As most of us know, meta shows that Summoner's Rift is typically played with 2 people top lane, 1 mid, and 2 bottom, occasionally with top lane having only 1 toon due to a jungler. Furthermore, for 30's, ranked meta slots a carry to solo top, an ap character to hold down mid, and a ranged ad carry and a support (usually a healer) to trade blows in the bottom lane. Much to newly founded success, I find that changing the typical way of playing ranked is quite beneficial. Point being: Most ranked teams use the meta standard in the way they pick their teams and lane, so if you want a really good counter; mix the routine up on them.

I found that pairing a ranged carry bot, with a sustained melee fighter or assassin (such as Riven, or Pantheon respectively), has great potential to tip the bottom lane, and the jungle, in your favor. Also, consider sending a ranged carry mid against the ap heavy (ad weak) foe, and send your ranged ap bot to lane with an aggressive ad melee. Each lane should have at least one cc, including the jungler, with the bottom lane having at least 1 summoner heal (if not 2 for the combined dual sustainability).

Try out some new ideas, or add to these ones. Sticking with the routine gets boring and people tend to exploit weaknesses in the meta quite easily. Change it up a little, have fun and don't forget to be unpredictable!



The key to a solid win usually lies within a skilled jungler, wards, and unpredictability.

That all sounds great but there is a reason why this metagame cant be changed (At least for now)Every char ingame needs to have his farm,you cant have ad carry and assassin in bot lane fighting over farm.You can counter this meta sometimes ,Send ad carry to take solo top lane (This is all ocasional,you cant send Ashe against Garen ,but you can send Sivir or Vayne)And send lets say Pantheon or Jax with support char to bot lane(Pantheon and Jax are countering ad range chars so well,this is gonna be more viable then ever next patch when Sorakas infuse would give double the mana.Just imagine Pantheon spaming spears every 3 secs,crazy right?)

There is a reason meta exists but there is room for change over time as players build counters. It's not likely to remain in one state forever in a game that updates frequently.

It requires understanding of why the meta exists as it does now, and what makes it work in the first place though to begin building against it.

Those that blindly follow meta without understanding why are just as bad as those who blindly ignore it and likely the group most susceptible to soft counters.

When people pick characters in a ranked match, they look at how they can counter the enemy characters based off of the assumption of laning patterns. It's all about finding pairs that work well. To test this theory, have your captain ban soraka, and sona, and MAYBE even another support (such as Alistar, or whoever you think is a threat bottom lane). Then pick a pair that compliments each other well for aggressive bottom lane pushing (perhaps Ashe and Riven), and put heals on each character. Ashe's slowing arrows, with Rivens low cd and stun, make for a constant poke and sustained damage combination.

Junglers are important too, of course, so grab a speedy jungler like Rammus to throw into the mix, and be sure to ward the rivers. Try this and tell me how it works. Remember, however, this is a team game; so everyone must work in unison.

Tip: Many champions with low damage for creep kills, like Shen, rely on assists or the occasional kill to produce gold. If you have to share creep kills bottom, keep in mind that assists are also equally valuable. DO NOT COMPLAIN about ksing if you share creep kills, just be sure to ASSIST, and whoever gets fed bottom won't matter because you are both carries!

The main way to change up the meta successfully imo is to just switch around top and bottom lanes. Make sure your solo bruiser is comfortable going 1v2 letting his lane push and farming under the tower, and then send your AD and support up top to pee in their solo top's cornflakes. Solo top players will often get so flustered by this that they will totally get zoned out of their lane or just die. You can switch back and forth throughout the game to keep them off balance and catch the bottom group out of position when they overpush cause they are against just 1. This doesn't really mess up the endgame meta at all cause you still have support and everyone gets their farm, and as long as your solo "top" was prepared for it and theirs wasn't he will generally outfarm theirs.

The bottom lane is the most influential part of the meta in the laning phase. Changing up the bottom lane with new combinations (put some thought into your pairs) can wreak havoc on the opposing team. I've seen it happen far too many times.

changing the meta is fine but the rest of your team has to make up for it,

The only way i see the meta changing is if Roaming becomes more popular.
Like a previous person stated...1 person in each lane needs to get the vast majority of the farm-cs-gold.

For example in the bottom lane if 2 players are fighting over cs AND sharing duo lane exp. theyre both going to be underleveled and underfarmed when it comes time for teamfights.
You want you ranged ad carry to get all of the farm so they can carry the late game. Ranged ad carries scale so well with items late...if theyre under farmed youll have a difficult time winning the dmg fight late.