Riot Games confirmed that the Mid-Season InvitationaI will be played on patch 11.9 (but with Viego and Gwen disabled). Here’s how it will likely impact the meta at the tournament across the various roles.
Top lane
These are the most picked champions in the top lane during the Playoffs:
As we can see, Gnar was the big priority along with Sion and Renekton.
Gnar W was nerfed on 11.8, reducing his movement speed:
Rumble is now one of the big names in the top lane after the 11.8 buff:
His passive now has bonus damage depending on enemies’ maximum health, he gains massive attack speed while Overheated and his E now reduces magic resistance.
Nevertheless, Rumble passive was nerfed on 11.9, so it remains to be seen whether he can be part of the metagame during the MSI.
Yorick was another champion who looked OP after 11.7, but he was then nerfed on 11.8. Other top-lane champions receiving buffs in these last 3 patches are Mordekaiser, Sett and Shen.
Jungle
The picture is clearer in the jungle: Udyr and Hecarim are the two kings in this meta in all four major regions.
Both have been nerfed, Udyr on 11.7 reducing his base attack damage, and Hecarim twice, on 11.7 and 11.9 lowering his movement speed and all of the following stats:
Apart from this, Turbo Chemtank and Dead Man’s Plate items were nerfed as part of the 11.9 patch, including a huge reduction of movement speed from 60% to 40% with the Turbo Chemtank. So, the Udyr/Hecarim meta could be coming to an end. Noctune, Lillia or Nidalee are other options that we’ve seen around.
As for the winners of the patch, we should now pay attention to Kindred, who has received two buffs on her Q and E abilities. Other jungle champions recently buffed are Amumu, Lee Sin, Rammus, Zac and Kayn. We saw some changes to champions to make them viable for the jungle role with the 11.8 patch: Darius, Mordekaiser, Zed and especially Diana and Morgana have seen their damage against monsters increased.
Mid lane
Orianna was clearly the queen of the mid lane in this meta followed by Viktor:
Riot took care of it and nerfed Orianna’s armor and magic resist with her E in the early game. She might be a bit more vulnerable in the beginning, but still looks strong.
Cassiopeia, LeBlanc and Lissandra all received buffs during the last patches, but it looks like the meta won’t be changing a lot in the mid lane.
ADCs
Kai’Sa and Xayah were the main options at the beginning of the split, but more AD carries have made their appearance since then. Tristana and Jinx showed up and especially after 11.7 we’ve seen Varus back on the rift:
There are multiple options for the position, the fasting Senna is always a choice, and we should highlight Aphelios’ buff on 11.8, where his R damage was increased with all his weapons:
Support
Kai’Sa was the most used AD carry during the split, and she fits really well with engage supports. We’ve seen a lot of Rell and Alistar this year, but Jinx and Aphelios combine perfectly with the usually perma-banned Thresh, who gives them the mobility they lack:
All three of them have been nerfed on previous patches: Thresh’s W and E, Rell’s E stun duration and Alistar’s Q and E. The “Farm Kech” is one of the alternatives, often seen along Senna. We’ve also seen another classic bot-lane duo buffed on 11.7 as both Ashe and Braum received some upgrades.
We expect more variety of champions at the Mid-Season Invitational, especially in the jungle and the AD carry roles. The first time we’ll see top teams in action in this new meta will be next Thursday, May 6th at 9am EST as Damwon KIA and Cloud 9 kick off the tournament.
