Introduction: The S15 season is underway, and most players have been paying close attention to recent matchups. All major regions are currently on a brief hiatus, shifting everyone’s attention to the World Championship. As the event approaches, the organizers have announced multiple patch changes. Following hero nerfs, the overall team compositions are expected to shift significantly. Additionally, the developers revealed an adjustment to the lane swap penalty timer, extending it once again. This change deals a severe blow to LPL’s AL team, who relied heavily on lane swap strategies to clinch the second split championship. Conversely, this should be advantageous for teams like T1, Gen, and BLG.

Riot targets lane swap tactics again in S15.

Most players have shown great interest in the S15 season, which has undergone major changes, including map redesigns. This forced teams to explore entirely new strategies. Lane swapping sparked widespread discussion during the first split. Frankly, this tactic can feel somewhat oppressive, as it sacrifices one player’s growth to maximize the carry’s economy. This enables the damage dealer to develop rapidly and deliver stronger teamfight bursts. However, it also brings drawbacks: early-game excitement drops significantly because the sacrificed lane mainly focuses on enduring pressure and avoids aggressive plays.

To address this issue, the organizers introduced penalty mechanisms. During the first split’s World Championship, they implemented a system where the attacking side’s experience and gold from minions were reduced by 50%, while turrets dealt 1000% increased damage to champions. This time, the lane swap penalty was further strengthened, extending from 3.5 minutes to 4 minutes. This greatly improves laning efficiency. For the LPL region, this has mixed effects. For example, the AL team has a strong preference for lane swap tactics. Their coach, Tabe, has consistently employed this strategy and even persisted with it after the penalties were increased.

With the laning phase reinforced, teams like T1, Gen, TES, and BLG, which emphasize lane control, stand to benefit significantly. Many fans have expressed hope for even stronger penalties to help LPL teams perform more steadily. For IG, this is also a positive sign, as their main reliance is on bottom lane carry Gala. By avoiding lane swaps, they can better leverage individual skill to gain advantages. Meanwhile, TheShy can play more comfortably in the top lane without bearing the burden of multiple opponents. In the first round against Doran, this might give him an edge.

As the competition nears, tickets have gone on sale. Unsurprisingly, they were snapped up in less than a second. Once the countdown ended, all tickets showed as sold out. Honestly, the final venue is quite large, with a capacity of around 15,000 and approximately 18,000 seats. It seems many tickets were grabbed by ticket bots, as scalpers began selling them even before official sales started, with prices marked up several to over ten times the original. It’s baffling what the organizers are thinking. If they want strict real-name entry, there must be ways to eliminate scalpers.

Farewell thoughts

No one expected the organizers to introduce such sweeping patch changes at this time. For the LPL region, this is generally good news, since three of the four competing teams don’t heavily rely on lane swaps. The only team truly impacted is AL. Of course, lane swaps are still possible within the four-minute penalty, it just means the AD carry will have to farm a couple more waves in the top lane. It all depends on how Tabe adjusts his tactics.

What do all of you viewers think about this situation?