The meta of League of Legends can change at the drop of a hat. One moment we might be in a tank-focused meta that promotes Champions who utilize low resources well, the next we might shift to a meta that’s dictated around early aggression and winning the game fast. And all of this just depends on the patch, and typically what the Pro-level and higher ELOs are abusing.

But Riot’s done a good job over the years in introducing Champions and reworks that help stifle some of the game’s most popular and defining Champions, the ones that often dictate the meta. So, today we’ll be breaking down these Champions and what types of Champions they counter so that you can always have one in your pocket if you’re looking to really abuse the ELO trend-followers on the ranked ladder.

Top Lane - Poppy

Flexible between Top, Jungle, and Support, we’re deciding to take Poppy and focus on her ability as a Top Laner in this instance. Why? Well, Poppy’s rework was built to abuse the mobility creep that was beginning to define Top Lane thanks to her W, Steadfast Presence.

Steadfast Presence passively gives Poppy bonus Armor and Magic Resistance, and doubles when she’s below 40%. This makes Poppy a stalwart that’s hard for the high-mobility crowd of Top Lane to take on as is. The icing on the cake though, when activated, Steadfast Presence creates a circle around Poppy that moves with her for 2 seconds. When an enemy attempts to use dash within Steadfast Presence, they are Grounded and Slowed for 2 seconds and take a bit of Magic Damage in the process.

Functioning a lot like Blitzcrank’s hook, the threat of Poppy’s W is what prevents Champions like Irelia, Yone, Tryndamere, and Gwen from running wild in Top. Should they take a bad trade against Poppy, who has a respectable amount of early damage, they’ll find themselves suffering quickly. Playing around Steadfast keeps these Champions in check and forces them to play towards more scaling play patterns, which can rob them of some of their mid-game effectiveness. And when things get down and dirty at the teamfight phase, Poppy’s presence there continues to limit them, as she can stop their ability to get in as a flexible frontliner or peel-focused Tank.

Jungle - Kayn

While certain styles of Jungler can prevail from one patch to the next, the Jungle meta itself is less dictated by matchups from Jungler to Jungler and more dedicated by the lanes that surround Jungle and the economy present within the Jungle itself. If a patch has low econ when it comes to farming camps, we typically see an increase in aggressive style Junglers like Xin and Lee Sin come forward or, depending on the effectiveness and cost of the items, we might see a tank meta around the likes of Sejuani or Zac.

So, concerning our recommendation as far as ‘counter-meta’ Junglers go, we’re going to be looking at a jack-of-all-trades style Jungler who’s a typical terror in Solo Queue when he’s strong, but otherwise extremely effective at getting around the map quickly to steal camps from the enemy Jungler, reducing their econ overall. With that said, our focus Champion is Kayn.

While Champions like Shyvana, Karthus, and Shaco can speed their way through their camps quickly before stealing more right under their enemy’s noses, we give credit to Kayn for his ability to both steal camps and creatively gank lanes. His E, Shadow Step, allows Kayn to pass through terrain for a short period, regardless of its size. This means that Kayn can not only speed through his own Jungle in more direct and effective paths, but he can also press himself forward to scout into the enemy Jungle to get a clue on their pathing. He is skilled at sneaking camps quickly, and then quietly walking through a wall to escape. And naturally, this wall-walking potential comes with its headaches for laners as their typical warding locations can be entirely circumvented by Kayn’s E, forcing them to act only in windows where Kayn is visible on the map, or be at risk of opening themselves to his punishment.

Secondarily to all of this is Kayn’s flexibility as both a Bruiser and Assassin thanks to his two-form mechanic. Historically, Red Kayn has been more consistent, as this form gives Kayn a crowd-control tool that his kit otherwise lacked and gives him a massive amount of in-fight sustain when scrapping it out during ganks and teamfights. But, on patches where the Lethality items are cheap or overtuned, Assassin Kayn can come in and be an effective ADC nuke with his enhanced Shadow Step speed and W providing him all that he needs to wax an enemy carry. This modular ‘adapt to the draft’ play can make Kayn an excellent Swiss army knife against various drafts, further promoting his ability to adapt and beat more meta-driven Junglers regardless of patch.

Mid - Pantheon, Galio, and Kassadin

For Mid, we’ll feature three picks that aim to counter the three primary modes of Mid Lane, AP/AD Assassins and Mages.

Pantheon comes in as our AD Assassin counterpick as, since his rework, his kit has been great at applying pressure against Champions like Zed, Yasuo, Yone, and Qiyana, and others. Why? Well, Pantheon’s W, Shield Vault starts things off as being the perfect point and click CC tool against these Champions who can’t make themselves untargetable in the blink of an eye. Should they utilize their mobility tools to farm or make an untimely all-in, Pantheon can quickly say, “Stop.” by pressing one button and following it up with his Q, Comet Spear, for a massive amount of punishing damage. This quick one-two punch of Pantheon’s massive early game damage instantly chunks defensively weak Assassins in almost every situation.

To make matters worse, if the Assassin times their all-in well and can somehow dance around Pantheon’s all-in while throwing out damage, he can nullify their poke and burst with his Aegis Assault which is a great tool for instantly soaking damage. The icing on the cake for Pantheon is his ability to roam as a Mid. While Zed and Qiqi can get in at creative angles for ganks on Top and Bot, Pantheon can more honestly press R with Grand Starfall and be at a sidelane in a flash to turn the tide in his team’s favor.

Galio is, essentially, the AP version of Pantheon. He comes in as a counter to AP Assassins for many of the same reasons. His W, Shield of Durand, is an AOE Taunt that punishes AP Assassins for walking in too close to farm or trade. If the likes of Akali, Leblanc, or Fizz make a dive onto him or step up on the wave, one quick W press sets them up for punishment from a gank or from Galio’s own one-two punch of his passive Colossal Smash and E, Justice Punch. Combine this pressure with Galio’s ability to poke and farm the wave with his Q, Winds of War, and you’ve got a recipe for a stout lane bully that naturally resists magic damage who can also pack a punch.

Whereas Pantheon might be all-in on the damage dealing aspects of his kit, Galio has itemization flexibility. He can take an angle of being a full AP burst mage through items like Lichbane and Shadowflame, or he can opt for tankier sets with Riftmaker and Hollow Radiance promoting his already natural bulk. Galio’s icing comes in the form of his ultimate as well. Where Pantheon has a semi-global to come into a fight aggressively, Galio’s semi-global ult targets allies and comes in defensively. With his R, Hero’s Entrance, Galio flies up and comes down with a massive AOE bang that knocks up opponents and deals considerable damage onto enemies that are near his target. From there, the laning pattern from before kicks in and Galio’s CC filled kit acts as a stalwart wall against the would-be divers of the enemy team.

Lastly for picks, there’s Kassadin. Kass comes in as our true Mage Counter. Where Galio might be able to soak up the burst of an AP Assassin, he struggles in the lane control department against Champions like Swain, Aurelion Sol, or Cassiopeia. Against these more DPS focused Mids, or Mids like Orianna who offer a lot of zone and utility control, Galio falls off as his play pattern is very one-note and defensive in nature unless he is taking huge risks.

Kassadin slides in with his ability to act a smidge like Galio, in that, he can easily soak up the pressure applied from Mages early thanks to some natural bulkiness as well as a magic damage shield and interrupt built into his kit. With these tools, he stabilizes high pressure lanes and farms well under turret against perma-pushing Mages, slowly growing alongside his opponent before eventually eclipsing them through his scaling power and itemization. At level 6, he becomes a more active agent around the map, able to capitalize on a Mage’s lack of mobility to roam, or in the 1-v-1, dodge their damage outright, causing them to waste resources. At 11 and onwards, Kass is a terror. Unless hard focused in fights, his ultimate allows him to approach fights creatively and wreak havoc on the enemy backline.

Bot - Nilah & Sivir

In our Bot Lane run, we’re talking about a power couple of ‘Nope’ picks within the role, Nilah and Sivir.

Nilah is an underrated Solo Queue terror. Since her release, she’s consistently hovered at egregious winrates of 52-53% almost every patch. Though, this could be attributed to her lower playrate amidst the ADC pool. As such, Nilah finds herself in the same position as someone like Taric in the Support role, a Champion that fits in the meta as a countermeasure against some of the lane’s more polarizing picks. (Was that a hint for our Support section?)

Anyway, Nilah excels in matchups against ADCs that have a heavy reliance on auto-attacks. Kai’Sa, Tristana, and Draven to name a few. These Champions want to either stack up a passive or an ability through their autos, and Nilah’s W, Jubilant Veil, makes her immune to auto-attacks for a short period. This absolutely negates their gameplans, so they must rely on the damage from their abilities to keep pressure in lane, which auto-attack reliant ADs typically lack. So, the pressure then falls onto the Support. If your Support isn’t someone that can take advantage of Nilah’s short range, you can find yourself on the short end against Nilah as, thanks to her passive, she maintains a perpetual experience advantage over her opponents to compensate for her short range. So, before you know it, you’ll have Nilah ignoring your autos and sliding in on top of you to wombo you up with her Support if you can’t keep her HP down and make all-ins risky for her.

Next there’s Sivir, Sivir serves as a ‘counter’ to Bot in the sense that she doesn’t really seek to interact with the lane, and she excels at performing against the AD Caster division of the ADC pool. AD Casters, unlike auto-based marksmen, focus more on their ability to shove and deal direct damage through their abilities as their name implies. Sivir’s E, Spell Shield, is able to soak one a targeted ability, entirely negating its effects while healing Sivir and activating her passive. This allows her to play aggressively into this pool of Champions, picks like Varus, Ezreal, Smolder, and Caitlyn, as well as popular Supports like Blitzcrank, Thresh, and Nautilus. This strength, coupled with her teamfight utility, damage spread, and low interaction playstyle in matchups she doesn’t win, allows for Sivir to be a wave clear and teamfighting workhorse through the mid and late game.

Support - Taric & Janna

Our last round of Counter-Meta picks comes from our final role, Support. Both Taric and Janna share a similar theme to them, overwhelming defense. And it’s within this defense that they turn into Solo Queue nightmares against some of the Support pool’s most popular Champions.

Starting first with Janna, the spotlight on her is getting brighter and the floor beneath her is getting hotter. For almost the entirety of last season and so far into this season, Janna has avoided personal balance adjustments and instead has had her power fluctuate with the changes in Support itemization. Which is to say, she’s largely dodged any negative effects from it. She’s arguably the most powerful Enchanter Support in the game right now with flexible build paths that both accent her respectable lane phase damage and her late-game scaling. Couple this with each layer of her kit having some form of peel in the form of crowd-control, movement speed, shielding, or slows, and she can entirely negate high impact Champions along the likes of Leona, Alistar, or Thresh.

Even against Blitzcrank, the quintessential Enchanter counter, Janna can stabilize by having the ability to kick off Blitz if she’s pulled or negate the damage that would come through on her lane partner if they are pulled. Oddly enough, her weakest matchup over the course of this year has been Sona, who simply overwhelms her through flat scaling. Janna shows no signs of slowing down, and until some direct adjustments are made to her kit, she’s going to be a great Champion in this meta and against every other pick in Bot Lane.

Next up is Taric, who like Janna, has almost always had an obscene winrate since his rework many years ago. Taric, however, has a much lower playrate so in some ways his winrate can be reflective of that, but that perception can be dismissed quickly when you eye the trend of how long he’s floated between 51-53% winrate over the years.

Taric, like Janna, is a defensive Support picked to protect a carry and help them scale into their potential. Unlike Janna though, Taric is a Tank and must do most of this within melee range. But this comes with the added bonus of Taric having extra defensive stats to compensate for his range, and unlike Janna (who many would regard as more strictly geared towards ‘peel’), Taric’s defensive tools can be adapted by his team in aggressive fashions to take advantage of their impact. For example, Taric’s W, Bastion, connects him to his target and causes his abilities to replicate themselves in the direction that Taric casts his other abilities in. While the direction really is only influenced by his E, Dazzle, his Q and Ultimate both mirror onto his tether target. So, when paired with Marksmen that like to go-in frequently, like Samira, Nilah, or Lucian, Taric otherwise defensive stun used to peel Champions off can be utilized actively as follow up to a dash from the carry.

When picked into matchups against hook Champions or other Tanks, Taric’s stun becomes the perfect counter engage tool either form himself or his AD, and alongside his passive which helps maintain the uptime on his Q’s healing, Taric can both tank himself or his AD through an initial all-in and sustain through aggressive skirmishes against almost every Bot Lane combination.

Taric shines in these types of matchups where he simply outclasses all-in focused Champions, forcing them to abandon lane to look for plays elsewhere, or risk taking poor all-ins hoping for Taric and his carry to be desynced. And this isn’t even mentioning Taric’s ultimate, Cosmic Radiance, which make himself and any target within its range invulnerable for a short duration. A massive effect which can allow even lacking teams to turn fights in their favor.

Closing

There you have it! The best counterpick Champions in League of Legends. We believe these Champions will remain consistently strong in their identities even through the ebbs and flows of League of Legends’ many patches. Therefore, these picks will remain evergreen in seeing you countering your opponents and their game plans!