5 Champions that once completely dominated LOL

The battle for dominance rages on in the world of professional League of Legends. Every week, new strategies and play styles are tested on the Rift, and only the strongest champions rise to the top. This week was no exception, as a select few champions dominated the competitive scene, leaving their mark on the battlefield and solidifying their place as some of the most formidable forces in the game.

In this article, we’ll delve into the five champions that dominated not just one but four of the biggest competitive leagues in the world of League of Legends: the LEC, LCK, LPL, and LCS. From their playstyle to their impact on the game, we’ll examine how these champions left their mark on the professional scene and why they reign supreme in the current meta.

Kassadin

The introduction of Rod of Ages and changes to Seraph’s Embrace completely changed the landscape of the mid lane. Traditionally, Kasadin has been known as a champion that has a very weak early game, and the players who piloted him carefully were rewarded with immense boost in the late game when he reaches a stage where his ultimate cooldown decreases massively. However, with recent changes, Kassadin is able to have a pretty decent laning phase too. The shield he gets with his Null Sphere ability is absolutely game changing, and the likes of Akali and Sylas who are difficult matchups to play against have been made easier.

Another crucial change has been to Kassadin’s Force Pulse ability. The balance team at Riot Games nerfed the ability to have a higher cooldown that scaled with the ability haste Kassadin had, but also added a new feature to the ability that reduces the cooldown of the ability by 1 second for every ability Kassadin’s allies use nearby. In simpler terms, it means that in teamfights,he is able to use the ability multiple times even in the mid game, and combine that with Rod of Ages ability haste, Kassadin can dish out free damage to enemy champions in the late game and can carry the game on his own back.

In LEC this week, we saw Humanoid of Fnatic showcase everything we discussed in it’s full might. In their game against XL, Fnatic were considerably behind and it seemed like XL had the game in the bag, but then Humanoid reached that level 16 power spike. A six thousand gold lead went to dust for XL when Humanoid simply got on top of their primary carry, and one shotted him with his ultimate and Null Sphere combo. If Kassadin wasn’t in the game, XL wouldn’t have lost that game by any means and that shows how dominant the champion is in its current state.

Similarly, in LPL, the champion has been picked six times and came out victorious on five of those occasions. FPX, have been struggling a lot and have won only two games this split yet. The funny thing is that both these victories came while their mid laner Care was playing Kassadin, and the surprising thing is that he only died once in both these games showing how strong the champion has gotten at survivability in the early game. In a region that is known for its early skirmishes, Kassadin still came out on top and that strengthens the argument that Kassadin needs to be nerfed as soon as possible, unless he will take over competitive play in ways no one can except.

Lucian

 

We have seen Lucian dominate competitive games for years now but it feels like this is the strongest he has been in a long time, perhaps ever since his release if we are being honest. The surprising thing in all of this is that the champion hasn’t been nerfed since last season and players have been able to go on rampage when combined with Nami in the bottom lane.

The champion was picked in LCK 24 times in the first two weeks, and boasts a magnificent win rate of 67%! It has been acting as a direct counter to Zeri, who is the second most prioritized champion in LCK for the bottom lane, and won 7 out of 10 games against her. If you want to comprehend how absurd this is, you would be surprised to learn that in Solo Queue, Riot Games release hotfix patches if a champion has a win rate above 60%

It is very uncharacteristic for LCK teams to rely on a champion like Lucian to be their primary carry because their fundamental identities are contradictory. LCK has always been a region that likes to play games in a controlled fashion, setting things up like a stack to win the game eventually, while Lucian is a champion that likes to get into the face of the opponent and destroy everything that they were working towards. A champion like that being in 90% of the games shows how dominant the champion has become and with ADC buffs coming in the next few patches, it is highly unlikely that Lucian is going away anytime soon.

LCS is the only region that hasn’t given a lot of priority to Lucian, and have shown preference for Varus, Zeri and Sivir shows that their read on the meta is different from other regions and they might have come up with something that would counter this Lucian and Nami duo in the bottom lane, but without any concrete proof and a large sample size, we can only speculate on what’s happening behind the scenes.

Jax

 

Everywhere you go, you will see people talking about how dominant K’Sante is, and how he is the best champion to pick in the top lane right now. However, a champion that has been slowly climbing his way on the competitive ladder and being an unsung hero is Jax. The Grandmaster at Arms is currently having 61% presence in games around the world, seconded only by K’Sante, however his win rate is currently at 55% compared to K’Sante’s 47%! Also to make things more interesting, in LEC, Jax has came out on top everytime he has been against K’Sante!

The recent changes to his E play a big part in this. In patch 13.1, Jax had considerable changes to his abilities, and perhaps the change that really prompted him to climb the competitive ladder was his abilities scaling with magic damage.  Jax has become a more dangerous and dominant lander due to the magic damage changes as there aren’t very efficient items giving magic resist in the early game to top laners.

An argument can be made that Jax isn’t the same threat in the late game as he was before these changes, but we have seen him dominate the mid game in such fashion that he is always ahead of an item compared to his opponent in the late game which simply negates the late game nerfs. G2 Esports, has consistently looked at Jax as a priority pick for BrokenBlade in the top lane, and have accelerated the game through him so swiftly that their opponents had no chance to come back.

Maokai

The Twisted Treant has been a menace running wild in the jungle that Riot Games released a hotfix patch to make changes to his stats. In the coming weeks he will be dealing less damage in the late game, but that still doesn’t address the issue of him taking over the game in the first ten minutes. The champion is so powerful due to its ability of ganking effectively early in the game that these changes won’t make a big difference to professional players’ prioritization of Maokai in the drafting phase.

In LCK, Maokai is boasting a massive 94% presence meaning it was either picked or banned, but never ignored! The only player that lost several games on the champion in LCK is Umti of Fredit Brion, but even in those games it felt like Maokai was doing what he was supposed to do and Umti’s teammates let him down.

Maokai has also been acting as a thematic counter to Sejuani all around the world. Sejuani is one of the most prioritized junglers right now but Maokai can do what she does with a lot more range and damage, The champion has somehow been underperforming in LPL, but it would be wrong to say that it’s solely due to Maokai being a weak champion for fast paced games, but rather the players not playing the champion correctly to its strengths.

Ashe

 

A champion that many fans were surprised to see being played in the support role so consistently was Ashe. The Frost Archer has always been a champion that ADC players played and with great success. Ashe can do a number of things, she can slow down her opponents, gain insight on where her opponents are on the rift, have a very strong laning phase and most importantly an ultimate that is bound to get her kills. All of this translated very well to her being a support champion now and has allowed teams to play consistently through their bottom lane duos.

MikyX, Jeonghoon and Keria had absolutely stellar games on Ashe, and it won’t be wrong to say that they were more influential in their team success throughout the game than their ADCs. A drawback of playing Ashe is that she is really squishy and won’t perform well against hard crowd control champion abilities like a Nautilus hook or Alistar engage, but luckily for her enchanters have been dominating the competitive meta, and it doesn’t look like they are going away anytime soon, which in turn means Ashe is also here to stay for the foreseeable future.

A few champions that should and eventually will be picked more!

 

We have talked about champions that are performing well in the competitive games, but there are a couple of names that should have been given more attention and it’s a surprise for fans that they aren’t being picked despite their amazing win rates in the ranked games throughout the globe.

Anivia is a strong mid lane pick with good control, waveclear, and scaling. The patch 13.1 itemization buff further increased her power. She has high consistency, good gank setup and high damage potential if fed early. She excels at disrupting low-range melee champions and is tough to beat when stuns, slows, and walls are used effectively. When combined with how dominant K’Sante and Gnar have been throughout the drafting phases, she should be given more priority as she synergizes well with these champions.

Lulu is another champion that needs to be given more priority. She is a top support when paired with strong AD carries, offering exceptional peeling and protection in late-game team fights. She has strong scaling and can bully the lane with her poking and harassment abilities. A win in the early Lulu lane makes it difficult to lose the game and considering how the meta is heading towards a more ADC oriented style, she is going to be a very valuable asset to any team composition.

Udyr is a champion that has started appearing more, but considering how powerful the champion is in it’s current state, its a surprise that professional teams haven’t been giving it more priority compared to the likes of Sejuani and Viego. The champion excels at every single thing and can allow the best teams to adjust accordingly to the current situation meaning that it’s very hard to lose, especially if he is able to get the team an early lead.

Conclusion

 

These were a few champions that dominated the summoners rift around the globe throughout this week, but as we all know things can change very quickly in competitive meta and we will be back with another segment to discuss how the landscape changes in the coming weeks.