As soon as patch 10.5 was released, the Korean server saw numerous changes, with new playstyles gradually dominating the ranked mode in unbelievable ways.
Here are some of the most powerful and impressive playstyles in the current meta:
Garen – Top Lane
Garen’s new item build, which “seems absurd but is very convincing,” involves building both the Trinity Force and Black Cleaver at the same time. With the damage from Trinity Force combined with the armor reduction from Black Cleaver, Garen becomes a true assassin capable of chasing down any target from the enemy team.
The Keystone rune Conqueror helps Garen sustain and significantly increase his damage with his Judgment (E) spins. The secondary tree of Resolve will make Garen sturdier when activating Courage (W) and sticking to enemies.
Zed – Jungle
In fact, Zed has always been a highly mobile mid-lane assassin who can roam freely from top lane to bottom lane. Now, Zed in the jungle is even better at this, utilizing his target access and burst damage to gank at any time and place.
With the Keystone rune Conqueror, Zed becomes stronger in dealing damage over time – overcoming the weakness of lacking damage when his abilities are on cooldown, ready to auto-attack opponents instead of running away.
Anivia – Mid Lane
Although Anivia’s skillset is currently very powerful with the ability to block paths with Glacial Wall (W), stun large areas with Frostbite (Q), and clear minions extremely fast with Blizzard (R), what brings Anivia back is mainly the runes:
With Conqueror as the Keystone rune, Anivia can deal considerable damage to targets who stand in her ultimate Blizzard for too long. Additionally, the healing capability of this rune makes Anivia sturdier, making it very difficult to take her down. Furthermore, the Precision tree also features Transcendence, which provides Anivia with a massive amount of energy to freely “burn”. The secondary tree of Sorcery will help Anivia increase her recovery while laning, as well as add extra damage in the later stages of the game.
Azir – Bottom Lane
The reason Azir suddenly appears in the bottom lane is due to the current meta being filled with tanky champions and fighters in the two solo lanes like Sett, Aatrox, Ornn, Darius, Garen,… which results in a severe lack of magic damage in team compositions. Azir is the perfect name to fill that gap. The reason is that Azir, with his long range, can farm safely, even farming more securely with Sand Soldiers; if in danger, Azir can retreat with the W+E+Q combo, dealing excellent damage over time and being very strong in 5v5 combats.
Like other champions, the rune Conqueror will help Azir increase his damage and recovery potential. The other runes in the main tree are quite straightforward, aimed at increasing energy, attack speed, and damage. Additionally, in the secondary tree, Biscuit Delivery and Time Warp Tonic will be lifesavers for Azir at critical moments (since Azir in the bottom lane usually buys a Potion of Alteration, these two points are extremely useful).
Sylas – Support
Sylas support tends to help teammates take down enemies rather than protect them. Because if the enemy can approach your ADC, the best advantage Sylas can provide is to burst damage directly onto the enemy ADC, resulting in a favorable or at least even gold trade.
With the primary runes in the Precision tree, Sylas will have a very strong healing capability to dive straight into enemies without suddenly being taken down. The secondary tree will reduce cooldowns and increase movement speed after using summoner spells to chase down enemies.