Analyze This: How Viable Are Tournament Picks in Solo Queue

by Hexadecimal on October 11, 2012

If you've been watching the World Championship you've probably noticed that certain champions are always picked or banned. You might ask yourself: should I be playing these champions in solo queue? Here at LolKing we've used our data to help answer that question. The World Championship statistics used in this article can be found here.

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Ezreal - “Time for a true display of skill!”

World Championship

• Picked or banned in 88% of all games
• Has a 47% win rate

Solo Queue

• Picked or banned in 93% of all games
• Averages a 55% win rate

Ezreal has established himself as a dominant AD carry in both competitive play and solo queue for awhile now. His strength comes from his mobility and ability to win trades. Some might say that he's overpowered and lead content designer Morello seems to agree with that sentiment. Recently he stated in a red post that Ezreal will be nerfed "after the world finals."

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Jayce - “I fight for a brighter tomorrow.”

World Championship

• Picked or banned in 82% of all games
• Has a 64% win rate

Solo Queue

• Picked or banned in 43% of all games
• Averages a 51% win rate

Jayce fits perfectly in the current top lane metagame. He's able to harass melee champions out of lane as well as output tons of damage. He has a safe laning phase because of the utility and range in his skill set. This utility is transferred over to team fights where he can use Acceleration Gate to help his team catch or escape from enemies. His Shock Blast ability makes him a great addition to poke comps that we see in competitive play. With all that being said, he can still lose his lane. In the World Championship we saw Irelia used quite often as a counter pick to Jayce because of her high sustain and ability to gap close.

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Shen - “A demonstration of superior judgement.”

World Championship

• Picked or banned in 77% of all games
• Has a 33% win rate

Solo Queue

• Picked or banned in 97% of all games
• Averages a 48% win rate

Shen's viability comes almost entirely from his ultimate. It allows him to affect team fights no matter where he is on the map. This makes him one of the best split pushers in the game. In a competitive setting, where teams are extremely coordinated, split pushing can be executed more effectively and defended against properly. In solo queue, where teams are often disorganized, it's more difficult to not only split push, but also to defend against a Shen. This frustrating nature of dealing with Shen is probably why he's banned and picked so often.

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Alistar - “You can't milk those."

World Championship

• Picked or banned in 73% of all games
• Has a 40% win rate

Solo Queue

• Picked or banned in 86% of all games
• Averages a 45% win rate

Alistar is most often played as a jungler. He's known for his ability to snowball lanes with his amazing early ganks. He's able to absorb tons of damage in team fights because of his ultimate. However, being a jungler centered around ganking does come with its disadvantages. His clear speed is relatively slow and he can start to fall behind if he doesn't execute successful ganks early on. This susceptibility to falling behind makes him a prime target for counter jungling by the enemy.

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Sona - “A symphony of justice.”

World Championship

• Picked or banned in 73% of all games
• Has an impressive 77% win rate

Solo Queue

• Picked or banned in 29% of all games
• She averages a 54% win rate

Sona brings a lot as a support. She has the ability to harass with her high early game damage that escalates to kill potential once she hits level 6. She brings great utility in the form of auras. Her ultimate's ability to win team fights is unrivaled by any other support and is one of the biggest reasons why she's picked so often in competitive play. All of this comes at a cost though; Sona is extremely squishy and can be focused down. She has to be played with an emphasis on smart decision making and positioning.