Lane swapping has been a huge problem in competitive League of Legends. In pro games, teams follow a strict series of steps to take down their opponents’ top lane or bottom lane tower within the first few minutes of the game. Then the teams swap lanes and do the same thing on the other side of the map. The rest of the game is spent pushing side waves and then moving to the middle lane and waiting for a teamfight to break out. It’s extremely boring for spectators and not too much fun for the pros either.
Riot is aware of the lane swap problem, and is working on fixing it before the World Championship In September. In a post on the League forums, Scarizard posted some changes coming in the next patch.
New: "Turret First Blood" gold: +275 local, +25 global (400 total gold across the team)
New: Turret AI has been updated, and are better at defending allied champions (coming in 6.16)
Fortification (temporary damage reduction buff on turrets) changed
Duration: 7 minutes -> 5 minutes
Damage reduction: 35% -> 50%
Fortification removed from bot lane turrets (we’re investigating a more nuanced approach to this)
Outer turret HP: 3300 -> 3500
Cannon minions now spawn differently
Each team gets one cannon minion per wave, rotating lanes.Specifically, Bot gets a cannon minion in lane at wave 3, Mid at wave 4, and Top at wave 5. This then repeats.
Post-20 minutes, Mid has a cannon in wave 40 then both Bot and Top get one in wave 41. This then repeats.
Post-35 minutes, all lanes have cannons in each wave.
These changes now make lane swapping riskier. If you send half your team to go take down a turret in the early game, you could end up losing more than what you gain. Five-man turret dives should also be more difficult, with the turret AI actually hitting the right targets.
Do you think these changes will end the boredom of lane swaps? Tell us in the comments!
