Tryndamere mid is dominating the League of Legends meta, here’s why

There’s an unlikely new mid lane king in League of Legends, and his name is Tryndamere. The Barbarian King is not only meta in pro play, but he’s extremely powerful in solo queue. Here’s why you should be playing Tryndamere mid in Season 11.

Season 11 has seen the rise of many old champions in League of Legends. Udyr was a menace when the new Turbo Chemtank dropped, and Amumu is now one of the game’s most contested support picks.

An even more unlikely champion has joined the fold in an entirely new role: Tryndamere mid.

Before his 2021 rise in mid lane, you have to look back to 2014 to when Tryndamere mid was last picked in top-level pro play ⁠— by now 100 Thieves coach Bok ‘Reapered’ Han-gyu no less.

However, the Barbarian King is going through a renaissance of sorts thanks to a perfect storm. A weak mid lane meta, paired with an incredibly strong Mythic option, has made Tryndamere one of League’s best mid laners.

Here’s why, and how you can get in on the action.

Why is Tryndamere mid so popular at Worlds 2021?

At the time of writing, Tryndamere has been played six times with a 3-3 record at Worlds.

Cloud9 mid laner Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic has found the most success with the pick, netting two wins in Play-Ins with Tryndamere, posting a combined statline of 8/1/13.

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However, the threat of the pick has made him that much stronger. He has been banned 12 times, and posts a 39.1% presence at the international event, making him one of the most contested mid laners.

It’s also translated into solo queue. At high elos, Tryndamere sits with a middling 49.41% win rate, but has a 4.15% pick rate in the lane. He’s also banned in nearly 20% of games, so players are aware of his threat.

The reason behind his popularity has to do with a somewhat stale mid meta. Mages take forever to scale, so roaming mid laners that can shove in lane and rotate to side lanes have risen in popularity. Twisted Fate, Ryze, and LeBlanc are popular for this.

Tryndamere is a massive threat early thanks to his kill threat with his passive giving him crit chance, making for easy lane trades. It’s impossible to trade back because he can heal it all up with his Q. He can also shove in lanes easily with his E, before roaming around the map.

Goredrinker’s prevalence has also helped. The item was designed for Tryndamere, maximizing his damage when he’s low health, as well as giving him sustain when he comes out of his ultimate to stick around in fights.

However, Goredrinker alone isn’t the reason why Tryndamere is meta. In fact, it’s arguably not his best Mythic. The roaming strategy and lane bully identity is the primary factor behind his rise, and why he’s here to stay.

A guide to Tryndamere mid: Best runes & builds

We mentioned Goredrinker isn’t Tryndamere’s best mid lane Mythic item, and that’s because Galeforce exists. Tryndamere thrives on chasing down enemies, and Galeforce allows him to just that with not only the dash on the active, but the movement speed on the Mythic bonus.

This is also why you take Ghost over Teleport on Tryndamere (alongside Flash). If you want to chase down targets, teleporting into a fight isn’t going to help. Hitting Ghost ensures no target can outrun your fury.

In lane, you want to start with E to shove in the wave and get your Level 2 early. Then, after taking point in Q second for the bonus AD and heal, you can instantly dash in and win a trade on any lane opponent, forcing them to back or play under tower and miss CS.

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Once you hit Level 6, you can tower dive your lane opponent ⁠— or anyone on the enemy team ⁠— and cut them down thanks to the Last Stand rune damage boost. You can also take Unflinching if you’re worried about CC chains.

From there, when Tryndamere picks up his Galeforce or Goredrinker Mythic, he just dives enemy backlines on repeat, making it impossible for carries to escape and trade back because of his ultimate. Once he’s strong enough, he can either be a massive side lane threat or a potent engage tool teams can utilize in teamfights.

Tryndamere mid is the full package right now in League of Legends, and if you put enough time into him, you’ll reap the rewards.

Best Tryndamere mid runes in Season 11

• Lethal Tempo
• Triumph
• Legend: Tenacity
• Last Stand
• Second Wind
• Unflinching (for extra tenacity, better with Goredrinker) / Revitalize (for extra sustain, better with Galeforce)

Best Tryndamere mid build in League of Legends

• Starting Items: Doran’s Shield or 3x Rejuvenation Bead
• Mythic: Goredrinker (most common) or Galeforce (if you need more chasing power)
• Boots: Berserker’s Greaves (need the attack speed early)
• Essence Reaver
• Navori Quickblades
• Serylda’s Grudge (to stick on top of enemies when paired with Navori Quickblades)
• Mortal Reminder (if you need healing cut)
• Infinity Edge (to maximize Tryndamere’s crit damage)

Tryndamere mid nerfs planned for LoL patch 11.21

However, Riot are keeping an eye on him for League of Legends patch 11.21. While not directly nerfing Tryndamere, the devs are hitting one of his core items in Goredrinker.

“He’s a heavy [Goredrinker] user mid, and we held off on changing [Goredrinker] users on the same patch as gore nerfs generally,” developer Phlox said on October 11.

The Goredrinker changes hit Tryndamere extremely hard. The removal of the Spite passive, increasing his AD while on low health, culls his DPS quite a bit. The scaling change on Goredrinker’s active to base AD rather than total AD also doesn’t help.

However, it doesn’t address both Tryndamere’s roaming power from mid lane, and his general lane bully playstyle early.

Tryndamere mid will likely still be meta with the Galeforce build, but maybe a bit weaker. Until then, be sure to capitalize on his rise in the meta and get some easy LP by mastering the Barbarian King.