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5 of the best League of Legends champions to climb to Challenger with
The new League of Legends season is about to start, and that means it’s time to start the ladder climb to Challenger again. We run down the must-pick champions to help you on your ascent.
A new year, a new League of Legends season and a new challenge in front of you: the ladder climb up the ranks to Challenger. Of course, any ascent up the ranks is a challenging process – it wouldn’t be easy, would it? – but to help out, we’ve selected some of the top champions at present for you to main that'll help you on your journey to reach that coveted Challenger rank. Ready?
First things, though: there are multiple things that you should consider before picking out a main. The first thing is your role. You should pick the role that you're most comfortable climbing the ranks with, and after that you should think about the carry potential of the different champions. For example, a fed Darius is going to have more impact in a game than a fed Ivern.
The last thing to note is your previous rank, and your ability to learn a champion. If you’re a Bronze player, it’s probably best if you stay away from mechanically intensive champions like Yasuo and Zed, and pick easier champions in order to focus on improving the rest of your mechanics. A good way to check if a champion is strong is to check their overall win rate and match-ups. It does seem like a lot of work to figure out a champion that is the right fit for you, but don’t worry, we’ve done most of the work for you. Find a champion that fits your style and start the climb.
Cassiopeia
The snake is back, but not where you expect her to be. Cassio is a menace in the top lane, specifically good against bruisers. With her W, Miasma, she’s able to keep her enemies at bay while dishing out damage in return. However, Cassiopeia is difficult to pick up and play. There are multiple things that you should know before trying her out in ranked.
First up is her ability to dodge ganks: since Cassiopeia can’t buy boots, and she doesn’t have any movement ability, you should always be extremely wary of ganks. It’s also extremely important that you know how to kite, in order to maximise her effectiveness. Cooldown tracking of the opponent is important too, since you’ll need to know when the enemy laner has the option to engage on you so you can throw out your W in time. Still, once you’re up to speed with her, working your way up the ladder should be a slightly easier challenge.
Lucian
The Gunslinger
© Riot Games
With the introduction of turret plating, the laning phase is more important than ever. And lane bullies like Lucian shine in extended laning phases. The marksman shimmers the most in match-ups against slow starters like Twitch and Vayne, which creates opportunities to chip away at the turret for some extra gold, making him a great pick.
Lucian is easy to learn, but extremely difficult to master. His abilities combo into each other well, but it’s important to know when to use each combo to maximise his DPS and survivability. The longer the game goes on, the more difficult it becomes to carry with Lucian, because his range is quite short compared to other champions and he is blown up easily by fed assassins and mages. So, stay back and focus on the front line, while your allies do the rest.
Brand
Burn Everything
© Riot Games
Most supports win their lane by helping their AD Carry do well or get kills. Brand is different, as he gets the kills for himself. It’s not rare to see an end-of-the-game damage graph with a support Brand sitting on top – testament to his raw power. His damage is insane and perfect for solo queue, while he’s also easy to pick up: all you need to do is hit your stun and follow up with your W, Sear. If you manage to hit your rotation a few times, your enemies will either head back with low health or respawn in the fountain because you killed them.
Brand scales well too: after picking up a few items, he becomes a big threat in teamfights making him a great pick. The only thing that you have to watch out for is dying in the early and mid game, as Brand is fairly squishy which means he is an easy target for ganks. Make sure you don’t overextend with him too much, and you’ll be farming all of those League Points in no time.
Zilean
The Chomo-mage
© Riot Games
Don’t mess with the mage with the beard; the Chronokeeper is a potent pick. Post level six, Zilean becomes almost impossible to kill in lane, which is why he is a great counter to AD assassins and burst mages. Before level six, however, Zilean’s a bit tricky, since his wave clear is quite mana intensive and you’ll be quite an easy target for ganks. His strength lies in late-game team fighting though, and his great wave clear – plus landing a double Q, Timb Bomb, while stacking Ability Power gives your team a chance to finish off the kill.
If someone else makes a mistake and gets picked off, you can give them a chance to do it all over again by reviving them – League is a team game, after all. The time mage might not seem that strong when you first pick him up, but after some practice you’ll know exactly when to use your rewind for maximal effectiveness. At this point you become unstoppable, and so will your team.
Nunu & Willump
The Yeti Rider
© Riot Games
After Nunu’s gameplay update, plenty of players didn’t think the duo were strong. The Boy and his Yeti had quite a few issues regarding the visibility of Nunu’s snowball on the minimap, which was also visible to the enemy team. Now that the duo have been buffed and other junglers have been toned down, it’s their time to shine. Nunu clears the jungle at a rapid pace, has great gank potential with his snowball and is ideal for securing objectives thanks to Willump’s consume ability.
Nunu’s goal is to make the enemy jungler’s life miserable by stealing their camps and constantly invading. While in the enemy jungle, it’s easy to start up rolling your snowball and gank from an unexpected route to secure some kills on enemy laners. Nunu is extremely easy to pick up, but his snowball movement requires some practice – but soon enough, you’ll be killing creeps and securing objectives in no time.
Ready for solo queue?
All five of these champions have some form of carry potential: Nunu makes it easy to secure Baron and he can buff your team-mates, Lucian and Cassio can both carry games by themselves, and Zilean and Brand are both great autofill champions that don’t require that much experience in order to be effective. So, practice hard and good luck next season – with these picks, you’ll be in Challenger soon enough.
