In League of Legends the Pre-Season 12 is currently running. This is being used by Riot Games to introduce some major changes or conduct experiments. On the test server, there is now an adjusted version of the Summoner Spell “Teleport,” which, however, is not well received.
What kind of spell is this? The Teleport is a special ability that allows a player to teleport to a friendly tower, minion, or ward. This spell is particularly popular on the top lane, so the player can also influence the events on the other lanes.
Teleport is usually used to:
- Get back to your own lane quickly after a death or a shopping trip
- Carry out a gank on the bot lane
- Get involved in the fight for the dragon
However, this flexibility seems to no longer be desired in the future.
What is changing? On the test server, Teleport can now only be used on friendly structures – that is, on towers. Only after 14 minutes is there an “Unleashed” version of Teleport, which then also allows the jump to minions or wards.
The casting time has, however, been reduced from 4.5 to 4 seconds.
A major intervention in the early game and a strong separation of the top lane
How is the change being received? On reddit, many players are reacting negatively to the change. It significantly impacts the early game of a match. The Teleport was a popular method to help your own bot lane and forced players on the top lane into a decision:
- Should I return to the lane quickly to farm?
- Should I keep the Teleport to help the other lanes?
- Additionally, the Teleport could also be used to change the status of the lane because the minion to which you teleport does not move and briefly halts the subsequent minions and also becomes invulnerable.
Such decisions will be taken away from players in the future, criticizes user PhantomRager (via reddit):
I am a top lane player and I do not like this change. Finding the right moment to use TP to the bot lane requires skill. You can’t just risk a TP to the bot lane because if you don’t get something, the enemy has 2 free waves and at least one plating. Or he also comes to the bot lane. It’s not that a Teleport to the bot lane was free.
Also, reddit user SirVampyr believes that LoL generally allows less and less decision-making: “Maybe I’m just a LoL boomer since I’ve been playing since 2010, but the way they [the developers] are becoming increasingly specific with their changes somehow destroys the discovery of new tactics and options.”
Players now fear that they will only stay on their top lane for the first 14 minutes and will have no influence on the game events.
The top lane is becoming increasingly separated: Some players even joke that Riot is completely separating the top lane from the game and increasingly protecting the bot lane in return. The influence of the top lane on the game is quite low when they can no longer help either the bot lane or the dragon.
Some players therefore joke that the top lane could just be put into its own game:
- VanilleOfDead writes: “So, when will the top lane finally be packed into its own instance of Howling Abyss [the ARAM map]? (via reddit).
- Darkreaper48 has a different creative idea: “The top lane will soon be played in the new League fighting game” (via reddit). He is referring to the new Project L, where two champions from LoL fight each other like in Tekken.
However, the changes are currently only on the test server. Whether they will actually be adopted in League of Legends will be shown by patch 11.25, which is set to arrive on December 22.
Pre-Season 12 brings some changes
What else is changing due to the Pre-Season? Pre-Season 12 has already introduced some innovations:
- Two new dragons have been introduced, the Hextech and Chemtech dragons. The first of them has already received a nerf because it was too strong at the start.
- New items have been brought into the game and old ones have been revised.
- Some runes have been adjusted.
- With the target bounty completely new mechanics, which should make a comeback easier.
The new change to Teleport, however, is sparking a lot of discussion. What do you think of the adjustment? Do you like it or do you think it’s unnecessary?
