Ranked Champion Bans for Preseason 3

by Ashelia on January 30, 2013

All of the new changes introduced to League of Legends have altered the familiar puzzle of champ select that we've grown accustomed to in Season 2. New champions have emerged as dominant picks while others have faded away into obscurity. What better way to help you put the pieces together than to see what high elo players are banning in ranked. For a more in depth analysis we've taken the liberty of breaking them down by region.

All Regions

The common fears throughout the regions are global ultimates, assassins, aoe abilities, and early gankers. We've broken down the data with some analysis of what's consistent across all three regions:

• Evelynn's been a reoccurring pain in everyone's neck ever since her remake. After the nerfs to her in Season 2 she did become weaker, but still remained very much viable. The changes to Deathfire Grasp in Season 3 brought her back in full force and soon everyone was yelling "Evelynn OP, Riot pls!". Well, Riot must have heard because recently she got nerfed - hard. She's now a shadow of her former self and seems to be dropping in ban popularity. However, she's already made her mark statistically as well as in the nightmare's of summoner's across the world.
• There seems to be one champion that's been bugging summoner's lately. Kha'Zix is picked or banned in almost every game whether it be ranked or professional tournaments. The problem isn't just that he has tons of damage, but that he has 900 ranged leap that resets on kills or assists. Combine that with the 1 second stealth of his ultimate he can toggle and it's extremely difficult to lock him down.
• Oh you just outplayed the enemy and are going to get a kill? Let me shield him and completely turn around the fight. Shen was a strong pick in Season 2, but he's become stronger with the remake to Warmog's Armor. Health is now cheaper while other resistances have become more expensive. This is a welcomed change for Shen since two of his abilities scale off of health. He's the gold standard for split pushing - a strategy nobody likes to deal with in a solo queue situation.
• Beep Boop. Two words that haunt summoner's throughout the Fields of Justice. Blitzcrank is unique in his ability to completely change team fights into his favor. The fact that one misstep by a player can result in instant death is something few want to deal with. Although he received recent nerfs people seem to think he's ban worthy. How can you blame them? His level 1 invades alone are godlike.
• If a sad mummy asks you for a hug, run. Amumu has been demolishing Season 3 in both ranked and professional tournaments. Having a massive two second aoe stun can win team fights. His Despair, which does damage based on the enemy's max health, is even more useful now that stacking health has become common place. His ability to tank, lock down targets, while still dishing out damage makes him one of the best utility junglers in the game.
• Malphite's another champion with amazing team fighting abilities that summoner's have been banning. He can be played in a variety of positions, but is most commonly found top or in the jungle. He epitomizes everything AD carries hate in one giant rock. An ultimate with 1000 range that can't be interrupted? Good luck trying to stop that. It's not bad enough that he knocks you in the air for 1.5 seconds, but once you come back down he'll slow your attack speed by 50%.
• Blindness is no impairment for a smelly enemy. Well, there must be some stinky summoner's because all regions have been banning Lee Sin. He has the tools needed to deal with the now tougher jungle camps while still applying his famous early game pressure. The recent nerfs haven't seem to have much of an affect on him either. His high mobility makes him not only one of the most fun champions to play, but also one of the most frustrating to play against.
• Shaco has been forcing people to fearfully hug their turrets for awhile now. He's arguably one of the best gankers in the entire game. Although he's notorious for falling off late game, that won't matter if all his teammates are fed. He is going to be receiving a nerf soon in order to relieve some of this early pressure and we'll have to see if this affects people's decision to ban him.
• Katarina has been considered one of the strongest champions ever since her remake. It all comes from her ability to team fight. One death from your teammate and before you know it she'll be jumping around your team slicing everyone to pieces. She will be receiving some upcoming nerfs, but nothing too serious.

North America

North America seems to be scared of two things: robots and card players. Twisted Fate is banned much more often in North America than in other regions. Can you really blame them though? He's one of the best gankers in the game. All he has to do is walk a few steps towards your lane and he's in range to stun you. It takes extreme map awareness to play against him. Wards do very little against him except maybe buy you an extra second to react. He's been a dominant pick throughout past seasons and is still commonly seen in professional play. The NA scene also bans Blitzcrank more often than its respective counterparts. In all likelihood to avoid those early jungle invades and ability to catch opponents.

Europe West

Europe West seems to have a touch of Arachnophobia judging by how often they ban Elise.Elise is one of the biggest lane bullies in the game. Her ability to harass down opponents make her a great choice top lane where there are often melee bruisers. She also great base damage on her abilities thanks to the fact that they do damage based on a percentage of the enemy's health. This allows her to build tanky while still outputting the damage needed to kill opponents.

Europe Nordic & East

Despite being much lower in other regions, Malphite is the top ban in EU-NE for this month.To their credit Malphite does have amazing initiation. His team fight presence, as well as the attack speed debuff he can inflinct on enemies, makes him a potent choice. It's extremely difficult to play against Malphite because of how hard it is to dodge his 1000 range ultimate. He's one of the best tanks in the game and can also pack quite the punch if he builds AP.

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