In League of Legends there are champions that are better in a given role than others, the champions that are deemed overpowered are ever-changing. Though, in the current meta there are champions that stand above the rest in any give role. The roles that we are referencing in League are the laning positions you choose going into a game: Top, Jungle, Mid, Attack Damage Carry (ADC), or Support. We are going to take a look at some of the OP champions that you can learn to play in each role to increase your win rate in today’s meta.

Top Lane

Urgot - The Deadnought

Urgot, aka Urgod, is the Top Lane pick that is very strong right now with his relatively high win rate. With an overall easy kit to master, Urgot can become a monster in the mid to late game. Urgot’s early game is a bit weaker than most, though you can take some easy trades with your Q - Corrosive Charge that launches a canister at a target location that explodes after it lands. Urgot’s Q also slows enemies that hit allowing you to get some more damage on then before they can get away. Until you get an item or two, specifically the items Black Cleaver and Death’s Dance, it is wise to remain chilly in the early game. It is also wise to remember during the laning phase that your E - Disdain is your only form of escape. If you commit too early and use E to go into a fight, your kill calculations better be correct, or you’re going to have a hard time getting out if the enemy Jungler comes in and ganks. So, make sure you are warding the nearby river and have vision or knowledge of where the enemy Jungler is before you hard-commit into a fight.

Into the mid to late game and with your two power items, you will be able to dish out tons of damage and virtually be unkillable. In these mid to late game team fights your main mission is to throw out Qs and skitter around with W - Purge incessantly shooting people in the face with the machine gun, and procing your Passive - Echoing Flames that shoots out shotgun blasts in a cone indicated around Urgot’s character model. Do this until someone is low enough to use R - Fear Beyond Death which, if hitting someone, will leash them and can be reactivated once the enemy is below 25% health to execute. You’ll become a hybrid type tanky mech-beast that can pump out relentless damage and will be a nightmare for the enemy team to deal with.

Jungle

Kayn - The Shadow Reaper

Kayn is the OP Jungler we are looking at for the current meta. Kayn has a super fast clear speed with his AOE ability on Q - Reaping Slash and his ability to walk through walls with E - Shadow Step to get to camps faster. Kayn also has the ability to snowball out of control with his strong early game damage, mobility and kill potential in early ganks.

Keep in mind though that Kayn revolves around his Passive - The Darkin Scythe that lets him choose a form to take on - Darkin or Shadow Assassin. You must deal damage to enemy champions in order to gain the ability to change forms. If you are wanting to play Darkin Kayn (Red Kayn) then you have to deal damage to melee champions and that meter will fill. If you are looking to play Shadow Assassin Kayn (Blue Kayn), then you have to deal damage to range champions. The general rule of thumb is thus: if you are playing against a tanky comp, Red Kayn is your best bet. Likewise, if you are playing against a squishy comp, Blue Kayn is the way to go. So pay attention to what champions the other team is using because this choice of form is going to help you determine which Jungle paths to take and where to gank in the early game to get that form as fast as possible.

Depending on what form you take with Kayn once you have it available, it will change the way your abilities act and your overall playstyle. For example with Kayn’s W - Blade’s Reach, the Blue Kayn W has an increased range and a shadow of Kayn casts it so you don’t have to stand still while casting. Allowing you to move fast and freely, maneuvering into a better fighting position. Red Kayn’s W adds a knock up to the ability to allow for damage mitigation with interrupts for important team fights and shutting down the enemy carries. It is important to know which Kayn you will be choosing early on and how this choice affects your playstyle.

Middle

Ahri - The Nine-Tailed Fox

For the Middle Lane we’re going to be taking a look at Ahri. Ahri is a great pick in the current meta due to her versatility, wave management, burst potential, sustain, and high mobility - especially with the additional movement speed added to her W - Fox-Fire. Ahri’s early game, like most champions, is a bit weak until she gets her item power spikes with Luden’s Echo and Morellonomicon that really unlocks her full burst potential with her kit. But once unlocked, she can be a powerhouse in the mid game that has great pick potential and mobility to get into the back line of the enemy team to blow up squishies.

In the early game Ahri can clear waves easily with her Q - Orb of Deception and W to push the wave under the enemy tower and have the ability to roam or help your team’s Jungler control and possess important Jungle objectives. Even if you take some damage on these roams or objective secures, Ahri’s Passive - Essence Theft allows you to gain health when hitting something with Q, preferably a whole line of minions coming into lane. This will keep you in lane longer and allows the chance to outfarm your lane opponent, shove more waves, and continue to roam.

Going into mid to late game Ahri has the ability to maneuver around in a skirmish or a team fight with her R - Spirit Rush and burst down the enemy’s carry ADC or Mid Laner with her full combo. Before these team fights happen, it’s good to note that Ahri has immense pick potential. You can strategically look for picks in the jungle by using her E - Charm to obliterate enemy champions with her full combo before they have the chance to react. Taking them out of the next team fight and giving your team a numbers advantage.

A top tier tip for Ahri is to be patient when using her ult. You don’t have to spam all three charges of her ult immediately. Use one ultimate charge to gap close, pop your W, use E and Q and one more R charge to burst your opponent, and then use the final charge of her ultimate to get out to safety. Be wary of your surroundings though and which way to maneuver with your ult so that you don’t get yourself into a sticky situation that you cannot get out of.

Attack Damage Carry (ADC)

Caitlyn - The Sheriff of Piltover

Currently in the meta the champion that is dominating the bottom side of the map is Caitlyn. With her insane lane control due to her long auto attack range and trap synergy with Supports that have CC, she is almost uncontested. The only champion that has the ability to harass a Caitlyn is Ashe whose W can match Catilyn’s range. So if you’re planning on playing Caitlyn, banning Ashe is a fine choice to make your game go a bit smoother for yourself.

During the laning phase Caitlyn has crazy poke and harass with her Q - Piltover Peacemaker and lengthy auto attack range. Constantly harass your opponent when they take one too many steps close to get a creep. The poke damage will add up fast and will give you a better chance to dive or for your jungler to come in and help clean up the mess. Along with Caitlyn’s ability to harass, her wave clear is right up there in the top tier. With Q and her Passive - Headshot she can take down minion waves pretty fast and shove the enemy bot laners under their tower. Once you have done this, you can roam into the near side river and help your jungler take some objectives because as we all know, objectives are what really win games.

A tip for playing Caitlyn revolves around her lack of mobility. Be wise in keeping wards up in the river so you can spot the enemy jungler if they are coming to gank, especially if you are shoving the lane. Caitlyn’s W - 90 Caliber Net is her only form of mobility, aside from flash, that gives her any chance of getting out of a gank alive - and all it does is shove her in the opposite direction of where it’s casted. If you use your E unfavorably, you’re setting yourself up for your own demise. Be wary of using the E unless you have big brain calculated your kill potential and are 100% sure you will kill the target.

Support

Bard - The Wandering Caretaker

My personal favorite support of all time, Bard! Bard is an awesome pick in the bottom lane for a lot of different reasons. His kill potential, gank negation, healing shrines, versatility with his ultimate, and his ability to roam and help out other lanes. Bard has decent early game power and the ability to poke with Q - Cosmic Binding and Auto Attacks. With those Auto Attacks ramping up with Bard’s Passive - Traveler’s Call, that allows you to collect chimes around the map. Collecting more chimes gives Bard’s auto attacks more damage, slow and at 15 chimes, a splash damage AOE that comes in handy when you and your ADC need to shove the lane.

In the early game laning phase, pairing Bard with an ADC like Caitlyn for example, has a lot of opportunity for kills. If you can hit Bard’s Q onto a minion and a lane opponent, or hit both lane opponents, or even hit the opponent and a structure to proc the stun, Caitlyn can run up and set a trap down on top of them which means two forms of CC and a lot of damage. During these early lane skirmishes Bard also has the ability to help the ADC escape with his W - Caretaker’s Shrine which heals and gives a little burst of movement speed. Bard’s W will come in handy in a lot of different situations like the one described above to escape or to even help a teammate collapse onto an enemy.

Looking at more possibilities with this cosmic singer’s kit is the pinnacle - his R - Tempered Fate. Bard’s ultimate is simple and straight forward but has a lot of utility for different types of situations like engaging, escaping, diving, and damage negation. For example:

Engaging: You can use Bard’s ultimate to pick off a single enemy champion trying to run away and easily secure a kill for your team. You can use the ultimate as a major engage tool in a crucial team fight as well.

Escaping: You can use Bard’s ultimate to stop the pursuing enemy champions in their tracks, allowing for your team’s escape from a potential Ace that could lose you the game.

Diving: Throwing Bard’s ultimate onto a tower causes the tower to be rendered invulnerable during the duration of the ultimate - so about 2.5 seconds. This short window of opportunity is all you need to pull off a gank under tower and burst down the enemy laners.

Damage Negation: With Bard’s ultimate and negating damage there are a couple examples that are definitely big brain moves. One of those examples is when the enemy team has secured Rift Herald, aka Shelly, and is coming to take down one of your towers. You can use Bard’s ult on your own tower right before Shelly is about to charge and destroy it to negate all the incoming damage. The other example is to help your team contest and secure a jungle objective like Dragon or Baron. As the enemy team is whittling down the Dragon, for example, and your team is approaching to contest, use your ultimate on the dragon before the enemy team secures it, allowing your team to get into position for a potential steal or at the very least a trade of 5 kills for 1 Dragon.

The possibilities for Bard’s ultimate are endless! Be sure to keep your eyes open and your creative brain firing because you can utilize this cosmic weaver many different ways to benefit your team in fights and around the map as a whole.

All of these champions that we have looked at excel in their given positions on the map. While these champions are good to play and effective in-game, these aren’t the only “good” champions in these roles. There are tons of champions to play in League of Legends and if you want to try out a different role or lane that you don’t normally play, these champions are a good place to start. Give them a try and expand your champion pool to boost your counter play ability and overall game knowledge.

Good luck and have fun!