League of Legends Season 7 was a weird time. Honestly, if you played through it, you probably either remember it as the peak of tactical depth or the most frustrating year of your life. It wasn't just another update cycle; it was the year Riot Games decided to fundamentally shift how we played the game, leading to a meta that still haunts the dreams of ADC mains and top laners alike. We’re talking about the Ardent Censer era.
It's 2017. You load into a match. If your support doesn't rush a specific 2300-gold item, you’ve basically lost the game before the ten-minute mark. That was the reality of League of Legends Season 7. It was a year defined by massive mechanical overhauls, the introduction of some of the most controversial champions in the game’s history, and a World Championship that ended in one of the most emotional scenes ever captured on a live broadcast.
The Ardent Censer Meta: When Supports Ruled the Rift
You can't talk about Season 7 without talking about that one item. Ardent Censer. For months, the entire competitive landscape revolved around a single strategy: protect the president. If you were a jungler, you weren't playing a carry; you were playing Sejuani or Gragas. If you were a top laner, you were on Maokai duty.
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The math was just too good to ignore. The item gave attack speed and life drain on hit whenever you healed or shielded an ally. Suddenly, champions like Janna, Lulu, and Karma weren't just utility picks—they were the win condition. It got so bad that pro players were taking "Relic Shield" on AD carries just to funnel more gold into their supports so they could finish the Censer faster. It was strange. It was slow. Games often dragged on for 40 minutes with zero kills because everyone was too scared to engage into a double-shield composition.
But here’s the thing people forget. While the "Censer meta" felt stale to watch for some, it required a level of positioning perfection we haven't seen since. One misstep by the ADC meant the entire house of cards collapsed.
The Arrival of the Rule-Breakers: Zoe and Kayn
Riot decided to get experimental with champion design during League of Legends Season 7. They didn't just add new characters; they added mechanics that felt like they belonged in a different game entirely.
- Kayn, the Shadow Reaper: He introduced the idea of a permanent transformation based on who you fought. It changed the jungle dynamic because you weren't just farming; you were "farming" specific types of enemies to get your form.
- Zoe, the Aspect of Twilight: Released near the end of the season, she arguably became the most hated champion in League history for a good six months. Her "Sleepy Trouble Bubble" and the ability to pick up used Summoner Spells from the ground felt... unfair. Getting one-shot from two screens away by a Paddle Star wasn't exactly what players called "fun counter-play."
These releases showed a shift in Riot's philosophy. They wanted high-variance, "clip-worthy" moments. It worked, but it definitely fractured the player base.
Why the Runes Reforged Update Changed Everything
Late in Season 7, Riot dropped a nuclear bomb on the game's infrastructure: Runes Reforged. For years, we had the old system—clunky rune pages you had to buy with IP (Influence Points) and Masteries that were tiny incremental stats. It was a barrier to entry. If you were a new player, you were literally weaker than a veteran because you couldn't afford a full page of Tier 3 Armor seals.
The new system merged everything into the five paths we know now: Precision, Domination, Sorcery, Resolve, and Inspiration.
It was chaotic.
Suddenly, Keystones like Press the Attack and Summon Aery were dictating lane dominance. This wasn't just a balance patch; it was a total reimagining of how champions scaled. It effectively ended the "old school" era of League and ushered in the modern, high-damage game we see today.
The Death of Influence Points (IP)
This was also the year Riot retired IP and introduced Blue Essence. Some people hated it. They felt the "level up" chests were slower than just earning points every game. But looking back, it made the game much more accessible for casual players who didn't want to grind 100 games just to afford a single 6300 champion.
Worlds 2017: The Fall of an Empire
If you want to understand the soul of League of Legends Season 7, you have to watch the finals of the 2017 World Championship at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing. It was supposed to be the coronation of SKT T1 and Faker. Again.
Instead, we got the Samsung Galaxy (SSG) masterclass.
They didn't just win; they swept SKT 3-0. The image of Faker sitting in his chair, head in his hands, crying while the crowd roared for SSG, remains the most iconic image in esports history. It signaled the end of the SKT dynasty and showed that the "perfect" Korean macro-style could be beaten by a team that simply understood the meta better. SSG played the Ardent Censer meta to perfection, using Ruler’s Varus to find the picks that SKT couldn't react to.
The Top Lane Island Problem
While the bot lane was a rave of shields and heals, top laners in Season 7 were essentially playing a different game. This was the era of "tank or lose." If you picked Riven or Fiora, you were essentially trolling your team unless you got a 5-kill lead in ten minutes.
Most games featured:
- Maokai vs. Nautilus
- Galio (who had just been reworked into a magic-damage tank)
- Shen
It was an endurance test. You sat there, smacked each other with wet noodles for 20 minutes, and then teleported bot lane to see which ADC was better. It’s no wonder that many top lane mains look back at 2017 as one of the most boring years in the game's history.
The Legacy of the 10-Ban System
One of the best things to come out of League of Legends Season 7 was the 10-ban system. Before this, each team only got three bans. With the champion pool growing so large, three bans felt like throwing a pebble at a tidal wave.
Moving to five bans per team changed the draft phase forever. It allowed for "target banning" specific pro players and forced everyone to have a deeper champion pool. It’s one of the few changes from that year that almost everyone agreed was a massive improvement.
How to Apply Season 7 Lessons to Modern Play
Even though we're years past 2017, the fundamental shift in how Riot balances the game started here. Understanding that "boring" metas usually exist because of one over-tuned item is a lesson every player should carry.
Actionable Insights for Current Players:
- Identify the "Power Item": Just as Ardent Censer defined Season 7, there is almost always an item that is mathematically superior in the current patch. Don't fight the meta; use it.
- Adapt to Systemic Changes: When Riot reworks a major system (like the recent itemization or map changes), the players who climb the fastest are those who experiment immediately rather than complaining about the "old ways."
- Focus on Vision in the Late Game: Samsung Galaxy won Worlds not because they had better mechanics than Faker, but because they had better vision control around objectives. This remains the most consistent way to win games in any season.
- Watch the Draft: The 10-ban system means you can effectively remove your "counter-pick" every single game. Learn which champion actually stops your win condition and use your ban wisely instead of just banning a champion you "don't like."
Season 7 was a year of extremes. It gave us the most rigid meta in history but also some of the most creative champion designs. It broke the hearts of SKT fans and gave birth to the modern rune system. Whether you loved it or hated it, League of Legends wouldn't be the same today without the growing pains of 2017.