Lane Swaps End? – New Changes on PBE

Riot Games continues to experiment with game balance, this time through radical changes on the Top and Mid lanes.

A new mechanism has appeared on the PBE test server, aimed at reducing the impact of early roams and punishing teams for aggressive lane swaps. One of the main innovations is the removal of the turret damage reduction effect. Instead, a system has been introduced that penalizes a team if two enemy champions without Jungle Item appear simultaneously on the Top or Mid lanes in the early minutes of the game. In such a case:

Turrets receive a 95% damage reduction and set a maximum attack damage.
They deal 300% more damage to enemy minions.
Enemy champions earn 50% less gold and experience.
If a minion dies from an allied turret or other minions, the nearest allied champion receives the gold.
Allied champions under the turret earn 20% more gold and experience.
The effect is activated from 1:30 to 3:30 on the Top lane and at 2:15 on the Mid lane, and lasts an additional 25 seconds (Top) or 6 seconds (Mid) after the enemies leave the zone.

Additionally, a harsher penalty has appeared on the Top lane:

The turret instantly kills an enemy champion when the effect is active.
An allied champion under the turret takes 50% less damage.

These changes may be entirely aimed at altering the early game meta on the pro scene, forcing players to reconsider lane swap and roam strategies. Riot Games clearly wants to strengthen the role of the top laner, making the Top lane less vulnerable to team manipulations. Whether these changes will remain in the final version of the patch is still unknown.