As one of only three champions with a 100% pick and ban rate across the first 15 games of this LCS split, it is clear her preeminence in the bot lane is here to stay. But why has she found so much success? And what exactly is Fasting Senna.
Senna, the Redeemer, has been a staple of the LCS since she joined summoners rift in the Fall of 2019. While the 2022 Spring split saw her lowest pick ban percentage since her release, at just 5%, Senna has regained the throne with a 100% pick ban rate through the first week of LCS play. Dignitas’s first pick of the Summer 2022 split was Senna. In fact, teams placed such a high value on Senna that first weekend that in all but one game she was banned in the first phase or first picked (the one game outstanding she was picked third overall).
So why has Senna been so dominant this summer? The durability patch (12.10). This patch went live May 25thand focused on increasing champion durability across the board. This patch ushered in longer team fight, stronger tanks, and less squishes being one shot. Attack damage carries, like Jinx and Aphelios, that can pump out quick damage and cut down tanks lost power. Players instead value consistent damage and healing, two attributes Senna has in spades.
While marksmen players used to fear potent assassins diving them in the backline, the flat health and resistance per level increases gave marksmen more time to dish out their damage. Additionally, since team fights are drawn out, healing and shielding is more important than ever. The decreased chance of a one shot means effective disengages, healing, and shields will be required in any successful team composition.
What about Senna means she is so strong on this patch? For starters, the overall quality of life buff given to all marksmen will apply directly to her. Additionally, Senna is the only marksman that can consistently heal her allies (not counting Akshan’s revive passive) and her ultimate provides global damage and shields. Furthermore, Senna’s decreased attack speed means she needs time in team fights to get her damage off.
Finally, her passive, which allows her to collect souls from dead enemies to increase her attack range and damage, directly benefits from durability as she can spend longer in lane and team fights. All aspects of her play style are directly buffed by the durability patch.
One nuance about Senna though makes her an even more complex marksmen is her passive soul collecting. The souls from Senna’s passive are more likely to drop when an ally kills enemy minions or champions. This opened to door to a playstyle most commonly known as fasting Senna. Fasting, meaning to not eat, the same way that in this bottom lane duo, Senna is not the primary farmer. Instead, Senna pairs herself with a strong support champion, letting them kill minions so Senna can sit back, dish out damage, heal her lane partner, and collect souls. In this last weekend of LCS play, every time Senna was featured, she was part of a fasting bot lane duo.
Fasting Senna takes the role of the attack damage carry, but instead of starting with Doran’s Blade or Long Sword, she takes the support item, Spectral Sickle. Her “support” then takes a traditional starting item such as Doran’s Shield or Ring. In the laning phase, the support role focuses on farming. Fasting Senna focuses on attacking the enemy for her Spectral Sickle gold bonus and collecting the souls from farmed minions. This composition shines most when comparing gold per minute.
Since fasting Senna receives gold from souls, Spectral Sickle, and champion kills, while the farming support gets gold from minions kills, a well-executed fasting Senna lane can see major gold advantages not long into games. This was shown flawlessly in Dignitas’s opening game this year versus CLG.
Despite falling behind early, 15 minutes into the game Toan “Neo” Tran and Vincent “Biofrost” Wang had a combined gold lead over their opposing bot lane duo. Fasting Senna provides an effective way to funnel gold into your support champions while also snowballing Senna towards late game dominance by stacking her souls. It is no wonder this is so widely contested across the world right now.
Looking to take this duo to your own games? The two highest win rate duos for fasting Senna right now are Tahm Kench and Seraphine. These two champions are sought after as they are gold reliant supports who provide significant front-line potential in the case of Tahm Kench, and heals and shields in the case of Seraphine.
While the durability patch was a huge boost to marksmen characters, strong tank champions also felt a nice lift. Receiving a second round of buffs in the most recent 12.11 patch, Tahm Kench is in a very powerful spot entering this LCS split.
Tahm Kench is a perfect partner for fasting Senna as he becomes a very strong tank late game. The boost in gold helps push him to that point quicker. Additionally, the durability and sustain on his E, Thick Skin, means he can endure the punishment opposing players will dish out as he walks up to farm. This is the partnership Dignitas opted for in their first LCS game and is the most common lane partner for fasting Senna.
Tahm Kench’s ultimate and W combination also provide disengage and further protection for Senna, helping her stave off assassins and other threats. Play this duo if you’re looking to get in some early fights and keep the pressure on your laning opponents.
Seraphine provides an almost exact opposite to Tahm Kench’s playstyle. Seraphine’s value comes from her shields, healing, and range. With the current importance of healings and shields, thanks to the durability patch, Seraphine has emerged as a very strong support champion. The additional gold boost that comes from laning with fasting Senna provides bigger shields and heals faster than traditional support Seraphine.
As a laning partnership, Senna and Seraphine can stay safe from enemies with their range advantage and can heal back from any small skirmishes. The best way to stop this bottom lane duo was to counter their range with high early game damage, killing them quickly. However, the durability patch curbed that counter significantly. Play this duo if you’re looking for a passive lane, staying safe until you reach your high-powered late game builds.
The first week of LCS 2022 Summer Split has affirmed that Senna is back as a serious priority pick. Most commonly, you’ll see her in the bottom lane as a fasting Senna. Paired with strong support champions like Tahm Kench or Seraphine, this lane duo can pump out some serious damage while dominating the gold graphs. If you’re looking to bully the bottom lane and snowball hard into a late game victory, Senna could be the champion you need right now.
