League of Legends pre-season 8 is now behind us and the real thing is here, two days after RiotGames released the cinematic teaser aptly named ''Climb'' to hype everyone up for another shot at reaching Bronze 3.
In Riot's trademark fashion, season 7 ended in big style culminating in a giant game changing update and a few days later the World Championship Finals. With patch 7.22 on 6 November 2017 came the rune and mastery overhaul as well as new loot and leveling system. As with any overhaul in pre-seasons so far, this one proved to be a treasure trove of freaky, overpowered or otherwise broken builds. For example preseason 5 had the broken Warwick with red Smite that would even delete tanks with just two abilities.
This time around the imbalance from pre-season spilt into the start of the season proper. Zoe, the Aspect of Rage Inducement is definitely the current 100% ban/pick rate champion, so if you don't want to rage quit the game right at the start of the season, I highly recommend you ban her every game.
Riot Games
Concerning the metagame, tanks are always good in LoL. The rune overhaul slightly changed it in favour of having assassins in your team instead, but tanks are still a strong pick. Top lane and jungle are mostly dominated by bruisers and/or tanks who rely on Sheen/Trinity Force procs in conjuction with Sterak's Gauge. Camille is especially juicy with 700 true damage Q hits.
Mid lane meta is mostly unchanged, with strong picks for season 7 remaining strong now.
Bot lane now mainly favours supports that are good at peeling and/or engaging team fights. Poke heavy and otherwise bully supports are not bad per se, but in the wake of Fleet Footwork's rise in popularity for AD carries, they may not be the best picks in your champion pool. Just pick Thresh, that guy always works.
Riot Games
The ladder has been reset and people are able to play ranked matches at the time of writing, but a quick heads up might help you have a better experience with League this season - don't let rage overtake you in the game. That way you will avoid tunnel vision, keep map awareness and see exploits you would otherwise overlook. Despite every season having overpowered picks and whatnot, this suggestion is the only one that proved to be good through any meta so far. Good luck on the Rift summoners!
