Want to insta-kill your enemies? Love bush cheesing? Maybe you just enjoy the satisfying image of ADCs typing in all chat. Whatever it may be, we’ve got the best burst Champion recommendations here to help you fulfill your needs!
League, prior to Season 12, was a really fast game where burst was everywhere Then the defensive stat update came and trimmed back a lot of the game’s power-creep and burst. Season 13 looks to add to that trimming by making Tanks more impactful and able to soak significantly more damage. But the community will always attempt to force the hype of the fast insta-delete playstyle and there will, for sure, be some Champions within Assassin and Burst paradigms that stay strong. So, without further ado, let’s jump into those picks and unpack the best burst Champions in League of Legends.
Fizz, despite tank adjustments, held on strong throughout Season 12 and was able to remain extremely effective in the Solo-Duo atmosphere. And we expect him to continue with much of the same, since the squishies of the Rift have received few items to compensate for his ability to burst down vulnerable targets. In fact, sitting right now early in the Preseason patch, U.gg ranks Fizz in the top 15 of Mid Laners right now, making him a highly regarded option if you’re looking to pick up an AP Assassin.
Fizz comes packed with high burst, naturally, but he also has an extremely safe and evasive lane phase thanks to his “troll poll” (his E, Playful/Trickster), making him one of the hardest lanes to punish in the game. Additionally, his biggest Meta Counters are Vex and Swain, same as last season and while those Champions are quite popular, there are windows and ways to play around them and they are often regarded as soft-counters or scaling-focused counters at best. After them, picks like Pantheon and Galio can be regarded as one-trick or fringe tier pickups that adjust Fizz’ game plan to destroy Bot Lane instead of destroying Mid.
Speaking of Vex, she’s still quite as effective as she was last season at punishing those higher mobility Champions that like to call Mid home. She carries positive matchups into very popular Champions like Leblanc, Yone, and Akali, and can really make the lane hell for these picks if they’re taken blind. Her disruption of mobility creep is a utility aspect of course and supplies really nothing in the way of burst damage, but it’s this disruption that sets up her burst and allows her to truly shine.
Additionally, Vex has a flexible playstyle depending on your matchup. She can opt for a raw one-shot focused playstyle with Ludne’s Echo fulfilling her Mythic slot. Or she can play a more setup and utility angle with a pickup like Everfrost enabling her to lock down an opponent alongside her fear. These two approaches make her one of the best blind picks in the game, and even if you opt for the less damaging Everfrost Build, you’re going to be annihilating the squishier targets you’re after anyway.
Talon, flexible between both Mid and Jungle, remains a consistent go-to option for those that are wanting to pick-up that AD Assassin playstyle. And he has one of the most quintessential experiences of that approach to gameplay. But it isn’t just burst that keeps Talon in focus as a consistent option.
Truthfully, Talon’s biggest strength is his mobility. His wallhopping mechanic allows him to move around the maps with complete ease and he can be in the cheekiest of angles to catch unsuspecting Junglers, Supports, Mids, or ADCs on the roam or rotation. Also throw in his easy to execute burst combo and pitch in an ult that grants him true-stealth to get out, and that rounds into a package that makes Talon consistently effective and consistently viable as one of the game’s premiere burst Assassins.
Syndra’s rework has floated her towards a scaling concept more than her previous iteration which was all about early burst and poke. But that doesn't mean those elements have been completely abandoned from her kit. In fact, Syndra is rewarded more than ever by properly layering and damaging her opponents throughout the lane phase since successful one-two punches of multiple abilities grant her shards that increase her towards her full burst potential.
She, like another pick we’ll discuss in a moment, really shows us that burst can come in many forms and it just doesn't have to be represented within the first 15 minutes of a League game to be effective. Burst within late-game scenarios can be extremely powerful, especially if you have point and click ‘outplay’ buttons like Syndra. And Syndra’s role and identity as Mage can be emulated while providing another wrinkle in proper team building. She’s an excellent option to select if you need a pick to be a knock-out punch, or if you simply need someone to be able to control space effectively.
Like Syndra, Kassadin comes in to represent a late-game scaling burst option that players often forget to consider since his burst doesn't come online until deep into the game. However, again, just because a Champion doesn’t begin to burst until 25 minutes plus, doesn't mean they are an unviable burst option. They just require a different approach.
Kassadin’s approach to scaling starts pretty traditionally with a very safe early lane where he focuses on maintaining his HP while collecting as much farm as possible. Thereafter, especially around 6, he begins to evolve into a more prototypical Assassin mold and now has the flexibility to move around the map and affect duels or look for cleanups. While his damage is still relatively low, getting one or two stray kills or assists in your pocket go a long way to building him up to his monstrous status which comes at level 13 where his ultimate and burst really start to swing for the fences alongside his raw damage items.
In many ways, he represents the antithesis to Fizz’ play style as an Assassin. Fizz wants to abuse his mobility and damage over others early, whereas Kassadin wants to simply do it later. Both of these are viable options and great modes depending on your comp’s needs or matchup, so having a scaling Assassin option like Kassadin available if you’re used to more of those Assassin focused playstyles is a great call.
We’ve unpacked a lot of Mid Laners so far, but there are some true picks in other roles that really can shine in burst options. Elise is one of those picks.
Elise is one of the best utilizers of the Keystone: Electrocute in the game, and it’s largely thanks to her Cocoon which stuns and reveals enemies setting up the remainder of her damage rotation which incorporates Electrocute. Tying this with her higher-than-average base values early allows Elise to annihilate most targets she encounters through the early phases that may be wandering a bit too far from the safety of their team or Jungle.
And to top it off, she’s quite evasive and capable of stalling fights with her Rappel. Should she go for an assassination, and things turn sour, a switch to Spider Form and then a lift into the air gives her a few moments reprieve to buy time for cooldowns or allied rotations to support her. This is especially so if she’s in the Jungle and can lift herself over walls and towards camps to get out of the thick things before they go full tilt.
Lux is a viable Mid Lane option that can excel at poking and picking her enemies off. But I want to spin her in the light of Support where she has an additional partner to take advantage of her catching power. You see, one of the largest reasons that Champions like Lux, Xerath, and Vel’Koz work within the Support role is thanks to the buddy system down Bot. Sure, their range suits the longer lane, but the pressure that is drawn from the existence of another lethal partner really allows these poke Mages deal out the pain against their lane opponents without needing to be keenly aware that at a moment’s notice they might have to play around a sudden all-in from their Assassin lane opponent.
Lux, unlike Xerath, Vel’Koz, and other Mage options, plays more towards the quintessential Burst Mage style since her poke and pick pattern of play turns into a poke-pick-burst pattern at level six. Cheap Shot and Ultimate Hunter runes alongside Comet or Aery depending on how ‘supportive’ you’re feeling really tie into a complete burst package for Lux Support and, thanks to her long range, she can easily abuse most any matchup, even negative ones if she approaches her poke with the secure idea to punish and contest the last hits of her enemies. Then, once opponents have been whittled down, all it takes is that one stray Light Binding to land, and then BZZZT, Lux and her partner have secured a kill or forced a back from the full rotation of damage that they can provide.
I’d highly encourage anyone wanting to try Lux Support to pair her with the likes of Caitlyn. In this lane setup she emulates a lot of the strength of Cait-Morgana, another classic lane, but naturally, brings more of a burst component to it over a safety component by comparison.
So, there you have it! Some great Burst Champion options to have in your pocket for the upcoming Season. These Champions almost always seem to remain around after defensive adjustments thanks to other aspects of their kit, but they remain consistently valuable on their damage values alone.
