A "one-trick pony" in League of Legends is someone who has extreme knowledge of a specific champion, and uses said champion often. Some of the most popular and seemingly more talented League of Legends players are one-trick ponies, a term that is often used in a negative way. Every player has that one champion that we connect with from the start. A champion that for whatever reason stands out from the rest. It might be a champion who at the time of discovery is meta... or it might be completely out of the meta. The question is: should you diversify your champion pool? Or become the most well-known one-trick in your elo?

Pros

In my personal opinion, picking one champion is one the easiest ways to climb the rank ladder. Especially in lower elos, and here's why I believe that:

Understanding your matchups - There is no champion in League of Legends who does not have a counter. Sometimes it is unavoidable and you have to blind pick a champion. When you consistently use the same champion, you'll often find yourself playing against a counter. This sounds like a con right? Wrong. This in the long turn will benefit you. It teaches you not only one match-ups are good for you, but also how to play against a bad one.

Learning your limitations - One of the harder things to do within League of Legends is knowing your limits. Specifically understanding the power you have and, most importantly, when your power spike is. For some champions, their power spike is early on, like Lee Sin who does super well early game and begins to even out as time goes on and others get items to deal with him. Other champions need an item or two under their belt, such as Corki - who spikes around two items and falls off late game. The thing is, sometimes it is hard to know when you're at your strongest, especially when you have a wide champion pool or you do not have that many ranked games under your belt. Picking one champion allows you to learn them inside and out. You get used to when they have a power spike and when you need to farm. Overall, this allows you to make smarter more well thought out moves.

The WOW factor - This pro is what I like to refer to as the wow factor. Even if you pick a champion that at the time is meta, eventually the meta will change and your champion will become a non-meta pick. The WOW factor allows you to surprise your opponent. If your one-trick is a champion not often used, especially in your elo, then your opponent might not fully understand his kit or the damage you are able to do. This allows you to bully them in lane and more often than not it makes them misjudge your damage - giving you early advantages. A good example of this is some like Yorick (who?). Many people in lower elos don't understand the harass he has and often they take too much harass and die early against him. Not necessarily because they are bad or the champion is good, but rather because they simply do not have experience against them.

Climbing elo - As a result of everything above, you will most likely find yourself climbing (depending on your current rank). This is because even though you may only be playing one champion - you are mastering that champion. You gain so much knowledge of your own capabilities that you play more confidently leading to higher win-rates. Higher win-rates lead to better elos. Which lead to better teammates (this may be debatable), which lead to even higher elo. You'll basically be swimming in elo.

Cons

There are plenty of cons when it comes to one-tricking however (if it was THAT easy everyone would be doing it!). These are just some of the cons:

Oh no! Now what? - Everyone has had that feeling while playing League, your champion(s) are either taken from you or banned out and you are left hopeless. You can either dodge the queue and take a temporary suspension and LP loss or pick a champion you are not comfortable with. If you pick a champion you are completely uncomfortable with, you are more likely to feed. And feeding is the worst possible feeling you can be put through in this game. This issue becomes more prevalent the higher rank you are because you go against the same people more often. You can attempt to avoid this by picking up a few other champions... but then is it really one-tricking? Seriously though, learn more champions just in case you do one-trick your way out of elo hell.

Didn't get your role - Maybe your champion did make it past the pick/ban phase... but you did not get your ideal role. For some this might not be an issue, as some champions can be played top + mid, top + jungle, mid + bot, and so on. However, that is not the case for all. In this scenario, you are either in the same shoes as the first bullet point or you have an uncoordinated team composition.

Reworks and nerfs - This issue is not as severe or frequent as some of the others but it is something to consider. A lot of non-meta champions will eventually be reworked. Heck, even some meta champions (looking at you Ryze). When that happens you risk having all the knowledge you previously had on the champion being rendered useless. Also in the case of a nerf to your champion, it is possible that playing them becomes just too unrealistic.

Burnout - Pro players are not the only one prone to burning out. Playing the same champion over and over is not for everyone. You may burn yourself out, and it creates a higher chance of you becoming sick of not only the champion but the game as a whole.

Image courtesy of the League of Legend's discussion board

The Verdict

I am not here to tell you whether or not being a one-trick is a bad thing, or whether you should become one. I have listed out the pros and some of the cons of doing so, and now it is up to you to make that final decision. One-tricking is a great way for low elo players to climb the ladder while learning a champion to the fullest. However, it is not all fun and games and there are plenty of cons of climbing this way. Personally, I suggest at the very least picking a small pool of champions to learn - that way you are not left in a sticky situation when you cannot play your one and only.

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