10 Champions You Should Never Pick In Ranked
Ranked is a competitive environment where most people play to win and completely disregard the idea of a fun and friendly environment. Some players even have the common sense to be able to balance fun and competition by playing the champions they want to play in normals, and the champions they have to play in ranked. I, personally, encourage that you learn this balance, and I'm here to help you by providing 10 champions that you should probably keep in normal games and never play in ranked.
- Teemo - As cute and fun as the tiny little fuzzball may be, just don't! If you don't get screwed by his hidden passive, Global Taunt, chances are you're going to do poorly in teamfights. He's easy to lock down and kill, and his damage is hard to hit in a teamfight because the enemy frontline will be zoning him out of the only targets he can kill the entire time. Sure, he can be a nuisance and sometimes just make you want to shout, "TEEEEEEMOOOOOOOOO!!" but that's all he is: A nuisance. All he is is the rock that's stuck at the bottom of your shoe, or the stain in your shirt that you can't get out; it's not hurting you or effecting your day in any way, it's just annoying to have around.
- Zilean - Honestly, I have no idea why anyone would want to pick him, but for some odd reason there's always that one game you find where someone gets stuck with support and says, "You know what? I'll play Zilean!" Sure, his ult is a free Guardian Angel, but he's squishy, his damage is unreliable, and the only useful thing in his entire kit is his W. Chances are, all you're going to do is feed.
- Galio - Look, just because he counters mages does not mean he should be picked. All of his skills are extremely easy to dodge, and his damage is just mediocre. Why pick someone who's damage is severely unreliable and doesn't provide much for a team, when you can pick someone with extremely reliable damage and provides a lot for a team, like Lulu, Ahri or LeBlanc?
- Aatrox - Just don't. Please. Don't. If you really want to play him, play Tryndamere instead; he's Aatrox, but better.
- Yorick - Sure, his kit can be pretty fun if you just want to have a laid back game while listening to chillstep or something. However, I'd hate to break it to you, but ranked isn't for laid back playstyles. Yorick's kit just doesn't fit any team composition in any way, and he doesn't provide much for a team. His utility is unreliable, his damage is very low, and you'll probably be using your ult on yourself more than your team. Really, picking Yorick is the same as intentionally feeding. You know Yorick is the worst champion in the game, you know you don't know how to play him, you know he's countered by every champion that's in the current meta, and yet you lock him in. Tsk tsk.
- Lissandra - "Wait, Lissandra? Why is she on this list? She has very high damage, strong mobility, and crowd control!" Sure, her Q does a lot of damage, but that's all. Her W requires you to be in melee range, which during a teamfight will get you killed because of how squishy you are. Her ult will end up being used more on yourself than on the enemy team because of how many times you get caught. Her mobility is unreliable because it can be cancelled by any form of hard cc, which there is a lot of in the current meta, and takes too long to cast to a safe distance. The only thing good about Lissandra is her Q, which is pretty difficult to land outside of a teamfight. I mean, if you're good at Lissandra, go ahead and play her, but there are so many other champions that do her job better.
- Karma - This is just a case of 'other champions get the job done better'. Karma isn't a bad champion, but there are so many champions that do what she does in a stronger way. Lux, LeBlanc and Lulu are just a few of them. Her only reliable source of damage is her Q, which does a pretty hefty amount of damage, but isn't going to kill someone fast enough, which Lux will kill you if she lands her Q. Her shield and movement speed buff isn't high enough to make a huge difference; maybe engage a fight, but Lulu will do that better. Her snare is just LeBlanc's snare, but after she lands that snare, she can't do anything with it, like LeBlanc can. If you want to play Karma, go play her in normals. Ranked is a competitive environment and you should play the best possible choice instead of just being average. You have Lux, LeBlanc and Lulu; pick what your team needs (burst, lockup, or utility).
- Heimerdinger - Heimerdinger's kit, like many of the champions in this list, is too unreliable. Teamfights tend to be pretty mobile, so people won't be standing in one spot for your turrets to hit them. In ranked especially, chances are the enemy team will be smart enough to fight away from your turrets, and if you have your turrets near their tower, the adc or midlaner will just kill it in two hits, which will give them free gold. His W and E are extremely easy to dodge as well, and his ult just slightly buffs your already bad abilities. As a midlaner, he's extremely weak and will end up feeding a lot of gold to the enemy midlaner. Personally, when I play against a Heimer in the midlane, I find myself with at least 20 more cs than I normally do at the 10 minute mark. As a toplaner, he's extremely strong, but if the enemy toplaner is smart, you won't snag a single kill in laning phase. You might come out ahead in cs with no deaths if the jungler didn't come gank you, but you can't really do anything with that on Heimer. Against a smart team, he's completely useless.
- Taric - If you need crowd control, tankiness and heals, Alistar is your champion! There's no champion that does Alistar's job better than Alistar, so put Taric right back where he belongs: Out of the game. Taric has never really been a good champion besides when he got a slight rework done to his kit. Other than the toplane and jungle Taric nightmare that started in season 3, Taric has never had a place in the meta merely because other champions do his job better, like Thresh and Alistar. His W and Ult are completely useless, as they do little to no damage and don't provide any crowd control, and his healing is extremely weak. The only statement that can be made about him: Alistar does the job better, pick Alistar.
- Ashe - Just like Galio, I have no idea why you would want to play Ashe. All I find about Ashe on the boards is how boring of a champion she is. Anyway, my opinions aside, Ashe has the Teemo-complex; nothing but a nuisance. She has no mobility and her damage is quite low. The only thing she has going for her is her permaslow, which can't be applied if she's dead, and her ult. "Her damage isn't low, her Q damage is ridiculously high!" okay, so she has a Lucian ult that requires her to stand still to deal damage, nice! If there's an Ashe on the enemy team, that tank or assassin is just staring at her thinking, "Go ahead, press Q. I dare you." Ashe is honestly probably the weakest adc, and really should just be kept out of ranked entirely.
Honorable Mention: Urgot - Sorry buddy, you had your time to shine in the middle of Season 5, but now it's time for Yorick to put you back in the grave. The reason I didn't put him in the list itself is because he's not a bad champion, he just doesn't fit in any team comp. Urgot's damage is really high, and his tankiness is pretty nice as well. His ult is nice to have to start a teamfight and catch someone out, but he just doesn't fit into a team comp.
So, there we have it! 10 champions that you shouldn't play in ranked. Is there a champion you think shouldn't be played in ranked? If so, go ahead and comment the champion and why! Thanks for reading, and good luck on the rift! :)
