We all play ranked in pursuit of many things such as glory, excitement and the dopamine of overcoming adversity. However, the one thing that comes with achieving all these in victory is the gain of LP and ranked ascension (no not that one). We may all seek the same outcome here but unfortunately the world is not fair and we all start at different places on the ladder, but this should not stop you in your ambitions, but that does not mean you should optimize your chances of climbing.

One way we can all do this is by picking champions that thrive against the average player of the ELO you are playing in. That’s where this piece comes in, the first of five, which will detail some of the best picks for each ELO so that you can raise your win rate, raise your ELO, and, of course, raise your rank.

Iron

It seems fitting to start at the bottom on the ladder as we all have had those games when we started playing the game, and for those of you there right now, do I have the pick for you. To break it down we must identify the characteristics of Iron. Iron games tend to have the following in common: a lack of CC, an overeagerness to duel, and a tendency to go to the late game. So what champion maximizes DPS from the jungle, is an excellent duellist who thrives in the late game. The ring sword wielding menace that is Master Yi! With player tendencies playing to their strengths, this pick is an ideal choice in this ELO if you want to win more games.

Bronze

Just as we saw with our breakdown of Iron we saw a champion that does well in low levels of crowd control populated games. Now Bronze is very similar to its younger brother in Iron, but for success in Bronze it seems like going in a different direction is the optimal approach, instead of playing around no CC, is to bring ALL THE CC in ALL THE AOE!

So what champion brings hard CC in large AOE whilst also scaling as hard as the optimal champions in Iron? The answer comes in the form of Amumu, his ultimate being a large AOE stun paired with his excellent scaling on either build (AP or Tank) make this pick an ideal choice in this ELO if you want to win more games.

Silver

Silver ELO and its average player are all about three things, stats, stats, and guess what, more stats. That goes for every kind of champion too, from tanks to marksmen/women it is all about the numbers in Silver, so what champion plays the numbers game better than an account working around tax loopholes better than any other?

The answer is the big blue troll himself in Trundle, with his ability to steal not only tank stats with his ultimate: Subjugate, but also attack damage with his Q; Chomp. There are few champions who can match, never mind beat, his manipulation of the numbers game in all of LoL.

Gold

Okay, we’re starting to get some height to this ladder. Here is where we begin to see a lot of focus on the macro game through vision and ward control. This is where jungle players tend to have a bit more of a hard time as ganks become harder to execute as they tend to be scouted and retreated from making execution of a play much harder and more effective. So what champion in the jungle pool gets around this. Well how about the vision-negating literal nightmare in Nocturne. The fact that Nocturne can turn enemy vision temporarily off and gap close on a gank target all in the form of the one spell (his ultimate: Paranoia) means that Nocturne is in a prime position to capitalize on the tendencies of players in Gold ELO.

Platinum

As we continue to climb up the main ranks of the LoL ladder, we see players start to develop regular warding habits and better peeling of assassins such as Nocturne and Zed, which makes these picks a lot riskier. However this does mean that the jungle becomes an impossible role to play, it just means that the ability to play around this to a strength is in fact amplified. This is where the scarecrow champion of Fiddlesticks comes into play, when players make use of his unorthodox gank paths (thanks to the post-channel blink on his Ultimate: Crowstorm) into teamfighting/skirmishing kit his ability to punish the tendencies of players at Platinum ELO is almost unmatched.

Diamond

The peak of the non-apex ranks in LoL is where many aspire to be but that does not mean you should stop applying the lessons we have learnt in getting here. Game times in Diamond are the shortest of the main ranks as this is because players are better at closing out with early game advantages and good skirmishing abilities, and one of the best champions for executing on this strategy and tendency is the spear wielding Demacian in Xin Zhao. With his point and click gap closer and immense skirmishing power, Xin Zhao is an optimal choice when it comes to picking a champion who can get an advantage early and then snowball it to a victory via multiple solo fights or as a part of a multi-man unit.

Conclusion

So there we have it, a pick in/for each tier of League of Legends ranked system that is set well to be a choice for those of you wishing to optimize your chances of an elevated win rate in the pursuit of pushing to a higher rank. Now remember, first timing a champion in ranked is never a good idea, learning a champion in practice tool then moving to bots and normal games is always a good way to go so that you are ready for Ranked, and good prep means better performance and better performance means better chances of winning, which is no bad thing. With that I once again leave you with the thoughts of GL, HF, and GG.