The League E-sports scene is huge, and I follow it pretty well. The ins and outs, what's good and whats not, I watch the LCS and MLG pretty often to know a little bit more about what the pros are up to. So now lets measure the current meta that the pros are putting out with my favorite champions.
I'm going to do it alphabetically.
Blitzcrank is a super strong aggressive bot lane SP. Even with Thresh being the new support king right now, Blitz still has a place in the bot lane. If you land a grab on anyone in lane, there's a high probability that a kill will be grabbed, and that is just insane. His in-lane presence is just so strong, you cannot afford to get grabbed by Blitz because he follows it up with E which will launch you up and CC you indefinitely. A strong laning partner to have no matter which ADC you are (preferably the strong and aggressive early game ones).
Its always good to have him during the team fight phase, nuff said. As long as you don't grab hazardous targets like Amumu or Wukong into your team you pretty guarantee a free kill to make fights a 4 v 5 right off the bat.
So yes, I think he is VIABLE in professional competitive play.
He's insane, that's what he is. As long as you don't have ridiculously lousy aim, you can make Cho a tanky CC nightmare for the enemy team. He is a strong jungler AND top laner. In the jungle he clears fast and can gank well IF the skill shots land. He is also incredibly sustained, a decent invader, and transitions well into the late game. In the top lane he is just a sustained beast that keeps on farming. He can't really kill his opposition, but eventually he will become so tanky and annoying that almost nothing can stop him. He transitions even better in top than in the jungle, making him a big scary monster.
His team fighting is ridiculous. If you go tanky CDR, you spam your CC over and over on the enemy team, making it impossible to escape or fight properly. Tanky AP makes everything in your arsenal hurt AND still packs the CC your team needs. Feast is OP no matter which build you go for. He is super hard to kill as well, and you can't really ignore him in team fights...but focusing him is also the wrong choice.
Need I say more? I think he's VIABLE.
Yes, its fun to dunk continuously, everyone knows that. The joy of playing Darius is nearly unmatched throughout the entire league, and he is one scary mother f**ker that builds tanky and can still demolish teams. Though the fact remains, he is completely melee except for a short ranged pull and gets kited to hell and back. He is mostly a top laner, and while he is a great bully against some top laners, he completely gets destroyed by some others. He's good, but not the most reliable if you ask me. If you get behind in lane as Darius, good luck catching back up. But at the same time if you get ahead with him, the enemy is going to cry.
Team fighting is tricky for him. He usually has to build tanky because he has to be in the front line to soak up all that damage. He still does good damage without much damage items, but the problems lies in being kited. He gets kited so bad that some teams will kill him without him being able to do any damage at all. Though with the right team comp, he can work, but its still a big risk.
Viable? In the right team comps, YES HE IS VIABLE. But most of the time? IFFY at best.
If you've seen the amount of times she has been picked in the LCS, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how strong she is right now. Even WITH the nerfs, she still kicks ass in the mid lane. Great poke with Q, good sustain with W, and when come 6 she is going to destroy targets she sets her eyes upon. She works wonders in the mid lane with her safe gameplay pre-6, and transitions into a scary threat post 6. Its unwise to all-in a Diana post-6, and she knows it.
She shines well as an assassin in team fights. She does ridiculous amounts of damage to enemy carries and applies constant pressure as she jumps to them, using moonfall and following up with her passive. Her shield not only does damage but makes her tanky as well, and its also on a rather short cool down. Double casts of her ultimate means that no squishy shall escape her wrath. Using hourglass to wait for cooldowns is also something Diana players like to do best in team fights and it works out well.
She's VIABLE.
I almost don't want to explain about Elise, because probably everyone in the world knows how stupidly annoying and powerful she is. She can go mid, jungle, top and support, its silly. She is so versatile because of her kit. Her Q does % damage and is a great poke tool to harass the living piss out of anyone. W can be used for a short burst of damage and to check brushes. Her E stuns, and everything in her spider form just spells "I'm going to all in and destroy you". She is a monster in lane, and in the jungle, she has some very sick ganks as well.
Team fights can go any way with Elise around. She can be a peeler for the ADC, staying at the back lines and wearing the enemy bruisers down with her % damage abilities, making sure they go down fast, using cocoon to keep them in place as well. Or she can turn into spider form, jump onto enemy carries and obliterate them. Since most Elise players build rather tanky, its hard to take her down, and because her abilities are % based, she takes you down easily no matter who you are.
VIABLE. I would say it 10 times if I had to.
He has seen favor in the LCS on both EU and NA, but he still needs work. While he has some good ganks that can catch many off guard, its easy to counter the horse. He's a jungler, but not a very good one outisde of ganking. He clears VERY SLOWLY early on, and his sustain is just bad. He can't duel most other junglers worth a shit, and if he gets invaded WITHOUT getting any ganks in, he's pretty much screwed. His ganks are where he shines though. His E makes it hard to spot him, and he ganks directly very well post 6. His ability to catch laners off guard is amazing.
If he's decently farmed, he's a beast in team fights. He doesn't have to be fed, as long as he isn't behind, he can be a great front line initiator that sticks to the enemy carry. His sustain with W (even though nerfed) is very strong and he can do good damage while staying alive in team fights. His ult is great for initiating, has good CC via fear, and if he's left ignored, he can deal good AOE damage.
He's a RISK. If he gets massive help and protection from team mates early, he's VIABLE.
Like Elise, I almost want to ignore this section. She has fallen a little bit out of favor recently, but she's still super strong. Mid, top, jungle, support and even ADC at times, Kayle is just so versatile. Mid and top Kayle bullies opponents out of lane with insane damage via Q and E, while sustaining decently with W. Post 6 they can win duels with almost every lane opponent out there. In the jungle she clears fast and ganks decently, whilst having good sustain and above average dueling. As a support she sustains and pokes well, post 6 she saves the ADC if they mess up.
In team fights she's great even if she feed 0/8. Intervention is so broken that it helps win a completely botched team fight. Any important character that is out of position gets saved instantly, and your tank suddenly gets to take so much more hits. And if Kayle herself is fed, lets not forget she evaporates squishies almost instantly, whilst being able to save anybody on the team with intervention.
Her VIABILITY levels are off the charts.
Super tanky rock solid dude. He is an immovable object in the top lane. His sustain is high thanks to his shield. He shrugs off most harass and unless his opponent tries to all in him, his health bar won't be dropping low anytime soon. And IF his opponent tries to all in him, Malphite will come out on top. Why? Ground slam, that's all. Albeit a small selection of top laners, Malphite counters all the rest. He will trade any day with any body, and when they start to show fear of the rock, Seismic shards will continuously lower their health bars until they are low enough for the dive.
Team fighting has never been this simple. Unstoppable force the enemy team when they are bunched up, or if they are spread out, the enemy carry will do. Follow up with ground slam, watch the bruisers and ADC get rendered useless. Your job is as easy as that, how do you mess that up? And if you don't mess it up, its probably a won team fight as long as your team reacts appropriately.
VIABLE, nuff said. Unless the enemy runs a full ap comp.
Superb initiator, excellent ganker, decent duelist, good clear speed. This guy has almost everything you would want in a jungler. However in this meta, most of the good jungle picks are amazing duelists, and due to the fact that wards are everywhere now, he has fallen a little bit out of favor. However, his ganks are still amazing, and can set a game rolling if he gets a few in. He can't really pick fights with some of the high damaging junglers, and while he can invade, his ganks are what saves him.
He becomes a little sloppy during team fights. He is the main initiator for the team, but unless he is somewhat fed, he is going to get blown up instantly. The CC he offers is mediocre compared to some of the heavy CC tanky champions (considering he falls into that category). Unless you have fed your team big time during the early levels, there's not much to be done here. His ult is very unreliable.
In the right team comps, VIABLE...I think. Otherwise he's IFFY.
He has seen SOME play recently, but that doesn't really means he will be deemed OP. He has problems. He clears slow during early levels, he's screwed if he gets invaded, he can't duel worth a shit and is extremely blue buff reliant. Sound familiar? Nautilus is alot like Hecarim, and his shitty early game can be a problem if its not addressed by his team mates. His sustain isn't the best, so he really needs that early game help. His ganks however, are some of the best in the game, and if he doesn't fall behind, he transitions into a complete CC monster.
Depth charge is an okay initiating tool, it pops an important target into the air. Other than that, hes got a root, a slow and a pull...that's a ton of CC. And if you get stuff like twin shadows and omen, its even more slows. Your CC makes it so your team can take down important targets while you lock them down. You also serve as a great peeler for your carries if the need arises.
Like Hecarim, he's a RISK. But VIABLE if he receives early protection.
An excellent lane bully, but nothing else. He is extremely fun to play top and mid, where you can dunk, destroy and completely deny an enemy laner if done right. But outside of that, he's nothing much. He doesn't scale well, and outside of that, he drops off incredibly heavily come late game. His laning is super strong. Against a bruiser with great all-in abilities, maxing Q for the spammable poke to deny and drive them out of lane is just so easy to do. Against a squishy mid laner, maxing E ensures them swift death if you manage to get in.
His team fighting is pretty bad, admittedly. He needs to build survivability to ensure he gets his full combo off, but if he does that, he sacrifices some damage which may be needed to kill off the enemy ADC. If he goes full damage, he dies faster than anybody else in the game. Unlike other assasins like Talon that can get away with building full damage, Pantheon suffers from not being able to transition very well into the late game.
He's a COUNTER PICK to many champions. But not viable in my opinion.
He has a really shitty jungling experience, but very powerful ganking to make up for that. You clear slower than a turtle, you die pretty quickly as you have no sustain, you suck against invaders and can't duel worth a shit. Though you can escape well against invaders, but that doesn't really help much. You need a lot of early protection if the enemy has somebody like a Lee sin who just wants to murder your ass. Your ganks are amazing and very hard to escape from, since power ball to taunt is practically unstoppable.
Your team fight is great, but against some enemy compositions, it can backfire HARD. Without any innate ability to close the gap against your enemies, some compositions can completely negate your initiation with many ways (stuns, slows, etc). However if you do get in and taunt the enemy ADC, rest assured that your job is complete.
Hes too RISKY, and gets COUNTERED HARD by some team comps.
Have you seen Megazero's Riven? Riven is a great top laner that transitions into a beast. Her early game is rather strong, but hell, if she doesn't fall behind, her late game is stronger. She has very strong early presence, as she can harass well with all of her skills then E out, or all-in with her combo. She is resource-less, that means its hard to drive a good riven player out of lane. Her E negates harass if done right, and she isn't afraid to pick a fight. Her power spike at level 6 isn't even funny, not many can duel her after that.
She can get kited in a team fight, but if she uses her multiple gap closers well, she can close on to squishy targets and obliterate them. Her damage with her ult turned on is obscene, and wind slash is a great way to close off rights and deal a ton of damage. Her E also scales with damage, so she can build a ton of damage items, kill important targets, and still get away.
VIABLE, but gets COUNTERED by some in lane.
You poke, you sustain, you help your ADC run, you stun your opponents, that is the gist of Sona. She is a very safe pick for a support, and in lane she can be very useful. Her Q poke is deadly during the early levels, and can really deny the enemy ADC if they have no sustain and you have a very poke heavy ADC on your side as well. You can do unexpected burst early on, and if the enemy retaliate, you can sustain you and your ADC quite well with your W as well. When you hit 6, you can perform some sick combos with your ADC if possible (MF, EZ, Ashe and some others as well).
Team fights are easy for Sona. If you can a good ult on many enemies, you've won the fight already, other than that, just stick to your ADC. Your auras can really help them survive, and you can peel for them well if the need arises. Most importantly though, your ult must not miss, because if it does, your team is done.
VIABLE.
Unfortunately for my favorite character, things don't seem too bright. While he is a good laner for the most part, he gets countered too easily. He gets his ass beat early by laners with superior range advantage as his sustain doesn't come until 6, and even then he might be too much behind already. But against most others, he can pretty much destroy them as his all-in damage is pretty damn high early on. His passive helps him sustain MANA WISE, but not much until post 6.
Even then, in team fights, he gets countered so easily. Ignite destroys his sustain, and so does that damn Morellonomicon. Halved healing is a really big deal and it forces him to get stuff like spirit visage, or just to go full damage instead of a sustain heavy build, which isn't ideal for him. He can still kill squishies, but losing his tankiness is kind of a big deal especially if he is the only fed one on the team.
Sadly he is not viable, but is a GREAT COUNTER PICK to some laners.
Easy mode jungling is what defines Trundle. His sustain is super high, and he clears easily. He also does well in waltzing into the opponent's jungle to steal stuff and beat him up if he sees him. He is pretty what defines jungling, his ganking isn't half bad as well if you do it right. Pillar is a great engaging, ganking and escaping tool all at once. Anybody who tries to pick a fight with you...sadly, isn't going to have a very good time at all, as Trundle is one of the best early game jungle duelists.
This is where problems start to arise for Trundle. He gets kited even with his W, he just doesn't do very well other than using pillar to displace the enemy team. He can still duel well, but in a team fight he is nothing but a sticky annoying fella trying to annoy the crap out of something. His ult turns a tank into a squishy, but that's pretty much it.
He isn't viable...yet. He is however, GOOD AGAINST CERTAIN TEAM COMPS.
Almost every ADC is good right now, and Urgot is no different. However, its not worth to have him at your team at times because he usually builds tanky with not much damage. He is a different kind of ADC, and drops off late into the game, so he pretty much has to stomp early on or he is going to suck. Fortunately, he is a strong early game character that can poke enemies very well, and combined with an offensive support, its an easy kill with locked on acid hunters.
If you miss E during team fights, you are screwed. If enemy bruisers jump on you, you can survive, but you deal not as much damage as the enemy ADC. Your ult gives you bonuses to armor and MR, but you risk putting yourself into major danger if you do. Needless to say, you need a lot of protection to be able to deal enough damage.
He's a RISK.
Another easy jungler. She clears well, sustains well, duels well, and invades well. She pretty much beats a lot of other junglers already. Her big fists ensures that she beats up invaders or those getting invaded by her, and she escapes well if she is being pursued. Her ganking is pretty sloppy per-6, but once she hits 6, her ganks become insanely good.
She's great for team fights. Her ult is super valuable for stopping the ADC for just that few crucial seconds for your team bruisers to get in. If she has some innate damage items built for her, she can actually dish out quite an insane amount of pain.
She's VIABLE on the right teams.
He has seen popularity recently, and its understandable. He has okay clear speeds, great ganks, duels and even strong invading abilities. To top it off, his ganks are ridiculously easy to pull off. Rolling thunder gives him good movement speed to go in, flip the enemy and the gank is pretty much done. He does pretty good damage early on too, so there's really little you can do to escape from this fella.
He acts as a peeler during team fights. For some teams, you'd want him to initiate, but he gets countered hard by certain team comps that its hard for him to go in. Peeling suits him better, as he can flip bruisers and assasins off the ADC, while slowing them and applying constant pressure. Initiating for him only works for some teams.
He's pretty IFFY.
Another easy mode jungler. He sustains himself so well that he pretty much always stays at 100%. Everything else about him is pretty average, except for his dueling. He pretty much wins all 1v1s, as his sustain is just unreal. His ganks are terrible pre-6, with no gap closers and/or CC, he's pretty much useless. At 6 though, he has some amazing ganks against solo lanes. A 1.7 second supress is just a long time for a team laner to finish the job.
Team fighting for him is just saddening against most decent team comps. His ult gets interrupted by CC, so there goes your chance of trying to lock down the enemy ADC. However, you can still auto attack and chunk down enemies if they ignore you (most teams tend to do). You have insanse sustain to win fights if you are the last one left on your team against 1 or 2 of the enemy.
Sadly, he's NOT A VIABLE pick.
Ninja boy is a pretty contested pick right now. He is a great mid and top laner. He shoves lanes very well, he is resource-less, he can kill his opponents or deny them a lot early on. He harasses well, he has great dueling capabilities, and if things get too nasty, he can escape easily with his shadow clone swap. Against a squishy opponent, he completely wrecks them, and against a more tanky one, he harasses and wears them down until he can burst them.
In team fights Zed's only role is to pretty much, ult in on the enemy ADC, burst them down instantly. That's it, if you are alive after that all you need to do is constantly apply damage until you drop. Most Zeds drop instantly after finishing their burst anyway. Your ult is pretty strong, so you can kill an enemy ADC instantly, unless you are really behind.
He's VIABLE.
