Many high-value Champions with less flashy and low-mechanic kits are often overlooked by many players. Oftentimes, players will pick Champions outside of their skill-range, and as a result, they cannot maximize a Champion’s assigned niche. Low-mechanic Champions, however, can be a great way to win games as the time you need to allocate in learning their kit is significantly reduced, allowing you to focus more on other parts of the game.

Garen, the Might of Demacia

Starting off with the Top Lane, Garen is an extremely safe and powerful pick in many situations. In melee matchups, Garen’s kit provides him with an insane amount of damage while being extremely tanky at the same time. Not to mention, Garen’s Q, Decisive Strike, silences the target for 1.5 seconds, disrupting their combo and rhythm. This ability also makes Garen extremely sticky as it not only removes any slows upon cast, but it also gives him a 35 percent increase in movement speed as it is active.

Garen’s W, Courage, grants him a shield and reduces incoming damage by 30 percent upon cast. It also provides him with a 60 percent tenacity boost for the first 0.75 seconds it is cast. The most optimal time to cast Garen’s W is when he is about to get crowd control locked because the tenacity boost will dramatically reduce the duration he is impaired.

Courage also has a passive function where each time Garen kills a unit, he gains a stack of 0.2 increased armor and magic resist. Once Garen reaches a maximum of 150 stacks, he will gain a 10 percent armor and magic resist increase.

Garen’s E is his most iconic ability: Judgment. Garen spins around seven times over three seconds and damages all units in his radius. While spinning, Garen is ghosted meaning he will ignore unit collision. Additionally, enemies hit six times by Judgement will have a reduction of armor by 25 percent. After one second of casting Judgment, Garen can recast the ability to stop spinning if the situation calls for it.

Garen’s R, Demacian Justice, is a nuke. This ability is a point and click damaging dealing ability that scales based on the enemies missing HP. Garen’s R is best used as a finisher, as most damage will be dealt the lower HP the enemies have.

With Garen’s abilities being extremely easy to use and very forgiving, he is a Champion that almost all players can find success in. With his tanky attributes paired with his insane amount of damage, Garen’s builds can be very flexible. He can build tanky if the team composition calls for it, or he can build damage and crit if the enemies are very squishy. Garen is an all-rounder and can definitely be used to climb very high in the ranks.

Master Yi, the Wuju Bladesman

Master Yi, if played correctly, is one of those Champions that can make a game feel so unwinnable. A fed Master Yi will make enemies feel like there is absolutely zero counterplay to his kit. Luckily, it’s not very hard to use Master Yi’s kit correctly.

Often played in the Jungle, Master Yi sees no problem with his clear. Because he is an auto-attack based Champion, he can clear the Jungle quite quickly and begin to invade the enemy’s Jungle with his extremely strong 1v1 at all points throughout the game.

His passive, Double Strike, adds stacks to his auto attacks that last for four seconds. These four seconds refresh upon auto attacking, and another stack is added. Only at three stacks is Master Yi’s auto attacks strikes twice, with the second strike dealing 50 percent bonus physical damage.

Master Yi’s Q, Alpha Strike, is what makes him so powerful. Upon casting on a target, Master Yi becomes invulnerable and after 0.231 seconds, he blinks to the target dealing damage. Master Yi, during his invulnerability, marks three other targets in the vicinity, and damages them for 25 percent of the damage done to the initial target. Auto-attacking while Alpha Strike is on cooldown will reduce its timer by one second per hit. This ability not only does a lot of damage but acts as a gap closer. Being able to use the invulnerability to dodge important impairments or heavy hitting abilities is what makes Master Yi so powerful.

On top of being a hard-hitting damage dealer, Master Yi is also very self-sustaining. His W, Meditate, upon cast, makes him enter a meditation stance for up to four seconds that is cancelable at any point of the channel. Every 0.5 seconds Yi spends Meditating, he heals based on his missing health.

Although the healing is one of the main points of this ability, his Meditate also grants him 90 percent damage reduction in the first 0.5 of its cast. Even if Master Yi doesn’t need healing, if a strong ability is coming straight at him, he can cast Meditate for a split second to reduce the damage and cancel it immediately to continue his havoc. If Master Yi has his R, Highlander, and or his E, Wuju Style, activated, casting Meditate will pause the timers on these two abilities. Additionally, for every second Master Yi channels Meditate, he will gain a stack of his passive Double Strike. So even though this ability on the surface is for sustainability, it works extremely well with his other abilities to allow him to maximize his damage.

Next, his E, Wuju Style, is an auto-attacking empowering ability. Upon cast, his auto attacks, for the next five seconds, will deal increased true damage. This ability’s function only provides Master Yi with additional damage.

Finally, Master Yi’s R, Highlander, removes any slows afflicted to him and for the next seven seconds, he gains bonus movement speed in the values of 35/45/55 percent. He also gains bonus attack speed in the values of 25/35/45 percent. These values are reflected on the level the ability Highlander is. While Highlander is active, he can bypass unit collision and is immune to any slows. If Master Yi achieves a takedown while Highlander is active, his basic abilities will see a 70 percent reduction in cooldown, and Highlander will be extended for another seven seconds.

With Master Yi’s insane damage, attack speed, and movement speed, he can constantly achieve multi-takedowns and because of his kit, his abilities will be almost permanently off cooldown. If timed correctly, he can negate a ton of damage and hit enemies back ten folds harder.

Annie, the Dark Child

Annie is one of League of Legends’ first 40 Champions released, and she is still as powerful as ever. With minimal changes since her debut, her kit is very well designed to fit a mage. She not only provides crowd control, but she also supplies sustainability and insane burst damage.

Starting off with the most impactful part of her kit: her passive Pyromania. After each cast of any ability, Annie gains a stack that is displayed under her health bar. After four ability casts, Pyromania will make the next damaging ability stun all enemies hit for a maximum of 1.75 seconds based on level.

Her Q, Disintegrate, fires a fireball at a target dealing magic damage. If Fireball kills the target, it will refund the mana required to cast, and reduce the cooldown by half. Because Annie’s attack speed is so slow, she will mainly be using Disintegrate to farm. Because her mana is refunded upon killing a target, it is best to last hit with Disintegrate, so she doesn’t drain her mana in lane. Paired with Pyromania, the point-and-click stun can be very useful in select situations in duels, or to catch out singular miss-positioned enemies.

Annie’s W, Incinerate, is very similar to her Q, except it is not point-and-click and it is fired in a cone shape. This can be looked at as a variation to her fireball that is able to hit more enemies. Incinerate is also very useful when Annie wants to stun more than one target, but her ultimate is off cooldown, or she is not wanting to commit to a large cooldown.

Annie’s E, Molten Shield, has since been revamped recently. Upon casting, Annie, or the targeted allied Champion, will gain a shield for three seconds, and decaying bonus movement speed for 1.5 seconds. Within these three seconds of the shield, any magic damage taken by the shield holder will reflect back to the dealer. The reflection can only happen once per cast. Additionally, if Tibbers is active, the ability will also apply to him in addition. Molten Shield can be used in clutch situations to save herself or allies with the shield, and it can also be used to close that extra gap for Annie to stun her enemies.

Finally, Annie’s most powerful spell is her R, Tibbers. When cast, Annie summons Tibbers to a location, and upon summoning, a burst of flame will rise, dealing massive damage. Then, Tibbers remains on the field for 45 seconds. At this time, Annie can control Tibbers’ movements.

Annie is a very safe yet powerful pick. Although she can be weaker in the early game, she has an unusually long ranged auto attack, allowing her to be safe in lane if needed. In the late game however, if she lands a Flash Tibbers stun, she can turn around and win any teamfight.

Ashe, the Frost Archer

Ashe’s kit is probably the most basic of all of League of Legends. At one point in time, she was the first Champion a player would get to play. Although she is very easy to understand and very easy to play, she is not necessarily easy to play against, which makes her very viable in today’s meta.

Her passive, Frost Shot, is very unique because most Marksman do not have crowd control. All of Ashe’s auto attacks and damage abilities will apply Frost, slowing enemies for two seconds by 20 to 30 percent based on level. Additional basic attacks on Frosted enemies will deal bonus damage. Whenever Ashe critical strikes, she does not deal bonus damage. Instead, she will double the slow inflicted on the target by 40 to 60 percent based on level. Although Ashe is very immobile, her slows are so powerful that it makes her seem so sticky. If you are hit by even one of Ashe’s auto attacks, you probably cannot out-run her.

Ashe’s Q, Ranger’s Focus, requires four focus stacks to cast. Each time she auto attacks, she will gain a stack of focus that lasts for one second. Each consecutive auto attack will refresh the timer for up to four stacks. Upon casting the ability, Ashe gains bonus attack speed and her auto attacks are empowered to flurries of five arrows. These flurries will apply Frost Shot to any target hit, and the ability will last for six seconds.

Ashe’s W, Volley, fires out arrows in a large cone in a direction she chooses. Each arrow will disappear upon hitting its first target, and it will also apply Frost Shot.

Ashe’s E, Hawkshot, is an active that can be stacked up to two casts. Upon casting, she fires a hawk that illuminates the Fog of War through the hawk’s traveling path. Once it reaches the target location, it will grant sight of that area in a large circular radius for five seconds.

Lastly, Ashe’s R, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, is a global ability that travels until it flies off the map, or until it collides with its first target. While the arrow is traveling, vision is granted on the path it travels in, and upon collision, it will stun that target for 1 to 3.5 seconds, based on the distance traveled. The longer it has traveled, the longer the stun will be. Additionally, when the arrow collides, it explodes, inflicting Frost Shot and 50 percent damage to surrounding enemies.

Although Ashe is very squishy and easy to pick off, she provides a ton of crowd control that can be utilized even when she is half-way across the Rift. Even without dashes, with the right pairing of Summoner Spells and positioning, she could be a target that you may never be able to touch.

Sona, Maven of the Strings

Sona is a support that can provide everything; whether its healing, slows, crowd control, bonus damage, she has it all. None of her basic abilities are skill shots or even point-and-clicks, and her ultimate has a very large cast range making it extremely hard to miss.

Sona’s passive, Power Chord, is the most complicated part of her kit, but let’s break it down. Starting with Innate Accelerando, each time Sona hits an enemy with her Q, Hymn or Valor, or heals allies with her W, Aria of Perseverance, she gains a stack. Once she reaches a maximum of 120 stacks, instead of gaining more stacks, she will reduce her R, Crescendo, by 1.5 seconds. Next, Innate Melody locks her other basic abilities for 0.5 seconds when she uses one of her basic abilities. Depending on which basic ability she casts, she will provide a different aura for three seconds that empowers herself and nearby allies. These auras will be discussed while going over Sona’s basic abilities. Finally, her Passive, Power Chord, builds stacks whenever Sona casts a basic ability, up to three, at which point she can use an empowered auto attack. That auto attack gains a unique effect depending on which ability triggered the Chord.

Sona’s Q, Hymn of Valor, damages the two nearest enemy Champions upon cast. Her Q creates an aura which makes Sona and her near allies do increased bonus magic damage on their auto attacks for the next five seconds. Her Q’s Power Chord bonus is Staccato, which empowers Sona’s next auto attack based on level.

Sona’s W, Aria of Perseverance, heals herself and her nearest and lowest ally. The Melody aura of her W grants a shield to her and her near allies for 1.5 seconds. Her W’s Power Chord bonus is Diminuendo, which makes Sona’s next auto attack reduce the target’s size by 8 percent and damage dealt by 25 percent for three seconds. Because some Champions like Alistar and Taric have abilities that scale with size, Sona’s Diminuendo’s size reduction works in those situations.

Sona’s E, Song of Celerity, grants Sona and only Sona, a 20 percent bonus movement speed buff that increases by two percent per 100 Ability Power. This effect lasts for seven seconds and will end whenever she is attacked. Allies can gain this bonus movement speed only if they are within the aura her E produces. This bonus movement speed from the aura only lasts three seconds.

Sona’s R, Crescendo, is a long and wide ranged skillshot that stuns any enemies hit for 1.5 seconds. This is Sona’s most important combat ability, and it is important to try to hit as many enemies with one cast as possible.

Although Sona’s kit may seem complicated on paper, using her skills in game feels very natural and not complex. She has a variety of buffs that can work well with many Marksmen and other Champions in different lanes. She also holds one of the strongest teamfight abilities, making her an extremely viable support without a ton of effort.

Conclusion

Sometimes winning games isn’t about playing the most flashy or complex Champion in League of Legends. What’s more impressive than highly technical Champions is being able to min-max every part of a Champion’s kit. Although only five Champions were presented, there are many Champions on League of Legend’s roster that are not only easy to master, but very impactful on the Rift.