Caitlyn
Perhaps among the marksman champions, Caitlyn is the most reliant on critical strike stats. Thus, when Riot changed the critical item system for the worse, Caitlyn was the champion that experienced the fastest power drop among marksmen. The biggest change affecting Caitlyn is likely the 25% reduction in base critical strike damage, as her damage mainly comes from her passive activations.
Moreover, Caitlyn’s skill set does not provide attack speed, so this champion heavily relies on farming a certain amount of items, at least 3 major items. Even when she farms 3 major items, they only provide 60% critical strike chance in Preseason 2021. Clearly, compared to the 75% critical strike chance in Season 10, the new item system does not ensure Caitlyn has enough output damage. Therefore, Caitlyn is currently among the top 5 worst marksman champions in LoL.
Sylas
Sylas has never been a particularly strong champion in solo queue as his power heavily relies on the player’s ability to handle situations. Furthermore, in Preseason 2021, Sylas received a significant blow when he lost the Hextech Gunblade and was replaced by the much weaker Everfrost. This new item requires champions to pause briefly to unleash their slow ability, making Sylas’s surprise combo for catching targets nearly nonexistent.
Moreover, Sylas can no longer build both Everfrost and Hextech Rocketbelt as they are both Mythic items. As a result, Sylas’s mobility in the mid-game has significantly decreased. Combined with his previously low win rate in solo queue, Sylas finds himself in an extremely poor state in the mid lane. Perhaps players will have to wait until tournaments return and top pro players find a suitable playstyle for Sylas for this champion to return to the meta.
Rumble
Although not too weak in the early stages of Preseason 2021, Rumble is now in a dire situation due to the heavy nerf to the Demonic Embrace in patch 10.24. Essentially, Rumble needs factors such as increased damage, ability power, and percentage health burn effects from items to support his skill set. Previously, with just one item, Liandry’s Anguish, Rumble had all of these and dealt extremely strong damage.
However, in Preseason 2021, these elements have been separated and placed into various different items. This means Rumble has to spend much more gold to achieve the necessary power, leading to his team fighting and skirmishing capabilities in the mid-game no longer being as strong as before. If not buffed in the upcoming patch 11.1, Rumble will likely continue to be one of the worst top laners.
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