Ever wondered what really strong champions you can pick first in champion select without knowing what your opponent might pick? Then check out some of the best blind picks in this article!
So you’ve queued up for ranked, hit that big ‘Accept,’ button (hopefully not popping your eardrums if you’re a headphone user like myself), and now you’re seeing the pick order and, to your horror, you see it, first pick blue side. That means blind picking your pick into not only your own team (risking the negative consequences of anti-synergy as an ally may be a one trick who does not work well with your champion), but the enemy team, who can counter-pick. However, not all champions are as counter-able as other champions in the League roster, and that’s where this piece comes in. Here, we will break down a pick in each of the five roles that may be worth picking for the ability to be safer in a blind pick scenario than others.
The mad doctor has recently undergone a transformation (not at his own hand for once as it is in the lore) and this has turned the man of many suits and steroids from a weird out of meta pick to the forefront of people’s attentions as he now has enough tools to not only survive matchups, but excel beyond them as his ability to ignore opening CC means now he is much harder to kite and shred down in a DPS check. Now, he is still weak to his core counters of Grievous Wounds spam and percentage health shred. All the core item builds for the Zaunite madman are still the same, focusing on health regen (which he now has more of in his reworked state) and flat health which makes percent maximum health shred so much more effective against him. The difference now is that kiting Mundo to deal said damage is much harder and so Doctor Mundo becomes a lot easier to justify as blind pick.
We continue with recently risen star champions with our jungle pick in the form of Xin Zhao. This Demacian has risen to top tier status in pro play thanks to the highlight reels of players such as 100T Clozer. But why is this the case? The answer comes in the fact that the top jungle champions in season 11 have featured two core features, strong early game ganks and solid utility late game. Xin embodies the characteristic very well as with a point a click gap closer that can have its range increased by Xin’s W, Wind Before Lightning, his early game ganks are some of the strongest available and the Knockback on his R, Crescent Guard, is heavily underrated. This combination is the strongest around and so is very hard to counter making blind Xin a worthwhile risk in Season 11 LoL.
We move away from flavor of the season with our pick in the mid lane. Mid lane is not only one of the most divergent lane allocations (it has featured tanks, assassins, mages of many kinds and even the odd marksman or two over its history) across all of League of Legends lane allocations. Yet when it comes to mid picks two things have remained constant, the ability to control and clear the minion waves and the ability to have teamfight impact. This is where Orianna is strong. Thanks to the versatility of her ball (thanks to the champion having two spells that can move it while damaging enemies it passes through) the Lady of Clockwork can very easily clear a minion or potentially even freeze it, meaning that Orianna has excellent control over the state of the lane if played correctly. But what about that, for that I tell you to just look at the impact on any team fight that Orianna’s ultimate, Command: Shockwave, has when it hits 3+ enemies, A.K.A. MASSIVE, TEAM, FIGHT, IMPACT! This combination of Meta staples means that Orianna is more often than not, a safe blind pick.
We stick to a similar trend as we switch from looking at mid to looking at our carry in the bot lane. For this role we look at the marksman with the mage like spell spam in Ezreal. So why the Prodigal Explorer? The answer is safe damage that is steady, unfortunately marksmen/women are not guaranteed the same level of peel in their team compositions as they would see in higher elos and professional play and so if you have to blind a marksman in your games you more than likely going to need some self-peel/escapes. Ezreal has this in his E, Arcane Shift. Now we turn to the safe damage, well thanks to the excellent ranges on Ezreal’s Q and ultimate (Arcane Shot and Trueshot Barrage) this pick can safely output a lot of steady DPS over time (provided the player can hit their skill shots). This combination of needed qualities means that Ezreal is more often than not, a safe blind pick.
Ah, we close with my personal favourite in my main role of support, the cursed sister in Morgana. So why is Morgana here, the answer comes in two forms, the first being her lack of viable bad lane matchups. Morgana’s biggest counters are enchanters in principle, her biggest being Nami. However, in the current game state only Lulu (which can become a skill matchup depending on the carry picks alongside the supports) can be seen as a viable enchanter choice and even then, Morgana can play for picks onto the amplified carry. The second comes in the fact that thanks to Morgana’s E, Black Shield, she can play as a defensive peeling support if she needs to be one. By shielding a carry and then using her full kit to keep a threat off said carry makes Morgana a very versatile champion that fits into so many comps. It is this place in the meta paired her versatility that means that Morgana is more often than not, a safe blind pick.
So, there we have it, a pick in/for each role of League of Legends positional system that is a blind-able 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>bot games>normal 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.
