Know Your Meta #0: what is meta?

When people refer to "the current meta", meta is actually short for "metagame".

Since the Dreamhack tournament of 2011, a lot more people have been talking about "the current metagame" and what the strongest one is. The currently most used meta used in competitive gaming (except by Team Goose), is to have one jungler, one AP caster mid, one tanky bruiser solo top, a support and ranged AD bottom.

A quick example of each:
Shaco = Jungle
Irelia = Solo Top
Brand =  AP Carry Middle
Ashe = AD Carry Bottom
Soraka = Support Bottom

The reason why this set-up has become so popular is due to a few reasons, for example:

Every character that needs to farm creeps and gain high creep score has access to it, the only character that does not need farm (last hits on minions) so much in this game is Soraka, the support, who will typically build gold per 5 items to keep her gold up. This is a typical support tactic, by Soraka giving up her farm in the bottom lane, this will enable Ashe to take as much farm as she pleases. 

By having a Jungler, you give top lane a solo lane, this means that effectively Shaco can use the jungle creeps as farm, then the solo top, Irelia, can take as much farm from top without any contest from other team-mates. Especially since Irelia requires a lot of farm to still remain effective in the game, it is especially important that she takes a solo lane

Solo Mid is typically an AP caster, the reason for this is that, similar to the AD carry bot, an AP caster needs a lot of farm to keep up into late game.

But why put each character into its respective place?

Although it differs from region to region, the reason we have two people bottom, the support and the AD carry, is for control of Dragon. The Dragon is a very important tactical in all levels of play, 190 global gold is never something you should pass up. Supports are typically looked upon to carry wards, having a support bot means that Dragon should always be warded and that you always have vision of a very strong early game objective.  

Why AD + Support Bot?

Ranged Attack Damage champions are typically very weak, squishy, characters with very high damage output late game. The ideology behind having a support to back up a Ranged AD is so that the support can either replenish lost health, and such keep the AD farming creeps for as long as possible, however there are other supports, such as Janna and Karma, that mitigate damage with shields, and offer attack damage steroids.

The reason why the AD and Support share a lane is due to the fact that out of the three effective "Carries", is that ranged AD scales the least with level, however can still stay viable until the late game. Supports will typically be underleveled and underfarmed, because the design of these champions is not to effectively "carry" the game, but to provide support to the characters that can.

Why AP Mid?

Arguably, Mid lane is one of the hardest to control, you have two open sides that are vulnerable to other lanes coming in to "gank" you. One of the reasons why an AP is put mid is because almost every AP caster (aside from Mordekaiser) has some form of Crowd Control (CC) effect that can prevent themselves from being ganked, for example Brand has a stun through using his passive and then hitting with his Q, this enables him to run away from a potential death.

Ability Power champions require a solo lane more than any other character in the game, owing to the fact that their spells damage is increased not only by their AP, but also by what level the spell itself is. 

Why tanky Bruiser top?

Although top lane is one of the most flexible lanes in terms of character. A typical top-laner will have some form of sustain, such as Irelia's W skill, also her ultimate spell can restore a lot of health if used correctly.

Tanky bruisers are typically "disrupters", however others, such as Tryndamere, are straight damage fiends, other bruisers, such as Wukong, have a very disruptive effects on teamfights, Wukong can leap into an enemy team, use his ultimate to knock up as many of them as possible, and hopefully help his team win the fight. And everybody knows that winning teamfights is extremely conducive to winning the game.

Toplane will quite often take the "teleport" summoner skill, the reason for this is to help with map control, gaining Dragon kills earlier in the game, and stopping split pushes. This is usually because bruisers are very effective 1v1 characters, and can very efficiently stop weaker characters from pushing other lanes.

Why use a Jungler?

Junglers are very often one of the most effective members of the team. Having a jungler boosts the teams strength by a considerable amount, a few reasons for actually having a jungler are fairly obvious, some are not. For example, one of the most obvious ones is that Junglers are typically strong "gankers", this means that should a friendly lane be getting pushed and harassed to under the turret, a jungler can come and quickly turn a 2v2 situation into a 3v2 situation which will fairly commonly result in a kill for the team with a jungler. Another reason to have a jungler is so that top-lane has no-one to contest for farm with, since the jungler will be picking up farm in the jungle, and (hopefully!) kills in other lanes, top-lane can farm to his hearts delight. 

In the current Jungle, it is almost possible to Jungle every character released, however the effectiveness of their ganks and how fast they can clear the Jungle are a very important aspect to consider when picking a Jungler.

 

Thanks for reading, and I will be doing a more in-depth guide to each of these roles in coming weeks!

Jake.