However, just like in high school, not all champions are equal when it comes to popularity.
While champions like Thresh, Yasuo, or Vayne seem to find their way into every meta and season, some characters are basically forgotten. And we’re going to look into some of the less popular side of the Rift here, ranking the least-played champions in League of Legends at the time of this writing.
And since it’s somewhat difficult to graph out solo queue stats across the board, we’ll be looking at the professional scene spanning from season 4 up to season 11, taking into account both the champion’s pick and ban rate.
Aurelion Sol suffers a lot of the same problems as Xerath, in the sense that his skill expression is huge – but also somewhat risky when going up against top tier players.
Positioning is the name of the game when it comes to Aurelion Sol.
And all those pesky assassin mains are drooling at the mouth at the thought of an Aurelion pick.
Although the space dragon looks cool and can absolutely stomp solo queue in the right hands, his self-peel is just too weak. And even his roaming potential is outclassed by other mid-laners.
However, it’s worth noting that the dragon is sporting a 54.7% win rate – so there might be hope.
Although players like Box Box make Riven seem like the second coming of Christ, the pro scene doesn’t seem too fond of her.
Since we’re taking about the best in the world, it’s not like her skill celling is holding players back, but rather her lack of overall usefulness.
Yes, she’s a lane bully, and has made for some great clips over the years – even popping up in the mid lane.
However she remains fairly niche.
If you want a CC fighter in the top lane, why not just pick Aatrox?
If you want to push lane and melt a clumped up team, why not just go for Orianna?
So even though she’ll always have a place in my heart as the red pot rushing bully that made me quit top lane, Riven is just not up to par when it comes to the big leagues.
This one came as a surprise to me initially, as on paper Kayn should be pretty stacked.
His shadow assassin form provides some top tier burst, as well as decent mobility and roaming potential – while Rhaast is just an unkillable CC machine.
But then we go back to two things we’ve already mentioned in this list:
First, he is technically a stacking champion, as you need enough souls to get your transformation. So his early game is pretty laughable.
And second, he isn’t really the best at what he does.
A good LeBlanc or Zed will provide the same burst as Kayn, but also have the ability to immediately escape, while he has to commit to the fight.
And if you just want an unkillable CC bot, a single angry cow has you more than covered.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Illaoi is S-tier when it comes to climbing solo queue. And a large part of her power is how dramatically she can punish mistakes.
You get hit by one E and suddenly it feels like God has forsaken you.
But guess who’s going to dodge most of your Es and potential tentacle slams?
That’s right, a pro player.
When Illaoi has the dream setup, like 3 passive tentacles with an E clone and an ult on multiple targets, she’s busted.
But when your enemy just hides behind a minion and then kicks you around for like 15 seconds, she doesn’t seem as desirable.
What can you even say about this guy that isn’t already obvious?
For years, he has been the go-to troll pick. And that reputation is very much still present today, as his playstyle is just built around making your enemies angry.
But when your entire counterplay is three words that have been done to death by the meme community, “don’t chase Singed”, you’re kind of in a pickle.
I say that, but the mad chemist is rocking a 57.2% win-rate.
However those victories are few and far between, as he’s just too niche to ever be a competitive pick.
Considering what a staple Katarina is in the League community, it’s wild to think that she’s the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the competitive scene.
You hear Katarina and you think of 1v5 pentakills with a million daggers flying around, and enough blinking to put you to sleep.
However, that’s just solo queue.
Katarina is very high risk/high reward and gets absolutely bodied by counter picks.
And what are her counters?
Literally anyone and anything that has CC.
So if she doesn’t get that perfect team fight, or if an Annie just decides to click on her champion model, she’s reduced to garbage in a second.
Having the enemies clump up and give your ulti free bounces, as well as stacking your passive bursts, is a wet dream for Brand players.
However, when people know when to move out of the way, the dream quickly dies.
His single person burst or lockdown isn’t that high compared to other mages – and even his wave clear is meh at times, meaning that he simply gets outclassed by other champions that fill those same positions.
I’m also just going to throw this out there, but he has a negative win rate as a mid laner, support, and ADC.
Rammus is a slightly better version of Garen in terms of what he offers – but he’s also a bit more niche.
While Garen can tank just about anything, and usually goes for a split of both MR and Armor, Rammus just wants a Thornmail.
In ideal circumstances, he can lock down an ADC and play the most brutal game of “stop hitting yourself” while their teammates watch in horror. But it isn’t always that easy.
If he messes up his Q, he’s useless.
If you cleanse his E, he’s useless.
If you have decent magic damage, he completely falls off.
He might not be as okay as he’s lead us to believe.
He’s like an ADC, but without the benefit of range or steep late game scaling.
Sure, he gets some AD and Crit for his troubles. But he simply cannot compare to a six item Tristana or Vayne.
And again, he’s melee. So attacking anything can be an issue in itself.
People often like to complain about him, stating how his R is completely broken. But a pro player will just kite a Tryndamere and make him seem like a lost child looking for their mother.
Having anger as your power was a good idea – but leave it to Olaf and Gnarr for now.
There’s some poetic justice that the most hated champion in League is also the least played competitively.
And the reasoning is pretty straightforward when you think about it.
His shrooms are a joke when everyone has sweepers, his W is arguably the weakest ability in the entire game, and both his Q and E are just mediocre.
Sure, blinding the enemy ADC sounds like a certain victory for your team. But there’s no way in hell a professional support is ever going to allow you to get in range for that.
And even if you do, ADCs these days have so many other ways to deal damage that I don’t think it would even matter.
