Possible Lane Swap Solution in Season 15

“Why are Pro Teams lane swapping every game?”

Problem Definition

Why Does Lane Swapping Commonly Appear in Pro Play?

In professional or high-elo matches, teams often lane swap for three main reasons:

  1. Dodging Hard Matchups
    High-level players are aware of which champion matchups are especially hard. For example, if the enemy AD carry is a lane bully like Draven, and your team picked a more scaling-oriented pick like Kai’Sa, a direct 2v2 in botlane can be very hard. By swapping Kai’Sa and her support to toplane early on, teams can avoid Draven’s early lane pressure and safely farm until mid-game power spikes. Lane swapping also helps if the enemy top laner is a hypercarry champion like Jax or Fiora. These champions can be punished through repeated dives or forced off farm in the early game, setting them far behind in gold and experience. Meanwhile, your team might have drafted a tank pick such as Ornn or K’Sante, they are champions that remain valuable even when behind(CC and tankyness makes them useful in teamfights). By coordinating a lane swap, pro teams can effectively neutralize the threat of a vulnerable carry top-laner, all while ensuring their own late-game frontliner stays relevant.

  2. Securing Early Grubs
    In many pro-level games, the priority on Grubs can outweigh first dragon. By rotating botlane to toplane, a team can get prior in toplane, guarantee Grub fight prior (they can push wave into enemy turret and move to grubs, while enemy toplane has to either give up the wave under turret or give up Grub fight and catch wave.) If Grubs are secured, the team can quickly snowball with turret plate gold, first turret, and additional map vision pressure. This accelerated gold lead and can take early game in their favor.

  3. Shared Minion XP Mechanics

    Another factor is shared minion XP is actually better overall for the team:

That means two-champion lanes are often the most “cost-effective” way to divide experience early on (130%). Although each individual is getting less XP than a solo laner, the combined total surpasses 100%, providing an advantage for the whole team.

Pro Game Example:

GenG vs HLE

Game started with no laning except mid 2v2

Mid & Sup sharing exp midlane

Which Team Won This Early Laneswap?

Top & ADC sharing exp sidelane

Kiin (GenG top) tped down to catch minion under turret. Lehends (GenG sup) walked straight bot after hitting lv2 bot to protect Kiin getting dove.

GenG, because it is a one for one for GenG, Kiin got all the exp he needs to catch, meanwhile, Ruler (GenG ADC) is toplane free farming. But most casual audiences won’t understand this.

Why Lane Swapping Might Be Problematic?

  1. Undermines the “Locked Lane” Learning Framework

    League of Legends traditionally uses a top/mid/bot + jungle structure to help new players learn roles in a stable enviroment. Lane swap disrupts these expectations, making the game harder to follow.

  2. Rare in Ranked, Confusing in Pro Play

    Lane swapping is relatively uncommon in typical ranked games due to less team coordination and higher risk of mistakes. But in pro play, where swaps happen frequently and flawlessly, this creates a disconnect between what viewers see on stage and what they experience in their own games. When early game action revolves less around direct 1v1 or 2v2 fights and more around recalls, rotations, and objective trades, it becomes harder for casual players to follow the action or understand team decisions that feel applicable to their solo queue experience.

    One of the fun watching pro play is seeing the best players being in situations that viewers themselves might encounter. But when lane swapping becomes the default macro pattern, it risks turning early game League into a different game entirely.

  3. Forces a Single Optimal Meta

    When early lane swap consistently provides the highest winrate, it pressures pro and high-ranked teams to conform, not because it's fun or engaging, but because it is the safest and most efficient path to win. Over time, this shrinks the space for strategic diversity. Teams become less willing to draft certain champions, explore risky early game plans, or play standard laning. Not because those choices are bad, but because they simply lose too much value in a swap-heavy environment. The result is a meta where most matches are played in nearly identical patterns, and the early game becomes more about executing a rotation puzzle than expressing champion skill.

What Are My Goals?

My primary aim is to reduce the dominance and frustration caused by early lane swaps in high-level and professional play, while preserving the depth and variety that make League’s macro decisions interesting.
Specifically, I want to:

  1. Reduce the Dominance of Early Lane Swaps in Pro Play

    • Ensure swapping isn’t the only optimal strategy from minute one, decreasing “auto-pilot” rotations that bypass standard laning entirely. Keep the game’s early action more focused on lane mechanics rather than purely on cross-map rotations.

  2. Improve the Viewing and Learning Experience

    • Make pro matches more relatable to the average player by aligning early-game priorities closer to typical ranked scenarios, so viewers can understand and apply what they see on stage.

  3. Maintain or Increase Champion & Draft Diversity

    • Ensure teams feel comfortable picking both lane-bully champions and late-game hypercarries without fear of an unavoidable swap meta.

    • Reward more creative or aggressive early-game plans (fighting in lane, pressuring turret plates) rather than purely rotation strategies. This also makes toplane counterpick more meaningful, instead of just picking Ornn & K’sante and survive dives.

  4. Avoid Over-Nerfing Grubs and Preserving Late-Game Dragons

    • Recognize that Grubs is strong in the early game yet not overpowering overall, avoid making irrelevant nerfs.

    • Keep Dragons as a valuable scaling objective, allowing a balanced progression from early Grubs pressure into mid/late-game dragon stacking.

Possible Solutions

Solution One: EXP & Turret Adjustments

Restrict the 130% Duo XP Bonus to Champions with Support Items

  • Right now any two champions in a single lane collectively gain ~130% minion XP. This is meant to make duo lanes viable (ADC + support), but it also incentivizes unconventional pairs like ADC + toplaner for faster tower pushes.

  • Only champions building a support item receive the 130% duo XP bonus. If two champions without any support items share a lane, they revert to normal shared XP (no extra 30.53% XP).

  • Potential Downside: Could some champions abuse a support item just to unlock the XP bonus and then pivot back to sololane?

Turret Changes

Bring Back Early Turret Protection for Top and Mid Lane

  • Restore the reduced incoming damage on top and mid outer turrets for the first few minutes. It is harder to Fast-Push toplane early if an ADC plus another champion swap to secure early tower plates.

  • Increase Turret Plate Gold from 125g to 150g, teams that commit to a lane swap must weigh the loss of higher-value plates in the lane they leave behind.

  • Creates a trade-off: Gaining toplane pressure might forfeit more gold in bot, discouraging swaps.

  • Potential Downside:

    • Might over-incentivize staying bot lane for gold, leading to a “do-nothing” early game if everyone’s too scared to roam.

    • Could shift the meta around specific champions who excel at plating (Ziggs, Caitlyn).

Solution Two: Swapping Dragon and Voidgrub Positions

Early Objective: One big reason for early swaps is that both the Dragon (botside) and Grub (topside) spawn early, forcing supports to roam across the map to contest both. Currently, Dragon spawns around 5:00 at the bottom river, and Voidgrubs at 6:00 in the top pit. This geographic split encourages trading, (Ex: one team takes Dragon while the other rushes Voidgrubs, or sends bot lane top to secure the Voidgrub.)

Grubs Early Prior: Grubs are more valuable than Dragon early game. Pro teams will send their bot duo to toplane to secure wave prior, guaranteeing a favorable contest during Grub spawn.

By swapping their locations (put Dragon pit top, and Voidgrub/Baronpit bot), we keep the early objectives but reduce the need for cross-map lane swaps. The botlane duo can contest Grubs right beside them (no swap needed). It localizes early fights to where the champs already are.  Early objective trades would be more contestable 2v2 or 1v1 fights rather than cross-map swaps. ​

Solution Two Expected Outcome & Potential Downside

Positive Outcomes

If Grubs are no longer on the top side, swapping the bot lane duo to top becomes much less meaningful. Pro teams will naturally shift their focus to fighting for bot lane priority, making sure their setup around Grubs is favored for contesting. This change would also isolate top lane more, creating more exciting and straightforward 1v1 matchups that are easier for viewers to follow and enjoy.

Instead of playing the map like chess with constant lane swaps and rotations, pro players will be forced to focus more on laning mechanics, wave control, and direct skirmishes for priority. It simplifies the early game while making it much bloodier and more action to watch.

Potential Downsides

Player Confusion, Especially for Returning Players

Long-time League players have expected: Dragons belong bot side, while Herald and Baron belong top side. Flipping this core structure could feel disorienting, especially for returning or casual players. Summoner’s Rift’s geography has been one of League’s constants for many seasons. Altering the physical relationship between pits could lead to some players feeling the game is “not the same anymore.”

Art & Production Costs

Swapping objective locations isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Each pit is tailored for its current occupant. Dragon pit has distinct terrain and pathing points, while Baron pit has a different terrian changes and choke points. To accommodate the new change, Riot would need to reshape & rebalance these terrians for fair gameplay and visual clarity. Any custom animations, like how each monster enters or interacts with the pit must be reworked.

Validation Process

Testing this change is relatively difficult, since simply pushing it to PBE won’t yield meaningful data, only Pro Teams do laneswaps. To properly validate it, we would need to organize custom games with amateur or Pro-level teams that are familiar with coordinated lane swaps.

Here are the key metrics we should look at:

  • If lane swaps still happen, the bot lane turret should be the first one taken, this indicates teams are executing a traditional swap with early plate focus.

  • Lane swap frequency should drop below 10%. Ideally, it should only occur in extreme cases, for example, when a team is getting hard-countered in bot lane and needs to avoid getting killed over and over.

  • Only one lane should be sharing XP, and it should consistently be the lane where the support is located.

  • Support roaming should decrease. If supports can't freely roam without risking losing plates or leaving the ADC behind, that suggests the incentive to swap or leave lane has been successfully reduced.

Other Considerations

If Grubs are too powerful, why dont we just nerf it?

In fact, Grubs are not too powerful, they are perfectly balanced, even slightly weaker than Dragons:

Grubs are stronger in the early game, while Dragon stacks become more powerful in the late game. Dragons scale better overall, and securing Dragon Soul in pro play often means the game is essentially won, with a 95.5% win rate after getting the Soul.

So based on the stats, why do LCK teams still prioritize Grubs? It's because early game Grubs provide significant power, and gaining Grubs to build an early lead can translate into a larger gold advantage and a higher chance of winning future Dragon fights.

However, Grubs alone can’t guarantee a game-ending advantage, because they don’t provide champion buffs like Dragons do. The later the game goes, the weaker Grubs become in comparison. The average LCK game time is 32:02, which means most games will go past mid-game, and the games are still mostly decided by which side gets Dragon Soul.

If Grubs gets nerfed more, the result will be teams just don’t even take Grubs anymore, and the objective itself became meaningless.

LCK Player’s View On Lane Swap Detection Right Now:

Recently, Kiin (GenG top) shared his thoughts on Riot’s new update targeting early lane swaps. According to him, if Riot sets the lane swap detection timer at 4 minutes, then pro teams will simply swap lanes after 4 minutes.

He believes that lane swaps will still happen, just not before the 4-minute mark. In his words, "as long as teams see value in early swapping, they will find a window to do it, even if it’s slightly delayed."

Kiin also mentioned that unless Riot fundamentally changes the value of Void Grubs, swapping will always be a viable strategy when conditions allow.

This directly supports my point, fixing lane swaps isn't just about setting a timer. It’s also about addressing why teams want to swap in the first place. That means rethinking where Void Grubs should spawn, and making sure early game players just give up laning and stack waves.

How Does These Changes Fit My Goals

Why Is This Goal Desirable?

  1. Preserves Strategic Diversity

    • If lane swapping remains a situational tool, useful in certain matchups or circumstances. When it becomes the default, it eliminates many alternate strategies and champion picks. Having multiple viable strategy (standard lanes, partial swaps, all-in rotations) keeps both pro and casual play more dynamic.

  2. Aligns Pro & Casual Experiences

    • Completely removing lane swaps might make the game less interesting, but leaving them unrestricted can create confusion for viewers and a mismatch with average ranked games. By balancing lane swaps, pro matches remain recognizably League without forcing every team into identical early lane swaps.

  3. Enhances Spectator Clarity

    • Situational swaps let audiences see purposeful strategic moves, rather than a routine “everyone is swapping at 3:30.” Viewers can more easily follow the logic behind each decision,(they lost bot 2v2, so they swapped top to stop the bleed) improving educational value and entertainment.

  4. Maintains a Reasonable Learning Curve

    • New players can still learn the traditional top/mid/bot roles without getting confused watching Pro Games, while advanced strategies still exist for those who master them. This bridges the gap between casual ranks and pro play, ensuring lane swaps add depth without overwhelming the core experience.

Possible Q&A

Encouraging Trade-Offs Instead of Automatic Gains

  • XP & Turret Adjustments

    • By limiting the 130% XP bonus to champions with support items, swapping a top-laner with an ADC no longer provides advantage.

    • Restoring early turret damage reduction for top/mid and raising turret plate gold discourages a “free tower” trade mentality, forcing teams to weigh whether leaving bot lane is worth possibly giving up higher-value plates.

    • Result: Lane swaps remain possible (to dodge a nightmare matchup), but they carry real opportunity costs instead of being the automatic best strategy.

  • Objective Location Changes

    • Moving Grubs to botside and Dragon to top breaks the predictable pattern of “push top early, secure Grub, snowball.”

    • Teams that still want to swap must consider the new objective layout, meaning the old cross-map trade might not be as simple or profitable.

    • Result: Swapping is now a more risky strategy rather than a default method to secure the stronger early objective.

Q: “If we nerf swapping too hard, aren’t we just forcing bot lane to always stay bot? Doesn’t that kill macro diversity?”

The proposed changes (restricting 130% XP to support items, reintroducing early turret protection) don’t outright ban swapping. They make it less automatically optimal and introduce real trade-offs.

Teams still can swap if it’s necessary to dodge a terrible matchup or secure a specific strategic edge, it just won’t be the go-to tactic every single match. By creating opportunity costs (higher turret plates in bot lane, or lost XP efficiency if you don’t have a support item), lane swaps become situational. That actually increases strategic depth, because teams have to evaluate multiple lanes and objectives rather than following a preset “swap to top at 3 minutes” script.

Q: “But some viewers love high-level rotations and macro plays. Isn’t that a core part of League’s identity?”

Having some rotations is indeed core to League’s competitive appeal, but excessive early swapping can make the first 5 minutes feel like a constant shuffle of champions without direct conflict. This hurts engagement for many viewers, especially those who struggle to keep track of each rotation.

The goal isn’t to remove macro strategy, it’s to ensure there are still fights that fans can follow. High-level rotations should remain a strategic tool, but not at the expense of watchability or the entire early game turning into a chess match instead of a MOBA.

When rotations are purposeful rather than mandatory, pro matches remain relatable to the average player. This actually increases the macro learning potential for viewers, because they can see why a swap happens and how it pays off.

Q: “If swaps disappear, won’t weak early-game ADCs like Jinx or Zeri suffer more?”

Jinx, Zeri, and similar ADCs are meant to rely on strong supports, wave control, and jungle help in the early game. Lane swapping provided a convenient way to dodge tough matchups, but it can’t always be like that. Even if swapping is less attractive, these champions can still safe farm, build scaling items, and pick peel supports to survive the early laning phase.

Q: “Grubs are still high priority for pro teams. Won’t they keep swapping for it?”

In our proposed change, Grubs is now located where Dragon used to be. That means the ADC + support no longer have any compelling reason to rotate top early, since the major early objective is already in their natural lane. Traditionally, pro teams move their bot lane there to secure it, leaving top-laners in awkward 1v2 or constantly catching wave and weaksides. With Grubs now on the bot side, toplaners can continue their 1v1, making individual matchups more meaningful and easier to follow for viewers. Placing Grubs in bot lane keeps strong early duos, like Lucian + Nami or Draven + Aggro support. This leads to more direct skirmishes in the early game, instead of rotating away from each other. Viewers get to see more action from 2v2 lane, rather than toplane turret trades that often go uncontested.

Conclusion

Early lane swapping dominates pro play, yet rarely appears in typical ranked games, creating a disconnect for viewers and casual players. By limiting the 130% XP bonus to support items, restoring early sololane turret protection, increasing turret plate gold, and moving Grubs to bot, we make swapping a situational choice rather than an automatic best option. This preserves lane diversity, keeps the game intuitive for newcomers, and maintains strategic depth for pros. Providing a healthier and more relatable League of Legends experience for all.