Have you ever wondered what would happen if you played your favorite AD carry in the mid lane, or took your go-to support into the jungle? Sometimes we just want to break the stereotypical roles and play something crazy. These unconventional choices, more commonly referred to as 'cheese picks' are extremely risky but rewarding options. They tend to require a good knowledge of both the champion and role you will be filling, because if you want to know how to build or how to level up your Zyra jungle, there won't be much help from the internet on how to do it. Is there a way to tell, before loading onto the Rift, whether you might have success with that pick? While no article can predict any outcome with certainty, I'm going to give you some guidelines as to why locking in your favorite bruiser in the mid lane might not be the most win-effective decision.

Cheese Pick Cons: Let's start with the possible negative outcomes. This is not to say you should only play Meta picks, but there is a reason that Orianna jungle isn't seen too often on the rift.

• No specified item build or skill pathing set for you.
• Trying to figure out how to fit into the lane, while still playing and being an active part of the game.
• Dealing with skeptical teammates
• Low win rate

To solve these problems, there are two large steps you can take. Play your cheese of choice with a group of friends, so that you can explain why you are playing that pick, or just so that there are no hurt feelings at the end of it all. People you know personally in League of Legends tend to be more forgiving of your in-game mistakes than a team of four strangers who want the best chance possible of winning. If you can converse with your teammates and clearly communicate how you want to use your unique situation to your advantage, all the better. The second piece of advice I can give is to do some pre-game research as to what you should build in that role. If you are playing AP Pantheon Support, you are going to want to have a bulkier start, and build damage after you can sustain some enemy damage. Starting Relic Shield/pots and then duo-building Face of the Mountain and Rod of Ages would be a great start, because you not only have a great amount of sustain to start, but you have increasing stats while you are in the tail end of the laning phase, and moving into the team fight phase. Also as AP Pantheon support, you will want to max W first, as that is a large stun for your carry, and scales off of your AP. Then building into more high AP items, would pay off because you have the tenacity to be able to build high damage.

Cheese Pick Pros: So why would you ever want to pick something that you've never seen before?

• It's likely your opponent will have no clue how to play against it.
• Allows some breathing room outside of the normal restriction of mages in the mid lane, tanks in the top lane, and so on.
• Can prove to teach you a lot more about a specific champion and how they can be played.
• If done right, can become a powerful pocket pick into the right compositions.

There is so much pride in being the first person you know to pull off something crazy and unprecedented in League. These picks can not only make it fun to play a role, but they provide insight to how that champion you play so well can flourish not only in one lane, but the game as a whole. Now, this doesn't mean every time you come up with a build or jungle path before you play a champion you will end up winning. The only true way to test a pick like this is to take it onto the rift for the sink or swim experience.

 (Article Image courtesy of ciael.deviantart.com)

So what can be done then to see if that champion might fare well in the lane you are testing out? Let's take a look at what each lane tends to offer in terms of playstyle and enemy champions.

*Note: All these lanes have exceptions, but these are the common trends that you see in each lane, and what will do well.

Top Lane: Melee or short range champions, mostly Attack-Damage based. Flash, Teleport, Ignite and Ghost are common, because these champion normally are about engaging right on top of one another instead of using poke and range. A Champion that can whittle down these Bruisers WHILE being able to take some backlash from the occasional engage or gank will always do well.

Mid Lane: The most unique lineup, these champions are the home of mages and assassins alike, meaning burst and mobility are the name of the game. Poke would work here as well, but some way to stop their mobility and lock them down is a great way to counter them. Crowd control (CC for short) never goes amiss against a target that needs to move around to use their kit. This lane also thrives off of the usage of abilities by your opponents, so champions that can deal damage while an enemy deals with cooldowns, and one that might use less mana in lane could be extremely viable here.

Bot Lane (Duo): Playing one cheese pick is bad, but then partnering up with another one can be twice as deadly (for you, or the opponent). If you want to try something unique with someone where you both play something unique, try and match up with each other. One could fill the carry role by playing a burst mage, and have a crowd control-heavy support to hold enemies down. Two burst assassins could focus down their carry at early levels for a great advantage that could carry the game. The possibilities are almost endless.

Attack Damage Carry (Solo): I normally do not approve of a friend playing cheese picks with an unfamiliar laner, only because special synergy is normally needed to maximize the potential of these lanes. If you really want to play something unprecedented in the bot lane, I suggest someone with a mobile kit to get around the typical linear kit of opposing marksmen and supports. Let your support do the tanking and cc as you move around the enemies to do as much damage as possible, with whomever you are using.

Support (Solo): The primary function of the support is to provide their marksmen and team with kills, peel and vision. So anybody that provides tank and CC works perfectly in this lane. Also think a bit more outside of the box, because it is much easier for your marksmen to get kills if the support does most of the damage first. Just keep in mind that the enemy team will likely have plenty of cc up their sleeves as well, so again, someone resilient that can get to the backline easily will be a perfect complement to any carry.

Jungle: From one jungler to another, you might want to think about this one a little more. The jungle is the hardest lane to put in another champion, because instead of dealing with human error you are against a set path of monsters to kill, a set early item build, and the necessity to be powerful enough to help failing lanes. Not only does this mean you have to be a strong enough pick to clear camps with resources to spare, but you have to build a smite item of choice, and spend precious early levels helping others, instead of constantly farming to get yourself ahead. This is the situation that you probably want to try with some friends. Qualities of good junglers are champions that can deal a lot of quick damage (while having short cooldowns), have good early levels, or a good level six. Again with thinking outside the box, if a champion can somehow get creeps to attack another target, or not attack them for an extended period of time, then they might work out well in the Jungle.

So how does this evaluation look in practice?

Cheese Evaluation Example: Jungle Zyra

I used Jungle Zyra as a cheese pick example in the introduction. Zyra is a powerful AP mage, however, she has unique parts of her kit that make her as viable in the jungle as she is in the mid or supporting roles. Her plants, when triggered will cause the creeps in the jungle to attack them instead of Zyra herself. So getting a heavy leash on Gromp and taking your Grasping Roots (E), allows you at level two to take a point in your Rampant Growth (W). Place two stacks of Rampant Growth behind the buff and using your roots will not only hold the buff still, but allow you to get free damage on it while it deals with your plants. Zyra not only has this great early clear, but her roots provide a great gank, because of the combo potential Zyra can put out, especially if a longer lane like top is pushed out, and they have to escape two or three roots.

I hope that everything you read here is helpful next time you want to test the limits of the Rift! If any of you guys want to ask me anything about your own cheese picks, comment on something you see, or you just really like this article, feel free to contact me at @Buns_and_Roses. I hope to hear from you all soon!

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