Which Champions are Strongest When Mastered? - March 2015

A last minute switch from a tentative Mordekaiser musing monday to maintenance Monday, but don't fret as I believe you'll enjoy this post! As an update to the first rendition of "Which Champions are Strongest When Mastered", check out this updated list after a variety of nerfs and buffs to various champions ~  

Season 5 - Patch 5.4 Champion Gallery

"Strongest Champions When Mastered "

Introduction: 

Winning in solo queue is a complex affair. There are so many variables involved outside of player control such as lag, that consistency plays a massive part in climbing the ranks. Some champions excel in outplaying other champions, while others rely on brute force or special skills to win.

However, in an ideal situation with teammates that select champions that reasonably synergize with you, which champions offer the most bang for their buck when mastered? 

What Makes a Champion "Strong"? 

1. Ability to dodge or negate spells and attacks; 
2. Higher than usual damage rewarded for landing difficult skillshots; 
3. Difficulty to kill; and/or
4. Ability to damage enemies who can't damage you back, usually through one of the following methods:
• Durability
• Untargetability
• High Range
• Crowd Control effects
5. High potential damage output

Although some champions may overlap, the criteria above is used and the following criteria that we use for solo queue are omitted: 

1. Ease of play; 
2. Synergy with popular champions; and
3. Margin of error.

Strongest Mid Laners

Morgana [Utility]: Replacing Syndra on the top list is Morgana, a champion that will no doubt raise some eyebrows being on the strongest mid laner list. The reason for this is that as a champion that is heavily "utility" based as a result of her famous black shield, Morgana is oft seen as a support role. However, in terms of waveclear, ganking, and saving potential, there are few things scarier than a quick two second snare from a roam bot at level two. Not only that, with the heavy onslaught of champions like Vi on the field, a good Morgana absolutely dominates all the powerful lockdown compositions that rely on getting in and out quickly.

Ahri [Damage/Utility]: Replacing Cassiopeia on this list post nerfs is Ahri, Annie and Xerath were a close follow up, but Ahri is simply insane for her ability to dodge and outplay with her ultimate. This combined with the damage potential and CC from her kit makes her impossibly strong at the moment, despite recent nerfs that hoped otherwise.

Zed [Damage/Outplay]: Staying on the list for a second straight term is Zed. Despite failing popularity, he remains a very strong candidate in terms of sheer talent. In terms of team utility, Zed essentially has none. He is a pure damage and outplaying machine, and efficient management of poke, clones, and all-in timing is crucial to pull off that sweet ultimate + nuke + fade away back into the shadows. However, pulling off amazing plays with him is probably one of the most satisfying things you'll ever do in League of Legends.

Katarina [Damage]: Although nerfed slightly this patch, in terms of raw damage potential Katarina is bar none, still the strongest snowball champion in the game. The second she kills or gets an assist off one champion, her damage effectively increases by an instant 50~100%. This combined with the fact that 75% of her skills are AOE means that she WILL get a reset and your team WILL die.

Leblanc [Damage/Utility]: A good Leblanc is absolutely indispensable. Surprisingly, it's her ability to poke with distortion that separates a good Leblanc from a bad one (there are no mediocre Leblancs, but plenty of bad ones). She is an extremely high risk, high reward champion, and her most popular skill order puts her right in the middle of the fray to maximize her AOE damage output. However, with good timing and skill management, she can also lure out dangerous spells via her poke before she goes all-in to burst down a squishy.

Honorable Mentions: Annie, Cassiopeia, Xerath, Yasuo. These champions are tried and true, and often have the ability to dominate solo queue by themselves. However, at the moment their damage output isn't quite as strong as others in their pool in the current patch. I would keep them tight on the radar though, as they're strong contenders in their own right.

Strongest Top Laners

Riven [Damage/Utility]: Finally making it to the list, Riven is in a great spot right now for those that use her well. It's no surprise from the videos that you watch what she's capable of, and when executed to her fullest potential, she gives her opponent(s) little to no time to respond with her fast execution combos and short cooldowns.

Irelia [Damage]: Irelia is a champion that can snowball insanely hard from the get-go, or slowly wittle down enemy top laners until they can no longer stay in lane with her, even from a losing position. She's extremely powerful right now due to her ability to quickly navigate via minion waves, coupled with her sustained true damage.

Fizz [Damage/Utility]: Fizz as a top laner is surprisingly powerful right now. His new W synergizes with blade of the ruined king extremely well, and provided he can get an early lead, no tanky top laner can ever scale against him. As a tanky bruiser his survivability is also extraordinarily high when combined with his double gap closer and untargetable playful trickster.

Lissandra [Damage/Utility]: The only top laner to stay on the list two renditions in a row, Lissandra's ability to outplay via her untargetability combined with her long distance initiation/mind game power gives her extremely high utility. This, in sync with her strong AOE damage output means that she can shred down targets extremely efficiently when combined with her teammates. 

Hecarim [Damage/Utility]: As a top laner, Hecarim brings heavy sustained punishment via his auto-resetting spell, and can swiftly take down most melee champions with ease. The most popular builds on him actually run teleport and ignite, which gives him the ability to chase down quick double kills bot lane and snowball to victory. With his insane movement speed, a fed Hecarim is extremely difficult to avoid and can engage/disengage at will.

Honorable Mentions: Nidalee - Nidalee is definitely a decent top laner right now, but I like her in the role below more.

Jungle

Shaco [Damage/Utility]: In terms of snowball potential, there are few champions better than Shaco for quickly ending a game in 20 minutes. While his late game teamfight is significantly weaker than most, even when fed, a skilled Shaco can make it impossible for an enemy team to get organized. With strong split-pushing, objective control, and assassinations, Shaco can definitely single-handedly carry games.

Fiddlesticks [Damage]: Few junglers (or champions for that matter) have the ability to make an entire team run or die at almost any point in the game. Fiddle is one such champion, and through his ultimate, has the ability to change the tides of a game by himself. However, because of his weak constitution, he needs to be careful in terms of when and how he engages. Getting interrupted or instantly bursted down before using Zhonyas is enough to make bad Fiddles completely ineffective.

Nidalee [Damage/Utility]: Replacing Jarvan IV on the list is jungle Nidalee. With her strong jungle clear courtesy of Riot buffs, Nidalee is an extremely powerful presence in the jungle right now. Her ganks with a successful spear are exceedingly high, and even if they quickly flash away, the damage from impact is more than enough for your teammates to win their lane. While forcing a flash is good, oftentimes you'll see your allies still lose lane. However, from 10% remaining HP, few people can outplay their opponents. This combined with the amazing utility from her cougar form W have earned her a place amongst the greats.

Lee Sin [Utility]: Some of you may be surprised that Lee's not higher up considering how much free press he gets from pros. Lee's ability to dodge skillshots and make insane plays is highly touted worldwide and rightly so. He can do it. Although nerfed many many times in the past, his kit still remains highly versatile and gives players the ability to make crazy plays.

Master Yi [Damage/Utility]: Master Yi's main draw as a high skillcap champion lies in his alpha strike, which effectively negates whatever was just thrown at him. Additionally, Master Yi's renowned base backdooring abilities make him one of the best come-from-behind; I'll-win-this-myself; and feed-game-win-game champions in the game.

Honorable Mentions: Jarvan IV and Vi. J4 is still fairly strong despite his nerfs, but I think it's time for a new round of champions to take the mantle. Vi is also fairly strong right now, but moreso for her numbers, which will soon be nerfed.

Strongest Supports

No change to supports this time around. While Annie is getting popular, I don't think her potential impact is on the same level.

Janna [Utility]: Janna is close to being indisputably the best support in the game in terms of sheer utility that she provides by herself. Through both her tornado and her monsoon (ultimate), Janna has the ability to block a massive number of champion "jump" attacks mid-air, including but not limited to the following:

Lee Sin, Akali, Kha'zix, Tristana, Corki, Lucian, Jarvan, Ahri, Fizz, Pantheon, Shen, Wukong, Xin Zhao, Vi, Fiora, Amumu...the list goes on and on.

Not only that, but she provides nearby teammates the ability to simply be faster than enemy champions whether it's for running away or for chasing down. This combined with the ability for her shield to deny death and also give an insanely strong damage buff cements her as a top tier support.

Thresh [Utility]: Where Janna is the queen of preventing plays from happening, Thresh is the offensive version, and king of making plays happen. His lantern and hook make him essentially the best support initiation in the game, as he can bring a friend with him during his initiation as a free gap closer. Additionally, all the champions listed above that Janna can block Thresh can also block with his flay (although with a shorter range/window of opportunity).

Blitzcrank [Utility]: Where Janna and Thresh keep teams ahead of the game, Blitzcrank has the ability to take away leads from even careful enemy teams. With his hook, he has the ability to create advantageous teamfights without needing to get close enough to the rest of the enemy team. This, combined with his speedboost makes it so that he can get the job done.

Strongest Marksmen (AD Carries)

Ezreal [Damage/Utility]: Technically speaking, if you were to hit every one of his Qs on enemy champions every time it came off CD except when they flashed or otherwise dodged it on purpose, Ezreal would be the most broken AD carry in the game, bar none. Luckily, most people seem to only be able to hit around 20%, if that.

Graves [Damage/Utility]: Replacing Lucian on this list after a rapid series of nerfs is Graves. With an extraordinarily similar kit, it's no wonder that people drew parallels when Lucian was stronger, calling him the "better Graves". However, now with Lucian nerfed to balance, we have Graves, the "better Lucian".

Sivir [Damage/Utility]: Where Ezreal and Lucian feel smooth to play with the complicated mechanics, Sivir falls short in the quality of life department, and often feels the pain of her somewhat slow boomerang and sometimes clunky auto attack reset animation from her W. However, when mastered her burst damage is absolutely outrageous, and can easily chunk someone like Sona down to half in a single combo at level 3.

Draven [Damage]: Draven has the strongest level 1 burst damage in the game bar none. 1v1, he will beat everybody. If he's able to all-in level 1 with a creep advantage, he essentially wins his lane then and there, provided he catches all his axes.

Kalista [Damage/Utility]: Replacing Vayne on this list is Kalista. While strong in her own right, Vayne simply doesn't have the early game cheese Kalista provides combined with the mid game utility and snowballing power that Kalista's passive gives her.Melee champions with high cooldowns on gap closers stand absolutely no chance against Kalista, and catching or chasing her often provides to be a self-defeating task.

Honorable Mentions: Corki, Vayne. These two champions have strong, ranged damage output. However, their nerfs have reduced their effectiveness in terms of damage.

Previous Versions:

• December 2014 Edition

Thoughts on other champions who should have made the list? Comment below!