Funneling is back in League of Legends and fans are mad

The funneling strategy represents one of the most divisive tactical approaches ever introduced in competitive League of Legends gameplay. This method focuses on concentrating resources onto a single designated carry player, creating an overwhelming advantage that can dominate matches when executed properly.

Historically, this approach manifested through mid lane players selecting utility-focused champions rather than traditional damage dealers. These supportive picks would alternate between assisting their designated hyper-carry and managing minion waves in the central lane for the funneling recipient to collect.

The traditional implementation required the mid laner to sacrifice their individual power progression to provide their smite-equipped carry with accelerated gold acquisition and experience gains. However, the Preseason 2023 iteration introduces a fundamentally different mechanical exploitation.

Preseason 2023 brings funneling back to League of Legends

This updated funneling technique briefly appeared during the previous jungle item iteration, featuring mid laners utilizing Smite alongside Flash as their selected summoner spells. The mid laner initially assists their jungler by using smite on the first camp, then proceeds with standard lane farming procedures.

After accumulating initial resources, the mid laner purchases then immediately sells their jungle-specific item. Due to the programming implementation of the updated jungle items, the “Treats” passive effect—which provides gold rewards for completing various objectives—persists despite the item no longer being in the player’s inventory. This design intention aims to enhance jungle role satisfaction, but since the passive functions without the item equipped, mid laners exploit this mechanic for additional gold generation.

This situation doesn’t represent the initial occurrence where an unexpected game interaction disrupted League of Legends balance.

Riot Games has officially addressed this emerging strategy, with developer Ray “RayYonggi” Williams providing community updates via Reddit regarding the development team’s awareness.

Williams clarified: “This is known and we have mitigating tactics in mind. To address your testing concerns, we didn’t conduct extensive funnel testing. We allocate most preseason development resources toward optimizing the experience for the majority player base, and when specialized abuse cases emerge (like funneling) we ensure we possess the necessary controls to address them when required. Instead of inefficiently predicting, testing, and preventing these strategies before release, we monitor preseason developments and implement corrections at significantly reduced resource expenditure.”

The resurgence of funneling strategies raises important questions about long-term game health and competitive integrity. Players attempting to counter these tactics should focus on early game pressure and objective control to disrupt the carefully timed resource accumulation.

Common mistakes include underestimating the gold differential created by the Treats passive and failing to adapt champion selections to punish the strategy’s inherent weaknesses. Advanced players can optimize their response by targeting the funneling player during critical power spike windows and coordinating with their team to secure early advantages that negate the strategy’s effectiveness.

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