It’s entirely possible that Riot learned their lesson in Season 3. In a mid-lane meta dominated by assassins, it was near suicide to play anything else. Playing against Ahri? Pick Zed. Against LeBlanc? Pick Zed. Katarina being a hassle? Pick Z- Well, you get what I’m trying to say here. Season 3 and Season 4 saw massive amounts of assassins played. They were the top pick in mid-lane.

Professionally, they were a massive hit. With a high skill cap, high damage, flashy mechanics, and tricky combinations, they amazed crowds. Many lower tier players in solo queue couldn’t play them to their max proficiency, so their high skill cap made it difficult for new players to really enjoy the assassin meta. The problem was that their high skill cap didn’t matter to the professionals. They understood the assassins perfectly.

When people think of assassin players, certain people come to mind. Bjergsen with his Zed and LeBlanc dominated North American LCS when he joined TSM. Alex Ich hopped around the European LCS with Kha’zix. And of course, Faker’s surreal Zed outplay against KT Bullets Ryu. People focused on the mid lane more than ever before, solely because it was the most interesting to play and watch at this time. Sure, Vayne mechanics were cool, but those are Season 2 old news.

So now we sit in Season 5, and Riot has made a point that they do not want the assassins dominating League of Legends anymore. Not only did they make a certain pool of champions more desired, their ability to burst down a target then escape with little damage made it difficult to counter them. Top that off with their incredible mobility, and you have monsters capable of influencing any lane in the game with little effort. So how does Riot respond to this Pandora’s Box of nightmares? Nerf hammer.

Well, it’s more like nerf bowling. Some mid lane champions fared better than others. Once Riot began to realize how dangerous the assassin meta was, they slowly began to chip away at the mid lane. Kha’Zix was one of the first to go, his damage nerfed so hard he was relegated a jungle position. They tinkered with him over the course of multiple patches, and by the time they were done, the Voidreaver was a shadow of his former self. No longer was Alex Ich dominating with him. Now, Diamondprox was in control of the bug.

Many assassins are just now getting tweaked. With the “toxic” assassins dealt with, Rengar, Kha’Zix, Kassadin, Akali, the great leaders of the meta are just now being scrutinized. Ahri got nerfed, and while she still sees professional play, she is nowhere near her full form that dominated Season 3. Just now, Zed had attack damage and attack speed nerfs, impacting his auto attacks which were essential for stacking on his ultimate. Katarina is feeling a bit of the nerf with the newest patch coming through. While Riot has made it clear they don’t wish to completely gut these champions and remove their eligibility for play, they do not want them to be as dominant. The only assassin who remained relatively untouched has been LeBlanc, who has only received the removal of the silence on her Q. This makes her one of the best assassins available in Season 5, with Zed and Katarina lagging behind just a bit.

So now we see that mid lane is far from what it used to be. These assassins, knocked off their pedestals, now have to compete with the original mid laner: the mage. Recently, Xerath has seen a massive rise in play. Not only did the assassin nerfs indirectly buff him, but a rework from Riot certainly helped him.

One of the most prevalent mid laners to rise from the ashes was Ziggs. With a long range poke and a minefield capable of stalling out a game, his original threat were the very assassins that now fell out of favor. This style of champion, with a long-range poke and wave clear capabilities, quickly became favored. Able to survive laning phase, the mid-lane became more dynamic.

These aren’t the only champions played. Syndra and Lulu were played to great success in this new environment. But, now in Season 5, we are only beginning to see the best of assassins begin to fall out of favor. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. Even though mages aren’t as flashy or mechanically difficult, their damage output has been important for the victory of multiple games. Their moves, usually consisting of skill shots, require a type of skill completely separate from that of assassins.

With the meta shifting to the opposite of what it used to be, many players have been tasked with relearning champions that they thought would never be as dominant. The most successful players, both in solo queue and professionally, have been those capable of playing in the new meta, while still being able to use the assassins. Still, even with nerfs, large or small coming out, many players need to retain the skills that originally made their assassins so deadly. Just because they have lost some of their original power doesn’t mean they are completely useless.

We see a desire to play champions that previously were considered weak. This separates this season from the ones before it. At all levels of play, the pool of powerful mages grows while the palace of assassins crumbles. League of Legends remains an ever-changing game, and now more than ever we see that the unseen nerf is the deadliest.