Those desperate to climb out of the depths of Iron IV, also known as Elo Hell, may wonder which champions are their greatest hope for escape.
Below, I have compiled the 10 best champions, ranked by win rate, for climbing solo queue.
Though some of these champions seem like they do not belong, I recommend that you allow the statistics to speak for themselves.
10) Ahri
Winrate: 52.94% (mid lane)
A member of the vastaya species, Ahri is a nine-tailed fox demon who feeds on the life essence of others. Her kit includes crowd control in the form of a charm, a mid-ranged skill shot dealing damage, a lock-on damage spell, and an ultimate with three dashes.
Why is this champion good:
- She is a very safe mid laner as a hybrid mage/assassin. She has dashes to engage and escape, as well as a decent range to harass short-ranged assassins.
- When you fire her Q, Orb of Deception, it deals true damage when it returns to you.
- Her E, Charm can be used defensively to punish bad engages.
- When you use her E-Q-W combo, her passive grants her 20% bonus movement speed because she hit a champion with two spells in 1.5 seconds. This can be used to run away from ganks or engages.
- Her ultimate has a lot of utility. It can be used offensively to deal extra damage and act as a gap closer, or it could be used as an escape. Alternatively, it could be used to reposition during a team fight and gain a better angle to land your skill shots.
9) Vel’Koz
Winrate: 52.97% (mid lane)
Vel’Koz, the Eye of the Void, seeks to understand by destroying. His hunger for knowledge sends him into Summoner’s Rift, where he devours champions’ lives for information. All of his abilities are damage-dealing skill shots except for his ultimate, which is a movable, high-damage laser.
Why this champion is good:
- Vel’Koz has a very high range that, when utilized well, will allow him to safely deal tons of damage to opponents.
- His passive, Organic Deconstruction, allows him to deal bonus true damage to his opponents when he hits them with his abilities three times in seven seconds.
- His Q , Plasma Fission, can be angled to harass opponents at a higher range than they expect.
- His E, Tectonic Disruption, allows him to knock up his opponents and set up kills for himself and his team. It can knock up more than one opponent, which has the potential to swing teamfights in his favor. Additionally, enemies close to Vel’Koz are knocked back slightly, allowing him to disengage.
- His ult, Life Form Disintegration Ray, deals a lot of damage in addition to slowing his opponents, forcing them to stay within his range for a bit longer.
8) Morgana
Winrate: 52.99% (mid lane)
Morgana the Fallen embodies the darkness, questioning the justice her sister, Kayle, proclaims. She has a relatively basic, but effective kit, essentially preventing crowd control from enemies in the hands of a skilled player.
Why this champion is good:
- Her E, Black Shield, is the bane of every crowd control reliant champion. She can protect her allies from key abilities by dispelling crowd control effects.
- Her ultimate, Soul Shackles, is a good teamfight ability, especially if used with Stopwatch or Zhonya’s Hourglass for a multi-person stun.
- Her other skills are basic and easy to use. Her W, Tormented Soil, is good for harass and clearing minions.
- Her Q, Dark Binding, is a snare that lasts for quite a bit.
- She has decent sustain with her passive, allowing her to heal for a percentage of the damage dealt to large monsters, champions, and large minions
7) Vi
Winrate: 52.99% (jungle)
Vi, the Piltover Enforcer, is the police...without guns. She punches you to death with her giant hextech gauntlets. Escape is impossible, as she will chase you down with her ult and introduce your face to the floor.
Why this champion is good:
- Her ultimate, Assault and Battery, is extremely fun to use. She can use this to target and chase down the backline, knocking the frontline out of her way. She is also immune to crowd control during this time. This is great for ganks and isolating targets.
- Her passive grants her a shield whenever her activated abilities damage an enemy champion.
- Because of her W, Denting Blows, every third auto attack deals percentage health damage, reduces armor, and grants attack speed.
- Her E, Excessive Force, acts as an auto attack resetter, allowing you to auto attack twice in quick succession
- Her Q is good crowd control as you can knock an enemy back, interrupting channels and isolating them.
6) Sona
Winrate: 53.27% (support)
Sona, Maven of the Strings, is a mute player of the instrument called etwahl, using sound vibrations to slice through her enemies. She is an easy-to-play, well-rounded support with a varied kit, dealing damage, healing, and providing a large AOE stun with her ult.
Why this champion is good:
- Easy lock-on damaging spell that focuses champions, along with an auto attack buff that lets her deal even more damage. Good harass, especially against low elo players.
- Multitarget heal and shield, along with an auto attack buff that causes damage reduction in enemies. Good for shutting down enemy carries.
- Multitarget movement speed boost, which is helpful getting to and away from teamfights. The auto attack buff allows her to slow an enemy.
- Her ult is a powerful AOE stun that can initiate team fights or be used as peel for allies.
5) Jinx
Winrate: 53.46% (ADC)
Jinx, the Loose Cannon, opens up a whole new can of crazy on Summoner’s Rift, touting machine guns and giant rockets. She can be an incredibly powerful ADC, especially in the late game, shredding through health bars and turrets.
Why this champion is good:
- She snowballs incredibly well. Her passive, Get Excited, grants her extra movement and attack speed on champion and turret takedown, giving her additional pushing power or allowing her to shred through teamfights.
- Her global ultimate, Super Mega Death Rocket, is useful in multiple situations. She can help teamfights from afar, snipe kills, or even steal objectives.
- Her Q, Switcheroo, allows her to build up attack speed with her Fishbones autos. When she switches to her rockets, the attack speed stacks slowly fall off one by one, allowing a quick, temporary bombardment of rockets.
- Her rockets can be used with Runaan’s Hurricane to send out three rockets at a time. This is great AOE damage for team fights and clearing out minions.
4) Sivir
Winrate: 53.60% (ADC)
Sivir, the Battle Mistress, is a mercenary with the blood of Azir, Emperor of Shurima, running through her veins. She is a great team fighter, using her ultimate to speedily chase down enemies and bouncing her boomerang between enemies for additional AOE damage.
Why this champion is good:
- Her E, Spell Shield, completely blocks one enemy ability, refunding mana. This can be used to prevent engages and allow her to stay safe.
- Her W, Ricochet, is a powerful teamfight tool, allowing her to attack the entire enemy team if they are grouped close enough. If her first attack with Ricochet is critical, the subsequent bounces are critical as well.
- Her ultimate, On The Hunt, is incredibly versatile, allowing her to speed up herself and her allies to teamfights, objectives, or even escape.
- Though she is an old champion, she is very powerful when used correctly, especially on this patch.
3) Zilean
Winrate: 53.69% (Mid)
Zilean, the Chronokeeper, is a temporal mage. Detached from the timeline of the mortal plane, he can speed up his friends, slow enemies, and even revive allies.
Why this champion is good:
- His time bombs are great for harass and dealing AOE damage. If two land on top of each other, they explode, dealing additional damage and providing a large AOE stun. This is very useful in teamfights and providing self peel.
- He can drastically slow down enemies to isolate them, making them easier targets for his time bombs and his allies.
- His ultimate is the most useful part of his kit and the main reason why people play Zilean: It acts as a revive for the target ally. Similar to the Guardian Angel Item in the game, any ally champion with Zilean’s ult on it will revive when killed. He can choose to keep himself alive, or save a friend for the sake of the team.
2) Janna
Winrate: 53.72% (Support)
Janna, the Storm’s Fury, is a mystical wind elemental that protects the poor of Runeterra. As a support, she protects herself and her team very well if used correctly, spamming shields, tornadoes, and the occasional healing monsoon.
Why this champion is good:
- She has an amazing shield that also grants her shielded target with bonus attack damage. This skill can also be used on turrets.
- Her tornado, Howling Gale, is amazing for defense. Any assassin that tries to jump on you can be knocked up with a quick tornado, allowing your teammates to retaliate or get away to safety.
- Her W, Zephyr, can help lock down fleeing enemy champions by slowing them. Its passive also grants her bonus movement speed.
- Her ultimate, Monsoon, is the ultimate disengage for your team. If they are caught in an unfavorable fight, you can push away all enemies around you and heal your wounded teammates for a few seconds. If used correctly, this skill can even save the game from being lost.
1) Nunu and Willump
Winrate: 53.80% (Jungle)
Nunu and Willump, the Boy and His Yeti, are the best friends any summoner can dream of. This champion is very fun to play as he stampedes around, rolling a giant snowball into his enemies...or into a wall. Oops. This champion surprisingly has the highest win rate this patch, which may be from his incredibly powerful level 2 gank and ability to snowball other lanes (pun intended).
Why this champion is good:
- Incredible sustain from his Q, Consume. This allows him to have a healthy jungle clear, as well staying topped off during team fights and while taking objectives, such as Dragon or Baron.
- His W, Biggest Snowball Ever! is an incredible tool for level 2 ganks. You can even roll in from behind the enemy’s turret for a surprise. If the snowball lands, you are rewarded with a surprising amount of damage and knocking up those you hit.
- His E, Snowball Barrage, allows Nunu to throw snowballs, slowing those he hits. This can be reactivated up to two times for no cost. After that, Willump roots enemies around him, allowing his team to clean up the fight.
- His ultimate, Absolute Zero, can be absolutely deadly if used correctly. If the two are hidden inside a bush, this zone is completely invisible until the spell ends, dealing massive AOE damage to all enemies caught inside the zone.
You may also be interested in:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/lol-best-support-champions
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/15-best-lol-skins-look-freakin-awesome
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/lol-best-junglers
