Over the last year, the League of Legends metagame has shifted several times, with the seismic changes mainly due to the new item system and massive changes to Summoner’s Rift. These have forced players to adapt, with one popular adaptation coming in the form of more and more mages popping up as bot lane carries.
In fact, through League Patch 14.4, three of the top five bottom lane carry choices were actually mages, rather than traditional attack damage-focused characters, with Swain, Seraphine, and Twisted Fate taking over with skyrocketing win rates, according to League stats tracking site U.GG. The only true marksmen in the top five were Nilah and Senna, who are still two of the more unorthodox AD carry picks in the class.
Swain and Seraphine are relatively known menaces in the bot lane, and have been niche choices since last year when they picked up in popularity in Platinum ranks and higher. Their pick rates might not be as close to traditional ADCs, but they boast win rates of over 53 percent without having to change up their build or playstyle compared to their other roles.
Twisted Fate, on the other hand, received buffs to his AD strengths a couple of patches ago, and has seen a massive resurgence in his play rate and win rate. He is the second-most banned champion across the whole League roster with a whopping 34.1 percent ban rate, with his power helped on by destructive DPS capabilities along with his own point-and-click crowd control and a near-global teleport that helps him join any teamfight in the blink of an eye.
Vayne, Twitch, Ashe, and Miss Fortune are all still doing relatively well for themselves in Season 14 with respectable win rates over much higher play rates, but these new League items have given players a lot more freedom to experiment with team compositions and combos that could take over the meta in the solo queue scene.
For those who are looking for a bit more variety in coming months, you’ll be happy to know Senna, Seraphine, and Twisted Fate are all expected to be getting adjustments in League Patch 14.5. Twisted Fate is specifically getting his attack damage power targeted by the devs, with reductions planned for his Q damage and E attack speed boosts.
