My favourite champs and why I hate meta’s

I like League of Legends and I play many different champs. I am in no way a pro at the game but neither would I consider myself a complete noob.

I have not yet reached the level to play ranked matches, so I can pretty much get away with using any champ in a normal match.

Once you reached ranked you have to play the meta (mostly) and this I see as a problem, as some of my favourite champs and items are not really viable at that level.

I hope that the next season will provide some balance so that less utilised champs can be played without being flamed out of a game.

In particular I love Darius, so much that I’ve got his Dunk Master skin. Even though I've not played him much, as I like to try out the free rotation champs to see who fits my style.

In fact I had one practice match against bots before taking him into a normal match. In that game I went 22/1/13, so needless to say I had a blast and think he is a strong champ.

However he is not a “meta” champ so I won’t get to dunk in ranked unless the meta changes.

Another one of my favourite champs to play is Soraka, she’s my go to support but once again not a meta support character (even after her recent update). I like paying her as she still has good harass potential for when my carry needs carrying (about 99% of my games).

One of my top support moments came with anther of my favs, who is more meta, Janna. I soloed bot lane against a Corki and Akali, as my carry went AFK at lvl 1. I can't believe how many times they died in 2 v 1 against me. She's still not as much fun as a banana flinging ambulance though.

The meta is something I’ve come across in CCG’s as well and I’m glad I never played any of those professionally. I always find the meta dull and limiting and really just want to play with my favourite champs/cards. This means its casual play with friends for me as we avoid the meta.

I know that the meta is a good thing for the CCG world as it forces people to buy the latest sets and from a business point this makes a lot of sense. However I prefer MTG’s way of releasing new sets and retiring old one while still re-releasing classic cards. Yu-Gi-Oh on the other hand just churns out a load of garbage with a handful of good cards which are nearly always extremely rare. They also add new mechanics that you must play with or you can’t win (XYZ's ruined the game for me).

My Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s and Dark Magician’s wouldn’t hit the table if I was all about the meta.

Meta gaming in LoL is a nuisance as I will eventually hit the ranked tiers and will want to play Darius and Soraka but can’t because they aren’t viable over the other top lane and support champs. I know logically that with over 100 champs keeping things balanced is a difficult task but I still wish more champs hit the field at those high levels.

Take a look at the champs used in Worlds to see exactly what I mean. Alistair featured in every match, either banned or played.

I tried playing Lucian, a very meta ADC, as he was on free rotation last week but I just don’t find him as fun as Ezreal or Varus. Really it’s that fun I want even in a competitive match otherwise why would I bother playing.

Also I like the crazy items like Runaan’s Hurricane, especially on Varus, and I know that this item shouldn’t be played over ones with better stats for less gold. However I love blighting a group then using his aoe or pierce shot to hit all those affected for that extra damage. Plus it looks awesome firing three shots at once.

I know with the latest update to summoner’s rift the meta is sure to change and I would love to see my champs be more viable. Once again though there will no doubt be others left in the cold. My fingers are crossed that more than 50% of the champs will be playable and that enough tweaks are made so that some of the odder items see more games.

Only the future will tell and the pre-season will no doubt see many changes as people get used to this new field of battle. I know junglers in particular are gonna experience an overhaul in their gameplay style and this will hopefully lead to more than just Kha’zix in every match.

I like League of Legends and don’t see that changing anytime soon, but I do hope that either the meta isn’t something that will infect every game or will at least be more balanced and include more champs.

I know this will never happen with Yu-Gi-Oh but that’s ok as I like making silly decks and playing totally different stuff, but then again I’m not looking to do anything ranked there. In LoL I may just find myself caught in the meta and will have to find a few champs that will still give me that fun factor.

Look forward to seeing you in the rift.