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Underplayed Champions, Hidden Potential?

CarameI Frappe·Jan 18, 2016·2 votes·997 views

For some reason, I hardly see certain champions being played anymore ... and it's not like they suck or anything but rather, went under the radar when champions like ect. dominate the current meta and so on.

I decided to purchase with IP because I like her lore. Turns out, she's pretty awesome when it comes to peel. Not only that, but she offers amazing CC, has a great escape, can roam quite well even without the summon teleport, and her ult is a middle finger to assassins like .

Hell went top lane against a and ended up with 7 and 3 (we lost but my score was still due to dominating top lane).

Yet her win rate is below 50% (it's around 46-48% I believe) so it makes me wonder why people don't pick these unique champions. After all, if your opponent is not used to a certain champion then it gives you a great advantage. I would like to see what underplayed champions you guys enjoy using and if they're great overall or only good against certain laners (counter champion).

34 Comments

LordGeovanniJan 18, 20162 votes

boosted my self out of b5 into silver with Urgot Darius Gragas Gangplank early last year before any of their updates when they were considered bad . and when i dropped back to b4 i boosted myself up to b3 with pre update Darius Aatrox support with his aoe ad and attack speed buff could tank and build 1-2 ap items eat oranges and be k for days. oh yes i forgot Yorick in both of those before item 3508 even had life steal item 3070 under all circumstances first item into item 3004 to build into item 3042 with allowed me to stall out manna at 40% just autoing jumping between 20-35% if i was also spamming spells. fuk those crit carry and marksmen updates new gp new fiora nes essence reaver new new trinity force. death of Zephyr. now game boring where everyone died in 1.5-3 seconds except the crit adcs cause they also get lifesteal so they survive 4-7 seconds and can 3 v 1 people late game if everyone even

LordGeovanniJan 18, 20161 votes

i was just sitting down asking myself why champions like Yorick and Mordekaiser when they make their ghosts and wraiths dont get the passives of the spells and or passives poppys sheild attrox's w which ever position it was in when the ghost was created teemos e, gangplanks passive . even getting the actives on the ghosts or wraiths like getting the full or remaining duration of kog maws w getting. if yorick pressues q ults himself and then attacks both im and his ghoul summon the speed ghoul or the ghoul using items from the player it was taken from blade of the ruined king proccing of the ghoul or ghost. could bring back some what strategic plays rather than build the strongest combo of items and unleash the combo exactly like a pro would or lose unless your enemy also cant do that

WeatheredJan 18, 20161 votes

I applaud, but there really isnt much difference between bronze and silver in the first place :/

LordGeovanniJan 21, 20161 votes

I noticed it just seems that silver is bronze players that had the least afks /surrenders but they still end up surrendering alot cause that pushed me back down to bronze seeing as i rarely 1/7 months surrender. there is almost no play flexibilty like changeing to split push when you losing team fights

CatastropJan 18, 20162 votes

Lissandra is love, is life. That aside, Varus is actually a really good champion in midlane. Even if he gets matched against someone like Leblanc Zed , getting item 3155 item 3140 is a great defense against them(even better with him benefiting from upgrading to Merc Scimitar.) Granted you're not going to be able to kill them unless they go full try hard and decide not to respect you.

WeatheredJan 18, 20162 votes

I <3 Gragas

rand0mredneckJan 18, 20162 votes

Orianna I bought her when she was free to play a week or so ago. Never saw her much. And she can tear some ass up. A little AP and mana, and suddenly you're taking half of an enemies health with one hit of your W. And you can even speed your teammates up with a W+E combo to chase down a fleeing enemy. She rules.

AyRe CoNteMpTJan 18, 20161 votes

Garen Shyvana

Dominick DestineJan 18, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=AyRe CoNteMpT,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=JH5z6j7j,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-01-18T07:29:04.712+0000)

Shyvana is terrible... I love the concept (Dragons <3) but she is atrociously bad.

Garen is alright.

AyRe CoNteMpTJan 18, 20163 votes

i think she is the best jungler in the game but i wouldnt expect anything less from a guy who plays the most unskilled cheese champion in the game ; )

Dominick DestineJan 18, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=AyRe CoNteMpT,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=JH5z6j7j,comment-id=000000000000,timestamp=2016-01-18T08:37:28.364+0000)

i think she is the best jungler in the game but i wouldnt expect anything less from a guy who plays the most unskilled cheese champion in the game

Seems like I hit a nerve. You might look into being a bit less hyper sensitive there, chef.

Shyvana is terrible. Needs buffs.

AyRe CoNteMpTJan 18, 20161 votes

the only buff she could need is more width to her E but everything else is allready so strong, if you would buff her, all noobs would play her

SithesisLordJan 18, 20162 votes

Shyvana - summoner 11 summoner 3 - item 3930 item 3153 item 3053 item 3742 item 3065

Boots - item 3020 + Furor if ahead. Choose from any other boots if behind.

Shyvana's fine. A winged terror if ahead, a capable frontline if behind.

CarameI FrappeJan 18, 20161 votes

Truth be told, Shyvana is a hyper carry if you play your cards right.

Have her stack up on some armor item 3742 item 3065 and rush item 1403 item 3153 (bonus item item 3074 if you're ahead) and suddenly Shyvana is a manaless, destroyer of worlds that can't be stopped. It doesn't happen every game I play as Shyvana but if I get some early kills, she snowballs quite hard especially if rival team doesn't have any tanks, or more than 1 tank.

AyRe CoNteMpTJan 18, 20161 votes

except your item choices suck and that she doesnt need kills to get ahead in gold

CarameI FrappeJan 18, 20161 votes

.. I'm confused. How do they suck if I may ask? I main Shyvana, and she can either be a full on juggernaut or a DPS tank that focuses mostly on CDR. If you would kindly show me how i'm wrong, I would be happy to see where you're coming from sir.

AyRe CoNteMpTJan 18, 20161 votes

oh i didnt know you main shyvana since you have only a whopping 0 shyvana games on your account. shyvana is a fighter/juggernaut/duelist and as such, you cant build two fully offensive items first. devourer is a must, so your next item has to have at least some sort of defensive capabilities. last but not least, botrk is just a relatively weak item right now and even last season there were better alternatives. it is still good lategame as a situational item vs strong frontliners tho. i sometimes get it fourth or fifth.

my preferred build right now is trinity force second since every single stat it gives except mana is extremely good for shyvana. CDR, movespeed and health function as the defensive portion of the item which doesnt leave you entirely vulnerable. last season i got titanic hydra second since it was cheaper and trinity was still different but now trinity is just so much better. i still see some people get titanic second which is fine and still better than botrk.

the third option i often see is a very defensive followup. deadmans plate (+cloak vs strong ap) is viable too if you have a high lockdown team that wants to fight alot early on (malphite + tf or so).

if you went for any offensive option (trinity, titanic, botrk or rageblade), the third has to be a defensive one, mostly deadmans plate. i saw a guy rush cutlass + randuins for maximum teamfight utility and he only went to teamfight and never dueled and it was very good too.

now, getting more than one or at best 1,5 defensive items is way too much and cripples shyvanas damage. building one armor item is mandatory and if they are full ad or have absurdly high magic damage, you CAN go thornmail/ohmwrecker/locket as a second defensive option (fourth item) against that but if it is avoidable, getting more damage is always better. if you went for the trinity build, you can get steraks gage fourth since it boosts not only your defensive capabilities but also your damage and synergizes absurdly good with trinity. after that, you need more damage.

semi-defensive items are: maw of malmortius, mercurial scimitar, steraks gage, titanic hydra. depending on the situation, all of these are good second or fourth options.

as last item you need, as i mentioned, damage. the highest damage against squishy targets you get from titanic hydra as it gives you flat damage boost to your auto attack and it also allows you to reset your auto attack twice (auto -> Q -> hydra) which, if perfectly executed, allows for a full combo within only 0,9 seconds. the highest damage against tanks you get from rageblade even tho that is only useful if your team is set up to lock targets down for you while protecting you from the AP burst. then you can really shred any full tank mundo or maokai easily. if your team has more defensive abilities than offensive ones (janna, mundo, shen, braum etc) getting botrk as last item is good because it allows you to isolate and duel targets better while your team peels for themselves.

what shyvana never is, is a tank. she cant tank anything as she doesnt have a single ability aside from her passive that gives her tankyness in any way. she cant absorb cooldowns and she cant prevent enemies from dealing damage. your goal is to always kill the closest enemy you can reach as quickly as you can while avoiding as much cc and damage as possible, maximizing your efficiency.

if you R into the enemy team to "tank", you couldve just played another champion instead.

CarameI FrappeJan 18, 20161 votes

As much as I appreciate your feedback and item suggestions, telling me I have 0 games with Shyvana is a huge slap to the face. I have a total of 68,847 Champion Points on her and reached lvl 5 long ago. While that isn't impressive to some people, she helped me get to Silver II when I played Ranked alongside using Leona Support in other matches.

But anyways, I won't deny you have some good examples on what makes Shyvana effective so I again appreciate your input good sir.

AyRe CoNteMpTJan 18, 20161 votes

well i can only see ranked games so i dont know how many normals you played but personally, i dont consider normal games "real" games. its the same as aram, just trolling around.

PS: but its cool people like shyvana. enjoy playing her man.

CarameI FrappeJan 18, 20161 votes

Oh and here's proof that I do have matches using Shyvana, recently in fact.

http://i.imgur.com/szX8XOC.jpg

AyRe CoNteMpTJan 18, 20161 votes

the arams ;D just what i said xD

CarameI FrappeJan 18, 20161 votes

I also played a lot of normals with her recently, but because you don't consider them "real matches" than nothing in this discussion will go anywhere i'm afraid. Also because you keep trying to be right, it further devalues the discussion good sir.

AyRe CoNteMpTJan 18, 20161 votes

there is no discussion, i just told you stuff about shyvana

Dominick DestineJan 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Truth be told, is a hyper carry if you play your cards right.

This is a hyper carry Fiora This is also a hyper carry Vayne Even this can be a hyper carry given enough time Nasus

Shyvana is not a hyper carry... or even a carry, she's like a flimsier version of a Juggernaut (Less damage/Less tank).

CarameI FrappeJan 18, 20161 votes

Gotta break it to you- those three you listed have a easier time becoming hyper carries. Shyvana can become one too though it requires playing carefully and getting kills early on like how Riven needs to get those kills to start snowballing asap.

When was the last time you fought a Shyvana jungler that's good with her? Trust me, she is a powerhouse if you take her lightly especially if you don't counter jungle her. Once she reaches 3 kills within the first 10 minutes, she'll have enough to dominate the lanes and your jungler will struggle unless she makes a mistake or you guys gank her hard.

xl Kirito lxJan 18, 20161 votes

Because other champions do it better. Why play X adc, when you can play MF? Why play X top laner, when you can play Mundo? Why play X jungle, when you can play Rengar?

CarameI FrappeJan 18, 20162 votes

True, but like ... it's not as fun. I'm probably wrong since there are people who mained those champions before they got so strong / popular, but ... if they don't suit my playstyle, I would hate to use them for the sole purpose of winning.

Even though champions like Cassiopeia are hurting badly in this meta, I love playing her because I used to main Cass. I also like trying new champions to see if they got some sick potential and apparently Lissandra is really good against assassins.

LordGeovanniJan 18, 20162 votes

it may not be good but he is sorta right lissandra was good about 2 years ago but everything had gotten longer ranged with more mobility than she can control with her short ranged abilities things were good when liss could drag out a fight to poke the enemy but now that ap laners and adcs have more movement speed on their damage items liss's combo is easily dodged and you can build lots of defense early in your damage items for real cheap

FioraWillCarryJan 18, 20161 votes

I just got shat on by a Galio . Who would have guess he was so strong, yet I hardly ever see him in games.

CarameI FrappeJan 18, 20161 votes

I actually seen him as a support before. Thought it was a joke until he did his ult ... Oh boy did me, my ADC and my mid laner get wrecked since his ADC was MissFortune using her ult in the mix lol.

FioraWillCarryJan 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I actually seen him as a support before. Thought it was a joke until he did his ult ... Oh boy did me, my ADC and my mid laner get wrecked since his ADC was using her ult in the mix lol.

LMAO....Just as I was reading your post, I got matched with one playing support on my team......Still in champ select atm.

Miku AppendJan 18, 20161 votes

Malzahar is pretty good. His main downside is his lack of escapes and mobility. As far as we know, they have no intentions of adjusting him. :( He's really good from Bronze to Gold, sometimes even low Plat given the team and situation.

JalkanJan 18, 20161 votes

Needs too much skill and coordination to play, it's like Rumble for every previous season, she's only played in LCS.

insaiyanbaccaJan 18, 20161 votes

Singed Bard Kassadin Karthus Khazix though i have been seeing quite a few bards lately so idk if he's unpopular anymore especially with all the buffs riot keeps giving him.

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