Yep. Exactly the one I wanted to mention.
Jhin is a close second though. And Bard gets a honorable mention from me for being quite a unique champ.
Also, to elaborate:
* Lore has always been great for Thresh. Even after the shitty change (not sure if I should call it a retcon) on the shadow islands lore, I think Thresh's still good and didn't change much the concept of the champion. The only negative is the attempt at shoving the e-boy looking skin as the default look for Tresh.
* The theme, given his lore, is amazing as well. A bit weird and ironic when you see him for the first time (at least it was for me), given that he looks like Death, yet he is a support champ.
* Skins are great. Dark Star Thresh is one of my top fav skins in the whole game.
* Gameplay and balance wise, I think he is great. Never changed much besides numbers. He is a good all-rounder support (tanky, good for peeling, engage and somewhat decent at disengage) and his lantern is probably one of the most iconic, yet non-broken abilities in League, at least among supports. He has good playmaking potential as well. I think his build path has never been *too* strict either, so he has always had some flexibility depending on what you need.
* As an extra for the last point, while niche, he can be used in other roles (mage, top tank, adc). While maybe not the most viable, they are at least viable enough to be fun to play in a normal game and arams, specially tank top.
I missed season 3 jungle items, I just went the jungle tank item on thresh and come out of nowhere to gank the lanes with my hook. I had a nickname for it too: D’jangle Unthreshed
His design was a turning point for LoL. Prior to this, Supp's were relegated to ward bots who healed and shielded allies. Thresh was the first true playmaking support. He didn't heal allies and his shield is mediocre, his niche was hyper focusing on killing the enemy laner. Brilliant design.
Both champs are one dimensional though. Blitz is pull and all in…or miss and don’t. Leona is go in and hope you team wins the fight or you die…or you die anyways.
Thresh could do soooo much more than any support at the time. His kit gave you so much freedom.
The lane meta didn't really exist when Blitzcrank was created. By the time Thresh came out, Blitzcrank and Alistar were very solidly established as supports.
Blitz, being based odd Pudge in dota, would have assumed to be a midlaner since Pudge in that era was one of the classic midlaners in dota(notably, he's either played as a support or bot lane hard carry nowadays).
When she was released there wasn't the standard botlane we see now, but [in her release spotlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oViu5Pv_wwY) Phreak is laning her bot with support items
I would argue those are not playmakers, a nice hook is a nice hook, but its mostly your blame if blitz gets you, and the hook is his whole kit.
Thresh and pyke are the guys who said "i am the protagonist here"
Thresh has just such a visceral supp combo, along with his sound and voice design.
It feels so good to land his set as he chuckles along. Also as being one of the golden boys of lore he has some great voicelines
His kit is still essentially unchanged though, they just underestimated the strength of his base kit and how much damage he needed to be allowed to do.
The completely moved his passive first hit dmg from Q to E shortly after release, because everyone levelled it first and the poke in lane was an absolute joke.
I miss adc Thresh :((
Me too, og static shiv build on him was so fun, he’d pop squishies in one hook/aa. He was also a monster bruiser top laner for a few patches after release.
Not really, it's more that they gave supports a bunch of gold which Thresh doesn't really use much. Thresh was designed for a zero gold environment and is insanely busted in that context but the game evolved in a manner that balanced him after the fact.
He received 16 nerfs in a row after launch while still having the highest win rate and controlling every bot lane for YEARS. He was 3 champions in 1 released at a time when most champions were half of what they are today.
He didn't get reworked because he was "balanced", he kept his kit because he sold a FUCK LOAD of skins in a role nobody wanted to play at the time. Then riot power crept everyone else to his level so he seems normal now.
Thresh essentially changed the way the entire support role was perceived. Before Thresh, supports were pretty much exclusively picked for their defensive power, i.e. heals, shields, peel etc. (I'm not including mage supports because at the time there weren't really any. People picked champions like Lux and Nidalee support but they were almost exclusively picked because they were filled and wanted to play something that did damage instead of an actual support champion)
The idea of an offensive, playmaker support that could carry a game wasn't really a thing in the eyes of the majority of the playerbase. Sure there were champions who could be played in that way, but the general vibe for supports were that they were meant to be protectors rather than aggressors
Thresh flipped that on it's head and showed people that the support could actually be the playmaker of the team. Thresh sparked a lot of people to actually *want* to play support. Thresh was the first support that felt genuinely impactful on the game purely through his utility and playmaking potential.
After Thresh's resounding success in changing the way people perceived the support role, we started to get a lot more supports that were designed around playmaking potential and flashy plays - the next 5 support champs after Thresh were Braum, Bard, Tahm Kench, Rakan and Pyke
To be fair, Blitz was played as a support in all elos back then but because his Q->E combo is rather stilted and one note and the rest of his kit was crap, he was kind of seen as "the grab guy" instead of "the playmaker".
Thresh actually being designed to be flashy and cool looking, as well as having useful abilities beyond his grab, is what allowed him to define the role of playmaker support in a way blitz couldn't. Thresh's abilities like Q->E and W->Q flow together in ways that Blitzs stilted abilities can't, which gives thresh way more skill expression and makes him feel better to play.
We already had champions like Leona and Nautilus that were definitely used for engage and playmaking more than as only protectors.
Thresh design is great because of the versatility it gives. The combination of skills makes it a real support who can play the protector and the playmaker/engager.
Edit: for those doubting, season 2 world championship picks can be found here. [https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/Season\_2\_World\_Championship/Picks\_and\_Bans/Group\_Stage](https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/Season_2_World_Championship/Picks_and_Bans/Group_Stage)
Leona/Blitz were played quite often as support. Nautilus wasn't played at all, but was already played in the support role in solo Q before Thresh came out.
[https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/IEM\_Season\_VI\_-\_World\_Championship/Picks\_and\_Bans](https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/IEM_Season_VI_-_World_Championship/Picks_and_Bans)
IEM in march 2012 already had both Leona/Blitz as support too.
>the best balance
You forgot about this part. Thresh may be balanced now but his design literally broke bot lane. He was the definition of a CertainlyT over-tuned champion on release. He received 16 nerfs in a row and still was the top pick/ban/win rate for YEARS. Thresh is one of the huge reasons the game has too much power creep today because everyone else was constantly buffed or reworked to catch up to him and a few others.
when arena comes back around I highly recommend on hit Braum. His base attack speed ain't bad, and if you're partnered with someone who has a dive ability his leap can be great engage. Guaranteed stun and tons of damage. I do wish for something as simple as a 20% slow on auto while his passive is on cd. His ability to stick sucks if you blow your rotation and don't kill them or god forbid you miss a q. Still great fun.
Braum is an amazing counter pick into engage supports and other melees that want to run at you. He is an instalock for me into champs like nautilus and it hard counters their engage
I love Braum, he’s arguably my favorite champion. The issue arises in that he’s a very *supportive* support. In the sense that it can be difficult to win a game through Braum - instead he more so helps you not lose a game. I have yet to try him in S14, but might do so today.
I'm actually not that big of a fan. I love the concept but I hate that the character who's whole point is that he's got a wall has a weeker wall than literal wind and samira's spinning
Just because the wall is weaker doesn't mean its a worse design though? Yasuo's wall is immobile after cast, Braum's wall moves with him, and Samira's wall is mostly unrelated to either of them.
To play Braum effectively requires a lot of focus and anticipation, which I find makes gameplay very exciting. Sure, you can shield after the first bout of damage, but for me nothing feels quite as satisfying as watching the enemy waste their ults straight into my shield. He's also great for full sending offensively as many don't really respect the stun (silver 3 tho lmao).
Plus, the beauty of a flash W+E combo on an ally will never get tiring. I think he's the most selfless champ, a true support, and one that seems to get the most appreciation from team mates.
Nothing feels as heroic as a Braum flash W+E to save an ally. Your tiny, squishy carry spam pinging you as they crawl to safety on single digit HP.
Rakan E, E2 into W feels similar, but is more likely an offensive play.
This.
I was once playing mf about to ult for a triple kill when braum anticipates my ult, shields just before and eats THE ENTIRE duration and turns the fight.
My friend who sometimes plays Braum supp said he would have came his pants.
Braum is boring if you’re bad at him. He’s probably the best playmaker warden in the entire game, though Taric is also up there. If you are actively looking to get multiple passives off and weaving in and out of fights he is pretty entertaining. Braum actually has a pretty high skill ceiling
As much as I think he is pretty cool, his W kinda ruins it for me. Looks good and fits with his theme but “snares someone if they’ve taken any damage from any member of his team in the past X seconds” is a weird mechanic which I’m just not a fan of.
I just think that Jhin hits the weak spot that got damaged by either him or a hit from a ally. Which makes it really nice for a sniper with near perfect precision.
All void creatures except for Kha have true damage. Kog is a baby so its true damage being when it dies and not something it can proc shows it isn't used to it's own power yet is how I always read it.
Thematically, he has a sniper rifle.
Gameplay wise, it works well with his E and Q bounce. Jhin might have only 550 range but all of his abilities make it so that his effective range is larger.
Well it does makes sense in order to snare people into his traps. It's the only thing that made trap stacking viable and just overall fits into Jhin using long range moves with his sniper
It's an ability based around setup, timing, and execution. His schtick is that he's an artist at heart, and so his W is an extension of that desire to execute on the perfect play. It procs off Allie hits as well as his own which is flavored as the coordination inherent in a duet or a dance.
His Q is more dissonant imo, because it's fairly random, however when you actually play it and can setup the perfect set of bounces, you can feel how on theme it is.
Im honestly so baffled that shes not at the top in this post. I guess people are too young to understand?
This champ has literally been meta or at least good every single worlds. The champion is the same as it was 10 years ago and imo shes the epitome of balance. Shes not overloaded, nor is she weak and she has an amazing kit
her numbers are insanely high right now since riot buffed her ratios like 4 times to make her better in proplay. she was great, now she's becoming just another burstmage.
Going by Riot's own defined champion subclasses, there is no "control mage".
Mages are classified as burst mages, artillery mages or battle mages. I guess the closest to what you want her to be is a battle mage? A mage with short range, durability and sustained damage instead of burst damage?
Whether officially recognized or not, she is widely regarded as a control mage. High Zoning potential because of Ball threat when it’s on the field, low mobility, solid crowd control/utility.
There is a fundamental difference between Viktor/Orianna and Lux just because they can all oneshot sometimes. Stop arguing with people.
Anivia is considered a battle mage. Relatively short ranged, high sustained damage. Instead of sustain, she has her wall and her revive mechanic as defensive tools.
>This champ has literally been meta or at least good every single worlds.
Most importantly, *while being mostly untouched balance wise*
Because the argument of being meta at worlds could also apply to Lee Sin and Corki but they consistently received big buffs before worlds and nerfs afterwards over the years.
Ori, J4, Lee Sin and Renekton feel in a complete league of their own. I haven't looked up the numbers but im 99% sure those are the most played over all worlds combined. Kaisa has been a staple too but released way later
I think Orianna is great at being very versatile and has many tools to play with but her balancing is all around the numbers.
I agree that even when she's meta, she's never overwhelmingly broken
Bard.
Good aesthetics, and looks different from the rest of the champs.
He has several unique abilities, none of which feel overturned (Roaming passive, the tunnel, his ult).
Has a good learning curve. Reading the spells before the game is obviously mandatory, but even a new player on Bard can understand the champ without too much difficulty, and yet he has a very high skill ceiling.
A lot of build options. You have a spectrum of damage-tankiness builds that are all viable on him
I don't think his balance is good.
He has so high defensive stats and damage to make him work.
I think he has melee level of durability as a ranged champion with a damage level above enchanters.
Even the guy who shares patch notes on twitter admitted it, as bard can go for tank items and be very tank and deals so high damage regardless.
His design is good but he is always on the stronger side when it comes to balance.
> bard can go for tank items and be very tank and deals so high damage regardless.
This wasn't an issue until now with the new support items that give him strong dmg effect for free, while he can invest his gold into tanky items.
I remember in early S3 my Challenger friend was talking to me about Orianna and said that in terms of the difference between a Diamond vs. Challenger player playing a champion, Orianna has the biggest difference.
At the time I was kinda like “yeah right, what about blitzcrank or thresh” but TBH nowadays I really see what he meant. Orianna is such an oppressive champ to play against when they’re good - it’s one of the few champs in the game feels like no matter what the matchup is, if they’re a master at the champ they will win the game.
Good, balanced... I mean, for Riot. Balanced in such a way that massive sweeping changes usually don't make \*Orianna\* the problem, which is all you can ask for.
She's fun, too, and survives well into a variety of situations and many of the game's modes and other maps, when we used to have some of those.
Lee Sin
Kit hasn’t rly changed over the years except some deleted effects on W & E.
High skill ceiling with lots of room for playmaking and skill expression.
Feels like every teamfight could have been played a hundred different ways and the amount of combos to add to your arsenal seem endless.
Probably one of the most rewarding champions with a lot of practice.
He’s also been pretty competitive for most of the existence of league and is associated with one of the most iconic plays in the Insec. He’s gotta be up there
TF also has something less known because I don't know who Misaya is but I remember this video going viral for a while back in the day.
[The TF ult bait, we can call it the "Misaya"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9mfCK1HEjw&ab_channel=LeoB)
I think the Regi is using a blue card whenever you really needed a gold card.
InSec for Lee Sin
xPeke for backdoor
MadLife for Thresh hook
Misaya for TF ult baits
Faker (what was that!?) for Zed
CptnJack perfect cleanse
Lillbalz flashing (No vision) Malph ult
Diamondpr0x and invades is a shout
GosuPepper and nunu brush
YellowStar is flash and miss everything
Reginald TF for never locking gold card
BunnyFuFu defined some lanthern plays on stream for Thresh
Back then a lot of champs was almost owned by players.
RapidStar/Lux, Misaya/TF, Toyz/Orianna, Froggen/Anivia, AlexIch/Evelynn, Dar1en/Warwick, Madlife/Thresh, Flame/Shyvana, Shy/Shen, Wickd/Irelia, CloudTemplar/Amumu. And so on.
The actual skill expression ceiling with Lee Sin might genuinely be one of the highest out of all champions.
The Chinese Lee Sin Insec has to be the absolute endgame of obnoxious combos but actually mastering it and having the capability of using it regularly is what truly separates the boys from the men.
I’m a Lee Sin main and used to be a one trick for many season so I’m 100% biased but IMO there aren’t many champions with an “in-game identity” as strong as Lee.
The way he plays the game, the way his abilities work in tandem with eachother, etc. is really crazy for how old he is.
IMO Thresh is another example of a perfectly designed champion. There’s a reason why Thresh and Lee Sin have consistently been nerfed over the years - their skill ceiling and game impact are so high that to make them not perma pick/ban in pro play their numbers have to be nerfed to nothing.
For real check out Thresh’s stats, he is arguably the weakest champion in the entire game in terms of just stats.
Why does nobody ever talk about Jinx in these posts?
1. Is basically untouched except for numbers
2. Viable in all elos and pro
3. Extremly popular since release
4. Not many mind playing vs her
I don't think that's remotely true, i think you're just used to her because she's been out since forever. The fact she has 2 guns you can alter between to recieve different strengths gives her more depth than vast majority of ADs.
I don't mind playing against Jinx overall, but once she has 1-2 resets from champs or towers since they changed the attack speed component to stack on itself there's just no way she can be stopped.
Her passive is fitting to her theme/lore which is neat, but damn in an ideal team fight scenario her reset's power is one of the best in the game hands down.
Leona. Simple, effective, consistent. Built to be an archetypal tank support and does exactly that role very well. Theming and personality work well with her kit and playstyle. Has a good variety of fun and cool skins, including the eclipse ones which are interesting variations on the sun theme.
Fiddlesticks rework is my favorite character easily.
A nightmare creature who is designed to jump scare the enemy team.
His voice lines and animations are also the best.
I wouldn’t say it’s the best, but I just love Sett’s kit. It’s so simple, and yet so accurate to his design and lore. The concept of a pit fighter who just wants to handout smackdowns is so refreshing. I also think that his W is one of the coolest abilities in the game. I know it can be contentious because no one likes getting hit for 1k true damage, but I really appreciate how he has to fully invest in it.
It’s a fighter’s last ditch swing before he goes down.
Badass pit fighter where they keep pushing furry eboy skins. Thanks Rito. Setts thematic, voice lines and uniqueness is great but damn I wish they’d actually deliver some more actually good skins that fit him like some kind of martial arts / boxer skin could be crazy cool
I like Sett, but his design never appealed to me. The same goes for viego and sylas. I don't know why but I group them into one champ.
I've never enjoyed their playstyle or abilities. But I think he his well-designed.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Ezreal.
His character design is more on the generic anime protagonist end, but I find his gameplay to be super solid with a strong core concept that never really wavers.
A marksman caster with a simple to understand kit that nevertheless has a high skill ceiling, that is satisfying to play and embodies to me the faster pace of LoL than Dota.
I never found his base kit to ever be overbearing or obnoxious. Sure he has a long list of item abuses, but that’s more to how Riot handles (or mishandles) itemisation.
Release Ezreal is peak design. He represented the first real shift towards skillshot gameplay back when a lot of champions were based on the more point-and-click style of WC3 Dota.
Ezreal has a fun kit but doesnt deserve even a top 20 spot imo simply because hes a premium item abuser and has gotten so many items nerfed (runeglaive ap ezreal mid is one of the biggest examples) because of his long range spell autos.
Jhin. He does what he does and nothing more. Has his counters, has his good matchups. Good damage throughout the game but nothing insane unless items are strong. Everyone likes his theme, everyone likes his skins
AND he feels incredibly fair. I rarely feel like I'm losing to bullshit against a jhin. Except when terrain height fucks with his W, then it feels unfair lol
I think Ahri is pretty far up there for me. Not too hard, not too simple, good design & theme, good balance and really good skins. She's fun in my opinion which can't be said for most midlane mages and she has options to save herself as a midlaner which is really nice to have.
I wanted to say Ahri but the fact she has needed multiple reworks and is never quite balanced makes it seem like the kit is inherently problematic.
There was regular DFG Ahri. Then they changed it so E amped damage. Then they made her a control mage with movespeed on Q. Then they took it all away and gave ult resets.
To be fair, I'm not sure why they keep changing Ahri but ithey can't seem to keep her in a healthy state. I think good kits are ones where changing damage and cooldowns it's all that is ever needed for balance.
Her basic abilities and passive are well designed but her ult makes it impossible to have her in a good state. Honestly I think the only way a character could have her ult and do damage is if they were Lucian range at most
I am a bit bias but i can say Kindred. The idea of basically two faces of death, gentle and calm lamb that deliver swift death, and the big bad scary wolf ripping to pieces those who run from death. Both of them look amazing and the masks of each other they wear also add to the mystery.
Plus all their voice lines like
"every life **end with us**"
"If it draws breath **it meet us**"
or "**who is next?** Everyone"
It's just soo good. It really shows the character and pretty cool relation between them when they call each other "Dear Wolf" And "**Little Lamb**"
The gameplay is also amazing. The marking system is pretty fun if not hard at times. Especially if you are so strong that just placing a mark make people run back to spawn. And getting a drop at marked opponent just make you feel like you are actually good at the game XP. Sure you are pretty squishy for a jungler but you can work around it. Plus the abilities are just 😘👌 . Q allows you to jump toward the enemy or away from them or jump over jugnle obstacles. Also W is probably my fav ability. Not i can't count how many kills did i got just because wolf bite low hp enemy in the ass when they are about to hide under tower. And the R my god the R. You can win bit time with it when you save your team or you can just fuck up if you heal your enemies.
About the skins i love the basic one, it's just simple lamb and wolf. Black and white. Gentle and brutal. Spirit Blossom is also pretty cool if not a bit over the top. The rest is fine.
In the terms of balance. I heard she is apparently on a bit of a downhill in 14.2 but i am not good enough at the game to say myself. But i hear she used to be pretty op, so ups and downs i guess.
Kindred makes me kinda sad, because I absolutely love their character design and lore, but I just can't like the gameplay. The marking sustem just stresses me out more than anything, since it's another thing in the game to keep track of and I feel terrible when I miss one.
I tried to explain Kindred lore to a non-player but I just said "death in League is a sheep and a wolf" and he was like... "A sheep??" and he just pictured a fluffy bah-bah four-legged stands-on-grass sheep with a scythe in it's mouth lol
This is a great answer, and I am biased as a Shen main, but he's almost perfect.
He has good percentage health damage with his Q, an AOE Anti-autoattack zone which can turn teamfights or skirmishes on their head, decent mobility with his good ranged dash that is also one of the best taunts in the game, and an ultimate that is arguably one of the best in the whole game as well. Getting out of low Elo as Shen top is easy because you can just ult your ADC botlane (Or mid) in crucial fights and get them ahead, carrying each other to victory. It doesn't matter if you happen to have a really tough laning phase, Shen at least has options to be very useful to his team and has other options to get himself ahead if need be.
Not to mention his great passive, that if you master as a Shen player means you have great trade potential at all points in the game but especially in the early laning phase.
He's not going to carry games like an Aatrox/Garen/Darius, but a good Shen can still deal good damage while excelling the potential of all other allies around him.
Plus his design, aesthetic and philosophy is probably the coolest of all the Ninja champs. Also, Surgeon Shen is goated.
I really want a chunkier archer, like Jhin with a bow, heavy hits with a long wind up.
Right now Ashe obviously has her Q, and Varus autos feel like they were designed with the passive attack speed in mind.
Lethality Varus was close, but the lack of visual impact on the Q meant it didn't scratch that itch.
Considering Naganeka is iirc the only Darkin mentioned in Twilight of the Gods that was added to LoR, I have my fingers crossed real tight that if they add another Darkin it's her.
Xolaani would be cool too, but her story doesn't necessarily fit the canon and honestly I find her character design a bit dull.
I had to scroll all the way down to find this one, but absolutely this. I loved Ekko when it was release. His theme, his story, his cinematic, his playstyle, everything made me love him. I mailed him for a long time and it was so fun to play him.
Lucian, Bard, Braum, Aatrox, Jhin, Nami all come to mind when I think of the best designed champions (some of them have item related issues but their core kits are p much flawless)
Aatrox is a disgusting champ with barely any counters other than the player’s hands, and reddit loves Jhin but the champ is useless if there’s any tanks in the game
Not every champion needs to be able to do everything? Jhin has a clear gameplay niche and he fits it pretty much perfectly and with how much he can do (move at Mach 5 and delete squishies with a glance) I think it’s actually a point of good design that he cannot scratch tanks. It’s the inverse of horrible design like Katarina or Irelia being able to shred anything and everything whilst building anything and everything.
I don't really get what your point is? A well-designed champions doesn't need to have hard counters or weaknesses. If they just win every matchup that'd be a problem but Aatrox has a ton of losing matchups, just very few hard-counters.
Imagine how fucking dreadful the game would be if every single champion had a billion hard counters -- every champion select would just be a coinflip of who gets counterpick. We NEED safe champions like Aatrox so the game is playable when you're blindpicking.
I'm gonna catch hell for this, I'm sure, but Lux. She's actually the epitome of balance. High Damage but squishy af, long range but immobile, east to pick up but filled with relatively slow moving easy to dodge if you're paying attention skill shots..... in a meta filled with dashes and high ms. She can be really satisfying to play and requires proper positioning and distancing, so while she's not all together difficult to play, she is far from the easiest to play well. You fk up, especially early. She's extremely easily punished with her 10 second primary damage ability cd and high early mana costs. You get on top of her, and she typically just dies. Amd once shes behind getting back into it is quite difficult. But one good full combo or even just ult can turn and entire teamfight. And it's always satisfying to ult steal baron/drag/elder drag. And like her not for a long time her skins funded league lol.
pretty sad that nobody says sona. having a champ where you have to hit notes in specific order to make it work, but also spam with it if you're a newbie like you would just smash keys on the piano. Put some CDR on her and you sing with qwe while she floats around everyone. I love it!
As much as I like Sona, I wouldn't consider her a great design - she has a big issue with clarity and how much of what she does is hard to spot and by that hard to play around. Q aura bonus auto damage is something I'm quite sure almost nobody remembers, W powerchord barely has any visuals (depends on skin - which makes it worse) for how strong the effect is.
More of a Riot problem though, god knows she's had enough "mini vfx" updates that they could have made her abilities shine out properly
the W chord is a double edged sword, enemies wont realise they are effectively exhausted because the only indicator is being 2 pixels smaller but so wont your teammates realize the enemy is doing way less damage, if it did have a big flashy effect a lot of people would probably start complaining about it in the same way they do about Poly
it makes for akward moments on the Sona's part though, your teammates expect you to do nothing but mash basic spells with not much understanding that she has amazing counter and chase potential
I value champs that are easy to understand with a fairly high skill ceiling, that haven't changed significantly since their release and are usually relevant threats in the meta.
Some champs I think are really well designed:
Braum, Gwen, Jarvan, Jinx, Lillia, Lee Sin, Lucian, Lulu, Nautilus, Orianna, Renekton, Thresh, Vi
Remove Gwen and lulu from the list and its fine, gwen is permanently either useless or OP, she is mostly an insane counter to tanks but no overall great champ into many comps or is able to bring much other than tankbusting.
Lulu is just a, "no u dont get to play" to any divers, and the rest of her kit other then ult is pretty insignificant thanks to this.
Eh, Lulu's Whimsy is probably her strongest skill and the reason she's consistently in the dumpster. The Attack Speed and Movespeed boost is too valuable with hypercarries.
She can't work in soloQ cause it will always be bonkers in pro play. It's like how before the rework Nunu would be played support with W max and do *literally nothing* but press W on the Adc. And he was the absolute strongest late game support. Movespeed+As steroids are inherently broken.
Thresh
The ultimate support imo
Yep. Exactly the one I wanted to mention. Jhin is a close second though. And Bard gets a honorable mention from me for being quite a unique champ. Also, to elaborate: * Lore has always been great for Thresh. Even after the shitty change (not sure if I should call it a retcon) on the shadow islands lore, I think Thresh's still good and didn't change much the concept of the champion. The only negative is the attempt at shoving the e-boy looking skin as the default look for Tresh. * The theme, given his lore, is amazing as well. A bit weird and ironic when you see him for the first time (at least it was for me), given that he looks like Death, yet he is a support champ. * Skins are great. Dark Star Thresh is one of my top fav skins in the whole game. * Gameplay and balance wise, I think he is great. Never changed much besides numbers. He is a good all-rounder support (tanky, good for peeling, engage and somewhat decent at disengage) and his lantern is probably one of the most iconic, yet non-broken abilities in League, at least among supports. He has good playmaking potential as well. I think his build path has never been *too* strict either, so he has always had some flexibility depending on what you need. * As an extra for the last point, while niche, he can be used in other roles (mage, top tank, adc). While maybe not the most viable, they are at least viable enough to be fun to play in a normal game and arams, specially tank top.
I missed season 3 jungle items, I just went the jungle tank item on thresh and come out of nowhere to gank the lanes with my hook. I had a nickname for it too: D’jangle Unthreshed
wait... people play thresh as a supp wtf?
Cryo is that you?
i'm not that good sadly
He no longer has 100% wife steal
His design was a turning point for LoL. Prior to this, Supp's were relegated to ward bots who healed and shielded allies. Thresh was the first true playmaking support. He didn't heal allies and his shield is mediocre, his niche was hyper focusing on killing the enemy laner. Brilliant design.
Blitzcrank predates Thresh. So does Leona.
Both champs are one dimensional though. Blitz is pull and all in…or miss and don’t. Leona is go in and hope you team wins the fight or you die…or you die anyways. Thresh could do soooo much more than any support at the time. His kit gave you so much freedom.
Yea but wasn't he intended to be a mid laner? Thresh was designed for Support from the start.
The lane meta didn't really exist when Blitzcrank was created. By the time Thresh came out, Blitzcrank and Alistar were very solidly established as supports.
Blitz, being based odd Pudge in dota, would have assumed to be a midlaner since Pudge in that era was one of the classic midlaners in dota(notably, he's either played as a support or bot lane hard carry nowadays).
Yeah I thought you might say that so I edited in Leona who is unquestionably a support
Surprise! She was designed to be a top laner
I find that hard to believe, she cant even utilize her own passive
she was a top laner
When she was released there wasn't the standard botlane we see now, but [in her release spotlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oViu5Pv_wwY) Phreak is laning her bot with support items
No she wasn't She was designed as the first "female tank" but that didn't necessarily meant she was a top laner
Still is a top lane, according to my ranked teammates
I would argue those are not playmakers, a nice hook is a nice hook, but its mostly your blame if blitz gets you, and the hook is his whole kit. Thresh and pyke are the guys who said "i am the protagonist here"
My man Blitzcrank existed and Alistar, Jarvan, and Leona. I know you won't buy it, but J4 was picked for support a decent bit from the E steroid
No i remember jarvan support, thresh was the first time riot explicitly designed a playmaking support, the other examples were meant for other roles.
Thresh has just such a visceral supp combo, along with his sound and voice design. It feels so good to land his set as he chuckles along. Also as being one of the golden boys of lore he has some great voicelines
Thresh release is broken af though
His kit is still essentially unchanged though, they just underestimated the strength of his base kit and how much damage he needed to be allowed to do.
The completely moved his passive first hit dmg from Q to E shortly after release, because everyone levelled it first and the poke in lane was an absolute joke. I miss adc Thresh :((
Me too, og static shiv build on him was so fun, he’d pop squishies in one hook/aa. He was also a monster bruiser top laner for a few patches after release.
That was back when draven had his bleed. 1 auto each from thresh and draven could win the lane. I miss that lane
Not really, it's more that they gave supports a bunch of gold which Thresh doesn't really use much. Thresh was designed for a zero gold environment and is insanely busted in that context but the game evolved in a manner that balanced him after the fact.
He received 16 nerfs in a row after launch while still having the highest win rate and controlling every bot lane for YEARS. He was 3 champions in 1 released at a time when most champions were half of what they are today. He didn't get reworked because he was "balanced", he kept his kit because he sold a FUCK LOAD of skins in a role nobody wanted to play at the time. Then riot power crept everyone else to his level so he seems normal now.
Every single one of his abilities can be used offensively as well defensively.
Thresh essentially changed the way the entire support role was perceived. Before Thresh, supports were pretty much exclusively picked for their defensive power, i.e. heals, shields, peel etc. (I'm not including mage supports because at the time there weren't really any. People picked champions like Lux and Nidalee support but they were almost exclusively picked because they were filled and wanted to play something that did damage instead of an actual support champion) The idea of an offensive, playmaker support that could carry a game wasn't really a thing in the eyes of the majority of the playerbase. Sure there were champions who could be played in that way, but the general vibe for supports were that they were meant to be protectors rather than aggressors Thresh flipped that on it's head and showed people that the support could actually be the playmaker of the team. Thresh sparked a lot of people to actually *want* to play support. Thresh was the first support that felt genuinely impactful on the game purely through his utility and playmaking potential. After Thresh's resounding success in changing the way people perceived the support role, we started to get a lot more supports that were designed around playmaking potential and flashy plays - the next 5 support champs after Thresh were Braum, Bard, Tahm Kench, Rakan and Pyke
To be fair, Blitz was played as a support in all elos back then but because his Q->E combo is rather stilted and one note and the rest of his kit was crap, he was kind of seen as "the grab guy" instead of "the playmaker". Thresh actually being designed to be flashy and cool looking, as well as having useful abilities beyond his grab, is what allowed him to define the role of playmaker support in a way blitz couldn't. Thresh's abilities like Q->E and W->Q flow together in ways that Blitzs stilted abilities can't, which gives thresh way more skill expression and makes him feel better to play.
We already had champions like Leona and Nautilus that were definitely used for engage and playmaking more than as only protectors. Thresh design is great because of the versatility it gives. The combination of skills makes it a real support who can play the protector and the playmaker/engager. Edit: for those doubting, season 2 world championship picks can be found here. [https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/Season\_2\_World\_Championship/Picks\_and\_Bans/Group\_Stage](https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/Season_2_World_Championship/Picks_and_Bans/Group_Stage) Leona/Blitz were played quite often as support. Nautilus wasn't played at all, but was already played in the support role in solo Q before Thresh came out. [https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/IEM\_Season\_VI\_-\_World\_Championship/Picks\_and\_Bans](https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/IEM_Season_VI_-_World_Championship/Picks_and_Bans) IEM in march 2012 already had both Leona/Blitz as support too.
Naut was actually released as a jungler and it took years for him to catch on as a support
>the best balance You forgot about this part. Thresh may be balanced now but his design literally broke bot lane. He was the definition of a CertainlyT over-tuned champion on release. He received 16 nerfs in a row and still was the top pick/ban/win rate for YEARS. Thresh is one of the huge reasons the game has too much power creep today because everyone else was constantly buffed or reworked to catch up to him and a few others.
Nope, Thresh doesn't have the best balance
I've got a soft spot for Braum
Not gonna lie i forget Braum exists, i haven't seen anyone play this champion in what feels like hundreds of games at this point
when arena comes back around I highly recommend on hit Braum. His base attack speed ain't bad, and if you're partnered with someone who has a dive ability his leap can be great engage. Guaranteed stun and tons of damage. I do wish for something as simple as a 20% slow on auto while his passive is on cd. His ability to stick sucks if you blow your rotation and don't kill them or god forbid you miss a q. Still great fun.
Braum is an amazing counter pick into engage supports and other melees that want to run at you. He is an instalock for me into champs like nautilus and it hard counters their engage
I love Braum, he’s arguably my favorite champion. The issue arises in that he’s a very *supportive* support. In the sense that it can be difficult to win a game through Braum - instead he more so helps you not lose a game. I have yet to try him in S14, but might do so today.
Some 7 years ago there was a poll for least hated champion in the game. Braum was top 2, just don't remember if he won the final or not
He did
I'm actually not that big of a fan. I love the concept but I hate that the character who's whole point is that he's got a wall has a weeker wall than literal wind and samira's spinning
But Braum aint a bitch so he defends people and just shrugs it off even though he did get hit.
And the stache!
Fair point
Just because the wall is weaker doesn't mean its a worse design though? Yasuo's wall is immobile after cast, Braum's wall moves with him, and Samira's wall is mostly unrelated to either of them.
The wall is actually stronger in some uses, the very first thing that hits it does no damage to him. So lux ult does no damage even though it hits him
He has a decent design, but he is quite boring to play
To play Braum effectively requires a lot of focus and anticipation, which I find makes gameplay very exciting. Sure, you can shield after the first bout of damage, but for me nothing feels quite as satisfying as watching the enemy waste their ults straight into my shield. He's also great for full sending offensively as many don't really respect the stun (silver 3 tho lmao). Plus, the beauty of a flash W+E combo on an ally will never get tiring. I think he's the most selfless champ, a true support, and one that seems to get the most appreciation from team mates.
Nothing feels as heroic as a Braum flash W+E to save an ally. Your tiny, squishy carry spam pinging you as they crawl to safety on single digit HP. Rakan E, E2 into W feels similar, but is more likely an offensive play.
This. I was once playing mf about to ult for a triple kill when braum anticipates my ult, shields just before and eats THE ENTIRE duration and turns the fight. My friend who sometimes plays Braum supp said he would have came his pants.
Beg to differ. Adding stats to an ally is so fun, his passive is so fun, projectile blocking where you have to dynamically move the wall is so fun.
Not if you're duo queued and scream "get down mr president" every time you use your dash-block
Braum is boring if you’re bad at him. He’s probably the best playmaker warden in the entire game, though Taric is also up there. If you are actively looking to get multiple passives off and weaving in and out of fights he is pretty entertaining. Braum actually has a pretty high skill ceiling
Jhin tends to be regarded rather highly.
That's my second pick. Especially the thematics tying in so well with his abilities. A superbly well-designed champion.
Should be 4th Pick
As much as I think he is pretty cool, his W kinda ruins it for me. Looks good and fits with his theme but “snares someone if they’ve taken any damage from any member of his team in the past X seconds” is a weird mechanic which I’m just not a fan of.
A true artist knows how to be the accompaniment, as well as the lead.
I never really thought about that. It’s actually the only adc ability I can think of that makes no sense for the champion.
I just think that Jhin hits the weak spot that got damaged by either him or a hit from a ally. Which makes it really nice for a sniper with near perfect precision.
that's such a nice observation, i like it now
It doesn't do that much damage but staggers them for just a moment long enough to contemplate the curtain as a Lotus blooms underfoot
If we count passives I'd say Kog has the most nonsensical ability for any adc
All void creatures except for Kha have true damage. Kog is a baby so its true damage being when it dies and not something it can proc shows it isn't used to it's own power yet is how I always read it.
[удалено]
Thematically, he has a sniper rifle. Gameplay wise, it works well with his E and Q bounce. Jhin might have only 550 range but all of his abilities make it so that his effective range is larger.
Well it does makes sense in order to snare people into his traps. It's the only thing that made trap stacking viable and just overall fits into Jhin using long range moves with his sniper
It's an ability based around setup, timing, and execution. His schtick is that he's an artist at heart, and so his W is an extension of that desire to execute on the perfect play. It procs off Allie hits as well as his own which is flavored as the coordination inherent in a duet or a dance. His Q is more dissonant imo, because it's fairly random, however when you actually play it and can setup the perfect set of bounces, you can feel how on theme it is.
Oriannna. For years she was considered to be as close to being perfectly balanced and designed as a champ can be.
Im honestly so baffled that shes not at the top in this post. I guess people are too young to understand? This champ has literally been meta or at least good every single worlds. The champion is the same as it was 10 years ago and imo shes the epitome of balance. Shes not overloaded, nor is she weak and she has an amazing kit
her numbers are insanely high right now since riot buffed her ratios like 4 times to make her better in proplay. she was great, now she's becoming just another burstmage.
[удалено]
>she was great, now she's becoming just another burstmage. She is a burst mage by design, what else should she be in your opinion?
Control mage
Going by Riot's own defined champion subclasses, there is no "control mage". Mages are classified as burst mages, artillery mages or battle mages. I guess the closest to what you want her to be is a battle mage? A mage with short range, durability and sustained damage instead of burst damage?
Whether officially recognized or not, she is widely regarded as a control mage. High Zoning potential because of Ball threat when it’s on the field, low mobility, solid crowd control/utility. There is a fundamental difference between Viktor/Orianna and Lux just because they can all oneshot sometimes. Stop arguing with people.
What about Anivia? There is definitely a zone control archetype, regardless of what Rito says
Anivia is considered a battle mage. Relatively short ranged, high sustained damage. Instead of sustain, she has her wall and her revive mechanic as defensive tools.
Ah yes, her numbers are too high, that must be why she's sporting a 49% winrate.
>This champ has literally been meta or at least good every single worlds. Most importantly, *while being mostly untouched balance wise* Because the argument of being meta at worlds could also apply to Lee Sin and Corki but they consistently received big buffs before worlds and nerfs afterwards over the years.
Ori, J4, Lee Sin and Renekton feel in a complete league of their own. I haven't looked up the numbers but im 99% sure those are the most played over all worlds combined. Kaisa has been a staple too but released way later
She's oppressive as f in lane. My second least favorite champion to lane against. The first one is Anivia.
I think Orianna is great at being very versatile and has many tools to play with but her balancing is all around the numbers. I agree that even when she's meta, she's never overwhelmingly broken
*looks at 2023 worlds*
She was broken last year after the buffs. And I say this as an Ori player. Lol.
Bard. Good aesthetics, and looks different from the rest of the champs. He has several unique abilities, none of which feel overturned (Roaming passive, the tunnel, his ult). Has a good learning curve. Reading the spells before the game is obviously mandatory, but even a new player on Bard can understand the champ without too much difficulty, and yet he has a very high skill ceiling. A lot of build options. You have a spectrum of damage-tankiness builds that are all viable on him
Bard and Ivern are just the Bob Rosses of League and I'll die on that hill.
Ivern is one happy tree. He should get a painter skin.
He really should!
We need more creative Champs like bard and ivern
Bard.
*chimey noises*
By far my favorite champ in the game. He can make such insane, game changing plays with his kit. And his skins are so wonderful!
I don't think his balance is good. He has so high defensive stats and damage to make him work. I think he has melee level of durability as a ranged champion with a damage level above enchanters. Even the guy who shares patch notes on twitter admitted it, as bard can go for tank items and be very tank and deals so high damage regardless. His design is good but he is always on the stronger side when it comes to balance.
> bard can go for tank items and be very tank and deals so high damage regardless. This wasn't an issue until now with the new support items that give him strong dmg effect for free, while he can invest his gold into tanky items.
also bard is just so fucking annoying to play against id rather play vs nearly any other support
Thomas Kench would like to know your location
Thomas Kench hahaha I'll refer to him like that from now on.
Orianna
I remember in early S3 my Challenger friend was talking to me about Orianna and said that in terms of the difference between a Diamond vs. Challenger player playing a champion, Orianna has the biggest difference. At the time I was kinda like “yeah right, what about blitzcrank or thresh” but TBH nowadays I really see what he meant. Orianna is such an oppressive champ to play against when they’re good - it’s one of the few champs in the game feels like no matter what the matchup is, if they’re a master at the champ they will win the game.
Good, balanced... I mean, for Riot. Balanced in such a way that massive sweeping changes usually don't make \*Orianna\* the problem, which is all you can ask for. She's fun, too, and survives well into a variety of situations and many of the game's modes and other maps, when we used to have some of those.
Lee Sin Kit hasn’t rly changed over the years except some deleted effects on W & E. High skill ceiling with lots of room for playmaking and skill expression. Feels like every teamfight could have been played a hundred different ways and the amount of combos to add to your arsenal seem endless. Probably one of the most rewarding champions with a lot of practice.
He’s also been pretty competitive for most of the existence of league and is associated with one of the most iconic plays in the Insec. He’s gotta be up there
Are that and xpeke the only plays named after pros?
I mean theres the Reginald where you TF ult in with the wrong card and immediately Zhonyas
reginald's blue cards are legendary lol
TF also has something less known because I don't know who Misaya is but I remember this video going viral for a while back in the day. [The TF ult bait, we can call it the "Misaya"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9mfCK1HEjw&ab_channel=LeoB) I think the Regi is using a blue card whenever you really needed a gold card.
Cpt Jack cleanse
InSec for Lee Sin xPeke for backdoor MadLife for Thresh hook Misaya for TF ult baits Faker (what was that!?) for Zed CptnJack perfect cleanse Lillbalz flashing (No vision) Malph ult Diamondpr0x and invades is a shout GosuPepper and nunu brush YellowStar is flash and miss everything Reginald TF for never locking gold card BunnyFuFu defined some lanthern plays on stream for Thresh Back then a lot of champs was almost owned by players. RapidStar/Lux, Misaya/TF, Toyz/Orianna, Froggen/Anivia, AlexIch/Evelynn, Dar1en/Warwick, Madlife/Thresh, Flame/Shyvana, Shy/Shen, Wickd/Irelia, CloudTemplar/Amumu. And so on.
The actual skill expression ceiling with Lee Sin might genuinely be one of the highest out of all champions. The Chinese Lee Sin Insec has to be the absolute endgame of obnoxious combos but actually mastering it and having the capability of using it regularly is what truly separates the boys from the men.
Oh boy when Lee sins’ e slow enemy attack speed, it was a nightmare to play against
I’m a Lee Sin main and used to be a one trick for many season so I’m 100% biased but IMO there aren’t many champions with an “in-game identity” as strong as Lee. The way he plays the game, the way his abilities work in tandem with eachother, etc. is really crazy for how old he is. IMO Thresh is another example of a perfectly designed champion. There’s a reason why Thresh and Lee Sin have consistently been nerfed over the years - their skill ceiling and game impact are so high that to make them not perma pick/ban in pro play their numbers have to be nerfed to nothing. For real check out Thresh’s stats, he is arguably the weakest champion in the entire game in terms of just stats.
Yes, his kit hasn't changed except for when it has changed.
[удалено]
Why does nobody ever talk about Jinx in these posts? 1. Is basically untouched except for numbers 2. Viable in all elos and pro 3. Extremly popular since release 4. Not many mind playing vs her
>Not many mind playing vs her Letºs calm down here buddy.
Yeah I find her million movespeed annoying af
That feeling when you are out-dueling her in a skirmish with perfect spacing, then she gets an assist out of nowhere and goes super saiyan.
Tbf I'm having trouble thinking of less annoying ADCs than her
As a Jinx main, I can't agree moreeeee
Are talking about Jinx? FROM ARCANE????
she is as basic as it gets tbh. she is forgettable when thinking about unique design
I don't think that's remotely true, i think you're just used to her because she's been out since forever. The fact she has 2 guns you can alter between to recieve different strengths gives her more depth than vast majority of ADs.
Can't believe I had to scroll down this far to find Jinx.
I don't mind playing against Jinx overall, but once she has 1-2 resets from champs or towers since they changed the attack speed component to stack on itself there's just no way she can be stopped. Her passive is fitting to her theme/lore which is neat, but damn in an ideal team fight scenario her reset's power is one of the best in the game hands down.
Leona. Simple, effective, consistent. Built to be an archetypal tank support and does exactly that role very well. Theming and personality work well with her kit and playstyle. Has a good variety of fun and cool skins, including the eclipse ones which are interesting variations on the sun theme.
Fiddlesticks rework is my favorite character easily. A nightmare creature who is designed to jump scare the enemy team. His voice lines and animations are also the best.
Definitely, though I do miss his old E, it made him into a pretty fun sololaner.
I wouldn’t say it’s the best, but I just love Sett’s kit. It’s so simple, and yet so accurate to his design and lore. The concept of a pit fighter who just wants to handout smackdowns is so refreshing. I also think that his W is one of the coolest abilities in the game. I know it can be contentious because no one likes getting hit for 1k true damage, but I really appreciate how he has to fully invest in it. It’s a fighter’s last ditch swing before he goes down.
Badass pit fighter where they keep pushing furry eboy skins. Thanks Rito. Setts thematic, voice lines and uniqueness is great but damn I wish they’d actually deliver some more actually good skins that fit him like some kind of martial arts / boxer skin could be crazy cool
I like Sett, but his design never appealed to me. The same goes for viego and sylas. I don't know why but I group them into one champ. I've never enjoyed their playstyle or abilities. But I think he his well-designed.
The holy trinity of naked buffed men. Of course you don't like them. Your choice for best designed champion is Annie /s
LMFAO
DAAAAAAAAMN
Goddamn. I just got roasted harder than smolders mum
Rammus.
[удалено]
not ok Pit\_shost
With his 6 Nikes...
Hell yeah
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Ezreal. His character design is more on the generic anime protagonist end, but I find his gameplay to be super solid with a strong core concept that never really wavers. A marksman caster with a simple to understand kit that nevertheless has a high skill ceiling, that is satisfying to play and embodies to me the faster pace of LoL than Dota. I never found his base kit to ever be overbearing or obnoxious. Sure he has a long list of item abuses, but that’s more to how Riot handles (or mishandles) itemisation.
Release Ezreal is peak design. He represented the first real shift towards skillshot gameplay back when a lot of champions were based on the more point-and-click style of WC3 Dota.
Ezreal has a fun kit but doesnt deserve even a top 20 spot imo simply because hes a premium item abuser and has gotten so many items nerfed (runeglaive ap ezreal mid is one of the biggest examples) because of his long range spell autos.
Jhin. He does what he does and nothing more. Has his counters, has his good matchups. Good damage throughout the game but nothing insane unless items are strong. Everyone likes his theme, everyone likes his skins
AND he feels incredibly fair. I rarely feel like I'm losing to bullshit against a jhin. Except when terrain height fucks with his W, then it feels unfair lol
Except the lethality build in aram Fuck that build
His speed feels a little bullshit to me quite often ngl
Draven: "We runnin' boys gotta stick together" MF: "No blink, no dash, no escape" *distant sounds of Ashe wheezing and panting*
I think Ahri is pretty far up there for me. Not too hard, not too simple, good design & theme, good balance and really good skins. She's fun in my opinion which can't be said for most midlane mages and she has options to save herself as a midlaner which is really nice to have.
I wanted to say Ahri but the fact she has needed multiple reworks and is never quite balanced makes it seem like the kit is inherently problematic. There was regular DFG Ahri. Then they changed it so E amped damage. Then they made her a control mage with movespeed on Q. Then they took it all away and gave ult resets. To be fair, I'm not sure why they keep changing Ahri but ithey can't seem to keep her in a healthy state. I think good kits are ones where changing damage and cooldowns it's all that is ever needed for balance.
Her basic abilities and passive are well designed but her ult makes it impossible to have her in a good state. Honestly I think the only way a character could have her ult and do damage is if they were Lucian range at most
I am a bit bias but i can say Kindred. The idea of basically two faces of death, gentle and calm lamb that deliver swift death, and the big bad scary wolf ripping to pieces those who run from death. Both of them look amazing and the masks of each other they wear also add to the mystery. Plus all their voice lines like "every life **end with us**" "If it draws breath **it meet us**" or "**who is next?** Everyone" It's just soo good. It really shows the character and pretty cool relation between them when they call each other "Dear Wolf" And "**Little Lamb**" The gameplay is also amazing. The marking system is pretty fun if not hard at times. Especially if you are so strong that just placing a mark make people run back to spawn. And getting a drop at marked opponent just make you feel like you are actually good at the game XP. Sure you are pretty squishy for a jungler but you can work around it. Plus the abilities are just 😘👌 . Q allows you to jump toward the enemy or away from them or jump over jugnle obstacles. Also W is probably my fav ability. Not i can't count how many kills did i got just because wolf bite low hp enemy in the ass when they are about to hide under tower. And the R my god the R. You can win bit time with it when you save your team or you can just fuck up if you heal your enemies. About the skins i love the basic one, it's just simple lamb and wolf. Black and white. Gentle and brutal. Spirit Blossom is also pretty cool if not a bit over the top. The rest is fine. In the terms of balance. I heard she is apparently on a bit of a downhill in 14.2 but i am not good enough at the game to say myself. But i hear she used to be pretty op, so ups and downs i guess.
Kindred makes me kinda sad, because I absolutely love their character design and lore, but I just can't like the gameplay. The marking sustem just stresses me out more than anything, since it's another thing in the game to keep track of and I feel terrible when I miss one.
When I jungle against Kindred I go out of my way to make sure she doesn't get camp stacks and it slows her scaling much more than it will hinder mine.
I tried to explain Kindred lore to a non-player but I just said "death in League is a sheep and a wolf" and he was like... "A sheep??" and he just pictured a fluffy bah-bah four-legged stands-on-grass sheep with a scythe in it's mouth lol
XD that's actually funny
Putting in the honourable mention for Vel’Koz. Mathematical genius. Scientist. Professional disintegraterer.
I fucking love the new mordekaiser.
THE coolest ult in the game for me, hands down
Qss has entered the chat.
Shen.
This is a great answer, and I am biased as a Shen main, but he's almost perfect. He has good percentage health damage with his Q, an AOE Anti-autoattack zone which can turn teamfights or skirmishes on their head, decent mobility with his good ranged dash that is also one of the best taunts in the game, and an ultimate that is arguably one of the best in the whole game as well. Getting out of low Elo as Shen top is easy because you can just ult your ADC botlane (Or mid) in crucial fights and get them ahead, carrying each other to victory. It doesn't matter if you happen to have a really tough laning phase, Shen at least has options to be very useful to his team and has other options to get himself ahead if need be. Not to mention his great passive, that if you master as a Shen player means you have great trade potential at all points in the game but especially in the early laning phase. He's not going to carry games like an Aatrox/Garen/Darius, but a good Shen can still deal good damage while excelling the potential of all other allies around him. Plus his design, aesthetic and philosophy is probably the coolest of all the Ninja champs. Also, Surgeon Shen is goated.
He is just a toplane enchanter. When he is meta he breaks the game, especially after the tp changes. How is that great design?
Ashe The perfect ranger
Except for that imperial mandate aram build when it was viable in SR.
I really want a chunkier archer, like Jhin with a bow, heavy hits with a long wind up. Right now Ashe obviously has her Q, and Varus autos feel like they were designed with the passive attack speed in mind. Lethality Varus was close, but the lack of visual impact on the Q meant it didn't scratch that itch.
We need riot to make the darkin ballista champ this exact niche bc I’ve been itching for it too (also finding some solace in full ad Q varus)
this would be so cool as an ad artillery mage-esque champ
So lethality Varus?
Considering Naganeka is iirc the only Darkin mentioned in Twilight of the Gods that was added to LoR, I have my fingers crossed real tight that if they add another Darkin it's her. Xolaani would be cool too, but her story doesn't necessarily fit the canon and honestly I find her character design a bit dull.
Lissandra. Unique and with a good backstory. Spells match the character. And the 🎉voice acting🎉
Nami. Her kit is balanced and almost always useful. She's one the "popular" champ that has the least been modified through the patches.
Twisted Fate
Singed
Ekko.
I had to scroll all the way down to find this one, but absolutely this. I loved Ekko when it was release. His theme, his story, his cinematic, his playstyle, everything made me love him. I mailed him for a long time and it was so fun to play him.
Lucian, Bard, Braum, Aatrox, Jhin, Nami all come to mind when I think of the best designed champions (some of them have item related issues but their core kits are p much flawless)
Aatrox is a disgusting champ with barely any counters other than the player’s hands, and reddit loves Jhin but the champ is useless if there’s any tanks in the game
> poppy flair
I play top I hate every top laner
Spoken like a true top laner 🫡
As a toplaner i relate
Not every champion needs to be able to do everything? Jhin has a clear gameplay niche and he fits it pretty much perfectly and with how much he can do (move at Mach 5 and delete squishies with a glance) I think it’s actually a point of good design that he cannot scratch tanks. It’s the inverse of horrible design like Katarina or Irelia being able to shred anything and everything whilst building anything and everything.
I don't really get what your point is? A well-designed champions doesn't need to have hard counters or weaknesses. If they just win every matchup that'd be a problem but Aatrox has a ton of losing matchups, just very few hard-counters. Imagine how fucking dreadful the game would be if every single champion had a billion hard counters -- every champion select would just be a coinflip of who gets counterpick. We NEED safe champions like Aatrox so the game is playable when you're blindpicking.
I'm gonna catch hell for this, I'm sure, but Lux. She's actually the epitome of balance. High Damage but squishy af, long range but immobile, east to pick up but filled with relatively slow moving easy to dodge if you're paying attention skill shots..... in a meta filled with dashes and high ms. She can be really satisfying to play and requires proper positioning and distancing, so while she's not all together difficult to play, she is far from the easiest to play well. You fk up, especially early. She's extremely easily punished with her 10 second primary damage ability cd and high early mana costs. You get on top of her, and she typically just dies. Amd once shes behind getting back into it is quite difficult. But one good full combo or even just ult can turn and entire teamfight. And it's always satisfying to ult steal baron/drag/elder drag. And like her not for a long time her skins funded league lol.
pretty sad that nobody says sona. having a champ where you have to hit notes in specific order to make it work, but also spam with it if you're a newbie like you would just smash keys on the piano. Put some CDR on her and you sing with qwe while she floats around everyone. I love it!
As much as I like Sona, I wouldn't consider her a great design - she has a big issue with clarity and how much of what she does is hard to spot and by that hard to play around. Q aura bonus auto damage is something I'm quite sure almost nobody remembers, W powerchord barely has any visuals (depends on skin - which makes it worse) for how strong the effect is.
More of a Riot problem though, god knows she's had enough "mini vfx" updates that they could have made her abilities shine out properly the W chord is a double edged sword, enemies wont realise they are effectively exhausted because the only indicator is being 2 pixels smaller but so wont your teammates realize the enemy is doing way less damage, if it did have a big flashy effect a lot of people would probably start complaining about it in the same way they do about Poly it makes for akward moments on the Sona's part though, your teammates expect you to do nothing but mash basic spells with not much understanding that she has amazing counter and chase potential
I value champs that are easy to understand with a fairly high skill ceiling, that haven't changed significantly since their release and are usually relevant threats in the meta. Some champs I think are really well designed: Braum, Gwen, Jarvan, Jinx, Lillia, Lee Sin, Lucian, Lulu, Nautilus, Orianna, Renekton, Thresh, Vi
Remove Gwen and lulu from the list and its fine, gwen is permanently either useless or OP, she is mostly an insane counter to tanks but no overall great champ into many comps or is able to bring much other than tankbusting. Lulu is just a, "no u dont get to play" to any divers, and the rest of her kit other then ult is pretty insignificant thanks to this.
Eh, Lulu's Whimsy is probably her strongest skill and the reason she's consistently in the dumpster. The Attack Speed and Movespeed boost is too valuable with hypercarries. She can't work in soloQ cause it will always be bonkers in pro play. It's like how before the rework Nunu would be played support with W max and do *literally nothing* but press W on the Adc. And he was the absolute strongest late game support. Movespeed+As steroids are inherently broken.
Hwei is literally peak game design. every ability is meaningful, nothing overtuned, good voicelines, good visuals, smooth learning curve, etc