Although watching esports is great, playing League of Legends itself is a different kind of pleasure. However, those hero picks that look great for professional players or those that they use a lot don’t always reflect greatly on our SoloQ games. To create this list, we considered the current patch, looked at Diamond+ player’s ranked game stats from LeagueofGraphs and watched some guides for you so that you don’t have to.
A champion having a high win rate doesn’t always mean that you should go and use them in SoloQ directly. One of the best win rates currently is owned by Rek’Sai with 54% but the champion is highly situational and you should play a lot of games to master its skills, or else, you might find yourself in a dangerous position. Singed also has 53% but only OTPs play him because of his unique gameplay.
| Also Read | League of Legends: Best picks in the current competitive meta |
Rengar
With the new 12.6 patch adjustments, Rengar found himself on top of the meta. The champion was one of the favourites of a lot of League of Legends players since the release of the game, and we were seeing Rengar from players that have played Rengar only for a few years now. Their number significantly dropped over the years of course, and Riot decided it’s time to buff the predator.
Rengar is picked in 7.6% of Diamond+ ranked games with a win rate of 54.4% and ban rate of 26.9%, one of the highest.
Building him as a classic assassin will give you the full Rengar experience, but you can adjust your build situationally. If you are the jungler, you will mostly go all the way with assassin and crit items, but on top lane, you should consider tanky choices as well. Rengar’s skillset and high damage, together with the recent buffs, lets you carry the games or have a significant impact over them, making him the perfect pick for SoloQ. Try him out on normals for a few times and see for yourself if you can make him work in ranked games.
Annie
The only champion in our list that relies on your capability is probably Annie. All champions in League of Legends require mastering but Annie is special as she can be very squishy and die a lot during the laning. However, if you are able to use Annie to her full extent, you will be able to win your lane with her immense burst damage, roam a lot, disturb enemy jungler and win the team fight for your team, using your passive coming from the right angle.
Annie is picked on 2.0% of the Diamond+ ranked games, and her ban rate is 0.4%, so you can see why Annie relies on your mechanics to succeed, there are easier choices that are widely played. However, her win rate is 54.4% in those low amount of games, so you should definitely consider her.
You want to go Electrocute, buy heavy magic damage items like Luden’s, Shadowflame, Rabadon’s and get Zhonya’s to protect yourself better during the late game, as after initiating the team fight, you will be vulnerable. If you trust yourself on Annie then this is the time to play her.
Soraka
Let’s get to a support pick: Soraka. She is widely disregarded as an “easy” champion with not much tools to win the game for you in SoloQ. However, you will see Soraka in one of every ten games in Diamond+ ranked queue, and she will win more than half of those games.
Soraka offers high sustain obviously, but a recent change to her ulti also gets rid of the anti-heal effect on you, making her even stronger against teams that build healing reduction to stop her. Using her Q to amplify your healing, silence and root to control areas and ulti to change the course of a teamfight, you should consider Soraka especially if you are playing with your duo on bot lane.
You will go with the classic support build, but you should avoid items like Ardent Censer as you won’t use your skills to buff your teammates, you will use them to save them unlike champions like Lulu or Janna.
Jinx
Jinx is an obvious choice for both SoloQ and professional players. She is the most popular champion currently with 23.1% pick rate, and has a fairly incredible win rate for such a high amount with 51.3%. As she is a hyper carry, especially if you are playing with a duo, you can focus on getting Jinx fed to win the game.
Using classic ADC items and recently changed Lethal Tempo, Jinx is a great choice for high, consistent and reliable damage. She has a long range, amplified by Lethal Tempo, lots of attack speed and tons of damage with her rockets. On top of that, she isn’t that hard to play currently, compared with other choices in the bot lane. Having a dash from Galeforce definitely helps.
Ahri
Another great choice for both SoloQ and pro play is Ahri. Although there are champions that might have better win rates from Ahri, there isn’t one that is picked as widely as her (17.1%) and has a win rate as high as hers (51.5%). Recent buffs put Ahri on top of the meta, she is able to win most lanes, act as an assassin and a mage, and start teamfights with her E, charm, which amplifies her incoming damage.
You don’t use Luden’s on her anymore, rather go with Everfrost to have slightly less damage and more crowd control. Shadowflame is also a highly reliable source of damage, and Zhonya’s Hourglass will save you from lots of troubles, letting you keep your ulti for offensive purposes. When you need more damage, you can always go for items like Void Staff or Rabadon’s, after these three or before Zhonya’s if you think you are ahead of the opponent team’s damage resources.
These were our picks from the current SoloQ meta, hopefully, these will be helpful for your climb from Bronze to Challenger! If you are interested in League of Legends, make sure to check out its esports as well, to learn more about these champions. Pro players are the best LoL players from all around the world, and you might learn a few tricks from them.
If you are looking for a place to start, you can find more guides, check out the best LoL esports events and information about them, watch those events live and even place your bets on your favourites on Luckbox.
