Quality vs Quantity: The League of Legends Dilemma

 

 

You’ve seen it many times. Queue into a matchmade game and see the flood of calls. “MID!” “MID!” “solo mid or afk” “I do apologize to my peers but I will be taking my position as a champion of the center lane, and I will be utterly miffed if someone else takes it from me”.

 

In the past 10 games that I have queued by myself in League of Legends, I have been forced to play support 8 times and jungle twice. Thankfully my main role is support so I can accustom myself, but for most of the other players, being forced to play a relatively unfamiliar role leads mostly to their defeat or ‘trolling’. Happens in every MOBA, and has happened since old DoTA days when the first semblance of a meta was formed; some players are only really good with one champion, or one type of champion.

 

Players want to play their best every game, and in most cases, these players believe that they can control the game in a solo lane. Solo lanes give you more farm, faster levels, and a chance to beat your opponent in a 1v1 duel of skills. In LoL’s current meta, there are technically 3 solo lanes (Top, mid, and bot lane where the adc farms everything) and understandably, everyone scrambles to secure their lanes as soon as possible, leading to fights in the loading screen when 3 mid experts attempt to secure the position. Game loads, score is 1 to 15 and the flame wars begin. “We would have won this game already if I was mid” “Told you I can only play mid” and so on and so forth.

 

Like in basketball where everyone wants to be MJ or Kobe, everyone wants to play like they’re Misaya or Toyz, and demands the role as if they were god’s gift to matchmaking. Truth is, Toyz, Misaya and all the other pros are pretty solid in every other role in the game because of their honed mechanical skills and instincts. Chauster from CLG Prime is the prime example of this, having played almost every role during the span of his professional career and excelling at each and every one. Pros are pros because they are great at playing LoL, not because they are great at one role in the game.

 

But wait! What about GodJJ of the Taipei Snipers (famous for reaching the top position on the NA solo queue ranked ladder playing only Ezreal and Kogmaw) or Zekent/Spamhappy (played only Poppy in solo q ranked and is currently in Diamond 1) or Tiensinoakuma (Katarina player even before the Kat rework)? These players played only one or two champions and managed to reach a high elo by specializing in a specific role. Aside from elo and high personal satisfaction, these players also gather thousands of viewers on their streams, turning their favorite game into a solid source of income. That, I believe, is the primary impetus for players forcibly training themselves in only one role/champion.

 

So what now? Should you put all your eggs in one basket and train one champion/role primarily so you can be the best at what you do? Or should you be a jack of all trades, filling in as needed so your team has a higher chance of winning with a balanced team?  Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below!