It seems like, Riot Games is targeting Mid lane to receive nerfs in the upcoming patch where Bot lane is getting a slight buff.
In season 10, Riot Games brought a bunch of changes in the rift. The majority of the times they focused on the Top lane as players were complaining about how underwhelming it is to play in the Top lane and how it had the lowest impact on the game. As a result, they adjusted multiple items, buffed multiple top lane champions, and fixed turret plate gold.
Another lane that also got prioritized is the Jungle, they adjusted jungle XP multiple times and added a bunch of new champions in the jungle pool. In patch 10.8, they also rebalanced the ADC meta and the only lane that they didn’t change until now is the Mid lane.
But, Today, in the latest dev post, League of Legends’ lead gameplay designer Mark “Scruffy” Yetter revealed their plans to slightly nerf the Mid lane in the upcoming patch.
“We think mid should be among the strongest positions in the game, but currently it is carrying a bit too much power,” he said. “Slight nerfs should bring it in line, and we still intend for mid to be a highly influential role. We will likely have to change some mechanics (not just tune numbers) to effectively nerf mid without indirectly hitting the top.”
Even Riot thinks Mid should be the strongest role in the game and as a result, they will try to change some mechanics making sure Mid lane still remains the most influential position in the game.
In the Reddit thread, Riot Scruffy confirmed that these Mid nerfs will be mostly systems changes for example items mid lane champions mostly use, gold and XP earning. And if they target champions it would be standardized across the class.
In the meantime, they are also planning to buff the bot lane in general. Scruffy said, “Bot carry power has decreased slightly this season, so we wanted to put a small amount of power back into the role. We are exploring a few options, and we may not put power directly back into XP.” And these changes might help bringing back bot lane’s carry potential once again.
