Which Champions are Strongest When Mastered? - May 2015

As per popular demand, we're back with another update to the "Strongest Champions When Mastered" series. This series has been tentatively slow to update, as it was originally not supposed to be influenced by temporarily overpowered champions, but instead highlight champions that consistently rewarded high mastery.

Season 5 - Patch 5.8 Champion Gallery

"Strongest Champions When Mastered "

Introduction

As per popular demand, we're back with another update to the "Strongest Champions When Mastered" series. This series has been tentatively slow to update, as it was originally not supposed to be influenced by temporarily overpowered champions, but instead highlight champions that consistently rewarded high mastery.

However, Riot's proven that their game is amazingly balanced in a way that a few simple tweaks to items are enough to shift the entire meta to a point where even some of the "strongest" champions fall prey to the newer talent on the field.

Updates

• Mid lane - Morgana replaced by *Anivia*
• Junglers - Lee Sin, Shaco, Master Yi replaced by Nunu, Sejuani, Gragas
• ADC - Graves replaced by Vayne

Purpose

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"? 

Damage based champions rely mostly on sheer damage, usually via skillshots to overpower their enemies;

Utility based champions do something unique and game-changing, creating situations that are extremely beneficial to their own team or create detrimental effects for the enemy team that can't be ignored.

Outplay based champions make the enemy miss skills that would otherwise definitely hit, mitigating large amounts of potential damage.

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

Anivia [Damage/Utility] - New!: Replacing Morgana is Anivia. In an era where multiple CC champions are stronger than their single target counterparts, Morgana's utility is now not as effective since she can only block for one champion at a time.

Sporting one of the only "wall" type skills in the game, Anivia can chokepoint spots that effectively maximize her potential AOE stun. Although unlikely, a 5 man stun is effectively enough to end a teamfight then and there.

Add this to her insanely good synergy with Liandry's Torment, and you have a tank piercing champion that scales up extremely hard to the point where she can one shot champions using nothing just her point and click spell while still being extremely tanky.

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Ahri [Damage/Utility/Outplay]: 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 third 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/Outplay]: 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/Outplay]: 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, Morgana, 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

Patch 5.8 Update - Surprisingly, after looking over this list, these same champions still offer a massive amount of outplay potential at the highest levels. However, I've added several more honorable mention picks to the list.

Fizz [Damage/Outplay] - Updated: Despite his nerfs, he remains a steady top laner, clocking in an a slightly above average win rate of 50.8% above platinum level. Even with the huge changes on his W, true die-hard Fizz mains seem to remain unscathed, still electing to continue building the old Trinity Force + Blade of the Ruined King build.

While it remains to be seen if that's actually the best build for Fizz at the moment, his ability to outplay almost every popular champion in the game right now continues to make him a very dangerous champion at the highest levels.

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Riven [Damage/Outplay]: 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 whittle 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.

Lissandra [Damage/Utility/Outplay]: The only top laner to stay on the list three 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: Other very strong champions include Vladimir, Rengar, and currently Shyvana. 

Jungle

New Changes

Sejuani [Damage/Utility]: I really didn't want to include Sejuani since she's OP for all the wrong reasons. However, her current state really does make her one of the strongest junglers in the game, and omitting her would be technically incorrect on many levels. Since most of you already know how strong she is and she's basically banned every game, I won't go into too much detail, but her crowd control, damage, and utility are absurd.

Nunu [Utility/Outplay]: In his current rendition, Nunu is the "new" Shaco of the jungle in the tank jungler era. His invading power is insanely high as always, except now he scales into late game so hard that a good Nunu can take over the game by himself, even if the entire enemy team comes after him. With his above average early game movespeed, he can easily avoid dangers and outrun any that he finds. With strong jungling knowledge, Nunu is easily the most powerful champion in the game for controlling the pace.

Gragas [Damage/Utility]: Like Sejuani, as a very popular champion at the moment, he's likely to see nerfs in the near future. However, from a purely skill based standpoint, the things that Gragas can do with his ultimate can be potentially game shattering by itself if played at a perfect level. Meanwhile, in his current state he scales super hard into the late game, dealing a great amount of sustained damage, blocking skillshots, and in providing a huge amount of CC. If I were to recommend a jungler for the long term, Gragas is an excellent choice.

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Fiddlesticks [Damage/Utility]: 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/Outplay]: 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.

Honorable Mentions: Amumu, Lee Sin, Maokai, Shaco

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)

Vayne [Damage/Outplay] - New!: Replacing Graves this list is Vayne. In a world full of powerful tanks and skillshot based champions, Vayne is by far the one soldier to take them all head-on. Although very difficult to master, her sheer potential is high enough to make her one of the strongest ADCs on the rift at the moment. Better yet, she doesn't require as many crazy requirements as some other marksmen to reach her full potential (who can really hit every Ezreal Q anyway?

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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.

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]: Kalista provides overwhelming chase power along with mid game utility and snowballing strength via her passive.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 - With his strong ranged damage output and high damage potential via his skill based ultimate, he can position himself to do very well throughout early to mid game.

Previous Versions:

• March 2015 Edition
• December 2014 Edition

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