Every season, new patches change the landscape of the competitive League of Legends scene. New champions quickly rise to 100% pick/ban rates, while others fall into obscurity. With the Juggernauts in full force since the World Championships and many marksmen being reworked, a whole new set will be viable by the time the next season begins. In the meantime, lets take a look at the most popular champion played in each position throughout the summer 2015 regular season. All leagues will be taken into account, minus the LPL, due to statistic constraints.
Top: Maokai
Maokai was the most played top champion by a long shot, with 317 games played throughout the season. He was also the 5th most popular overall champion during this same period. The tree was picked or banned 61.8% of the time, but how did he perform? The Twisted Treant won 52.1% of the games he was picked in, which is very good for a champion that was played in such a large amount of games. His great summer was seemingly ruined by the arrival of the top juggernauts though; he was picked only 3 times at the World Championships, and lost all 3 of those games. The future isn’t looking good for Maokai, and it looks like he’ll be disposed of like many a Christmas tree come next year.
Jungle: Gragas
Gragas, or Fatty Tub-Tub as my duo-queue partner insists on calling him, was another champion who was picked in a bunch of games and proved his worth. He was the second most played champion in all of competitive League, with 342 games played, and ended up with a 53.2% win-rate. It seems that junglers all around the world were extremely comfortable picking the Rabble Rouser, judging by his 83.1% pick/ban rate. He went into Worlds being second to Elise in win rate (with 50+ games played), but ended up underperforming, finishing with a 44.8%. They say it’s always happy hour somewhere, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for the big-bellied barrel bombardier.
Mid: Viktor
How glorious it was to see Viktor finally arrive on the pro scene. After years of being forgotten, or considered “not viable” because of his lack of an item slot, the rift finally experienced the revolution. The only thing is, he didn’t do so hot. Even though he seemed to be many mid laners go to champion because of his insane wave-clear and burst damage, Viktor only won 43.4% of his 251 games. He was so underwhelming that he was hardly banned, with only 12.2% of teams bothering to take him away from the enemy. Compare this number to Azir’s 40.9% ban rate, and you’ll see the real story behind Viktor’s high-pick rate: what do I pick if Azir’s banned? This trend continued at Worlds, with the Machine Herald being a top 3 mid in popularity, but only seeing a 1.4% ban rate and a sub-optimal win rate of 47.1%. I won’t even mention that Azir won 71.4% of the games he was picked in and is the more dominant champion in every aspect of the game. Whoops.
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AD Carry: Sivir
In 49.1% of competitive League games over the summer, Sivir was present, throwing boomerangs and running straight at your whole team. Pretty much half of ALL games. The only thing that bugs me about that is that Sivir is one of the most boring champions I have ever played, or have ever watched someone play. There are no resets, one skill-shot that is pretty easy to hit, and her ultimate ability just makes everyone run fast. Needless to say, I hated that Sivir was such an efficient wave-clearer that she was almost a mandatory pick. She was so good she ended up with a 56.6% win rate, which is pretty ridiculous. With all the marksmen reworks being live for the next competitive season, I’m hoping we’ll see a lot less of this champion, but it’s hard to argue that she straight up wins games. Did I mention I hate how short her range is? #StopSivir2015
Support: Alistar
One of the OG champions got a lot of love this summer, being the most played champion in all of League of Legends. He was played in 350 games, and won exactly 50% of them. If that doesn’t show how balance of a champ the cow is, I don’t know what will. He had a pick/ban rate of 79.3%, proving that the old champions can still compete with the new, shinier, polished champions. Nothing could slow this bull down, not even the juggernauts. He stampeded into Worlds and once again was the most played support, ending the tournament with a, you guessed it, 50% win rate. I don’t see Alistar being picked any less frequently or underperforming in the near future, as he is one of the most consistent champions in the game, always reminding the opponent that if you mess with the bull, you get the horns.
