The most impactful champions of Worlds 2014

Riot·10/21/2014, 5:51:51 AM·0 votes·70,110 views

The 2014 World Championship was a faster-paced game than LCS viewers may be used to, thanks to the dominant of high-octane teams like Samsung Galaxy White and OMG. While the average 2014 LCS Summer Split game lasted about 40 minutes, the average game time for Quarterfinalists onwards was just over 35 minutes. This fast pace changed the champion pool, bringing out mid-game dominant champions, with a preference towards AoE damage, mobility, and tower siege.

Top

Rumble (13-12, 16 bans, 2.82 KDA)

Rumble is a team fighting god thanks to his high damage in the mid-game. The Equalizer changes the very nature of team-fighting in a way that few other abilities can, almost guaranteeing control over early dragons. This early strength makes him a strong pocket pick against aggressive fight-oriented teams, especially the Chinese powerhouses OMG and Star Horn Royal Club. Ackerman's clutch Equalizer against OMG puts out massive damage onto three targets, forcing out OMG's heal, and allowing LMQ to follow up with a huge teamfight. In the late game, even the threat of Rumble's ultimate makes a huge difference in how games have to be played. TSM used Rumble against Star Horn Royal Club to great effect, dropping The Equalizer in a 4v5 dragon fight not for damage, but for the sheer zoning potential. This forced Caitlyn, Ryze, and Fizz to back off, thus turning the fight into a temporary 4v2 in their favor. By the time the carries of Royal Club could join the fight, WildTurtle had finally arrived, and cleaned up a triple kill with Tristana, thanks to the damage TSM had already done.

Honorable Mention

Maokai (17-10, 45 bans, 3.95 KDA) Maokai is not the most exciting top laner, but his impact at Worlds cannot be understated. He is quite strong even with just Rod of Ages, while providing heavy CC for initiation, picks, or peel, making him a solid fit for almost any composition. This versatility made him a consistent red side ban or blue side first-pick. Ryze (20-14, 31 bans, 2.69 KDA) Ryze is one of the strongest late-game carries in League of Legends thanks to high, consistent damage on top of tankiness from itemization. His mid-game AoE is not to be underestimated, and his ultimate gives him a surprising amount of mobility.

Jungle

Rengar (12-2, 19 bans, 5.74 KDA)

Just looking at the stats, you might think Rengar a niche pick. He only saw 19 bans and 14 picks, which pales in comparison to Lee Sin (29 bans and 43 picks) or Kha'Zix (8 bans and 57 picks). However, Rengar was only seen in the hands of the best, with only Spirit, inSec, Clearlove, and Dandy picking him more than once. As the tournament went on and the truly elite junglers faced off, he became more and more of a contested champ, being picked or banned in every game throughout the Semifinals and Final. Rengar’s ability to bypass wards and champions - coming out of nowhere to inflict massive damage - is what made him such a threat. Ultimately, Rengar does what Nocturne never could: induce paranoia. What room is there for ADCs in a world where they are the prey and Rengar is the hunter? In game 4 of the finals, Star Horn Royal Club even see Rengar cross a pink ward, but are unable to stop him from diving instantly onto Tristana and melting her.

Honorable Mention

Lee Sin (24-19, 29 bans, 3.69 KDA) Lee Sin was one of the most heavily prioritized junglers thanks to his early game pressure, going 17-11 in games that ended by the 40-minute mark, yet 5-8 in games that went on beyond 40 minutes. His multiple gap closers, AoE slow, and AoE knockback allows him to make a number of flashy initiations.

Mid

Jayce (7-5, 8 bans, 4.20 KDA)

With games being shorter and action being faster, what made Jayce special was his combination of long range and mobility. This allowed him to exert pressure on other lanes, then quickly return to his own lane. Jayce start churning out damage before he even gets into a lane, while his mobility and knockback make him less vulnerable while roaming through the enemy jungle. Essentially, Jayce doesn’t have to give up very much to roam. His ability to help his team without sacrificing on his own allows his team to contest multiple objectives without giving up pressure elsewhere.

Honorable Mention

Orianna (14-13, 5 bans, 3.30 KDA) Orianna has been the generic safe mid lane pick for years, with few bad matchups thanks to her Command: Protect, strong teamfights with Shockwave, and the ability to play offensively or defensively depending on the needs of the team. She doesn’t have the same roaming power as Jayce, but she makes up for it with strong mid-game teamfights, similar to Rumble. Yasuo (10-5, 15 bans, 4.44 KDA) Yasuo, on the other hand, plays very aggressively, following up on plays by diving in, literally. His high burst makes him a teamfight monster, if he can survive the laning phase against ranged poke.

AD Carry

Twitch

Much like Rengar, Twitch is extremely difficult to master, but deadly in the right hands. Teams named Samsung managed a 13-1 record with Twitch and Royal Club’s Uzi went 2-1, but the remaining Worlds players struggled to a 2-5 record on the sewer rat. Much like Rengar, he does a little -- or perhaps a lot -- of everything. His stealth and slow allows him to assist in making picks, while his ultimate makes him an absolute monster in late-game teamfights. However, the best Twitch players get the most out of his stealth, using it not only to disengage, but also to turn back unexpectedly on their opponents. While he may not have a dash to bring to bear, his stealth and his slow can make similar plays, with both allowing him to either slip away or chase harder. Most importantly, once he has Blade of the Ruined King, his damage skyrockets, and he can combine the active of Blade of the Ruined King with his stealth and slow to make plays all game long.

Honorable Mention

Corki (12-10, 0 bans, 4.00 KDA) Corki starts the game off strong, with high burst and poke that allows him to dominate lane. Come mid-game, he upgrades his poke, raining down rockets on the enemy team to soften them up. He may fall off in the late game, but on such a fast-paced stage, it hardly matters. Lucian (23-21, 16 bans, 4.11 KDA) Lucian is the Orianna of ADCs, safe to pick into almost every matchup. His strong laning allows him to bully opponents away from farm, while his strong mid-game tower damage allows him to put the nail in the coffin against hyper-carries who are trying to scale into the late game by taking objective after objective.

Support

Janna (17-11, 9 bans, 5.43 KDA)

Coming into the 2014 World Championship, Najin White Shield's Gorilla said he wanted to show the world the power of Janna. Unfortunately for him, it would seem the world beat him to the punch, and he only played the champion once. She may not be as flashy as Thresh, but the bonus AD on her Shield is incredibly valuable. On a hyper-carry, the shield allows them to hit their late-game power spike earlier, while her many peel tools keep them alive. On the other hand, on a more aggressive carry, that same kit can be used to enable aggressive plays, while giving a mid-game carry additional scaling. In the early-mid game, the Janna shield can give any AD Carry strong damage despite their lack of items:

Honorable Mention

Thresh (24-20, 19 bans, 3.18 KDA) Thresh may not have been as winning a support as Janna, but the sheer amount of initiation potential he has makes him the ultimate show-stopper support. GreenTea showed off all of Thresh's tools in this gank by NAZ, tossing back Dark Passage to bring Kha'Zix into lane, Flaying Tristana to hold her in place, and eventually landing Death Sentence on her to secure the kill.

Overall

The Worlds meta favored mid-game play-making champions at every position, even top lane, making for exciting matchups all around the map. Which champions do you feel made the biggest plays at Worlds, and why?