Optimal Best Champions Bans At Each Division - Patch 6.21 October List

Hi everyone and welcome back to the latest ban list update. This list is really supposed to be something that's simple to update, but for some reason it always ends up taking me much longer than usual.,,,procrastination is a strong opponent. I'll definitely try and keep this more up to date going forward.

SEASON 6 - PATCH 6.21 BAN LIST

"Problems"

Preface Chatter

Hi everyone and welcome back to the latest ban list update. This list is really supposed to be something that's simple to update, but for some reason it always ends up taking me much longer than usual.,,,procrastination is a strong opponent. I'll definitely try and keep this more up to date going forward.

Be sure to check out the regular ranked 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]: Syndra, Nidalee, Jayce, Nunu
Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]: Jhin, Caitlyn, Janna

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Kennen, Zac, Graves, Zed, Yasuo, Irelia, Elise

Platinum

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]: Zac, Kennen, Nidalee, Jayce, Irelia, Graves, Darius, Evelynn

Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]: Nunu, Jhin, Jinx, Janna

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Zed, Syndra, Yasuo, Leblanc, Hecarim

Gold

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]: Yasuo, Zac, Kennen, Darius, Jayce, 
Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]: Jinx, Jhin

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Zed, Syndra, Leblanc, Nidalee

Silver

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]: Yasuo, Darius, Zac, Kennen
Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]: Jinx, Jhin, Blitzcrank

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Zed, LeBlanc, Syndra, Nidalee

Bronze

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]: Yasuo, Darius, Zac, Kennen, Blitzcrank, Illaoi
Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]: Jinx

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]: Zed, Leblanc, Syndra, Fizz

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

• Blitzcrank [Good Ban - Silver] - God hand is almost always a good ban, but especially so in leagues where supports do not take advantage of his cooldowns every time he misses his hook in lane. This allows him to scale to late game, even when he should be vulnerable and gets too many chances to succeed.
• Caitlyn [Good Ban - Diamond] - Caitlyn by herself is very dominant in lane and often picked. Although her win rate does not indicate that she is overpowered, she is simply picked so often and mauls the laning phase that it is worth banning her out.
• Illaoi [God Tier - Bronze] - Illaoi's main weakness is the ease of which teams can disengage and kite her away from her ultimate. However, in Bronze more players choose champions with hard CC (which more divisions should do). This results in Illaoi players having largely free reign to smash foes with tentacles.
• Jayce  [God Tier - Diamond] - Jayce is extremely difficult to deal with if a player knows his specific damage output during an all-in. When this happens, he can often safely snowball out of control, something you never want to happen.
• Jhin [Good Ban - Diamond] - Similar to Caitlyn, Jhin is simply played so often that banning him out is a good idea. If you do not ban him out, try and late pick Nami after the enemy team has commited to Jhin and a support other than Braum.
• Jinx [God Tier - Bronze, Good Ban - Most Other] - Jinx is surprisingly the most popular marksman in Bronze, and also sports an extremely good win rate in all divisions. She's a decent ban in other divisions, but even if she doesn't get banned, she's safer to leave open at higher divisions because they do not prefer her as much.
• Kennen [Meh Ban - Diamond] - Kennen has a very high potential damage ceiling and is certainly a very powerful champion in his current state. However, most Diamond players are well equipped to stay out of his effective zone, and high mobility champions are favored.
• Nidalee [God Tier - Diamond, Meh Ban - Silver]  - Nidalee is one of those champions that essentially has no gank power if she misses her spear. As a result, her effectiveness decreases dramatically as you go down the ranked ladder, and increases drastically as you get to the top.
• Nunu [God Tier - Diamond] - Nunu is still somewhat of a sleeper at most divisions, but Diamond players are starting to remember how annoying he is and ban him out. If you are at a lower division he can still be very effective, but is too rarely played to warrant a ban. Pick him up for free LP.
• Zac [God Tier - Platinum] - In his current state, Zac is still very good in most divisions where Jhin, Caitlyn, and Jinx are extremely popular. Additionally, his synergy with Yasuo is amazingly good. As a result, banning him out early on is a good move.

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

Click here to check out more versions of this list!