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7 OP champion picks in League’s pre-season
Want to gain MMR quickly this pre-season? Check out these seven overpowered champion picks.
The League of Legends pre-season is always full of surprising and interesting buffs. It shakes up the entire balance of the game. During this pre-season Riot removed the old mastery and rune system and combined them into one. While some champions are yet to be figured out, most of them already have a great set rune path available. In this article we’ll line-up the strongest seven for you to exploit in your solo queue games and quickly gain some ELO while counter measures aren’t quite locked down yet. We cover every single role, so there'll always be one or two picks for you to choose from.
Good luck! Most of these picks require a little practice, but as soon as you've played a few games you should see a good increase in your win rate. Remember, it’s pre-season, so a lot can still change. Try to experiment with new stuff – it might work. Winning your lane is more important than ever and you can snowball with almost any champion now. See this list as a starting point for your win rate, and the sky's the limit.
Ezreal
The Arcane ADC
© Riot Games
Ezreal had a rough couple of months in the bot lane. During Worlds he wasn’t able to abuse the Ardent Censer meta, which is why he was only picked in the jungle. His early game there was great, but if he failed to snowball he had trouble having an impact on the game. All of that has changed now with the new rune Kleptomancy. This rune will give you a random consumable after hitting your opponent with an auto attack after a spell; since Ezreal’s Q procs on hit effects, it means that he gets so many consumables that he has a hard time using them. Imagine going into lane and never leaving before you get your item breakpoint of choice. Since all the old runes are gone, Ezreal’s early game Q poke hits like a truck. It’s fairly easy to poke your enemies down or take short trades while the free pots keep you around full health and mana. The consumables can also drop gold, which makes hitting early item breakpoints like a Trinity Force even easier.
Sona
The Musical Support
© Riot Games
Sona’s always been a bit squishy, but she hasn’t been effective now for a while either. She runs out of mana quickly and has had a hard time stacking up against other utility supports recently. Luckily for her, the pre-season changed everything. With the old runes gone, so is the ADC’s early magic resist. Combine this with Aery, the new keystone mastery for poke supports, and she does a lot of damage. In the early stages of the game Sona can push both the enemy ADC and support out of lane while keeping her ADC healthy, which snowballs heavily in her favour the longer the game drags on.
Malzahar
The Void Prince
© Riot Games
Malzahar was in a great spot before the pre-season. He was picked multiple times in Worlds. His damage his great and he forces his opponents to build a Quicksilver stash to avoid his ult. Even when he isn’t fed, he’s always able to lock down an enemy in a teamfight. The void prince is also great at shredding tanks. With early game magic resist done, his shredding power has increased exponentially. The best keystone for him is Arcane Comet, which hurls a comet at the target after hitting them with a spell or an ability. Killing someone at level six has never been more easy for Malzahar than it is now; opponents will melt if you hit all of your spells plus a voidling or two.
Maokai
The Twisted Tree
© Riot Games
Maokai is still one of the tankiest champions in the game. In lane his passive provides great sustain and combined with a Doran’s Shield, no champion is going to push him out if he doesn’t want them to. Grasp of the Undying also makes it even easier to survive the laning phase against carry champions. Remember, his job is to survive the laning phase without dying or losing too far behind in CS. In team fights, look for key targets like the enemy mid laner or ADC and lock them down. Games snowball a lot quicker now, so if you decide to pick him up, try to teleport to the bot lane as often as possible for those juicy double kills. If you manage to get ahead in lane, it’s the end of days for your opponent, since no one will be able to kill you in the late game.
Xin Zhao
The Duelist
© Riot Games
Xin has seen a steady increase in his win rate since his rework. His new ultimate is great at splitting up teamfights and picking off carries, but the new keystone rune, Press the Attack, is what makes him truly overpowered right now. After three hits, Press the Attack makes a target vulnerable, and since Xin Zhao’s kit is all about attack speed, it procs almost every single time. After finishing the Warrior’s enchantment for the jungler item and getting a trinity force, Xin becomes an unstoppable threat. He’ll be able to solo anyone in the game with good use of his abilities. The Relentless Hunter rune, which gives bonus movement speed after killing opponents, also makes it easy for Xin to reach the backline.
Rammus
The Armadillo
© Riot Games
Rammus is terrorising solo queue at the moment. You can build him in a couple of different ways; Predator for the extra movement speed to reach targets easier, or Graps of the Undying for extra damage and sustain. Another interesting and strong keystone is Aftershock, which delivers AOE damage after immobilizing an opponent. Paired with Rammus CC heavy kit, it creates good opportunities for ganking and brings that extra little damage to the table if needed to finish opponents off. Normally Rammus doesn’t exact a lot of damage, but since the removal of armour and magic resist runes and high base damage, he really does pack a punch in the early stages of the game.
Taric
The Jewel Knight
© Riot Games
Right now, Taric is almost unkillable in the early game, largely due to Riot electing to give him 30 extra base armour in the pre-season patch. The armour plus the ability to heal makes him really difficult to punish in the lane. Taric also does a reasonable amount of damage if paired with Grasp of the Undying or Aftershock. When he’s able to get on top of an ADC and stun him, in most cases the ADC is done for. Before the pre-season, Taric could be countered by taking ranged supports that can poke him down. This is still the case, but it doesn’t matter so much because if Taric decides to turn around and go all-in on the enemy bot lane he’ll most likely come out on top.
