We've already seen the annoying new meta live in the LCK – double support items. Now Riot is shutting it down in the upcoming LoL Patch 14.2.
A new meta has quickly emerged to kick off LoL Season 14. Sure, it isn't brand-new, and we've seen it before, but last season, Riot managed to kill off any reason to play with two support items and everyone thought this play style was dead and gone.
Well, with the new World Atlas item it reared its ugly head once more and Riot quickly had enough, bringing out the nerf hammer to make some major changes to the item in LoL Patch 14.2. Thank you.
LoL Patch 14.2: No More Double Support Item Bot Lanes
Riot have quickly made some changes to the double bot lane meta which was making a return for the start of LoL Season 14. Players did the math and realized that if bot laners also took World Atlas, they could gain around 250 more gold than if they were to farm minions normally.
This new strategy was so good that even pro players used it during official matches. During the first day of the LCK, T1's bot lane duo – Gumayusi and Keria – showed off how good the strat can work when played right.
Well, with it getting played on stage and multiple people already complaining on Reddit, Riot is acting quickly to snuff out any hopes of double support items being meta for long. Riot Phroxzon stated on Twitter/X that they have some hefty nerfs planned for the double support meta. He explained that the balance team is "being heavy handed" on this topic.
Patch 14.2!Ranked- We're making some changes to reduce how lenient tier boundary demotions are. While we think making a tier boundary is a big milestone, we also need to be demoting people more honestly to ensure the ranked system functions properly- We're also continuing to... pic.twitter.com/cNUgtnAj3W
— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) January 17, 2024
One data miner posted the potential changes for support items on Reddit already. He found that the minion tooltip for World Atlas has been changed from "This item grants reduced gold from minions if you kill excessive numbers of them" to "This item grants reduced gold from minions if anyone on your team with this item kills excessive numbers of them".
These changes would definitely dissuade the multi-support item meta from making a comeback in the future. LoL Patch 14.2 is going to be released on January 24, 2024 with these changes, alongside a lot of other champion adjustments and some brand-new skins.