League of Legends’ Evelynn will soon be updated with the release of Patch 7.20, and while most players are likely looking to take the assassin into her primary jungler role, it appears that she’s still playable in-lane as well.
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Several Riot Games employees who were involved in the playtesting process for the upcoming patch were asked about the champion’s rework and whether or not there’d be room for Evelynn somewhere in a lane. Her kit certainly seems to cater to surprise attacks and ganks like it did pre-update, but Riot Novalas says that lane Evelynn is definitely a possibility even if it’s not the place that she excels at.
“She can be played in lane but it’s not great,” Riot Novalas said. “She’s probably best in melee matchups (with a heavy gank jungler). She’s definitely superior in the jungle.”
Evelynn looks as though she’ll have a tough time standing up to fighters and tanks in the top lane since she’s been pushed more into her assassin role with the update. Riot spoke recently about their decision to move away from the hybrid Evelynn builds that allowed her to withstand some damage while also providing quick bursts, so the top lane might not be a safe place after her opponent is able to get a defensive item or two. Given the Rioter’s comments about her being better in melee matchups, it looks like it’d probably be preferable to take her against equally fragile melee assassins in the middle where she can still roam to side lanes for ganks.
But at one point during her rework process, Evelynn was actually too strong when played in a lane. Another Rioter said that several different versions of Evelynn were tested as they ultimately scaled down her lane power to make her easier to balance.
“We actually went through quite a few iterations of her where she was quite powerful in lane,” Riot Afic said. “Put in a bunch of changes to make it weaker in lane, as it would likely be too difficult to balance around both lane eve and jungle eve. She still can be played in lane but it is probably weaker than jungle.”
Evelynn is scheduled to be updated with the release of Patch 7.20, so expect to see her both in and out of the jungle soon.
