In an effort to extend the laning phase, League of Legends has introduced the new mechanic of turret plating, in five protective plates that grant 30 bonus armor and magic resistance for each that falls off. At the reward of 160g per turret plate (every 1000 of the turret’s HP), a Bulwark effect will activate for 20 seconds that increases the armor and magic resist of the turret by 25 for each nearby enemy champion. We spoke with LPL Casters Barento “Raz” Mohammed and “Clement” Chu about the new changes.

Clement: “I actually think turret plating is one part of it but the other part is teleport changes where you can’t cancel anymore. What we’re seeing right now is there are basically no defensive teleports anymore”

Instead of being able to take the outer turret (and it’s first turret gold bonus) in an early push, the turrets will be sturdier for the first 14 minutes of the game while granting small buckets of gold for taking out each plate. Paired with being unable to cancel the Summoner Spell Teleport anymore during the channel, these changes are influential enough to alter the already dominant early-game strategies. 

Raz emphasizes the amount of gold that can be earned before the 14-minute mark of the game, due to the addition of these turret plates, can accelerate certain builds and favor champions that benefit from a one item power spike. Expect picks to start favoring lane-oriented Champions that can also chip away at towers. Clement adds, “Once those turret plating patches hit, we saw Viktor, we saw Kayle, we saw Cassiopeia shoot immediately to the top three in terms of top lane win rates” when speaking about champions that benefit most from the turret plating gold changes.

Clement: “As a range champion, you have more chances to chip away at towers”

Cassiopeia especially, Clement mentions, has received burst of popularity for her versatility in all three lanes and was banned on the red side for every single game in the Demacia Cup. Champions like Viktor, Caitlyn, and other long ranged damage dealers will also gain much from the additional gold. 

Clement also points out that the Teleport changes will result in more dire consequences when used incorrectly. For instance, if a Top laner teleports bottom for a countergank, but the enemy team backs off, the Top laner has to fully commit to that teleport, leaving his own tower vulnerable to losing its own turret plating. This can result in the lane enemy Top laner accruing a gold advantage, which is even more dangerous in an early game, snowball meta.

In the end, what most determines the flow of the early game is whether your picks provide the ability to access the early game gold from turret plating and your decision-making in the use of Teleport, which could prove to be a double-edged sword. Raz is a strong supporter of the use of Champions with high carry-potential, with an offensive approach to the game. He likens the game to Season 2, in how teams drafted level 6 compositions to find advantages at fights during early Dragons, which would, in turn, snowball the game. 

This current iteration of the game focuses on early game prowess. The ability to chip at turrets for extra gold and hit those single item, highly efficient power spikes were what Invictus Gaming utilized at Worlds to climb to the top of the tournament. Clement points out, as evidenced by the sub-30-minute games prior to the Demacia Cup Semifinals, these early game tactics and decision-making will continue to be the dominating factors for the current state of the game.

Written by: Benson Cheng

Edited by: Dom Roemer