Season One

In terms of competitive play, Vayne has a notorious history of being both oppressively strong and not strong enough of a pick. In season one, Vayne was quite the force to be reckoned with. Being recently released prior to the 2011 Dreamhack event she was primarily picked by NA teams whereas EU teams saw more value in Rumble, this is partially shown in the Season One Championship champion stats.

Season Two

Vayne would consequently see nerfs to nearly every aspect of her kit following the Season One world championship.

Despite these nerfs and several other balance changes before the Season Two World Championship, Vayne still saw play and even boasted respectable stats throughout the tournament although she was not picked as often.

Something worth noting is the introduction of Blade of the Ruined King in patch 1.0.0.150. This item was fairly overpowered upon its release, but even after some balance changes it was still a popular buy. This item became especially popular on Vayne. Prior to BoTRK Vayne would most typically build a Bloodthirster but due to BoTRK stats synergizing well with Vayne’s Silver Bolts (W) many Vayne players would prioritize BoTRK and primarily max Silver Bolts first which deviated away from the Tumble (Q) max that CLG Doublelift had a hand in popularizing.

Source for ADC stats

Season 3

Come the Season Three World Championship, players made Corki a priority pick. This was mostly due to the recent Trinity Force changes on 3.10 which gave several buffs to Phreak’s favorite item. Although Corki was the most prominent ADC pick at the S3WC, Vayne still made a significant showing at the hands of Uzi.

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Season 4

S4WC is perhaps Vayne’s least prominent WC tournament, only being picked four times during the course of the event, once by SSW, twice by SHRC, and once by SK Gaming. While Vayne still boasted a 75% win rate other marksman such as Lucian and Tristana were prioritized.

Vayne’s lower pick rate at S4WC can be attributed to the high presence of champions such as Maokai and Ryze, champions who benefit from having targeted abilities to lock down targets, as well as the most picked marksman of S4WC; Lucian. Lucian can be seen as the meta defining champion of the bottom lane during the season of his release. Lucian had an incredibly strong laning phase, mid game, and late game, making him an all around great pick for any team composition. During Season Four marksman players had to ask themselves “Why not play Lucian instead?”

As the numbers show, not many players at S4WC could find good reasons not to play Lucian and despite a buff to Vayne’s attack speed growth per level prior to the S4WC patch Vayne saw scarce play at the event.

Season Five Spring Split

The 2015 Spring Split was not a good season for Vayne. Of the 91 games played, Vayne was picked four times and only winning two of those games. The most picked marksman of the Summer Split was Graves, followed by Corki, and Sivir. This change in marksman picks can be attributed to the Lucian nerfs of several patches which reduced many of Lucian’s overbearing strengths as well as introducing more significant weaknesses for his enemies to capitalize on.

In Lucian’s place came Graves, who received buffs to his Collateral Damage (R ) in Season Four and his Buckshot (Q) in patch 5.8. In addition to the shift in marksman picks the Season 5 meta had come to revolve around initiations and team fights over dragon and the new dragon buffs. This meta was a nightmare for Vayne as champions such as Jarvan IV, Maokai, Lissandra, and Vi were top picks, each champion bringing their own form of initiation and lockdown threat.

As the Spring Split progressed we began to see more and more hyper-carries, marksman who scaled extremely well with attack speed and could deal more significant damage to tanks who built Cinderhulk. Even in a meta of hyper-carries such as Jinx, Vayne was last on the list of hyper-carries as other marksman such as Sivir have more to offer the team than Vayne.

Summer Split 2015

Subsequent nerfs to champions such as Sejuanai, Jinx and Sivir have created some breathing room for Vayne as there is less threat of being caught by an initiating CC. Vayne has also benefitted from the high pick rate of Sivir which many believe to be a favorable matchup for Vayne. Vayne has already begun to see more competitive play in the NALCS at the hands of TL Piglet and TSM WildTurtle while also making appearances in the LCK and LPL.

Stigma of picking Vayne

Due to the nature of Vayne’s kit and her history of flashy professional play many players of League of Legends hold a negative stigma about Vayne players. It is not uncommon that Vayne players get flak and are called such names as “Doublelift wannabes”. The frustration some players face with teammates playing Vayne has led one player to create the Vaynespotting game. Vaynespotting is a game in which players tally the ridiculous things Vayne players typically do (often dying in the process) and award points based on the actions. In addition to the Vaynespotting game many players will play Vayne because they simply like playing the champion regardless of the many counter-picks that will be available to the enemy team. This serves to further perpetuate the stereotype of “bad” Vayne players. Despite some of the negativity around picking Vayne she has the highest pick rate among marksman.

Just Do Pick It

Vayne’s strengths and weaknesses have been well fleshed out during her many years in the League, the only things which change her weaker laning phase is the items and the supports. Blade of the Ruined King recently had its build path changed just a bit. Instead of buying two daggers you can now buy a Recurve Bow which also adds 10AD on hit which smooths your transition into BoTRK.

Vayne is able to dodge a multitude of abilities from other marksman with great Tumble (Q) timing and is also able to shut down the movements of Kalista with a well placed Condemn (E). This is what attracts many players to Vayne as she has great outplay potential when played at a high skill level.

A guide written by a high Diamond Vayne player, Midders OP goes over many of the Vayne match ups and highlights the reasons why the matchups are difficult and how to work through it. While Vayne may not be the best pick in this meta there are ways to get around that hurdle. One way is to simply gain more experience on Vayne while the other is work with the right support.

In part two we will be looking at a support that is uncommonly paired with Vayne and the benefits of that duo as well as how that pairing can help Vayne succeed against unfavorable enemy team compositions.