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Top Tier Blind Picks For League of Legends

When you don’t know your opponent’s pick, it is possible you’ll end up in a hard counter matchup. But some picks are statistically more safe than others. In this article we’ll go over the best Champion picks for blind draft in League of Legends.

We’ve all been there. You’re first pick, your main Champions are very matchup dependent, and you’ve got no idea what to lock in. Well friends, I’m here to supply you with some easy to execute yet tough to counter Champions that are sure to make your blind picking days much easier!

Top Lane

Malphite, Shard of the Monolith

I know, I can hear your groaning already. “But, Tea! I don’t want to play a boring tank!” Well, my dear reader, one thing that can’t be defied in any rank of Solo-Queue is the ability to turn a teamfight, and Malphite has the potential to do just that.

Be he building full tank to frontline for his team, or catch a lead via playing his riskier but deadly, full-burst AP style, Malphite brings an easy to execute and high-impact presence to the Rift that often gets overlooked for flashier Champion like Akali or Irelia. And the philosophy of this piece is easy to execute but still powerful enough to carry, and I think Malphite fits that bill right to the tee.

Volibear, the Relentless Storm

Our second blind pick for Top Lane has the luxury of also being a viable Jungle pick, so we even gain the advantage of potentially gaining a favorable matchup as the draft falls. But, that’s not the only awesome thing about Volibear.

Throughout the early phase, Volibear has a surprising amount of presence in the lane. With his passive helping him shove and break freezes, his W rewarding him for trading intelligently, and his Q and E comboing for excellent all-ins for gank setups or trades, he’s got a lot to love if you enjoy playing in an aggressive fashion during the early phases.

Even better, Voli’s got the potential to flex his build to round out his comp! Though his AP build is a bit more niche and relies on excellent execution with his E, it can be just as effective as his standard bruiser and tank builds when played well. Oh? I didn’t mention that he has three potential pathways? That’s right! Though primarily revolving around the PTA and Grasp Keystones, Voli can elect to run a multiple set of Mythics to accent whatever his team is needing.

Need to be a stalwart mid-line presence? Sunfire’s there for you. Want to be a Battlemage-esque diver? Riftmaker opens the way for you! Gotta go fast? Chemtank synergizes far too well with your Q and ult! And finally, if you’re just looking to knock some heads off their shoulders, Divine Sunderer is sure to make your sundering job divinely easier!

Volibear’s easy kit and flexibility lands him here and he’s more than worth adding to your core!

Jungle

Morgana, the Fallen

Hey! This just in! Morgana Jungle is absolutely busted.

With her ability to flex between Mid, Support, and Jungle now, there’s no telling where Morgana will land should you slide her up blind in Draft. Her clear speed rivals that of the likes of Udyr or Lillia’s and her ganks come packed with extra hard CC to easily secure kills.

All the safe farming that Morgana can do from the Jungle also allows her to safely hit the cherished item spikes that her kit revolves around. And of course, safe farming and item goals getting reached, means more damage and effective pressure as Morgana can now safely reach her cherished Zhonya’s pressure you back and dive you under turret before cheekily dropping and swapping aggro while slow, snaring, and burning you to death! Isn’t that wonderful!

If you’re not banning her right now, it’s best to get her in your wheelhouse!

Hecarim, the Shadow of War

What’s big, teal, has four legs and hooves, and makes ADCs hate themselves? That’s right! Hecarim!

Hecarim alongside Lillia and Udyr has floated as one of the top picks in competitive and in Solo-Queue, and though nerfs for Chemtank are on the horizon and aim to dampen him and Udyr, I don’t think that’s going to slow down the Onslaught of Shadows on the Rift. The Death-Pony is just going to shift from opting for an unkillable-speed tank style that still somehow one-shots your backline to an unkitable tactical-nuke that one-shots your backline! Yeah, he’s likely going to opt for Divine Sunderer or Triforce now, but he was still strong before Chemtank became flavor of the month, and I doubt he’ll suffer much with these incoming changes.

Hecarim himself is going to need a bit more attention before he vacates his top tier stable.

Mid Lane

Kassadin, the Void Walker

Some folks consider Kassadin a difficult champion due to his extremely weak early game and reliance on scaling. But, let me tell you this, half the battle of mastering Kassadin comes down to mastering yourself. The Champion itself isn’t that hard, so that’s why he’s Riftwalking his way onto this list.

Come Level 6, you gain a plethora of extra Flashes added to your repertoire which allows you to roam easily to nearby objectives or over to side-lanes to generate pressure via ganking or just from your threat of being off the map come level 6. And as the game drags on, you’re only getting more powerful as you come to item spikes which reduce your costs and increase your power to blow up the enemy team.

There’s not much to learn for Kassadin other than patience, and that’s why he’s remained a terror throughout all ELOs which struggle to close out games. (Which is all of them by the way. We’re all terrible.)

Diana, Scorn of the Moon

Like Morgana, Diana’s gotten some adjustments to make her clear speed in the Jungle a bit healthier. This is going to take what was already a healthy and relatively safe Champion to a higher level offering her potential to flex around the map increasing her blind pick-ability.

Naturally, this is only going to help the Champion as she’s able to flex to whatever matchup is more favorable to suit her high snow-ball potential. But, I’m listing her as a Mid Laner here due to her still staggering ability to dominate some of the Mid Meta’s most dominant picks like Seraphine, Anivia, and Yone.

Simply put, she’s a stat-check Champion, and if you can meet that check, she’s going to have you hitting “Click to Expand” just to understand where all her damage is coming from. That isn’t to say she doesn’t have her sticky matchups, but just a Master Yi or Katarina can start the game off 0-6 and then suddenly end up 20-6, Diana can too which makes her all the more terrifying to match against.

Bot Lane Combos

When talking about Bot Laners and Supports, I don’t want to just isolate certain Champions. I believe the most important thing for you and your lane partner is to pick a synergistic combo that you can thrive in within a very clear niche. Be that niche dominating the early-game, providing zone control in the mid-game, or scaling well into the late-game.

And though typically one of you will be lower down in the draft than the other, the best method to carry from Bot and Supp is to be able to play easily off of what your partner provides. They’re the resource that you’re going to have the most access to throughout the early phases and to pick something that doesn’t fully click with your partner is essentially like playing an off-meta pick in another lane. You can likely function, but you’d definitely have an easier time if having played something else entirely.

Caitlyn and Morgana

No surprises here. This lane has poke, hard CC, massive zone control, and safety nearly beyond measure. Cait-Morg is a tried and true lane that can be oppressive against Bot Lanes that feature a hard-engage focus Support like Leona or short-ranged ADCs like Lucian.

The obvious draw to this lane comes from the near-perma CC to death combo of Morg Q + Caitlyn Traps which grant full combos to both Champions should either one be successful in landing their CC. And if with Morgana’s ability to make Caitlyn even safer than she already is thanks to her Black Shield, there’s little that can get to or stick to this combo.

Jinx and Lulu

Every hyperscaling Champion loves a good Enchanter, and every Enchanter loves a hypercarry that can completely take over the game after a few dominos fall their way. This chaotically dangerous duo has the potential to absolutely cover a game in obnoxiousness.

In this lane, Lulu largely covers Jinx’s extremely vulnerable early-game by providing the shields she needs to soak damage and farm, the mobility she needs to escape ganks and dance around skill shots, as well as soft-CC that she can use to hit her zap or set her traps. Additionally, should a team feature an assassin or two looking to take advantage of the low mobility Jinx, Lulu’s polymorph and ultimate are more than enough disruption to allow the Loose Cannon to get into more comfortable ranges.

And with her weaknesses effectively nixed, Jinx has the ability to do what she does best and scale into the mid and late game while knocking over structures, monsters, and Champions alike. Thanks to being able to Get Excited from literally anything falling to her auto-attacks, Jinx can gain a surprising burst of mobility around objectives that she previously had no interaction with. So, teams have to be extra wary when contesting fights around Dragon or Baron. If Jinx’s team has the angle and one knocked head or dragon rolls her way, she’ll start flinging rockets all over the place and running everyone down.

Closing Out

That’s all I got for you guys! First pick is a dreaded spot for many roles, and if you don’t have a stable pick that matches well into most things, you can feel your will to play and succeed literally drain away.

Again the picks mentioned here, I believe, cover a lot of what needs to get done in the Meta right now, aren’t awfully difficult to execute on, and have the potential to steamroll should they get going. I encourage you all to add them to your pool if you’re a Meta player, or pick them up if you’re someone that plays on a limited pool of Champions.

So, that does it! I hope you all take the time to try these Champions and adapt them to your pools! Good luck in Solo-Queue everyone!

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