In League of Legends, Barney “Alphari” Morris (22) is one of the most renowned top laners in Europe. However, playing the support champion Janna on the top lane is simply out of the question for the Welshman. He considers it inappropriate. He has already informed his coach that he will not play her. The LoL professional is calling for a nerf for Janna – the top lane is in a miserable state in 2022.
Who is Alphari?
- Alphari made a name for himself in Europe from 2016 to 2020: He played for Misfits Gaming and Origen. Like some stars from Europe, he capitalized his time in the LEC in the USA and played for “Team Liquid” as a mercenary for a year.
- In 2022, Alphari is part of the “Superteam Project” by Perkz. He is now playing alongside some star players at Team Vitality in France. After a rough start to the season where things didn’t go well at all, the mismatched team has now stabilized and stands at 5-4 in a solid 4th place in the LEC league.
- Alphari has a clear opinion about the current situation on the top lane. There, “Smite Janna,” a support champion, has suddenly become a popular pick. Alphari has no regard for this.
Janna on Top Lane? “Just totally unfun and against the game”
This is what Alphari says about Janna on the top lane: In an interview with Inven, he is asked if we will soon see Janna in the LEC:
By God, I hope not. I really, really hope we don’t see her. I don’t want to play that. I have already told my coaches: I will not play that until a good team plays her and I am forced to play her to fulfill my duty to the team. But I consider it inappropriate to play Janna top. That is not what I stand for. It’s just totally unfun and against the game.
Alphari
Alphari says that the top lane in Season 12 is so terrible that it might be more useful to not play any top lane at all and not care about anything that requires thinking.
The Welsh professional hopes that Janna will be nerfed hard by Riot Games so that League of Legends becomes exciting again. Overall, this preseason has been the worst Riot has ever created.
Supporters in the Top Lane as a New, Unwanted Meta in LoL
What’s with Janna on the top lane? About a week ago, the US site Dotesports reported that “Smite Janna” has achieved a win rate of 58% in challenging ELO matches. Due to her high movement speed, she was ideal for a new meta where players played a support champion on the top lane.
In principle, Janna hardly plays on the top lane, but is constantly roaming on other lanes to gank there. Additionally, she steals camps in the jungle with Smite while not falling behind on the top lane. This works also because the summoner spell “Teleport” has undergone significant changes and the “Objective Bounties” system is exploited.
This strategy has been heavily criticized: The change on the top lane is unhealthy for the entire game, according to top laners.
Riot Games Takes Action Against Supporters on Top Lane
Will it stay that way? Apparently not, as Riot will take some countermeasures against the new top lane meta in Patch 12.4. It has already been announced that supporters will be restricted on the solo lane: a measure specifically aimed at champions like Janna.
Riot Games has already announced that Patch 12.4 will include only initial measures against solo supporters on the top lane. “Heavier countermeasures” will take longer.
Perhaps then this “inappropriate way of playing LoL” will come to an end.
The top lane is anyway a strange lane:
Expert explains, a role in LoL is so bad that only psychopaths enjoy playing it
