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Ever since League of Legends’ professional formally took off, the bot lane meta had heavily favored marksman champions with incredible late-game scaling options.
AD-crit champions have been the go-to in the bot carry role. The ADC's role never saw too many shifts, even if the meta in the mid lane, jungle, top, and support changed with a diverse array of champions coming and going out of vogue.
In season 8, League of Legends did see some mages taking up the ADC role, but that was to compensate for the plethora of nerfs that crit items received at the time.
Riot Games soon decided to buff the items. Picks like Tristana, Sivir, and Jhin soon came back strong in pro-play and standard match-making.
The bot-lane carry role is rigid when it comes to the champions that it can, and it cannot harbor. Since marksman champions have for so long been the ideal pick for the role, it’s hard for players to grasp that other types of champions can fit into the position. Perhaps even do a better job of carrying the game than the available marksmen.
In the recent Ask Riot, League of Legends’ lead game designer Jeevun “Jag” Sidhu addressed the marksman issue and opened up about bot-lane diversity.
Bot lane diversity in League of Legends
Sidhu feels that the bot lane meta has fallen under a cultural stereotype from which League of Legends players do not want to escape readily.
He says that,
“Some of the highest win rate champions in bot-lane are not marksmen—like Swain, Karthus, and Heimerdinger. Additionally, multiple mages’ highest win rates are in bot-lane—like Veigar, Seraphine, and Ziggs. So the answer isn't just about systemic factors that influence who can go bot, but why it feels like only marksmen belong there.”
Jag feels that much of the bot lane picks come from social pressure as marksmen have been dominating the role for years. The devs further suggests that,
“It can feel very daunting to go off-meta in Champion Select. On top of that, the duo lane requires both players to understand each others’ moment-to-moment goals, and playing with unfamiliar champions adds to the difficulty. Finally, the statement itself is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy—if people hear that only marksmen go bot, then they'll reinforce that social standard every time it’s challenged.”
However, lately in League of Legends season 11, this perception has changed slightly as the professional stage has seen picks like the Seraphine and the “fasting Senna” in the role.
Unorthodox bot-lane picks do exist in League of Legends. It’s just that players are unwilling to depart from the meta, which has been tried and tested for so many years.
