Currently Underplayed/Overplayed Heroes - January

Shh...I'm charging my laser!

UPDATE: I'm happy this sparked such an awesome discussion! I know many of you don't agree, but that's what makes an excellent debate. It also seems that the EU server status is a little different from the NA servers, and I'm glad to hear opinions from both side. Thanks for reading and commenting everyone!

Good evening summoners, I'm back again with another non-news related guide on the latest trends. Today I'd like to go over three different categories of heroes:

1. Secret OP: As the term suggests, these are heroes I think are secretly overpowered, but nobody chooses to play them for one reason or another.
2. Not Considered OP Enough: These are heroes that people are trying to get across as overpowered, but haven't completely proven their worth, and thus they almost never get banned.
3. Not as OP As They(He) Seem(s): I think you can all figure out this one.

---

THE LIST:
*Secret OP*: Olaf, Twitch, Renekton, Anivia

Not Considered OP Enough: Riven, Xerath, Nasus, Ahri, Wukong, Maokai, Nunu, Cassiopeia, Ryze

Not As OP As They(He) Seem(s): Kassadin

---

*SECRET OP*:
Olaf: Despite HotshotGG failing with Olaf mid-game and late-game during WCG, the fact is that he won his lane easily. Some top level players say that Olaf is lacking since he has to chase down his opponents, but despite this I feel that his top lane dominance is incredible. He is one of the few top-laners that can easily shut down Gangplank and Tryndamere, and his nuke deals true damage. This means that Exhaust barely does anything to his offensive power, and does practically nothing once he pops his ultimate. His cooldowns and sustainability in lane are also outrageous.

Twitch: Not laning Twitch, but Jungle Twitch is simply an amazing ganker and downright annoying. To be honest I've played maybe 12 ranked games with a Twitch on either team, and if the Twitch isn't straight trolling with Heal + Clarity, that Twitch team has won every time. I also have a friend that mained jungle Twitch all the way up to 1650 ELO. However, as always I feel that stealth heroes require players with extremely good map awareness and patience, so he's definitely not for everyone. (Including me)

Renekton: Although managing his fury system is a little difficult for people who aren't used to it, once you charge up your fury it's almost guaranteed that you'll either zone your smart opponent or kill your dumb opponent. Like Riven, he charges up in a very sneaky way. Many don't understand that with 100 fury you'll be doing an incredible amount of extra damage and have a longer stun than you did earlier when you harassed him.

Anivia: Anivia's one of those champions where people say things like "she's too blue dependent" as her biggest weakness. To be perfectly honest, it's no harder securing a blue for your Anivia as compared to any other AP mid. Her egg also gives her immense 1v1 potential, and it's so easy to use to egg and bait your opponent into getting ganked by your jungler.

NOT CONSIDERED OP ENOUGH:
Riven: People are starting to understand how strong she is.

"Riven is the ultimate answer to super heavy super slow comps, she's not affected by slows at all" - Doublelift

Xerath: Massive range and easy combos

Nasus: Arguably the "strongest" late game bruiser without even building many damage items. Wither is also outrageously strong.

Ahri: New Champion, highly skill intensive, but if you land a single charm at level 6 it's guaranteed that you win your lane. This coupled with the fact that she has four flashes at her disposal makes her practically ungankable as well as inescapable. (Thanks to Pretty_Insignificant from reddit for pointing that out!)

Wukong: Now that he has decent stats, his skillset is outrageously good.

Maokai: Maokai's combo is simple to pull off and loses no effect if the target blinks since his W will continue pulling him right to the target. He's an amazing jungler and an amazing laner and thus I feel he should really be a top ban.

Nunu: Poland already showed how strong Nunu can be as a support. He doesn't play into the NA meta as strongly, but I feel that he's a massive game-changing support.

Cassiopeia: A top ban months ago, she's fallen out of the spotlight for no particular reason. Her burst potential and harassing ability is ridiculous from the beginning to the end and honestly should be a top ban if you know someone on the other team has any faint intention of playing her. (Thanks to various readers for pointing that out!)

Ryze: Nearly, but not quite at FOTM at this point, Ryze really is ridiculously powerful and should be banned almost as often as Tryndamere is, but for some reason he's overlooked when people do bans in solo queue. He's a tanky spellcaster that doesn't even need to build RoA, he just builds straight tank. This coupled with the fact that he not only counters most FOTM AP mid heroes but also most FOTM top bruisers really makes him an ideal hero. (Thanks again to various readers for pointing him out!)

NOT OP:
Kassadin: As people are more willing to lane-swap an attack damage dealer to lane against Kassadin and then lane swap again later, Kassadin loses more and more of his effectiveness. With the nerf in cooldown to his ultimate, he's also placed in much more danger than he used to be. Don't get me wrong, he's still a very good champion, but I don't think he needs to be banned in most games anymore.