Optimal Best Champions Bans At Each Division - Patch 6.10 May List

Hi everyone! Here's a quick update to the ban list for Patch 6.10. The most notable change is the inclusion of Lucian up top, along with a general removal for a lot of formerly popular junglers like Master Yi and Graves, along with Taric and Soraka also dropping off the list.

The major reason for this is that the new Malzahar is extremely powerful, and so is Lucian with his new build.

Be sure to check out the regular solo queue list, and the FOTM tier list as well!

SEASON 6 - PATCH 6.10 BAN LIST

"Problems"

Preface Chatter

Hi everyone! Here's a quick update to the ban list for Patch 6.10. The most notable change is the inclusion of Lucian up top, along with a general removal for a lot of formerly popular junglers like Master Yi and Graves, along with Taric and Soraka also dropping off the list.

The major reason for this is that the new Malzahar is extremely powerful, and so is Lucian with his new build.

Be sure to check out the regular solo queue list, and the FOTM tier list as well!

The purpose of this list is to discover optimal bans, with the knowledge that enemy teams will likely ban the ones at the top of the list.

Banning Thought Process

1. Which champions could the enemy team pick that would really screw my team over?
2. Which champions could the enemy team pick that would really screw ME over?
3. Which of the champions above is the enemy team likely going to pick if it's not banned?
4. Which of the champions above is the enemy team probably going to ban?

After considering these items, it's time to hit the ban phase.

Optimal Bans

 Diamond+

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]: Lucian, Nidalee, Kindred, Malzahar, Maokai, Ekko, Ryze, Zed
Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]: Ahri, Fizz, Janna

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Alistar, Azir, Graves, Soraka
Removed from list: Taric, Master Yi, Malphite, Brand, Gragas

Platinum

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]: Malzahar, Lucian, Ekko, Kindred, Nidalee, Zed, Fizz

Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]:  Ahri, Janna, Blitzcrank, Maokai

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Azir, Alistar, Ryze, Soraka
Removed from list: Master Yi, Darius, Leblanc, Malphite, Graves, Poppy, Brand, Taric

Gold

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]: Malzahar, Lucian, Ekko, Kindred, Fizz
Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]:  Maokai, Janna, Blitzcrank, Ahri

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Zed, Malphite, Darius, Alistar, Leblanc, Yasuo, Nidalee, Ryze, Soraka
Removed from list: Taric, Master Yi, Graves, Sivir,

Silver

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]: Malzahar, Ekko, Kindred, Yasuo, Fizz, Brand
Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]:  Lucian, Blitzcrank, Ahri

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Malphite, Zed, Master Yi, Darius, Leblanc, Alistar, Taliyah
Removed from list: Graves, Jax, Taric, Soraka,

Bronze

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]: Malzahar, Ekko, Malphite, Yasuo, Fizz, Kindred
Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]:  Lucian, Brand, Ahri, Blitzcrank, 

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Zed, Master Yi, Darius, Leblanc, Graves
Removed from list: Taric, Soraka

Method

To do this list, I first start with whichever statistical compilation site I have available (my personal preference is leagueofgraphs.com). Afterwards, I check the most banned champions and separate them into either "God Tier" or "Meh Bans" based on win rate and popularity, sometimes subjective reasoning (in which case I'd do a write up).

Last I do an analysis of both the win rate and the popularity by division and add in good bans for that division based on such.

Some people may note that most sites don't distinguish between "Platinum Only" and "Platinum and Higher". However, this generally doesn't make much of a difference as a result of the way the overall player distribution is between the ranks. Bronze and Silver make up the highest percentage of error, but generally run similar to each other.

Explanations

• Lucian [God Tier - All divisions] - With Black Cleaver and Youmuu's Ghostblade, Lucian is an extremely safe marksman that's also tanky and near impossible to escape. As a result, he's a must ban at higher divisions since he's the most popular marksman to be picked. Meanwhile, most lower divisions still just let him through, which is generally not advisable unless you're first pick.
• Azir [Meh Ban - Diamond] - There are a lot of Azir mains, but he's still sitting at a mere 49% win rate overall in Diamond. Personally I don't think he's worth a ban at the moment, but agree he's annoying to play against and very strong in the hands of someone who's actually good at him. Hopefully those people are in higher divisions and won't bother the little folk too much.
• Gragas [Removed from Bans - Diamond] - In patch 6.10, Gragas is seeing fairly mediocre play rate, win rate, and ban rate. Although he does seem like he's still very much playable, he's not nearly as dominant as he was last patch. 
• Soraka [Meh Ban - All divisions] - After the nerfs in Patch 6.9, Soraka's been fairly balanced at all levels of play. As a result, she doesn't seem to be worth a ban anymore, but is still banned out fairly often. 
• Malphite [Meh Ban - Silver] - After the nerfs to tank items and buffs on armor penetration items, Malphite's not quite the ban-worthy champion he used to be, nor is he picked up as much. However, if you like the way he plays and want to practice making big plays with him, he's still excellent to climb with. Just don't ban yourself out.
• Taliyah [Meh Ban - Silver] - For some reason Taliyah's seeing a lot of bans at Silver and Bronze. I'm not sure if it's because nobody wants her on their team or if they genuinely think she's strong. Either way, she does need some buffs and probably isn't worth leaving some other high priority bans open for.

What do you think about this new list? Agree? Disagree? Comment below!

Click here to check out previous versions of this list!