nerfs came in 5.18, just in time for Worlds, as this axe-swinging maniac was getting a little bit out of hand!
Now strategically, Darius is a staple for the toplane meta, he can decimate the enemy’s backline provided he gets in range but can also apply pressure when on the backfoot in a teamfight. Slipping Darius into an engage style teamcomp, with the likes of Alistar/Annie locking up the enemy team, would spell disaster for their opponents. The downside, is his somewhat low versatility in the ways of CC and peel for the carries. He's a super-aggressive style pick that organised teams can counter with disengage, much like the rest of the Juggernauts - though, he still manages to provide more than Garen at any rate. Now, some of you may be asking, “Why not add Garen to the engage style comp and do the exact same thing?” The difference is, Garen is a hit or miss kind of champion that, once his abilities are on cooldown and if he hasn’t killed the ‘villain’, he becomes next to useless. Darius, however, will continue to stay in the fight, stacking his passive, healing with (Q) and then finally, when he goes to use his ultimate… Well, we know how that story ends. Now, it goes without saying that Darius is very likely to be seen at Worlds, but as to whether he will prove successful, I say: “It’s all about the comp baby!”
To find out how pros thought about the changes, I recently had a small chat with Roccat's support player, VandeR, about his opinons/anticipations for Worlds.
What are your opinions on the recent patches, considering Worlds is close by?
"I think Juggernaut is an interesting addition to League of Legends. Skarner came out very unbalanced and overpowered, just like Morde and Darius. Thankfully, in current patch that will be played on Worlds, they are nerfed. I think Mordekaiser is an interesting option against Marksmen without lane sustain and weak 1v1 potential. Garen and Darius are really strong toplaners in SoloQ, but laneswaps should reduce their power a lot. I am sure pro teams will know how to deal with them. Skarner became a viable jungler with strong pick potential, good versus immobile carries like Viktor."
Are there any particular aspects of the patches you're excited to see on the international stage?
"Im looking forward to see Rekkles playing Mordekaiser. He was the very first pro player to pick him up, he is the one to look at. His morde is godlike."
To follow Vander and his eSports journey/solo-queue madness, follow his twitter: @ROCCATVander
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Well there it is, plain and simple, Worlds is sure to offer a lot in terms of new strategy and exciting prospects. The 5.18 patch is fairly balanced, with a broad selection of champions and diversity - including the juggernauts, that is sure to show incredible matches and some nail-biting upsets. Keep up to date as GosuGamers brings you more up-to-date action, stories and news coverage of Worlds 2015, it's gonna be an incredible tournament.
Photos: Riot Games, Roccat
