On the weekend, the best professionals played against each other in League of Legends: It is approaching the end of the season, and important playoff games are being held in all regions. At the beginning of 2022, the crocodile monster Renekton was still a strong pick in the top lane. But on August 20, the crocodile had a really bad day. This could cost him his job in the coming weeks.
What was the deal with Renekton back then?
- In early 2022, Renekton was a star in LoL. We wrote on MeinMMO in January 2022 that Renekton was so strong, that he was banned in every single match in South Korea.
- Because the champ could do everything: He could stun, gank, tank, and dive the tower.
- He was considered a really good “blind pick” at the beginning of 2022, one that could be chosen first and built around by teams.
Balance update hits tanks that deal a lot of damage hard
What has changed? In League of Legends, nothing stays the same for long. Since January, there have been major patches, and Riot has continually adjusted the balance of the MOBA.
Because “tanks that can deal a lot of damage,” called “bruisers,” have been a declared thorn in Riot’s side: They didn’t want that anymore:
- Champions should either deal a lot of damage like assassins (Akali, Shaco, Kassadin)
- or be able to take a lot of damage, like tanks (Dr. Mundo, Trundle, Aatrox)
- not both, like bruisers (Renekton, Olaf, Wukong)
So Renekton counted among the losers of the major balance update 12.10. From the strong crocodile of the past, he has now temporarily become a “problem croc”.
On August 20, Renekton lost some important games single-handedly
This is now the problem with Renekton: The problem with Renekton was bitterly learned by some professionals on August 20. Because when the crocodile falls behind his opponent in the top lane, the games can really turn against him.
The site Dexerto provides 3 examples of how badly Renekton was beaten in his top lane on August 20:
- In Brazil, Parang lost his lane with Renekton 0-14. The 26-year-old South Korean refused to play the champion more defensively even when everything was against him.
- In the USA, Flyquest played the champ Renekton after top laner Philip gained confidence in match 1. But with Renekton, he ended up with a 0-7-0 game and Team Liquid rolled over FlyQuest in the next 3 games.
- In Korea, Sandbox faced Gen G. with Renekton and even prioritized the crocodile. In 3 games, Dove picked the champion. Games 2 and 4 became his personal Waterloo. He went down with the crocodile: In game 2 with 0-9-0, in game 4 with 0-4-1.
Draft expert goes completely wild over Renekton
Who is particularly upset? The former coach and analyst, Nick “LS” de De Cesare, is considered a thinker and mastermind in LoL. His big thing, as a former card game strategist, is the draft: He believes neither coaches nor players have a clue about the draft in LoL. Experts like him are needed for that.
At the moment, LS is streaming again after a short but super exciting tenure as coach of Cloud9: LS has a problem with Renekton because he sees the champ as a “comfort pick” that is no longer questioned.
LS has experience with exactly this, as he has criticized a standard item in LoL for years, which everyone else regarded as “essential” – except him.
Just like Lee Sin has been delivering poor results as a jungler for some time, but is still picked, LS sees the champ Renekton in the same way.
Therefore, LS was completely stunned on Saturday that the pro kept playing Renekton, even though the crocodile seemed so toothless.
LS incredulously saw that the Korean Dove chose Renekton for the 3rd time – sealing his doom.
When Renekton is doing poorly, he is really doing poorly
What’s wrong with Renekton? Renekton is the case of a champion who looks fantastic strong when everything goes according to plan and he can execute his game.
But when Renekton falls behind, the matches go seriously wrong. He is probably a “lose more” champ; once he is on the loser’s path, he goes full throttle and races to the finish.
It also seems to just be a pick that many top laners feel comfortable with, even when they should feel quite uncomfortable.
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