Riot Axes a Strong Meta in League of Legends, and T1 May Be the Happiest Team
Since the beginning of 2024 up to now, the lane swap meta has completely dominated the League of Legends scene, especially in the professional arena. Even teams that initially struggled to adapt, like T1, have successfully utilized this meta to claim the championship at Worlds 2024. However, Riot has recently made significant changes aimed at completely eliminating this playstyle, and T1 may continue to benefit.
Specifically, in a recent update, Riot decided to increase and decrease tower damage by 95% (Top Lane, Mid Lane) during the period from 1:30 to 4 minutes if there are 2 non-jungle champions standing in the circle. Additionally, the gold and experience gained from minions will also be reduced by 50% for the team attacking the tower.
Notably, Riot has significantly increased tower damage. The first tower of the defending team will be considered as having shot 4 times at champions (potentially dealing 250% damage to champions). At the same time, the first tower in the Top Lane can one-shot an enemy champion attacking it and reduce 50% damage to allied champions hugging the tower. Furthermore, these towers will deal 300% damage to attacking minions.
However, there is one factor that Riot has also warned: these effects only apply when there is no jungler involved in tower attacks after the lane swap. If there is a jungler present, the effects will not activate.
Thus, it can be understood that the lane swap meta is at risk of being completely eliminated in the upcoming patch. This is because it will not be possible to execute a lane swap effectively if the jungler does not participate in ganks or apply pressure to the enemy tower.
In the lane swap meta, for both solo lanes (Top Lane and Mid Lane), the jungler is the most crucial factor in helping the team gain an advantage and apply pressure in the early stages of each match (from minutes 1 to 5).
But if the lane swap meta is eliminated, T1 may be the team that benefits. The strong laning ability of the bot lane duo Gumayusi – Keria (if T1 uses this ADC) is undeniable. The lane swap meta has completely countered the strength of this duo and forced Gumayusi to “settle” as a weaker-side ADC for over a year. Meanwhile, the playstyle revolving around this bot lane duo helped T1 achieve an unbeaten Spring Season in 2022.
However, T1 fans Shouldn’t Celebrate Just Yet
Nevertheless, T1 fans will first have to wait to see which lineup the coaching staff chooses for the Regular Seasons. Moreover, this will also “unlock” a series of other strong ADCs worldwide like Ruler, Viper, Elk, Aiming… These names will also be very strong if the meta returns to normal, and T1 will need to be cautious if they do not want to repeat their performance at the LCK Cup 2025.