Break the Meta - Five Off-Role Picks That You Should Try

21 Oct 20

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Break the Meta - Five Off-Role Picks That You Should Try

Five off role champions that you should try out in your League of Legends games!

League of Legends is a game that gives players a ton of freedom in who they play, where they play them and how they play them. And while your teammates may not appreciate your big-brain off-meta picks, hopefully this guide can quell your teammates before they report you in champ select.

Lucian Top

Yes, everyone knows the meme about the scum of the earth being ranged top laners. But Lucian is currently a very lane dominant champion who excels and bullying opposing laners with his strong early game damage. His kit also lets him use Blade of the Ruined King which lets him chew through opposing top laners with ease because they usually stack health within their build. Lucian Top also excels in early skirmishes against other top lane duelists because of the aforementioned early trading power in his Piercing Light and Relentless Pursuit, it is very easy to activate Press the Attack (which is the standard keystone to take on Lucian) and out-trade most top laners with ease.

While this does seem all good, Lucian Top's main issue is that he is still an AD carry, and we all know how those champions are once a jungler shows up into your lane. So make sure that you constantly check wards and get vision of the enemy's Jungle so you can try and keep track of where their Jungler is.

Shen Jungle

Shen Jungle, better known as “River Shen,” has seen its fair share of memeing in the past, but currently Shen Jungle has been terrorizing opponents because of his safe clear, his good skirmishing, and gank potential as well as the tankiness and utility that he provides his team with Stand United and Twilight Shroud. Once Shen hits level six, he technically has global gank pressure (much like Karthus jungle) because he can teleport to an ally with Stand United. So you can powerfarm until that point, or you can get early ganks off with Shadow Dash (Shen’s Taunt) to try and snowball your laners or tilt your opponents into oblivion.

Shen’s Jungle clear is not the best early on, but it is not the worst in the world. It may not be as fast as Volibear's or Sett's and it may not be as healthy as Graves' or Lee Sin's, but Shen can affect the map in more ways than these other junglers because of his global pressure. Just make sure to secure those scuttle crabs.

Jhin Mid

Now you may be asking yourself, “Jhin Mid? Is this guy trolling?” and the answer is yes... kind of. Jhin Mid certainly has its downsides, namely that he struggles against most assassins and that he does not have the best wave clear. Plus he is an AD carry and, as stated above, we know how well they do against ganks.

But where Jhin Mid excels is much the same with Lucian, early kill pressure. Jhin’s early damage when compared to most mages is huge, especially when Jhin does not have to use mana to deal upwards of 200 damage with his fourth shot. Even then, Jhin’s Dancing Grenade in the early parts of the laning phase can be a very reliable source of poke damage.

Even if you do not get early kills in the lane, Jhin’s scaling into the mid game (around 2 items) is very good, he has reliable burst damage, his Dancing Grenade can clear the back caster minion by itself and Jhin can start to become a playmaker for his side lanes with the range of Deadly Flourish and Curtain Call.

Swain Bot

Now we have all heard of Swain Support, another one of the mage supports that has good kill pressure with his Nevermove and Ravenous Flock. However, Swain also works as an AP carry with playmaking supports. The reason for this is because Swain can layer his Nevermove with other forms of crowd control that his support can provide for him, as well as pull them closer to him with the pull part of Ravenous Flock. Once you and your support hit level two, you will have kill pressure because of the amount of early burst damage Swain has with Electrocute.

Playing Swain with supports like Leona, Pyke, Pantheon and Blitzcrank gives him easy access to the opposing AD carries, even those who have a decided advantage in terms of range, and can snowball a lane out of control in his favor. Issues arise once Swain hits the later stages of the game (4-5 items) because he needs certain tankier ability power items, which usually do not have the best scaling once that game gets into the later stages.

So if you feel like making some AD carry’s life miserable, pick Swain Bot. They will surely have a blast against that.

Maokai Support

Tree time.

Maokai is mostly known as that unkillable top lane tank that every squishy damage dealer dreads trying to peel off of themselves. But put him in the Support role and you can do that all game. Maokai is a very good playmaker for his AD carry (or Swain for that matter) as his lockdown once he hit level three is comparable to Leona or Nautilus' lockdown. Maokai’s Ultimate, Nature's Grasp, is a good engagement tool once he hits level six as well. It has a huge range and if used against an immobile AD carry such as Ashe or Aphelios, they can really struggle to escape without using flash or having a support save them.

Where Maokai struggles is against lanes that can play with good spacing and can also peel and shield very well. Think Lulu and even Janna for these, because if Maokai and his AD carry cannot kill the opposing bot lane, Maokai does not provide that much for his AD carry compared to a Lulu or a Janna or most other enchanter supports. Also champions like Ezreal can space out a Maokai really well in lane because he can poke and farm stacks on his Manamune until he hits his two item power spike.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this guide gave you some insight into some champions that can be flexed around into different roles to give your opponents a nice surprise whenever they load into Summoner's Rift. Think of these off-meta picks as little gifts to your opponent, but they only provide benefit and entertainment for yourself.

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