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What makes champions like Vayne, Yasuo, Riven, Ezreal, Lucian, Lee Sin, etc. popular

YumaS2Astral··2 votes·1,261 views

even when they are far from being the strongest champions in the meta?

This is not a complaint as I am not asking for nerfs. I just want to ask a question.

Most people would just say "they are fun to play" but I can't believe that being fun to play would be the sole reason to why they are popular. There must be something else that make them popular at all times despite the fact that they are not always the strongest or even viable champions to play.

For example, even though many people agree that Lee Sin is one of the weakest junglers currently, he is still the most popular jungler. According to champion.gg he is literally the most popular, as he has a 19% playrate.

Also, you must consider that being fun is a subjective concept. What may be fun to me may not be fun for many people. There are champions I think that have everything needed to be popular but for some reason they aren't.

I just want to know why the aforementioned champions, as well as many other champions like Ahri, Gragas, Caitlyn, Katarina, Thresh, and Darius, are so popular. OTHER THAN the possible fact that they are fun to play. I just want to know of other possible reasons; I just can't believe that "being fun to play" is the only reason.

15 Comments

Hibeki4 votes

They are mostly popular because they have inherent relevance to the game. They can all at any moment make game changing plays, along with the fact that some of them can be incredibly strong.

Not only just being currently meta, even if these champions saw nerfs, they would still see play by the people because their kits give off a feeling of skill. There's no denying most of the ones you listed require an amount of skill to play, and the amount of plays and combination of attacks to be used can be incredibly satisfying.

It's the difference between Q'ing to a target, ward jumping behind them and R them into your team, and landing a blitz hook. One gives a huge feeling of satisfaction and self skill, while the other, not so much.

Fondling Gems3 votes

I would also add that Ezreal is on the list for a different reason. He is just a safe adc that fits into every teamcomp and is never irrelevant in the meta.

OurLestrade2 votes

Mobility, high damage, AD scaling (Which means even if you mess up your spells you can still auto attack), and they look cool design wise.

In my view it's the exact same reason why supports aren't popular: Low mobility, low damage, poor scaling, and until recently they were all big titted women designed for fan art and hentai with barely any particularly stylish characters.

RcGjWO640w1 votes

Poor scaling? Most of the dedicated supports have 0.8 to 1.2 AP ratios on their abilities. Sona, Lux and Zyra are some of the strongest support mages in the game because of their absurd scalings.

YumaS2Astral2 votes

{quoted}

Poor scaling? Most of the dedicated supports have 0.8 to 1.2 AP ratios on their abilities. Sona, Lux and Zyra are some of the strongest support mages in the game because of their absurd scalings.

Well, Lux is primarily a mage. While she can go at bot lane as a support, her primary role is of a mid lane AP carry, and she is mostly balanced around there. That's why she has high AP scalings. Same for Zyra.

As for Sona, she doesn't actually have high scalings. Her highest scaling is 50% AP scaling on her Q. Her spam capability may make up for that, but she still has low scalings. Actually, most support mages (supports that work as mages but are primary designed with their support role in mind) have low scalings. Apart from Sona, there is also Bard, Lulu, and Soraka.

The most popular supports, however, are tank supports, those which have poor scalings with anything and are forced to build tanky. Due to this, they tend to do no damage and are heavily reliant on their teammates to carry.

RcGjWO640w1 votes

Maybe, but I still think with the current meta, Lux is far more suited for the bot lane than the mid lane. She has range for poke but with the absolute treasure trove of high mobility assassins in the game currently, it makes being an immobile squishy really difficult, even with a root. All she has to do is wiff her Q once and she's dead.

Astôlfo2 votes

They are flashy and prominent (at least in the past) in LCS. Others think they're LCS level and try to copy them. Hilarity ensues.

Verxint1 votes

They're flashy and do a lot of damage. That's really all it is.

WolfChases1 votes

Believe it or not, you already have an answer. They are simply fun to play. Why should I play Volibear , press Q and hope I'll get close to someone to flip him back if I can play Lee Sin and feel like I an actually doing somethind with a single move I make?

Annoxis1 votes

They are independant, snowballing and playmaker.

Goosetard1 votes

It's not that they're fun to play, it's that they feel good to play in a lot of situations.

Take Lee, for instance. I hate the fucking champion. But, after a while, I wanted to play him to know how to play against him. I don't jungle much, so I tried him toplane. And guess what? It felt just like I thought it would: like playing a god. It felt like no matter what situation I was in, there was something I could do. That felt good. It felt like I was the master of my fate. A lot of situations make you feel helpless in league, and it feels bad. But champions with too many a lot of tools in their kits tend to feel helpless less often, even if that doesn't translate into wins. That's why they're popular.

xBushx1 votes

FUN to play!!!

For me at least Lee is fun but difficult to master. Elise is fun and easy and Freelo...once you learn what to do in each situation with her she is a friggin MONSTER.

MajesticWindbag1 votes

Low CDs, lots of mobility and outplay potential.

Cubíx1 votes

I think it has to do with not just fun of the champion but also the title these champs hold. Insec anyone? boxbox or gosu? These champs have a title or were known for popular play by popular people and it could effect the reason people play them. Title wise everyone knows champs like yasuo or lucian because they were strong and still are during this season or the last, lucian had like a pick rate of 35+ percent at one point, people pick them up when they're strong and some stay with it.

Papa Slothy1 votes

they are fun and VERY flashy champions to play, except ez that's different

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