The Preseason is upon us! Changes covering dragons, new items, and Jungle adjustments, each has affected the power of the League roster. Taking in mind those changes, let’s dive in and discuss what Champions have the potential to be absolutely broken once the Preseason patch drops!
Hey folks! It’s Preseason time! That means Riot has wheeled out plenty of adjustments for us to toy with while we get a feel for the pace of the newest season, Season 12! Last time, we covered the changes you needed to worry about in each role. This time, we’re going to be more blunt and hit you with some of the potentially best Champions to play considering all those changes. So, let’s jump into things by starting with our Top Laners!
TK’s been running wild since the rework of moving his Devour to his ultimate and making his W a gap-closing knockup. With his new ability to get in and get out, coupled with his natural bulkiness and sustain, Tahm has been a Top Lane terror that few Champion have been able to keep in check.
And if you were unaware, this Preseason is bringing with it a plethora of changes concerning Tank itemization, one of those changes being directed towards Frostfire Gauntlet which is Tahm’s go-to Mythic option at this moment in time. Frostfire’s slow field now deals damage on top of its usual effects, and when you consider how big of a lane bully Tahm can be. He doesn’t really need help in the damage department. Regardless, he’s getting the nudge up and I’m expecting Tahm to be god-tier levels of unfun to play against on the Preseason patch.
Jax is my runner up for a potentially busted pick and that stems from the rework to an old Keystone, Lethal Tempo. Lethal Tempo’s rework is a bit insane, check it out:
Lethal Tempo
What makes this busted for Jax, is that nowhere in this rework does it mention that the range is limited in any way to ranged auto-attacks. Same goes for the attack speed. And as the folks are finding out on the PBE, this Keystone is busted on any Melee Bruiser that can quickly stack and activate it up.
I’ve picked Jax here over some similar choices as Irelia or Tryndamere because I believe this Keystone ‘fixes’ the problems that Jax had throughout Season 11 by buffing up his weakest point in the game, his lane phase. Buffing a scaling Champion’s lane is a recipe for disaster because you’re just allowing them more opportunities to find ways to scale harder and faster. And since the new Lethal Tempo can basically be active forever as long as you keep auto-attacking, then you’re going to see a HUGE spike in combat potential. Couple this with the added range allowing Jax to space fights a little bit easier. Then the Grandmaster at Arms is going to be a spooky fellow to deal with for any of his fellow Melee Connoisseurs.
Did someone say ‘Tank Meta’? Because Trundle hears ‘Tank Meta’. Tank Meta means that there’s stats to steal, and Trundle loves stealing away those stats. I think all the new item adjustments to boost tanks upwards is only going to boost Trundle upward, and that’s not even regarding his potential inclinations towards picking up some of those new items himself. Just like when Sejuani is popular, so too is Trundle. And I expect this troll to be a solid option for the Preseason in both Jungle and Support. Especially against those Solo-Tank comps that players in Solo-Queue love drafting.
On the flipside, to discuss a personal favorite Tank of mine, Zac has been a sleeper pick for Season 11. While his numbers aren’t exactly scary, he’s never not been a viable option. And with the adjustments to Frostfire like we mentioned earlier, he’s only going to have an easier time slapping his goop everywhere and disrupting fights. Couple this with his sneaky-powerful damage ratios, and Zac brings to mind those dreaded memories of ADCs when Tanks could both eat their damage and easily solo them without any threat.
Anivia’s been a solid presence since the mistle speed change she received early on in Season 11, but now with Mages getting a ton of new options alongside their Tank brethren, I expect this frosted-chicken to freeze up the competition come Preseason time. The rework to Seraph and the inclusion of Crown of the Shattered Queen, another new defensive option for Mages, Anivia can scale harder and be safer than ever.
Additionally, two new Dragons with terrifying potential are being introduced. So, Riot is really doubling down on that Dragon Control design space this season. And who controls space better than Anivia? The wall, the stun, the ult… All of these abilities demonstrate her power to be an absolutely terrifying presence when looking to walk into contested territory.
I’m doubling down on Mages here by bringing Vex into the conversation of my second pick for Mid Lane. The “anti-dash” Champion is proving to be far more than just “anti-dash”. She’s also a poke mage, and a burst mage, and anti-dash all at the same time. And when you package all that alongside items like Crown that can help cover for her only weakness, squishiness, then you’re really asking for Vex to spread her doom and gloom everywhere.
I don’t expect Assassins to slow down entirely, since they too are getting new toys come Preseason. And since Assassins love to show off how many flips and dashes they can do, Vex is going to remain a solid insta-lock option when it comes to punishing those greedy divers.
And this goes without even mentioning the potential behind Glacial Augment on either of these Champions or any Mage that’s looking to dominate the meta.
Marksmen didn’t receive a whole lot of love this Preseason. And that’s not a bad thing considering that the majority of the Markemn lineup is solid. Couple that with Mages like Swain, Seraphine, and Karthus enjoying spotlights as Bot Lane options, then the role is a pretty diverse one. As a Swain Main myself, I wanna keep beating the “Mages are gonna be great” horse, but I know I ostracize my fellow Bot lane aficionados. With that said, I’m eyeing Vayne and Ashe to be potential power pieces for the Preseason.
In their lifetimes, both Champions have found decent usage from Lethal Tempo, Ashe favoring it for the longest before swapping to her Hail of Blades build, and Vayne occasionally opting for it before discovering the PTA was the go-to. Well, Lethal Tempo is going to reintroduce itself to both of these laners and promote their already oppressive playstyles even further.
The increased range and synergy with effects from items like Runaan’s Hurricane is going to make Ashe a nightmare to play against for all you melee players out there. And with the potential of a Tank-meta on the horizon, Ashe is going to be one of the best options to kite out Tanks which prevents them from doing what they do best, sticking to their target.
When it comes to Vayne, the range increase for her is going to make her already impressive tank-shredding ability more oppressive to deal with. Coupled with the fact that she builds Guinsoo’s Rageblade naturally and she’s going to be stacking Lethal Tempo and her Silver Bolts faster than anyone is going to be able to reasonably deal with… oh, don’t forget when she Tumbles, she goes invisible. So, the invisible ADC now has increased range and damage. Have fun!
One of the newest items to find its way to Summoner’s Rift is Evenshroud. And to save me from linking you to a tool tip and instead encouraging you to go look at our Preseason Changes piece again, I’m going to give you the TL;DR of the item.
Evenshroud is Imperial Mandate, but for Tanks. It’s an item that promotes focus on the removal of a single target after they’ve been CC’d. And you know who was pretty much the best Tank in the League throughout Season 11? That’s right! It was Leona! And she aims to continue to shine brightly with this new Mythic option giving her more potential to roll over the lane phase. Amumu is likely going to be her staunchest competition when it comes to engage Supports, but the only reason I don’t mention him is because he doesn’t receive the same skin love the Riot gives Leona. (Like I mean seriously, 4 skins in 2021 is a little crazy Riot.) That and he’s also a ‘riskier’ pick since he isn’t quite as tanky as Leona is during the lane phase. Though, he is certainly going to be able to abuse Evenshroud just as well as she is.
And when there is a meta that’s focused around Engage Tanks, my other main Champion enters the chat to bind those pesky engagers into their place. Morgana is going to be a solid counter-meta presence against these pesky tanks and will likely be a highly contested option against them, just as she is now. Additionally, she benefits from both the Mage changes and potentially the Glacial Augment changes, which is going to make it even harder for those annoying little tanks to get their way into a fight.
Again, go look at the Preseason guide, but the TL;DR on the Glacial Augment rework is that it now sends out freezing lasers all around after you lane a CC ability and it reduces damage from that target towards your allies. Which is an insane buff to players that love their utility builds.
So, there you have it folks. I think these Champions are going to be absolutely bonkers this Preseason and if you haven’t adopted them into your wheelhouse already, pick ‘em up now. Because even during the Preseason ranked results matter. Anyway, hope you guys ended where you wanted to be in Season 11, and I wish you luck as we look forward to Season 12!
