Have you ever wondered why certain champions are rarely seen in high elo but somehow they are overpowered in lower elos? This guide will go over tips that will help players to understand what makes certain champions strong as well as how to counter them.
Several champions such as Master Yi are considered overpowered and annoying by many League of Legends players in Gold and Silver, but their play rates drop off as the ranks go up. This guide will cover some of the reasons why popular champions in lower elos find success but seemingly lose popularity as the ranks go up. It will also give tips to help counter and play against these popular picks.
There are several reasons why certain champions are especially good in lower elos. The first thing to look at is the champion’s kit. For example, if you had a matchup in the top lane consisting of Garen and Gnar, the Garen player would probably be at an advantage if both players were even in terms of (low) skill. Because Garen’s kit is so simple and forgiving, it does not take much knowledge or skill about the champion and game to be able to execute him effectively. Gnar on the other hand, has two different sets of skills, which also consists of skill shots unlike Garen’s kit; Gnar also requires the player to constantly manage their rage meter.
The more complex a champion’s kit is, the more focus and skill is required from the player. If a player does not have mastery of said champion, then other parts of their game such as map awareness and positioning may suffer due to more focus being put into the champion’s kit. Players in lower elos tend to suffer more because they still do not have a strong foundation in the fundamentals of the game. Playing simple and easy to execute champions is less demanding, therefore players do not necessarily have to be very good at the champion to play it well; this also allows them to play better at times because they can put more focus on their macro ability rather than stressing over the combos of a complicated champion.
Another reason why some champions are strong in lower elos is due to the lack of game knowledge that is required to shut these champions down. Master Yi for example, is a champion that many players around Gold and Silver despise due to his ability to melt entire teams by himself. Master Yi is weakest in the early game before he hits level six, this is the period of time where the opposing team should be extremely proactive in order to shut him down. However, not knowing this, or how to do this, could mean that players allow Master Yi to scale freely and become unstoppable in the late game. Players in lower elos also tend to go into matches without a game plan. This can lead to a lot of indecisiveness and random decisions, which could end up allowing certain champions such as Master Yi to hit their desired power spikes unpunished.
Mental block is another big reason that is not talked about very often. Sometimes players lose to certain champions simply because their mind has already decided that the game is over before it has even begun. Teemo is a champion that many top laners dread because his kit allows him to kite melee champions easily while avoiding damage with his blind. Some players will see a Teemo locked in on the enemy team and immediately start tilting in champion select because they hate laning against him. By doing so, you are already starting the game with a disadvantage by letting your emotions take control. This might cause you to make reckless plays and pay less attention to other parts of your game such as map awareness and positioning.
If you see a champion that you hate locked in on the other team, try to have a positive mindset rather than concede lane simply because you think that champion is overpowered. You should use these games as an opportunity to hone your skills against those annoying champions. Is Teemo the bane of your existence because he just kites you forever? Try to think of solutions to counter him rather than resort to banning him, because if you think about it, there are probably other champions that you hate with a passion, and you cannot possibly ban all of them every single game. The best solution is to adopt a learning mentality and to take each game as a challenge to figure out the right way to play against these champions. Having a healthy mentality will not only help you improve as a player, but it will also provide you with a guideline whenever you are up against an annoying or “overpowered” champion.
This section will cover tips to counter some of the most popular champions in lower elos that many players find annoying. The thought process that goes into identifying these counters are not champion-specific and can be applied to other champions to find their counters and weaknesses.
Master Yi is one of the most popular and hated champions in the community, and for good reason. Giving him a few kills early on could easily lead to him snowballing his lead and carrying the game by himself. Alpha Strike allows him to turn untargetable and dodge any incoming projectiles, while Meditate allows Master Yi to heal, take reduced damage, and it also resets his Double Strike. And if that is not enough, the rest of his kit grants him true damage and allows him to chase down opponents easier. But despite this, dealing with Master Yi is not as complicated as it may seem.
The first way to counter Master Yi is to CC and focus him down. Some players may say that locking him down is impossible because Alpha Strike allows him to dodge abilities. It is important to wait for him to commit Alpha Strike first before trying to CC him. Because of his incredible teamfighting skills and his ability to burst down your backline, Master Yi should be the first person on the enemy team that your team focuses on. If your team does not burst him down early on in a teamfight, he will start getting resets for Alpha Strike and Highlander, which allows him to easily take over the teamfight the longer it drags on.
The second way to counter Master Yi is by shutting him down in the early game before he is able to hit his power spikes. As mentioned previously, his weakest point is the early game before he hits level six. During this time, he is unlikely to be looking for ganks as he has no CC and lacks mobility. To avoid giving Master Yi early leads, try not to push up too far in lane, especially when you are low on health. Overextending while low on health gives him the opportunity to gank from behind and score himself an important early kill. Early wards in the enemy jungle are extremely valuable against Master Yi. Knowing where he is means your team has the opportunity to make plays on the other side of the map such as ganking or stealing camps; you could also look to kill him in his jungle to further set him behind. Proactive plays in the early game will help to slow Master Yi’s power spike while giving your team the advantage at the same time.
Teemo is another champion that many players hate due to how annoying he is. Move Quick allows him to kite most top laners with ease; and even if the gap gets closed, Blinding Dart allows him to nullify damage from auto attacks. Ganking and chasing after Teemo can also be a nightmare sometimes due to the presence of his mushrooms. Despite how annoying he is, Teemo also has several weaknesses that can be taken advantage of.
Teemo may be able to run fast, but he is unable to blink or dash, which makes him quite immobile. He is also very squishy, which usually means that he will die if he ever gets caught out. If you are able to bait Teemo into using his abilities, you can then look to all in him when his skills are on cooldown. Most top laners like Darius and Garen have very good all in potential, and fighting Teemo while his skills are down will usually mean that he either dies or will be forced into burning his summoner spells.
Teemo’s teamfighting abilities are quite weak due to his lack of hard CC and mobility, this usually means that he will try to split push. You can exploit this by looking for teamfights or skirmishes with a numbers advantage. Teemo will mostly look to blind and blow up your ADC or squishy carries. When he walks up to use his blind, you can take this opportunity to lock him down and quickly burst him. The way you deal with Teemo in teamfights is similar to how you would deal with Master Yi due their similarity in squishiness and lack of dashes.
The nature of Teemo’s kit means that Oracle Lens and Control Wards are extremely important when playing against him. They nullify so much of his kit and make it very hard for him to impact the game. Putting Control Wards and sweeping high-traffic areas such as jungle entrances or chokepoints will clear out most of his traps as those are the places where he is most likely to put his mushrooms. Make sure to clear out the area before starting a teamfight or objective, the last thing you want is for all five members of your team to lose half of your health bars due to his traps.
Yasuo is one of the most infamous champions in the entire game. His ultimate can easily decide the outcome of a teamfight and he seems to always be a late game threat no matter how the laning phase went. His Wind Wall is also incredibly annoying and makes laning against him a nightmare in the mid lane. So how are you supposed to deal with such a champion?
Yasuo’s Wind Wall is his main defensive ability, it is incredibly powerful as it can block all projectiles from enemies. However, it also has a very long cooldown. Try to bait out his Wind Wall or wait for him to use it before looking to trade heavily; this is especially important if you are playing a ranged champion. Try harassing him with abilities or auto attacks whenever you can, but it is also important to keep a safe distance as he can easily close the gap and turn things around with his dash. Always be wary whenever there are minions nearby, Sweeping Blade’s cooldown is extremely low and Yasuo can easily cover a lot of distance by dashing through a couple of minions.
It is also key that you and your team avoid grouping together too closely. If Yasuo lands one good knock-up, it could quickly spell doom for your entire team. This also means that fighting in tight spaces such as the jungle is not very ideal as it forces your team to group up much tighter. If the enemy team has another champion with a knock-up such as Alistar, then it is essential that your team avoid standing together at all times. Doing so will force Yasuo to either hold his ultimate or get reduced value out of it. If he does choose to use his ultimate on only one or two members of your team, the rest of your team could then quickly burst him while he is in the middle of his ultimate’s animation.
As you can probably tell by now, the champions listed in this article may be strong and annoying at times, but they all have one common weakness in the form of CC. Locking Yasuo up will not only make it easy for your team to burst him down, but it will also prevent him from stacking his whirlwind. Even if you do not manage to kill him, simply taking away his stack of Gathering Storm will alleviate a lot of pressure from your team. Yasuo ideally wants to have his whirlwind up and ready for teamfights, you can look to lock him down when he walks up to stack on minions or other units.
When you see a Lux on the enemy team, they will most likely try to be as annoying as possible and poke you at every given opportunity. You can use this to your advantage by trying to bait out her abilities. In the early game, her skills are on a relatively long cooldown and take up a decent chunk of her mana bar. You can choose to bait out her abilities once, then take the opportunity to engage on the enemy bot lane while her skills are down. Alternatively, you can try constantly walking in and out of max range and baiting out her abilities until she runs out of mana.
Unlike the Yasuo and Yi, Lux has no form of mobility built into her kit, which makes punishing her positioning much easier than other champions in the game. This tip also ties into the first one; if you see that Lux used her bind, she essentially becomes a sitting duck and has no way of protecting herself from enemies closing in. Due to her being an artillery mage, she is incredibly squishy and can be taken down quickly. The mid game is probably where you will have the most opportunities to catch Lux out. Try sitting in a bush with one or two other teammates and kill her when she walks up to ward. Pay attention to her positioning and punish her if she ever oversteps.
Every single ability in Lux’s kit is capable of hitting multiple champions, which makes sense for your team to avoid sticking together too closely. Tight corridors such as jungle entrances are also extremely risky places to be fighting with Lux on the enemy team. During the laning phase, try standing behind minions as much as possible; not only will the minions block her bind for you, but it will also cause Lux to damage the wave. The reason why this is so important is because when she damages the wave, it will naturally give her minion wave a health advantage, provided you are last hitting and not pushing. With the advantage, the wave will slowly push towards your side of the map, which means that Lux will be prone to ganks because her lane is pushed up. Combine this with her lack of mobility, you can see how this sets up a perfect opportunity for you to call your jungler for help.
Jinx scales incredibly well into the late game, she has a weak early game to compensate for this. During the early game, she wants to get through the laning phase as smoothly as possible. Killing her at this stage of the game will set her back a lot as she needs her core items to come online. Try to set up ganks and take away as many resources as possible away from her. Jinx is also extremely prone to CC, picking an engage support such as Alistar or Leona will make it easier to lock her down before she can throw down her Flame Chompers.
Jinx thrives in teamfights thanks to her rockets and her passive Get Excited. Takedowns against champions, structures, and epic monsters within three seconds of damaging them will give Jinx a burst of movement speed and attack speed. This can easily help her to turn the tide during a teamfight, so it is extremely important that your team kill her before she can activate her passive. An excited Jinx paired with the splash damage from her rockets can easily shred your entire team in seconds; the longer Jinx stays alive, the more damage she can dish out and the more your chances of winning a teamfight decrease. Try to lock her down as quickly as possible and kill her at the beginning of a fight.
Other than her Flame Chompers, Jinx has no way of keeping enemies away from her. Just like Lux, try setting up picks on Jinx during the mid game as this is the time where she really wants to farm up to buy her core items. She is very dependent on other champions to keep her safe and to peel for her. If you ever see Jinx alone in lane, try to set up a play with your team to kill her. She is most vulnerable when she is alone without anybody to protect her.
To conclude, certain champions are more popular and successful in lower elos due to several reasons. It could be anywhere from the simplicity of a champion’s kit all the way to the mentality and mindset of the player.
Even though certain champions are extremely annoying and seem to be overpowered, there is always a way to counter and shut them down. Breaking down a champion and analysing their kit will give you a better idea of what they want to do in a game. Once you know the game plan on a champion, it becomes way easier to find a counter.
