Hey, guys! We’re back again with another Champion list for League of Legends. This round, instead of focusing on what’s OP and broken in Solo Queue, we’re going to talk about Champions that are just overall solid to main. These Champions may not be statistical juggernauts (some are certainly powerful) but this list will try to focus on Champions with average to low pick-ban rates. This allows you to put a ton of games on them and master them beyond the strength of the puny 'meta-picks'. And as an added bonus, some of these picks will even flex into multiple roles and come with multiple playstyles and builds! We'll cover all those and more as we get into it!

The data and images presented here will be based on patch 10.16 (courtesy of U.GG!). It’ll also cover the entire League community, not just one or two specific regions.

Rengar, the Pridestalker for Jungle and Top!


Knife-Cat starts off the list hot today! Rocking a 52% win rate in both Jungle and Top across the globe, Rengar surprisingly only holds a 3.4% ban rate overall. This puts him right in the middle of the pack of Junglers and Top Laners, so it’s likely that this pick will fall into your lap if you’re looking for a new Assassin/Bruiser Champion to master.

For Jungle, win rate and pick rate show that Conqueror is his most consistent rune set with its pick rate sitting around 57% and win rate being 52%. Electrocute follows shortly behind, but only hovers around a 51% win rate and an even lower selection rate. As the keystones branch down, Conqueror runs the runes Triumph, Legend: Tenacity or Legend: Alacrity depending on the matchup, and Coup de Grace. Electrocute sets run Sudden Impact, Eyeball Collection, and Relentless Hunter. Here’s the breakdown of these sets as well how often the other secondary slots are taken over what we’ve mentioned:

Secondary slots typically are filled in from the opposite tree. So, if you’re running Conqueror, you’re picking up from the Domination Tree. If Electrocute, you’re picking from Precision. Pick what fits your gameplan, or what counters the enemy composition most.

Jungle Rengar:

Image courtesy of U.GG

Top Rengar:

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In terms of item builds, Rengar is most compatible with bursty lethality sets when being played from the jungle. When running Top Lane, you can still opt for this Assassin style of play if it suits your game and you’re snowballing hard, but more Bruiser-esque builds seem to be the general itemization pathways when running as a solo laner.

Assassin Itemization:

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Top Lane Itemization:

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Quick tips for each role:

As Jungle Rengar, focus on reaching your level 6 power spike. Your gank potential skyrockets once you have access to the instant passive stack and stealth that this ability provides. With these tools, you can get creative with not only your gank paths but how you layer your abilities to respond to your opponents. Take what is given, but farming safely and effectively is your best call.

As Top Rengar, you’ve got a surprising amount of evasiveness and burst against most lane opponents. Maintain brush control at all times to maximize your Q trading potential with good auto-cancels and passive stacking. Once you hit level six, the enemy Jungler and Mid Laners are always on the market to get slayed. Don’t be afraid to roam with your higher mobility to essentially become a second Jungler.

Kled, The Cantankerous Cavalier - Top


I mentioned Kled briefly before, so let’s unpack him now. Kled’s a Champion with a very clear identity that works very well within the Solo Queue environment. And despite being popular in conversations in terms of S-Tier potential across a few of the previous patches, he’s fallen to A-Tier discussion from most outlets. But, the great thing is, his stats haven’t changed across the patches. Stats don't lie and they show he's performing consistently as he was during those S-Tier moments, so Kled gets full recognition for this list!

Rocking a near 52% win rate, a 2.1% pick-rate, and a 1.4% ban rate, Kled is proving himself to be patch resistant since these results mirror across the previous two patches. When propped against other meta Top Laners like Darius, Camille, and Shen, Kled also sits lower on the priority totem pole in picks and bans. This means his a prime candidate for our list and for maining.

Kled opts for Conqueror sets 80% of the time. And with a 52% win rate utilizing this Keystone over others. While the primary tree falls pretty consistently down the line with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, and Coup de Grace, the secondary tree can be a mixed bag. Most players opt for Resolve and pick up Bone Plating and Demolish to increase tankiness and split-pushing power, but there are pickups of note in the Domination and Sorcery trees that synergize with Kled’s kit. Runes like Sudden Impact, Ravenous Hunter, Ultimate Hunter, and Eyeball Collection from Domination can all help Kled snowball hard. While in Sorcery he gains access to more mobility with Nimbus Cloak, CDR through Transcendence or better scaling with Gathering Storm.

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I mentioned Kled in the Rengar bit earlier because he fills a great role as a Diver/Flanker. While Kled might not Assassinate a target instantly, he can typically stick to and out last anyone he duels thanks to Conqueror and Skarl backing him up. But the great thing about Kled is that he’s not shoe-horned into being a flanking focused character like Rengar. Though his kit synergizes well with this style, Kled can always sound the horn and march his allies into the fights thanks to the movement speed he provides allies that move with him. And being a deceptively tanky and evasive character allows Kled to pick who he wants to fight easily, even if he’s the primary engage on the team.

ITEMS

Kled’s item sheet is typically that of a Bruisers. There’s not too much variation on what he picks up, so if you appreciate a Champion with a consistent build Kled’s definitely for you.

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Swain, the Noxian Grand General - Mid & Support

I’m not leaving this list without mentioning Swain out of pure bias for my favorite Champion. But, thankfully I have stats to back things up. Since his mini-rework, Swain has seen more success as a Mid and Support. From Mid he’s currently sitting at a 52% which is consistent with previous patches, but if you factor in his increased playrate since his rework, you’ll see that the numbers support the strengths of the rework for Mid Swain. From Support, he’s had a smaller increase, but has moved from a 48% win rate on Patch 10.14, to a 49.8% on Patch 10.16. Again extremely noticeable with his increased pick rate.

So, what’s changed to make him better for these roles? Well, primarily it comes from the alterations on his Q-Death’s Hand, W-Visions of Empire, and E-Nevermove!

Death’s Hand had its cooldown lowered from 10/8.5/7/5.5/4 to 9/7.5/6/4.5/3 seconds. It was also buffed to pass through enemy Champions. So, this allowed Mid Swain to control his wave better through more uptime on his primary wave clear ability and gave him more a presence in a teamfight since he can now spread his damage around a bit more easily. For Support Swain, this rewarded his positioning down Bot to successfully and more regularly harass both enemy laners at the same time.

Visions of Empire had its range increased MASSIVELY from 3,500 to 5,550/6,000/6,500/7,000/7,500 allowing Swain more map presence throughout all phases of the game, as well as versatility in scouting for the enemy Jungler. And its mana cost was lowered from 70/85/100/115/130 to 70/80/90/100/100 allowing him to actually utilize it for utility purposes without suffering.

Swain's final active ability adjust was to his E. Nevermove's mana cost was cut from 60/65/70/75/80 to 50 flat. First, this is just a flat out buff on the mana cost for this ability, but what is more important is that it allows Swain to max his W second to benefit from its increased range.

Naturally, he received significant nerfs to compensate so that these would not be over buffs. Riot lowered his movement speed by 10 (a legitimately significant amount) and removed the mana restoring component from his passive. This hurt Top Lane Swain players the most sadly, and has pushed him out of the lane entirely.

Mid Swain did not feel these nerfs as heavily as perhaps intended. With Rod of Ages being a core item on Swain and Mid Lane being a safer and shorter lane that Mages already thrive in, Swain has been able to take these adjustments in stride and come out ahead. Support Swain genuinely feels the adjustments, but unlike in Mid where Swain is more of a Control/Drain Mage, Swain is a Burst Mage in the Support role which means he is fine expending mana to prep for all-ins or to burst down an unsuspecting foe. And when it comes to the movement speed adjustments, Swain simply benefits from his lane partner’s existence. With another unit to focus, Swain can be afforded time to reposition freely when trading or getting ganked.

Anyway, I’m gushing, let's break down his rune sets.

Mid Swain utilizes Conqueror as his primary Keystone. Following this, players typically select Presence of Mind for mana regeneration, Legend: Tenacity to compensate for those mobility nerfs by increasing Tenacity, and Coup De Grace for extra damage. For secondary Mid runes all the trees work well. Though some have higher overall win-rates than others, you can be flexible and pick what is best for your game and matchup!

Image courtesy of U.GG

Support sets largely favor Electrocute due to Swain's ability to easily proc the burst after landing his E. From the following highlighted, the only of these I would select when playing Support would be Glacial Augment, and that is only if your team is in desperate need of the light crowd-control.

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When it comes to itemization on Mid Swain, there's a lot of spicy experimentation going on right now. Rod of Ages, Zhonya's, and Liandry's are core since they give Swain everything he needs in tankiness, teamfight burn, and evasiveness. The chart here shows the pursuit for more damage with Morellonomicon and Rabadon's coming into the path, but these are easily changed out for selections like Rylai's, Spirit Visage, Hextech-GLP, or Banshee's Veil if you need it!

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Swain Support has maintained a pretty cut and dry build path with Liandry's coming first, Zhonya's second, and Morello's and Zhonya's coming at third. But again, as a Support, Swain can adapt to what his team needs. So, in the event that you need tankier setups, Randuins and Spirit Visage could be easy picks. Or if the team is low on mobility, Rylai's may extremely effective to slow down your enemies!

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Shyvana, the Half-Dragon - Jungle AP/AD


With a win rate narrowly above 50% you may wonder why Shyvana made this list. Well, I’ll refer you to my previous point in the intro, these picks may not be stupid OP but they are available and mainable, and familiarity and mastery are more important than anything in Solo Queue. So, with a 3.7% pick-rate and a 1% ban rate, it’s likely that you’ll land your hands on Shyvana in the draft.

The best part about Shyvana is that she can keep pace with some of the fiercest fast farmers in the meta like Nunu, Evelynn, Hecarim, and Rek’sai. And she provides something that these picks do not, build diversity.

Dark Harvest is by far her most popular selection as it synergizes far too well with the 1-to-1 AP ratio on her Flame Breath ability and the Runic Echoes jungle item. But, Shyvana can viably play in AD-Attack Speed build utilizing either Press the Attack for upfront damage or Conqueror for sustaining through longer fights.

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Itemization entirely depends on your Keystone with Shyvana. As mentioned, when running Dark Harvest, you’ll want to take Runic Echoes and follow an AP pathway. For PTA or Conqueror, the Bloodrazor pathway best synergizes with her desires to quickly slap down her foes and enemy turrets.

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Regardless of builds though, Shyvana plays best in the Diver/Flanker capacity as both AP and AD. Her AP build has a delirious amount of burst potential to it, so it’s always best to stat check the back like of the enemy with a Dragon-Form Flame Breath. (Hint the backline doesn’t have stats.) For AD, diving the carry and simply disrupting them from the fight is often enough, by utilizing Bloodrazor coupled with a little movement speed increase from her W, Shy can stick to her opponents for the rundown and right-click kill.

CASSIOPEIA - Top/Mid/Bot


Cassio slithers her way on this list due, in large part, to her versatility. With a 52% win rate in Top, and a 50% win rate in Mid and Bot, Cassiopeia is a strong and flexible contender that can keep your opponents mixed up during the Draft. As a bonus, her flexibility doesn’t stop in terms of role selection either. Cassio is capable of effectively stacking Conqueror and activating Phase Rush giving her two distinct styles of play.

Conqueror Cassio is far more popular and holds the most potential to hard carry as this rune scales with her far better as the game goes on. Conqueror also opens up Cassio to more secondary effects from the Precision that she greatly benefits from. Presence of Mind, Legend: Tenacity, and Coup De Grace to name her most popular selections.

But, if the enemy team has a lot of access to you, and you think you’ll benefit from the added mobility, especially if you’re playing a longer lane like Top, Phase Rush might be the way to go for you. With selections like Manaflow Band for mana regen, Transcendence for CDR, and Gathering Storm for additional scaling, Cassio can afford to run this route to emulate her more late-game focused Conqueror set while giving herself more evasiveness.

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Cassio is a Champion with a pretty straight forward build path. Tear into Seraph and then Liandry’s and Rylai’s is her typical core. After this, you can flex around your items for what the game needs!

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Cassio is a late-game DPS carry with excellent zone control. She’s often noted to feel more like an AP Marksmen rather than Mage and which is a very insightful look as to how you’ll play your fights. Front to back is her style, and she is excellent and shredding through bulky and squishy frontlines alike. And her mindset is very Marksmen-esque in that she strives to reach a three-item power spike before taking over the game.

Before we leave Cassio and this piece, if you’re running Cassio down in Bot her best supports are Enchanters like Sona and Engage Supports like Leona. Enchanters off Cassio the protection she needs to scale and reach her item spikes, while Champions like Leona enable Cassio to lay down her Miasma and land all of her abilities to put an enemy in a ‘do nothing’ zone.

Closing Out

I hope these picks find you success! These Champions are a juicy sweet spot where the community won’t flame you for playing them, and Riot won’t be swinging nerf hammers their way too quickly. This will allow you to master them fully without pressure of adjustments, and with them in your tool belt, you’ll be able to demolish the filthy meta-slaves! If you are curious as to where I've pulled all my information from, the lovely website U.GG presents all the information here in a super concise and digestible fashion!