So as Season 4 winds into its close, a lot of you are still grinding out for that last bit of ranked, while others of you have either achieved or accepted your fate and are looking for some new champions to play.
Running out of ideas? Check out some of these champs below!
Sleeper OP [adj \ˈslē-pər\(ˈ)ō\ˈpē\] - Term used to describe a champion that is very strong, but unacknowledged by the majority of the League of Legends community or simply underplayed.
Top Lane
Galio - Despite currently being in Tier 3 for solo queue, Galio represents a niche pick worth learning. Top lane is currently shifting heavily towards AP-based champions such as Rumble, Ryze, and Swain. While Galio can still hold his own against AD champions, he also does exceedingly well as a CC bot while poking down these low mobility champions. This combined with his passive AP increase through magic resist stacking and in-lane sustain/free stats from his shield make him extremely strong.
Malphite - As a champion with low out-play potential but high aggression, Malphite tends to be one of those "low-elo" pub stompers that actually does exceedingly well late game in high Elos too. As long as you understand champion skills and what can be used to juke your ultimate, his ultimate is an absolute game changer, and his built-in shield gives him high sustaining power even in a losing lane.
Mid Lane
Malzahar - Malzahar's damage ratios are absolutely insane, clocking in at 80% AP ratios on his Q and E, and 130% on his ultimate. This combined with the fact that he gets innate percentage based damage through his W means that not only can he annihilate any squishy he pleases, but even tanks fall quickly to his damage potential. His laning phase is extremely simple, and can be played aggressively trying to land Qs or simply waveclear and roam.Jungle
Nautilus - I think most of the "popular" junglers are actually some of the stronger ones in the game. However, Nautilus has one of the lowest play rates at the moment and is extremely powerful with his undodgable AOE CCs, chase, and lockdown abilities. His damage also scales with health, which keeps him relevant throughout the entire game simply by building some common core giant belt items.Support
Vel'koz - Vel'koz is gaining popularity, but is still extremely underplayed as a support champion. Several pros have been picking him up, but as he doesn't fit into a normal "support" meta, many people have trouble ascertaining his worth. However, his base damage is absolutely incredible, and building a few simple magic penetration items can net him and/or his AD carry kills from exceedingly long range via his ultimate.
BZZZZZZZZZ
Zyra - With melee supports falling out of favor and the rise of Janna + Sona, these burst type AP mages are starting to do much better. While they can still lose lane, champions like Zyra have the ability to snowball with very few items, often leading their team in damage done to enemy champions simply through her obnoxiously strong plant generation. Zyra also fulfills the role of a utility mage; although her cooldowns are higher than Vel'koz, her margin of error is much wider as she has two longer range CC tools.
AD Carry
Ashe - With all of Riot's nerfs to "mobility" champions as of late, Ashe is actually very strong right now. Her range is second only to Caitlyn at level one, she's the only marksman with a reliable AOE poke, and her ultimate (as it's always been), is a serious game-changer. I think that this combined with the recent nerfs on Tristana and Lucian will quickly escalate her up, especially since as an auto-attack heavy champion the attack speed changes from a few patches ago are exceedingly beneficial, if unnoticed on her.
Got more sleeper OP champions? Had success with the above? Comment below!
Got more sleeper OP champions? Had success with the above? Comment below!