This preseason bot lane meta is bringing minuscule changes for bot laners, who have dominated the game the last 6 months . Their role and items didn’t receive any adjustments, but they are affected by changes other roles are facing.

Preseason bot lane meta

While the rest of the map got new shiny toys in the form of new items, pets and tower plates, the bot lane didn’t get much. Sure they are going to be affected by the jungle changes, as securing drakes is a team objective now. But outside of that and the new ping wheel bot laners love using, the Navori changes are the main talking point. 

Navori Quickblades bot lane history

When Riot introduced this item, they were hoping that ADCs that use abilities would pick it up, as an alternative to Infinity Edge. But what slipped their minds at the time, was the fact that this item was supposed to be an amplifier. Deathcap was the amplifier for mages, Stoneplate was for tanks and ADC had Infinity Edge. But this item that was supposed to replace IE didn’t amplify anything.

All the item gave was a reduced cooldown on non-ultimate abilities every time your auto attacks crited. Champions like Lucian, Xayah, Sivir, and others that liked using Essence Reaver in the past should have loved this item. But it was lacking in power until Riot decided to fix it during this preseason. 

Navori Quickblades preseason 13 changes

Navori Quickblades now empower your abilities to do up to 20% more damage, depending on your critical strike chance. And the old passive was reworked, as your auto attacks now reduce 15% of the cooldown on your non-ultimate abilities, but only if you have 60% crit. Finally, this item can now rival Infinity Edge and shake up the meta. Riot have since then delivered a hotfix patch, in which the Navopri change for doing more damage, now applies to passive and on-hit effects. That means that Kog’maw and Vayne will get more damage from their W ability despite it not being a spell.

Best bot lane champions in preseason 13

After a few years, we finally have a quiet preseason for bot laners.  Looking at the meta, you would think that ADCs like Vayne and Kog’maw would flourish with all of the health stacking going on. But the truth is, tanks take so long to kill that the fight is over before the ADC makes a difference. Whichever team kills the enemy mage or ADC first, wins the fight, since the other living members are fighting a meatball that takes no damage. In this scenario, some unlikely bot laners thrive. 

Jhin

Jhin makes absolutely no sense on this tier list but here we are. How is the worst tank killing bot laner the best ADC choice in a preseason tank meta? Well, he doesn’t kill tanks, but everything else. As we mentioned, even a Vayne is not finding success killing tanks so why even bother? Picking Jhin helps your team eliminate the targets we already mentioned. He has long-range engage with his W and ultimate ability, can farm pretty safely, and he can help eliminate the backline. 

Sure he does negative damage to tanks but if your team lives while only their tank survives, you will take him down eventually. He is the fourth most picked bot laner right now, appearing in 15% of the games with a staggering 52% win rate. Similarly to Jhin, all ADCs like Samira, Nilah, and Tristana also score a similar win rate with a smaller play rate. The key to winning is the same with all these bot laners. Kill the squishy members on the enemy team and worry about the tanks later.  

Kai’sa

Ever since her release, Kai’sa has been an omnipresent pick in the bot lane. Regardless of the meta, players loved playing her. And as has always been the case, this is mostly due to her versatility. You are probably well aware of the AP Kai’sa build that is tormenting souls in ARAM for quite some time now. Heck, even Faker played it in the mid lane during the 2022 MSI tournament. But the sheer fact that Kai’sa can build crit, lethality, ability power and attack speed items, makes her the clear number two choice for this meta. 

Your goal as Kai’sa in this meta is to get the evolutions on your Q and E abilities, and try to assassinate the backline of the enemy team. You can use your ultimate ability to close the gap and execute, after which your team will naturally have more damage to handle the tanks. If their team doesn’t have a tank, you can go for the crit build. If your team is lacking in magic damage, feel free to build Ludens and Nashor’s. And for the on-hit build, you can honestly build anything that gives attack speed. Nashor’s, Botrk, Wits End, Kraken. Anything you like, Kai’sa can use it.

Notable mentions: Twitch

This might be a biased pick going back to preseason 7, but the last time we saw a bot lane meta like this, only one ADC champion had the kit to handle it. Enter the slide and glide, pray and spray, invisible assassin, Twitch. Twitch has always operated in the way Samira and Nilah like to do. Twitch mains know how to utilize chaos in solo queues, picking off high-priority targets with their stealth and snowballing of it. But that’s not the only thing that makes Twitch viable at the moment.

While AP Twitch is great at assassinations and against both tanks and squishy targets, AD Twitch is might be the answer. His ultimate ability allows him to decimate team fights with his long range, piercing auto attacks and his synergy with items. After Botrk and Runaan’s Hurricane, every auto attack from Twitch using his ultimate dishes out a ton of damage. Positioning and kiting is very important, and raises the skill ceiling of the champion. But if you are looking for the most possible damage output against a team with two tanks running at you, the Twitch pick might be what you need. 

Header: Riot Games