Croatian Luka “Perkz” Perković (21) is regarded as one of the best mid laners in the world: But he says he has no idea what the right champion for the mid lane in League of Legends is right now. And that’s despite the fact that the international LoL tournament MSI is currently taking place. The meta for the mid lane seems still unclear: The patch 11.9 is too young and there are unusual interactions at the positions:
This is the situation in LoL:
- Currently, the “Mid Season Invitational 2021” is being played in LoL. This is the second most important tournament in any LoL year after the Worlds.
- The tournament is played with the relatively new patch 11.9, which has been on the live server for almost two weeks and brought a whole range of nerfs and buffs for the champions, especially in the jungle.
- Perkz is considered one of the best players in Europe, but is contracted to the Americans Cloud 9. So far, the tournament has been mixed for him, his team is in a group with top favorite DAMWON Gaming (South Korea) and two underdogs, standing with 1-2 only somewhat decent.
Mid laners are currently adapting to what the jungler plays in LoL
This is what Perkz says now: Perkz had just won a game with Tristana against Infinity Esports when he was asked for an interview. He was asked about champion selection in the mid lane, as the meta in the mid lane seems entirely unclear during the MSI. The currently most popular champions are not the ones that actually win.
Perkz admitted:
I currently have no idea what is strong in the mid lane.
Perkz
He had only chosen Tristana because she fit into Cloud 9’s team composition. But generally, he seems puzzled. His usual champion Nidalee is currently rather weak.
Essentially, the choice of the champion for the mid lane is currently made in line with the jungler and the overall team composition.
The crucial point starts around 51:51 minutes.
What is the reason? It is a strange phenomenon currently in League of Legends: Because junglers still dominate the meta of LoL. However, with the new patch, they have gone more towards magic damage (AP) than in the previous patches. Therefore, mid laners are apparently switching to champs that deal physical damage (AD).
The mid laner of Unicorns of Love, Nomanz, explains the problem:
When you watch matches, you see a lot of Nidalee, Morgana, and Rumble [in the jungle], even Udyr now deals more magic than physical damage. In a “Fully AP Jungle Meta”, you have to play an AD mid laner to be strong yourself, or you play a control mage together with Udyr and try to outscale the opponent or something like that.
Mid laners are becoming more of a helper to the jungler – It used to be the other way around
What is behind this: You can see how complex the interactions in LoL are. Although patch 11.9 changed little in the mid lane, but mainly focused on the jungle position, the effects create a new meta in the mid lane.
The classic mid laner in League of Legends is actually a mage with AP damage. For years, this has been the “star” in a LoL team. Players like Faker, Perkz, Caps, or Bjergsen have been the most popular players in their teams and leagues.
In the new patch, however, the position seems to be switching from magic damage (AP) to physical damage (AD).
This is because the enemy adjusts with armor items to the currently dominant character of the opposing team, therefore the mid laner should not deal the same type of damage as the jungler at the moment.
For years, the junglers were rather the “workers” of a team, setting up others. At the moment, they have replaced the mid laner as the central character of a LoL team and now apparently have to adapt to the jungler.
Perkz’s statement fits well with Nicholas “LS” De Cesare’s thesis:
LoL nerd explains that coaches and pros have no idea about the central aspect of the game
