One of the least played game variants in League of Legends, Twisted Treeline plays as a 3 vs 3 in the deep forests of the Shadow Isles. A 2 laned map with a jungle cramped into the middle, players must synergise as a 3 man team to get to the nexus. With the access to a baron-like objective in Vilemaw and 2 shrines which grant you ghostly buffs, the game can either be played objectively or, depending on your mood, as an all out bloodbath. Changes to the map have granted players more options and evolved the meta in Twisted Treeline. I'll discuss the meta that existed before while explaining its evolution.

Twisted Treeline - before its recent changes - had 2 main styles of play in how your team formatted on the map. The first being a 1-1-1 formation that puts one champion in each of the lanes while the final player goes through the jungle. Playing in a similar fashion to Summoner's Rift where you farm your own lanes, plan for ganks and use your composition to defeat your opponents. The second playstyle is 2-1. Here you see 1 player play in the solo lane as a damage dealer while in the other lane there are 2 champions. In these 2 players you see an ADC and Tank Support. Here they aim to win through fast push/crowd control and continuously group as a 3 man to gain the advantage through the game. The second strategy saw continuous success and was the prevalent strategy used by teams to succeed.

In 5.11 we saw multiple updates to the map and it changed a lot about the game variant. I'll list them first and then explain it later on in more detail. The updates created are:

- Addition of turrets and statistical differences

- Changes to the map's objectives in the 2 altars and Vilemaw

- HUD updates that provide more information

- Overall aesthetic change bringing in elements from the Summoner's Rift update

- Meta differences and the comparison you can make through all the patch changes

New Turrets and Stat Changes

A major difference in the new Twisted Treeline comes from the addition of a turret on each lane for both sides. This has created a much shorter lane on both sides of the jungle, meaning teams have less to work with, so you need to work cohesively as there's less room for error. The turrets stand near to the entrances of the jungle, protecting yours and their side of the map. With all paths into the jungle now covered, you and your team now have more protection from your enemies while having more reason to stick in your lane and destroy objectives.

The newly added turret has a low base health and can be easily destroyed when coming together as a team. You can also work to slowly chip away at it if you know you have a wave clear advantage and can push the enemy in easily. If you need to reset the wave due to unfavourable pushing, it's now easier and safer to do with the closer turret. This creates a larger margin for error and you won't get stupidly behind due to a singular error. Along with the added low health turret on each lane, the health of the other turrets have been changed to make it progressively harder and now takes longer to destroy them. As you can see in the image below, the turrets healths get increasingly larger. These small changes force the team to work co-operatively and manipulate waves efficiently. Turrets won't die now to a few minions and super-minions as easily, so you will need to attend to them more as you go further into the lane.

All of these aspects emphasise Riot's aims in smoothing out early game play, and create a more complex way of playing into the later parts of the game. By changing the stats of the existing turrets and adding a new one, teams can't snowball as easily, as you can now stay close to the turret for defence. You can manipulate waves more easily and create favourable siege scenarios. Finally, team work has been brought to the limelight as turrets are now progressively harder to kill and need more work to come down.

Altars and Vilemaw Objective Importance

The altars are a point of contention in Twisted Treeline as they grant you small buffs when captured. Pre 5.11, the buff of getting +3 extra gold for every minion/monster/champion kill wasn't enough. You fight for both of the altars in the earlier patches so you would get the 10% extra ability power and attack damage. A percentage stat desirable for your team, while aiming to prevent the enemy from claiming it.

With the update, your games on the Treeline can pick up pace if you've acquired both of the altars. With one altar, you and your allies are granted a movement speed bonus. This buff doesnt change much seeing as both teams are most likely going to have one altar each, it nulls the effect out in a way. Having 2 altars though can change the pace and put you at a serious advantage. With the buff, your team will now restore part of your max health when killing minions and monsters. This means that as a team you can stay longer in the fight and create longer siege opportunities.

The big spider also got a few buffs/nerfs to make him more desirable. Pre 5.11, the death of the Spider God granted 4 buffs; bonus mana regeneration, bonus health regeneration, an attack speed buff and 20% CDR. These aren't stats you scoff at, as at all points in the game they are useful, but in a way not needed. As Riot pointed out in their update overview, there was never really any emphasis to kill Vilemaw unless you had time on your hands during the match. With the new Vilemaw buffs, they've added objective play which is similar to the buffs you get from Baron Nashor on Summoner's Rift, providing more reason for a team to put time into it.

Vilemaw now gives you and your allies "The Crest of Crushing Wraith" buff which gives you 2 main buffs. Your champion becomes ghosted, removing all unit collision from you. Secondly, whenever you stand near allied minions they will have; increased combat stats, enhanced movement speed and will "fear" enemy minions briefly when they come in contact. They also look crystallized which is a cool visual bonus. Like on Summoner's Rift, you utilise this buff to push your waves and utilise the minions' strengths to siege turrets quickly. With the buff having greater importance now, both teams should focus on gaining it. Teams should aim to push the waves on both lanes (especially bottom lane), group and maybe get a champion kill then destroy Vilemaw as a team. The opposing team do have a chance to react in this new Twisted Treeline, as Riot have increased the health and defence stats on the big spider.

Vilemaw changes in action. Credit to Pawnce for the video

Small HUD Update

One of the main updates in Summoner's Rift which has been helpful to all players is the timings on primary objectives around the map. As long as the appropriate vision is put in place, you will have a timing reference on blue/red buffs, dragon and Baron. These are important to keep track of as you want to sustain your vision and understand your team's cooldown so your team has the best chance to obtain them. This is especially true around the map objectives in dragon and Baron. Using the success of that HUD update, it was integrated into the Twisted Treeline to provide players with the same information.

While pressing the tab button to open your scoreboard (or the alternative button you use), at the top of the screen there will be a timer. After every objectives first death, you will need to have vision of it to have the appropriate timer. In 5.11, the Twisted Treeline got the HUD change which now shows the Vilemaw objective. While playing a game on the Twisted Treeline, opening the scoreboard will show how long you have to wait until Vilemaw spawns. This will help you track the objective and be prepared to contest it with cooldowns and positioning (with no wards, you can't control the vision). I question whether Riot should have put timers in for the altars as well. Especially with their increased importance, it would be helpful to know when they unlock so you can contend for them as well.

Aesthetic/Visual Changes

The Twisted Treeline was looking a bit shabby, so Riot changed a few of the visuals on the map to make it easier on the eyes. You will see a lot of similarities to Summoner's Rift as they took a lot of the components from the map. Firstly, there's the turrets which are now more defined and "stylish" in the map. Taric would be proud. The 2 inhibitors on both sides of the map have got the same visual upgrade with integrated animations. The minions have left the Rift and gone onto the Shadow Isles for a holiday with highly defined models and animations that are aesthetically pleasing. Finally, the golems in the top side of the jungle have had a visual update. You see the inspiration in the model come from the current Summoner's Rift blue buff mixed with the old golems. While a small update in comparison to the rest, it's fitting to see the map get an overhaul visually to match the evolution of its gameplay.

The Meta Differences

Like Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline has a meta and will see favourable champions and strategies be played for increased success. Pre 5.11, there was one dominant way of playing the game, which was hard to stop and counter if you didn't play it yourself. This was the ADC/Support Meta into constant grouping/invading. Here you would have an AP/AD carry in one of the solo lanes, while in the other there would be a strong scaling AD carry with a hard CC support that uses ignite and exhaust. The duo lane would push the minions into the turret quickly and use that time frame to invade the jungle and gank the opposing lane. By doing this, they would get themselves so far ahead early on, that the enemy team would have a small window to come back into the game. Due to the high success rate of this strategy, you saw a lack of jungle presence in the games, as they were being starved of gold with the constant invades. It's hard for the solo laners to react to the movement of the two champions, as the players would either lose cs and gold or maybe die in a 2v2 (or 3). Neither situation being advantageous to the team/player.

Two ADC/Support Composition Archetypes

5.11 sorted some of those kinks out and, in theory, gives teams more options as a 3 man team. The ADC/Support strategy still exists but I think its prevalence on the map isn't as high. The main reason for this comes from the addition of the new turret. Players now have an extra defensive spot to stand underneath, meaning that invades will have reduced success. The same reasoning comes into the solo lane as it's now to harder to catch the player out of position.

The fast pushing isn't as punishing anymore as the closer turret now resets the wave easier and the time frame for the duo lane to roam has been drastically reduced. With this, teams can now run a jungler into the duo lane strategy and possibly have more success. The opposing team now has more time to react, as they can efficiently kill the minion waves in lane and due to that, they can make the roaming duo lose cs and gold by punishing them for their absence through fast push. Lessening its power as a composition by starving them of gold and giving the opposing team more time to react and play into it strategically.

In terms of the meta shift and the objectives behind it, I think there will be 3 ways of playing on the new Twisted Treeline. Firstly, I think the duo lane composition still exists but is harder to execute. With the objectives being more important now, instead of fast pushing to get a kill and earn the advantage that way, they should aim to compete for altars and jungle creeps to starve the enemy of buffs and the gold earned there.

Secondly, a cross map grouping composition that can use the manipulation of terrain to their advantage. So Pantheon, Twisted Fate and Shen with their global abilities as well as Lissandra, Rek'Sai and Bard who can "jump" over the terrain and join a fight from obscure places on the map. By manipulating the terrain, the composition needs to use their unconventional grouping to surprise and fight consistently then get objectives straight after.

Thirdly and finally, there's the 1-1-1 formation that - with the indirect nerfs to the 2-1 meta formation - can actually be viable again. A bruiser in the top lane, a bruiser/tank in the jungle and an AP/AD carry in the other solo lane. Very similar in how teams play on Summoner's Rift, you farm individually and then use power spikes and cooldowns to contest and control objectives. It's an obscure way to play, as there isn't a fixed way to play it. You as a player and team will need to understand the strengths of your composition and aim to fulfill your win conditions.

A champion tier list for The Twisted Treeline after 5.11 by Ranked Boost on Youtube

So there's my analysis of the new Twisted Treeline and how you can now play the map. With more diversity in the meta compositions due to changes across the whole map, I hope you guys can enjoy the new Treeline. Thanks for reading and peace out!!!

Insanely nice Twisted Treeline art from ffSade. Go and give her some stuff some love!

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