5 things that defined the League of Legends metagame in 2023

2023 was quite the year for League of Legends (LoL), with the successful release of a new game mode, some controversial new champions, new seasonal content in Soul Fighter, and more. But what were the things that affected the game’s metagame the most in the past year?

Before we head into 2024, let's take a look back at the five things that impacted the LoL meta in 2023:

Mid-Season Update

One of the biggest meta-shifters of the year was Patch 13:10, which was LoL’s mid-season update. This update aimed to tackle ADC and Support itemization options and problematic Assassin items and changed how the early game is played.

However, with the turret gaining increased resistance and the homeguards effect activating earlier, players began favouring champions that scale more effectively. This shift occurred because scaling champions found it easier to navigate through the laning phase with the altered system dynamics

Statikk Shiv

LoL devs put quite a lot of focus on itemisation this year and even brought back a fan favourite in Patch 13.10: Statikk Shiv. The item didn’t immediately hit off when it was first re-introduced, but after a buff in 13.11, players started to realise just how strong the item was.

The item's potent waveclear propelled the resurgence of champions that were previously not considered meta into the spotlight.

Eventually, all lanes started using the item: Mid laners were building it, ADCs were building it, top laners were building it, even on champions who don’t traditionally build AD items like LeBlanc were using it.

Among the champions that emerged victorious, LeBlanc's dominance in the mid lane with Statikk Shiv was so pronounced that the champion had to undergo targeted nerfs in addition to the existing Statikk Shiv adjustments.

Despite these attempts, an AD Ahri top build then popped up, then an AD Twisted Fate build—all while the item continued to be used effectively by AD Carries.

In total, the item was nerfed six times, with the last one being in 13.19 in September, just a bit before the LoL World Championship began.

Briar

The hype around Briar has been so overwhelming that Riot Games couldn't stop leakers from revealing everything about her prior to her official release. And when she finally came out, her win rate wasn’t the most impressive, with players needing to adjust to her unique playstyle.

However, after only a few adjustments, Briar started to dominate the Summoner’s Rift. Briar had to be nerfed four times, and yet, she remains to be one of the top junglers, with only Nocturne surpassing her recently as the top-tier champion in the jungle, according to op.gg.

With Briar being a constant threat and having the ability to chase down champions once she uses her ultimate, Certain Death, the way the game is being played on the Summoner’s Rift has also adjusted a bit. If she’s not banned, team compositions to counter her were formed.

We know that Briar’s position in the solo queue meta is still currently strong, so unless a few changes in the items and nerfs happen, she will continue to dominate through 2024.

Full Lethality Caitlyn Build and other accidental OP builds

We all know that devs are working hard to make sure the game is balanced overall. Still, once in a while (or more than once), players discover an absolutely OP build that smashes the overall game balance into chaos— sometimes due to a mix of item buffs and nerfs, runes, and champion adjustments.

One of the most notorious ones was the full Lethality build on Caitlyn. At some point, Caitlyn sat at an abnormally high 57.6% win rate, with players combining Youmuu’s Ghostblade, Berserker’s Greaves, and The Collector, along with Axiom Arc or Edge of Night for full Lethality stats. The result was a nightmare Caitlyn assassin that can one-shot a champion with her ultimate — a very OP and unfair build.

Another recent one was the Radiant Virtue Varus build, which is slowly gaining traction on solo queue in the top lane. Varus has been sleeper OP with having stupid amounts of % damage built into his kit already, but now people started playing tank Varus in the top lane. This has thrown off the LoL meta for quite a bit as well. Hopefully, Riot continues to keep an eye on these and fix these outliers.

Worlds 2023 and T1

The LoL World Championship is always one of the biggest factors that shape the meta toward the latter part of the year. Normally, Riot would make some patch adjustments right before the tournament begins to ensure balance and sometimes add variety to the champion pool of the pro players.

At Worlds this year, some of the most contested meta picks were Orianna, Xayah, and Rakan in the bot lane. Orianna’s dominance at Worlds was shaped throughout most of the year, with adjustments since Patch 13.2 onwards started to bump her up the priority list of Pro players.

However, one team stood out at Worlds this year because of how they bent the meta to their own advantage: the eventual Worlds 2023 champions, T1.

In fact, in one of the interviews, Lee “Gumayusi” Minhyeong boldly said that he and Ryu “Keria” Minseok were going to be the trailblazers of the Worlds 2023 meta. T1 brought out some of the craziest team compositions, like the double-marksman bot lane or the Senna Tahm Kench combination that caught other teams off guard.

While some of these compositions didn’t catch on in solo queue, Lee “Faker” Sanghyeok, the LoL G.O.A.T.’s champion choices, significantly influenced the champion picks of many casual players.

One of the most prominent ones was Faker’s signature Azir pick that helped seal the deal against JD Gaming at the semifinals, ending in a 3-1 upset against the Golden Road contenders. The demand for Azir was so high that the option to buy the champion in-game broke down on Korean servers.

Even if the Emperor of Sands was a champion with a high difficulty level, many who admired the LoL GOAT wanted to get the champion so they could try and emulate the moves of the LoL King.

With 2024 just a few days away, we’re sure that some of the significant changes to the map, the jungle, and items will again shape a new meta for the new year. What do you think will be the new trends in the coming year?

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

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