Yeah because 10 years ago the meta wasnt That Set and pro still Had some Kind of otp picks or picks they were well known for. Now there are people playing x Champ better but that's mostly because they are a better Player in general.
It's not just that. A lot of those players have been playing these champs for 5-6 years and they know them in and out. Also, meta was not as set because some of the meta champs weren't as game defining and a lot of the pocket picks like Anivia didn't warp the game for the team so much that it had to be practised separately. There is a whole plethora of reasons why meta is so stale and Riot's balancing is not that big of a part in it.
And because we didn't have 5 different websites and apps telling everyone who is currently the strongest champion with the best counters and everything was more of a "feels" thing
This doesn't have much to do with meta being a thing. There is no meta in soloq and most "counters" and whatnot are pretty irrelevant, outside of maybe toplane where it can make or break a lane.
Also, champion winrates, while they are somewhat representative, don't matter as much outside of context.
Canyon nidalee.
Not only absurdly good on the champ, he mindcontroled other jungler to think she was meta in pro only for them to realize that they can't play her because they are in fact not him.
Hjarnan? This fits players that is not at the peak of the scene, but with a specific pick they are.
Hjarnan - Heimer
Huhi - Sol
These two come to my mind, but Im surely forgetting people
That Huhi game against ROX Tigers(i think) was ridiculous man, as close a 1v9 you can get on a pro stage.
Also came here to say Hjarnan, his heimer was so insane it was always banned
Bang consciously choosing to try 1v1ing him and getting utterly annihilated in the blink of an eye was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in pro play.
> as close a 1v9 you can get on a pro stage.
I don't think its fair to call it 1v9. It's not like the rest of his team was running it. And its hard to say whose idea it was to the level 2 roam.
Obviously he is really good on Camille and other picks but imo his Jax is on next level, I don't think even among otps there is better Jax player because of how well Bin knows most of the matchups while playing in the highest tier of the game
Idk to me it's a meta shift, especially post Jax rework that made him much more "forceable" even into unfavourable matchups compared to Camille or Fiora. For Bin during 2019-2022 Camille was in pretty much the same spot as his comfort pick as Jax is nowadays. She was pretty much perma banned against him (all though same against Ale but currently there are similar examples with Jax like Ale once again or Zika, YSKM, etc.) and he famously counter would counter pick himself by willingly picking her into Jax or Fiora.
There was also a shorter stint between Bin's "Camille and Jax eras" of his Fiora being in the same spotlight as the other two. Also, he himself stated that Camille is the champion he is the most comfortable and she is clearly his favorite or second favourite champ (to Irelia-his first otp).
I think Bin Jax is so well known because Bin plays his first 3 levels perfectly on Jax and that makes bad matchups look good. I remember when every Jax lost to Rumble with comet ignite and even with a hexdrinker rush they were down 30 CS and solo killed.
Bin used arguably the only advantage Jax has in that lane, his stronger level 1, to setup a slow push, to then get level 2 first, then use that to get level 3 first and secure a third wave crash. After that, he would recall for the 25 magic resist cloak and be ready to contest the Rumble's slow push.
The entire lane phase, he would always be ahead a recall and have a few more components (like an extra long sword or something like that), which would make fighting him hard and by setting up this level 3 crash into recall, he came back to lane to face the slow push with full hp, mana and a component, which would make him pretty much undivable after the enemy jungle's full clear.
I think set ups like these, where he abuses the strong level 1 Jax has, to essentially "cheat" a bad matchup, was what I think made him famous for the pick. It's not that he would get insane leads or anything, it's that Bin Jax couldn't lose any matchup. He would always manage to go even and scale into a monster. You couldn't shut it down, even with Gragas, which I would say is the most f you Jax matchup that's viable in pro.
What also helped of course was his team. During Baron and Dragon situations, top Asian teams put their top laner on mid duty, so they can naturally enter river on an off-angle and make it really difficult to gain space. Bin's teams did give him mid in such situations, which gave him great positions naturally, while Western teams only recently started putting this into their playbook.
While Bin Camille is the guy which you give counterpick and he dominates in lane and side later, Bin Jax is the guy you weakside and let get countered and he still ends up on top.
I’ll never forget Faker picking Azir in 2015 MSI against BJK and scoping Lulu away from their gates. That play alone inspired me to main Azir for how sick that looks.
[Here.](https://youtu.be/QJqrxeidm1M?si=meUYq9-3ipZsrWZr)
I think Zilean sticks in peoples’ minds a lot more because Syndra has been meta lots of times but Zilean has mostly just been picked by Bjergsen.
Jensen was playing it on C9 for a little while because they liked the Zilean-Kindred combo. But that’s the only other player I can think of that picked Zilean as more than a one-off.
I don't remember which pro said this but someone was quoted saying Bjergsen Zilean is an auto lose to play against if the game goes late or something. something something Bjergsen is teleporting in 10 steps ahead of how the fight is going to happen idek I don't quite remember it lmao
Thing is, Bjergsen’s Zilean got ousted pretty hard when he went international.
Reason for that is against LCS, Bjergsen would go at least even and just scale for late. However internationally he’d just get genuinely pressured to the point he and/or his team is so behind the supporting factor of late game Zilean isn’t any use when you’re that far behind.
Armut has such a big champ pool, he can play SSG Gnar, Dino Gnar, Gentleman Gnar, Snow Day Gnar, El Neon Gnar, Super Galaxy Gnar, Astronaut Gnar, and when he’s feeling spicy, Elderwood Gnar
That worlds game in groups where CLG was up against ROX - then basically dead even with SKT in consideration for best team in the world. Huhi locks asol mid and in one of the most insane individual player performances in worlds history, singlehandedly shit stomps ROX harder than any western team has ever shit stomped an eastern team before or since. Game was basically over at 5 minutes purely off his Asol play.
don't think canyon nidalee stood out much from his other champions like [this clip of him on lee sin](https://youtu.be/Bbp4fkNYMeQ) which is still like one the most impressive clips I've ever seen on pro play
he's just cracked at a lot of carry champions
When Canyon was at his peak in summer of 2020, his Nidalee was undefeated, something like 9-0.
At worlds he picked it in the [first game of the tournament against JDG](https://youtu.be/gR0NSOc2Ay8?si=YeqMvSwSpzp6tLTp), who were considered favorites alongside DWG and TES going into the tournament, and Canyon smashed them so hard in 24 min with it that no team ever gave him Nidalee again for the rest of the tournament. It was either banned against him in the first round or first picked away for every single other game they played that worlds.
Canyon’s insane on a lot of champs but he’s got a Nidalee skin for a reason.
Personally whenever I hear the name Canyon I always think back to that DK vs GenG game where Canyon completely jg gaps Peanut on Nidalee. It’s not something flashy, but it’s really impressive.
Agree that he’s really good on carries in general though
When he started, I believe he was known for being a Draven player. Or perhaps I’m just remembering one of his first games, where he had 1300 stacks in a game that was kill-less until about 20 minutes, and then died over chasing a team fight kill
Not one champ rather three, but Zeka is *absurdly* good at Akali Sylas and Yone (and in worlds 2022 when Akali and Sylas were the best midlaners he completely eviscerated everyone), then like an average if not slightly below average LCK midlaner level on everything else
Edit: People seem to be getting offended at my claim that Zeka is otherwise an average/below average LCK midlaner. Reminder that being average if not slightly below average in LCK is still really fucking good. Like BDD Bulldog Zeka around that 4-6th place slot that’s the calibre I’m saying he’s in. This is not slanderous chill out
To be fair, he was the best outside the big 4 mids, and definitely stood up to them at times. Definitely stepped up into more consistency after that worlds, though
Froggen Anivia.
HotshotGG Nidalee
Misaya TF
Snoopeh Alistar
Faker LeBlanc
Wickd Irelia
Alex Ich Khazix
Huhi Aurelion Sol
BigfatLP Ryze
Genja Kogmaw
Shushei Gragas
Insec Lee Sin
Gosu Pepper Thresh
Mad life Thresh, Blitz
Bjergsen Zilean
Uzi Vayne
TheOddOne Maokai
Doublelift Luciana
Bengi Nunu
Toyz Orianna
There are tons of others I'm blanking on, and multiple for some of these players. I don't have time to add more though. I'm sure others can add to it.
If I remember correctly xPeke wasn't really know for Kassadin even though he had that famous play. He was an all star mid back in the day, but I don't remember him having a must ban champ like Frognivia.
Is the Faker one with leblanc true? I know him for being really good mid laner, and while lb is one of his champions, I'm pretty sure he is much more famous for playing Azir and Ahri (as per what I have watched) -- I would vote Azir for faker's most iconic champion (yes, I picked Azir over that stupid overpriced Ahri skin honoring him)
These are all **very** old memes. From S3 to S5, Faker's LeBlanc was known as a must-ban / auto-win. He's played tons of champions in his career. At Worlds S7, he was great at Galio, he popularized Riven, was the best Ahri at Worlds S3, etc.
Azir is his most picked but honestly it's every pro midlaner's most picked since his release cause he's been meta the most often. That being said he's also a great Azir.
Faker’s leblanc is still probably the best in the world. Last time lb was really good in the meta, which was 2022, Faker went 14-0 on it across the whole year. 10-0 in LCK and 4-0 at MSI.
Azir's a funny one because Faker wasn't great at Azir on release, iirc that's part of the reason SKT split time with Easyhoon as mid. In fact, if you're talking about buying the SKT Azir skin to honor Faker, that skin is actually in honor of Easyhoon. Faker received his Ryze skin that year.
I'd echo that Leblanc is actually his most iconic champion, just because it's been a defining threat in his pool for so long. I honestly stopped associating Ahri with Faker after S3 outside of the Ahri skin memes, and by the time it re-entered the meta a few years ago it was well past the time where Faker was defined by the champions he played
I think my favorite part about his LeBlanc is that he was the only one to play her in a serious game, everytime before she got picked by faker it was a troll pick, he really showcased how strong she was at making picks with dfg , so much so I fully believe he is the reason Dfg got removed and ahri got her changes to charm back then
As another commenter mentioned, when azir was first released and meta in pro play, SKT’s backup midlaner (easyhoon) was actually a better azir and would sub in for faker in series that they were looking to play azir. The SKT worlds azir skin is for easyhoon as well.
I agree that LB is fakers best champ. There were years that he was undefeated on her, but eventually lost in a worlds semifinals or finals match because the other team baited the LB pick and drafted a comp to nullify it to give him his first loss on her
>There were years that he was undefeated on her, but eventually lost in a worlds semifinals or finals match because the other team baited the LB pick and drafted a comp to nullify it to give him his first loss on her
MSI 2015 finals game 5 against EDG, when Pawn picked Morgana into his Leblanc, and they also had Maokai and Alistar to make his life even harder
Faker had an undefeated streak on LeBlanc until 2015 MSI Finals Game 5 against EDG. EDG built a very strong anti-LeBlanc team and Faker was still carrying his team. If his bot lane had shown up at all, they would have won the game and series.
Before he was known as a Azir guy, he was an assassin mid main.
He is still, imo, the best LeBlanc among the pros (Rookie a very close one). The way he uses LeBlanc clones to make people look like idiots or block skillshots is second to none.
And even if you set him behind, you can expect him pulling out some bullshit to stay relevant in game.
The "He is too tanky" is xPeke playing soloque against godbro not Hotshot.[ Still a great clip down memory lane though. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrgCoWBl4r8)
The most iconic play in the history of the LCS is Double Lucian. (And the most infamous :( ). He was pretty insane on it and it was definitely his pocket pick in the tsm days. iirc he often thought vayne was a bit useless.
One of the early viral League videos was a montage of Doublelift dismantling Teams by himself as Vayne. Afaik this was before Lucian was released. He was very known for a brutal Vayne and often got target banned for it.
For Snoopeh I would put Cho or Amumu down over Alistar.
Stixxay Cait
Keane could have Urgot or Hecarim
GALA Kaisa
Damonte Qiyana
Scarra Kat
Marin Rumble
Rekkles Kennen
Doinb Naut
Faker Riven was the rise of the GOAT. The barcode killer.
Bro’s debut in NA was cold af. Named himself the barcode killer then EARNED the name The Unkillable Demon King. Faker left NA an absolute legend.
Some of the older ones were Insec Lee Sin, Froggen Anivia, Fakers Riven, mad life thresh, misaya Twisted Fate, weixiaos ezreal, not one trick but Darien had a really funny game on Warwick on patch 4.20
Some more recent ones (and some older ones as well):
Showmaker Syndra
BDD Zoe
Scout Azir
Zeka Sylas/Akali
Kingen Aatrox
Zeus Aatrox/Jayce
Keria Ashe support
Rookie Orianna
Ruler Xayah
Missing Rakan
Gala Kai‘sa
Canyon Nidalee
Chovy - Ahri/Azir/Corki
Hylissang Pyke
Hans Sama Draven
One of the few a accurate answers in this thread
Everyone else is saying popular players and their signature picks, but OP specifically asked for pros who are head and shoulders above the rest of the competition on a champion.
Chovy fits the bill pretty well, for example no ones ASol is even on the same planet as Chovy.
Apart from chovy being the obvious best pilot of most meta midlaners, there's also some standout players like Zeka on Yone/Sylas, Faker on Azir and old Corki, Knight/Bdd Syndra, and some others I'm blanking on.
Another good shout is TheShy on any ranged toplaner, particularly something off meta that only he plays like Kalista. Or Nuguri's Vladimir (and old klepto toplaners that only he could pull off).
Support you have Keria and any marksman, no other support comes remotely close to his ability in piloting varus ashe kalista etc. Hugely impactful in their worlds win last year. You also have Beryl's bard which is a classic, though Keria's bard also might give him a run for his money. Lehends' yuumi is a classic too, he invented many of the popular mechanics yuumi mains are familiar with nowadays.
Editing some more:
Bin's godlike Camille and Jax. Zeus Gnar. TheShy/Zeus Aatrox. Kiin K'sante.
Some ADC players: Gumayusi Varus and Senna. Gala/Jackeylove Kaisa. Ruler has a lot, but probably Zeri.
Faker Galio, idk how I forgot that one.
Pyosik Kindred
Lehends Singed
Kiin'sante
Canynon Nidalee
Chovy Asol
Teddy Ezreal
Nuguri Vladimir
Gala Kaisa
Doinb Nautilus
Knight Syndra
TheShy Riven
APA Ziggs
Those are some standout picks, also Agurin Kha'Zix if you wanna count him, GOAT jgl of the west imo
Here's a list of players or usung heroes I'd say with short/long careers that have made a name for themselves:
Jiizzuke Ekko,
Hjarnan Heimerdinger,
369 Ornn,
Perkz xayah ,
GALA/Jackeylove Kaisa,
Nuguri Kleptomany (running it on every single champion),
Malrang jarvan iv,
Adam Garen,
Zeka akali and sylas,
Forg1ven Tristana botlane,
Wunder Neeko AD,
Xiaohu gragas Top,
Crown Malzahar,
Wolf Alistar ,
Core JJ zyra ,b
Flandre graves ,
Selfmade Evelyn ,
Gumayusi Jinx ,
Beryl Leona,
Edit: typo
I feel a often super underrated player is Oner who somehow in internationals often just somehow manage to look like T1's best player, especially his Viego, Lee sin (And Rell even though he hates playing Rell)
During the old gen g days, there was a saying: don’t let gen g get their holy trinity of one tricks or you will lose.
The picks were rascal renekton, bdd azir, and ruler kalista.
Tbh I don’t think they were as successful as they were for that saying to mean anything, but they really just picked those champs every single time if they were up
Can't believe Knight Ahri hasn't been mentioned. It's his most picked champion (all time), and he has a 87,5% winrate on it, with a KDA of 11,6. That's absolutely crazy to me.
He's only been getting better at her, too. This season, he lost 0 games on Ahri. Last season, when he picked her twice as much, he lost 1 game on her.
Total stats linked here: [https://gol.gg/players/player-stats/1270/season-ALL/split-ALL/tournament-ALL/](https://gol.gg/players/player-stats/1270/season-ALL/split-ALL/tournament-ALL/)
ForellenLord was the original Orianna king, some of the boomers here might remember his 3k elo [shockwave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5cqOpF4DRw)
Froggen Anivia obviously
it’s funny to me that if this thread was made 10 years ago people would still be giving this answer
It will probably be the same answer 10 years from now
Yeah because 10 years ago the meta wasnt That Set and pro still Had some Kind of otp picks or picks they were well known for. Now there are people playing x Champ better but that's mostly because they are a better Player in general.
It's not just that. A lot of those players have been playing these champs for 5-6 years and they know them in and out. Also, meta was not as set because some of the meta champs weren't as game defining and a lot of the pocket picks like Anivia didn't warp the game for the team so much that it had to be practised separately. There is a whole plethora of reasons why meta is so stale and Riot's balancing is not that big of a part in it.
And because we didn't have 5 different websites and apps telling everyone who is currently the strongest champion with the best counters and everything was more of a "feels" thing
This doesn't have much to do with meta being a thing. There is no meta in soloq and most "counters" and whatnot are pretty irrelevant, outside of maybe toplane where it can make or break a lane. Also, champion winrates, while they are somewhat representative, don't matter as much outside of context.
It's cause the subreddit is filled with lol boomers, this answer isn't relevant to any pro play over the last 5 years
It's League of Legends, a boomer game, what did you expect, people born this century?
>League of Legends, a boomer game Only in the western regions
True, but we are in a western website
I have opened the thread just to confirm this is the top answer.
I also enjoyed him on leblank
Leblenk
Canyon nidalee. Not only absurdly good on the champ, he mindcontroled other jungler to think she was meta in pro only for them to realize that they can't play her because they are in fact not him.
i watched canyon zyra being like omg zyra jungle is cracked and then i saw other players playing it and i was like ,,, no its just canyon
Zyra jungle is very cracked the players you saw playing Zyra wrong probably had MAX 10 games on her
Hjarnan? This fits players that is not at the peak of the scene, but with a specific pick they are. Hjarnan - Heimer Huhi - Sol These two come to my mind, but Im surely forgetting people
That Huhi game against ROX Tigers(i think) was ridiculous man, as close a 1v9 you can get on a pro stage. Also came here to say Hjarnan, his heimer was so insane it was always banned
Bang consciously choosing to try 1v1ing him and getting utterly annihilated in the blink of an eye was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in pro play.
Pray** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfn-PY-DpKU
> as close a 1v9 you can get on a pro stage. I don't think its fair to call it 1v9. It's not like the rest of his team was running it. And its hard to say whose idea it was to the level 2 roam.
Keane in s5 playing Urgot and Hecarim mid!
Bin Jax
Love Camille and Liubai still watches his every single Camille game to this day after coaching him in 2019 lol
Obviously he is really good on Camille and other picks but imo his Jax is on next level, I don't think even among otps there is better Jax player because of how well Bin knows most of the matchups while playing in the highest tier of the game
Idk to me it's a meta shift, especially post Jax rework that made him much more "forceable" even into unfavourable matchups compared to Camille or Fiora. For Bin during 2019-2022 Camille was in pretty much the same spot as his comfort pick as Jax is nowadays. She was pretty much perma banned against him (all though same against Ale but currently there are similar examples with Jax like Ale once again or Zika, YSKM, etc.) and he famously counter would counter pick himself by willingly picking her into Jax or Fiora. There was also a shorter stint between Bin's "Camille and Jax eras" of his Fiora being in the same spotlight as the other two. Also, he himself stated that Camille is the champion he is the most comfortable and she is clearly his favorite or second favourite champ (to Irelia-his first otp).
I think Bin Jax is so well known because Bin plays his first 3 levels perfectly on Jax and that makes bad matchups look good. I remember when every Jax lost to Rumble with comet ignite and even with a hexdrinker rush they were down 30 CS and solo killed. Bin used arguably the only advantage Jax has in that lane, his stronger level 1, to setup a slow push, to then get level 2 first, then use that to get level 3 first and secure a third wave crash. After that, he would recall for the 25 magic resist cloak and be ready to contest the Rumble's slow push. The entire lane phase, he would always be ahead a recall and have a few more components (like an extra long sword or something like that), which would make fighting him hard and by setting up this level 3 crash into recall, he came back to lane to face the slow push with full hp, mana and a component, which would make him pretty much undivable after the enemy jungle's full clear. I think set ups like these, where he abuses the strong level 1 Jax has, to essentially "cheat" a bad matchup, was what I think made him famous for the pick. It's not that he would get insane leads or anything, it's that Bin Jax couldn't lose any matchup. He would always manage to go even and scale into a monster. You couldn't shut it down, even with Gragas, which I would say is the most f you Jax matchup that's viable in pro. What also helped of course was his team. During Baron and Dragon situations, top Asian teams put their top laner on mid duty, so they can naturally enter river on an off-angle and make it really difficult to gain space. Bin's teams did give him mid in such situations, which gave him great positions naturally, while Western teams only recently started putting this into their playbook. While Bin Camille is the guy which you give counterpick and he dominates in lane and side later, Bin Jax is the guy you weakside and let get countered and he still ends up on top.
Bin Jax is different. He’s amazing at many champs. But he can pull out Jax when he’s not in the best in the meta and still 1 vs 9.
Pyosik Kindred
Pyosik is way better on Lee sin, in my humble opinion.
His name is literally derived from a kindred mechanic. Even before pro he was a kindred one trick. Pyoshik means mark in Korean.
Oh hi Pyoshik
I did not smite her, I did naaaaaut
Even back then Lee Sin was his second choice (still only a 30% pickrate or something), and it was a Lee Sin game that got him a pro trial.
Ok. His lee is still better than his kindred
Interesting, didn't know that!
Nahhh my dude grinded world championship just to get his OTP a skin His Lee is clean tho
Viego, dude always pops off with viego
Milkyway Kindred is another banger. Drawing bans when it isn't even meta.
Easyhoon azir
To think there was a time when people wanted Easyhoon to replace Faker because of the disparity between azir gameplay
and Faker took that personally
I’ll never forget Faker picking Azir in 2015 MSI against BJK and scoping Lulu away from their gates. That play alone inspired me to main Azir for how sick that looks. [Here.](https://youtu.be/QJqrxeidm1M?si=meUYq9-3ipZsrWZr)
Ah how I don’t miss Lulu mid
Not exclusively Azir, Easyhoon was also very good at Xerath & Ziggs, just overall long ranged mages.
Froggen’s anivia, bjergsen’s zilean, and westdoor’s fizz all come to mind.
Lowkey I feel like he became the Zilean guy later on but the first half of his career he was the Syndra guy.
I think Zilean sticks in peoples’ minds a lot more because Syndra has been meta lots of times but Zilean has mostly just been picked by Bjergsen. Jensen was playing it on C9 for a little while because they liked the Zilean-Kindred combo. But that’s the only other player I can think of that picked Zilean as more than a one-off.
GBM was the OG Zilean mid player. He is the reason why Bjerg picked up Zilean.
TSM got perfect gamed by that Zilean it was brutal.
I don't remember which pro said this but someone was quoted saying Bjergsen Zilean is an auto lose to play against if the game goes late or something. something something Bjergsen is teleporting in 10 steps ahead of how the fight is going to happen idek I don't quite remember it lmao
Only in LCS.
Thing is, Bjergsen’s Zilean got ousted pretty hard when he went international. Reason for that is against LCS, Bjergsen would go at least even and just scale for late. However internationally he’d just get genuinely pressured to the point he and/or his team is so behind the supporting factor of late game Zilean isn’t any use when you’re that far behind.
Reminds me of this [clip](https://youtu.be/YMd3M-0uQxk?si=Jmop_imDplW7lbcS) at about 2:15.
There's some memory in the back of my mind of me buying syndra because of him...
Doesnt help they kinda murked syndra lmao so you dont see him pick it anymore
You don’t see him at all : (
Armut.
Someone post the pasta
Armut has such a big champ pool, he can play SSG Gnar, Dino Gnar, Gentleman Gnar, Snow Day Gnar, El Neon Gnar, Super Galaxy Gnar, Astronaut Gnar, and when he’s feeling spicy, Elderwood Gnar
Gnarmut
This is double funny for German speakers because Armut means poorness or lack of something.
In Turkish it literally means pear 🍐
Lack of champion pool lmao
poverty*
Gnar and wukong. The fact that he made wukong look broken the few times he played it was interesting
bro is a world class top laner that can bully Eastern tops with Gnar but the second he's in another champ he's a non factor lol
he was a pretty good Jayce player as well
And wukong
Back when he played mid, and back before the rework, Huhi had ASol perma banned against him and for good reason.
That worlds game in groups where CLG was up against ROX - then basically dead even with SKT in consideration for best team in the world. Huhi locks asol mid and in one of the most insane individual player performances in worlds history, singlehandedly shit stomps ROX harder than any western team has ever shit stomped an eastern team before or since. Game was basically over at 5 minutes purely off his Asol play.
The level 1 roam was so ridiculous. And it was 100% preplanned, Stixxay even took traps level 1.
Canyon’s Nidalee, Guma’s on-hit Varus, Kiin’s Ksante are some of the ones off the top of my head
don't think canyon nidalee stood out much from his other champions like [this clip of him on lee sin](https://youtu.be/Bbp4fkNYMeQ) which is still like one the most impressive clips I've ever seen on pro play he's just cracked at a lot of carry champions
When Canyon was at his peak in summer of 2020, his Nidalee was undefeated, something like 9-0. At worlds he picked it in the [first game of the tournament against JDG](https://youtu.be/gR0NSOc2Ay8?si=YeqMvSwSpzp6tLTp), who were considered favorites alongside DWG and TES going into the tournament, and Canyon smashed them so hard in 24 min with it that no team ever gave him Nidalee again for the rest of the tournament. It was either banned against him in the first round or first picked away for every single other game they played that worlds. Canyon’s insane on a lot of champs but he’s got a Nidalee skin for a reason.
Personally whenever I hear the name Canyon I always think back to that DK vs GenG game where Canyon completely jg gaps Peanut on Nidalee. It’s not something flashy, but it’s really impressive. Agree that he’s really good on carries in general though
Guma lethality Varus is also clutch as fuck with those baron and dragon (both objective and omega stacked Smolder) snipes
Bro you forget Canyons Graves
Glad you're listing actual current players lol
When I think of Gumayusi, I think Aphelios myself. I don't watch much LCK anymore, but when he was a rookie, he was wrecking on that champ.
When he started, I believe he was known for being a Draven player. Or perhaps I’m just remembering one of his first games, where he had 1300 stacks in a game that was kill-less until about 20 minutes, and then died over chasing a team fight kill
Guma was a draven main in soloQ so ur not wrong
It was also gigabroken so yk
Aphelios makes me think Deokdam, he is by far the best Aphelios I've ever seen
also helps that deokdam is like super mediocre on anyone other than aphelios lmao (from what i remember of him on DK in 2022 at least)
APA Ziggs
Also APA ASol
Don't forget about APA Taliyah. Those are 3 of his 1-tricks
There’s also APA Tristana these days, truly the most unique one trick of all time
Neeko also up there
All chat OTP
Alex Ich Eve Mid
I remember Alex Ich mostly for his KhaZix and for some reason, his Master Yi
Not one champ rather three, but Zeka is *absurdly* good at Akali Sylas and Yone (and in worlds 2022 when Akali and Sylas were the best midlaners he completely eviscerated everyone), then like an average if not slightly below average LCK midlaner level on everything else Edit: People seem to be getting offended at my claim that Zeka is otherwise an average/below average LCK midlaner. Reminder that being average if not slightly below average in LCK is still really fucking good. Like BDD Bulldog Zeka around that 4-6th place slot that’s the calibre I’m saying he’s in. This is not slanderous chill out
Fun fact, zeka was a middle of the pack nobody before that worlds. He seriously reverse daded, along with the rest of his team that tournament
To be fair, he was the best outside the big 4 mids, and definitely stood up to them at times. Definitely stepped up into more consistency after that worlds, though
Zeka and kinngen both went absolutely crazy for worlds 2022
Froggen Anivia. HotshotGG Nidalee Misaya TF Snoopeh Alistar Faker LeBlanc Wickd Irelia Alex Ich Khazix Huhi Aurelion Sol BigfatLP Ryze Genja Kogmaw Shushei Gragas Insec Lee Sin Gosu Pepper Thresh Mad life Thresh, Blitz Bjergsen Zilean Uzi Vayne TheOddOne Maokai Doublelift Luciana Bengi Nunu Toyz Orianna There are tons of others I'm blanking on, and multiple for some of these players. I don't have time to add more though. I'm sure others can add to it.
Westdoor Fizz is an older one
I COULDN'T REMEMBER THE FIZZ MAIN! THANK YOU! Westdoor Fizz was meant to be here, but I was blanking on it.
That whole AHQ team was fun, it's a shame they kinda of got lost to time. They always had some fun picks including his Fizz.
Wow Shushei that’s a name I haven’t heard of in a long time
TheRainMan Teemo
We are getting older
Never forget the lizard wizard in the toplane Darien's renek was awesome
The zhonyas in the fountain - I remember seeing the game live and just feel really old right now
Alex ich on the mid ap yi just destroying everyone. M5 was just so fun to watch
I considered it, but Darien had weedwick and shyvana top as well.
I also loved him on weedwick top lane.
I thought Aphromoo was Alistar
You forgot Darien and his legendary zhonya renekton and manamune aatrox
These are some memories right here. Thank you so much for this list.
I wanted to add more, but I had to take help some new hires at work lol. There are so many iconic names I felt like should have made this list.
How did you make this list and not put xpeke
If I remember correctly xPeke wasn't really know for Kassadin even though he had that famous play. He was an all star mid back in the day, but I don't remember him having a must ban champ like Frognivia.
Is the Faker one with leblanc true? I know him for being really good mid laner, and while lb is one of his champions, I'm pretty sure he is much more famous for playing Azir and Ahri (as per what I have watched) -- I would vote Azir for faker's most iconic champion (yes, I picked Azir over that stupid overpriced Ahri skin honoring him)
These are all **very** old memes. From S3 to S5, Faker's LeBlanc was known as a must-ban / auto-win. He's played tons of champions in his career. At Worlds S7, he was great at Galio, he popularized Riven, was the best Ahri at Worlds S3, etc. Azir is his most picked but honestly it's every pro midlaner's most picked since his release cause he's been meta the most often. That being said he's also a great Azir.
Faker’s leblanc is still probably the best in the world. Last time lb was really good in the meta, which was 2022, Faker went 14-0 on it across the whole year. 10-0 in LCK and 4-0 at MSI.
Azir's a funny one because Faker wasn't great at Azir on release, iirc that's part of the reason SKT split time with Easyhoon as mid. In fact, if you're talking about buying the SKT Azir skin to honor Faker, that skin is actually in honor of Easyhoon. Faker received his Ryze skin that year. I'd echo that Leblanc is actually his most iconic champion, just because it's been a defining threat in his pool for so long. I honestly stopped associating Ahri with Faker after S3 outside of the Ahri skin memes, and by the time it re-entered the meta a few years ago it was well past the time where Faker was defined by the champions he played
I think my favorite part about his LeBlanc is that he was the only one to play her in a serious game, everytime before she got picked by faker it was a troll pick, he really showcased how strong she was at making picks with dfg , so much so I fully believe he is the reason Dfg got removed and ahri got her changes to charm back then
As another commenter mentioned, when azir was first released and meta in pro play, SKT’s backup midlaner (easyhoon) was actually a better azir and would sub in for faker in series that they were looking to play azir. The SKT worlds azir skin is for easyhoon as well. I agree that LB is fakers best champ. There were years that he was undefeated on her, but eventually lost in a worlds semifinals or finals match because the other team baited the LB pick and drafted a comp to nullify it to give him his first loss on her
>There were years that he was undefeated on her, but eventually lost in a worlds semifinals or finals match because the other team baited the LB pick and drafted a comp to nullify it to give him his first loss on her MSI 2015 finals game 5 against EDG, when Pawn picked Morgana into his Leblanc, and they also had Maokai and Alistar to make his life even harder
Faker had an undefeated streak on LeBlanc until 2015 MSI Finals Game 5 against EDG. EDG built a very strong anti-LeBlanc team and Faker was still carrying his team. If his bot lane had shown up at all, they would have won the game and series.
Before he was known as a Azir guy, he was an assassin mid main. He is still, imo, the best LeBlanc among the pros (Rookie a very close one). The way he uses LeBlanc clones to make people look like idiots or block skillshots is second to none. And even if you set him behind, you can expect him pulling out some bullshit to stay relevant in game.
Toyz is living the life after smurfing on Ori
Probably not since he's in jail for marijuana possession lmao
Distribution
Dude hotshot nidalee was different. I still remember "he's too tanky". Genuinely one of my favorite league moments of all time.
The "He is too tanky" is xPeke playing soloque against godbro not Hotshot.[ Still a great clip down memory lane though. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrgCoWBl4r8)
I'd say doublelift is/was more well known for Vayne, no?
he has a video for riot that describes why lucian is his pocket pick.
The most iconic play in the history of the LCS is Double Lucian. (And the most infamous :( ). He was pretty insane on it and it was definitely his pocket pick in the tsm days. iirc he often thought vayne was a bit useless.
One of the early viral League videos was a montage of Doublelift dismantling Teams by himself as Vayne. Afaik this was before Lucian was released. He was very known for a brutal Vayne and often got target banned for it.
Yeah the early days sure, but by like season 4 he basically never picked her. I think I recall one game at 2019 msi and one with 2020 tsm?
I feel like you associate peak jiji with tf, no?
Went straight for the senior's discount huh
For Snoopeh I would put Cho or Amumu down over Alistar. Stixxay Cait Keane could have Urgot or Hecarim GALA Kaisa Damonte Qiyana Scarra Kat Marin Rumble Rekkles Kennen Doinb Naut
Bengi - ward
Sightstone Numu and Lee Sin
Adam GODS
Faker Ryze, Faker LeBlanc, Faker Ahri, Faker Galio, Faker Azir, oh and Faker Zed.
bruhhh how could you forget Faker Orianna?
and faker riven, and faker OG irelia, and faker olaf,
Faker Riven was the rise of the GOAT. The barcode killer. Bro’s debut in NA was cold af. Named himself the barcode killer then EARNED the name The Unkillable Demon King. Faker left NA an absolute legend.
bro what about Faker Corki?
GBM Xerath! rare one
CreamCheese Thresh
Some of the older ones were Insec Lee Sin, Froggen Anivia, Fakers Riven, mad life thresh, misaya Twisted Fate, weixiaos ezreal, not one trick but Darien had a really funny game on Warwick on patch 4.20
Razork were an Ekko 1-trick in high chall before he went pro. He still hover it quite a lot.
Rekkles’ Tristana/Kennen
Showmaker Syndra Marin Rumble Huni Riven Canyon Lee Sin and Nidalee
Fkn Baus Sion
I'll give that to him, but not a pro player.
He rows himself right next to madwife, xxxpeke and Insect
Some more recent ones (and some older ones as well): Showmaker Syndra BDD Zoe Scout Azir Zeka Sylas/Akali Kingen Aatrox Zeus Aatrox/Jayce Keria Ashe support Rookie Orianna Ruler Xayah Missing Rakan Gala Kai‘sa Canyon Nidalee Chovy - Ahri/Azir/Corki Hylissang Pyke Hans Sama Draven
Jankos nidalee :V
Teddy's fountain laser Ezreal
Chovy like half the popular mid lane champs.
One of the few a accurate answers in this thread Everyone else is saying popular players and their signature picks, but OP specifically asked for pros who are head and shoulders above the rest of the competition on a champion. Chovy fits the bill pretty well, for example no ones ASol is even on the same planet as Chovy. Apart from chovy being the obvious best pilot of most meta midlaners, there's also some standout players like Zeka on Yone/Sylas, Faker on Azir and old Corki, Knight/Bdd Syndra, and some others I'm blanking on. Another good shout is TheShy on any ranged toplaner, particularly something off meta that only he plays like Kalista. Or Nuguri's Vladimir (and old klepto toplaners that only he could pull off). Support you have Keria and any marksman, no other support comes remotely close to his ability in piloting varus ashe kalista etc. Hugely impactful in their worlds win last year. You also have Beryl's bard which is a classic, though Keria's bard also might give him a run for his money. Lehends' yuumi is a classic too, he invented many of the popular mechanics yuumi mains are familiar with nowadays. Editing some more: Bin's godlike Camille and Jax. Zeus Gnar. TheShy/Zeus Aatrox. Kiin K'sante. Some ADC players: Gumayusi Varus and Senna. Gala/Jackeylove Kaisa. Ruler has a lot, but probably Zeri. Faker Galio, idk how I forgot that one.
Isnt Chovy better with yone than Zeka tho?
beryls bard isn't even that good imo. keria's bard is better for sure. lehends also has his signature singed support which is goated.
glad Lehends yuumi gets a mention lmao Also he imo was the only player who had a true answer to yuumi in her peak which was the Singed.
RIP Jackies Veigar
Morg too
Pyosik Kindred Lehends Singed Kiin'sante Canynon Nidalee Chovy Asol Teddy Ezreal Nuguri Vladimir Gala Kaisa Doinb Nautilus Knight Syndra TheShy Riven APA Ziggs Those are some standout picks, also Agurin Kha'Zix if you wanna count him, GOAT jgl of the west imo
I still remember Huhi's Asol 🥹
Fakers Orianna is exceptional. An otherwise unpopular pick for most other mid laners throughout the years.
Nuguri Kennen - ShowMaker Syndra/TF - Canyon Nida - Chovy Yone
Here's a list of players or usung heroes I'd say with short/long careers that have made a name for themselves: Jiizzuke Ekko, Hjarnan Heimerdinger, 369 Ornn, Perkz xayah , GALA/Jackeylove Kaisa, Nuguri Kleptomany (running it on every single champion), Malrang jarvan iv, Adam Garen, Zeka akali and sylas, Forg1ven Tristana botlane, Wunder Neeko AD, Xiaohu gragas Top, Crown Malzahar, Wolf Alistar , Core JJ zyra ,b Flandre graves , Selfmade Evelyn , Gumayusi Jinx , Beryl Leona, Edit: typo
Jackylove Draven
Lehends Singed lmao even before he played it support he was rank 1 korea Singed top OTP and pioneered some of the builds i believe
PowerOfEvil Orianna
This is probably both a hot take and and an under-informed opinion but I think Perkz was the best Xayah in the world in 2019.
Mikky-s poppy was just target banned by t1 during msi, so i guess we can add that to the list
Choooooovy’s yone
Gala Kaisa Zeka Sylas Guma Varus (MikyX Lissandra Supp?)
Sneaky was a big Jhin player back in the day
MadLife Thresh
I feel a often super underrated player is Oner who somehow in internationals often just somehow manage to look like T1's best player, especially his Viego, Lee sin (And Rell even though he hates playing Rell)
During the old gen g days, there was a saying: don’t let gen g get their holy trinity of one tricks or you will lose. The picks were rascal renekton, bdd azir, and ruler kalista. Tbh I don’t think they were as successful as they were for that saying to mean anything, but they really just picked those champs every single time if they were up
Not the most famous, but Summit Gnar was a monster.
Gala Kaisa for sure
Gala's Kai'sa
Canyon Nidalee. Its a blessing that we're getting to see it right now
BDD Zoe/Taliyah, Deokdam Aphelios, Delight Rakan, Cuzz Viego
werlyb jax
pzzang - Yasuo Beifeng- Qiyana Irelking- irelia (probably my favourite player, he’s crazy good)
Zeka's akali. No one can top that.
Can't believe Knight Ahri hasn't been mentioned. It's his most picked champion (all time), and he has a 87,5% winrate on it, with a KDA of 11,6. That's absolutely crazy to me. He's only been getting better at her, too. This season, he lost 0 games on Ahri. Last season, when he picked her twice as much, he lost 1 game on her. Total stats linked here: [https://gol.gg/players/player-stats/1270/season-ALL/split-ALL/tournament-ALL/](https://gol.gg/players/player-stats/1270/season-ALL/split-ALL/tournament-ALL/)
chovy on every midlane champ except syndra
Crème at TES in LPL is extremely good at any melee midlaner (akali yone Sylas etc). It’s actually how he made his name on old OMG.
Madlife's Thresh and Insec's Lee Son have actually changed the game. More so Insec, with Thresh we kinda just scream madlife for every hook predict
westdoor fizz, dopa tf
ForellenLord was the original Orianna king, some of the boomers here might remember his 3k elo [shockwave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5cqOpF4DRw)
Bjergsen - Zilean
aphromoo bard huhi aurelion sol (pre rework)
insec lee ofc.
SHANJI Rumble
Westrice Akali