I have a question about Lee Sin

IcyPepper·Apr 13, 2015·1 votes·646 views

Disclaimer: I am not, nor interested in, discussing if Lee Sin deserves a nerf or not. If your answer is "He's OP" and list some reasons, that's fine, but please don't assume I think he's OP or UP or balanced enough to be the Cirque du Soleil.

I'm just curious about Lee Sin's pick rate. Tank junglers are on the rise, and there's a few popular bruisers close up there, but Lee Sin is still number one jungler despite his below average winrate of 45%. Is he really that fun to play, are people trying to go pro, or is it just a coincidence? Are other champions just not as fun?

I'm just interested in hearing opinions on his popularity.

6 Comments

UnedibleApr 13, 20152 votes

I'm pretty sure it's because he's a jack of all trades that he fits in pretty much all the metas.

deadlychuckApr 13, 20152 votes

Lee sin is unfortunately a ton of fun to play. I say unfortunately, because his kit inherently causes you to feel like you made a big play. While really it's just a more flashy version of the same thing. He is also just nonrestrictive in movement or resources, which is frustraiting if you ever run into the issue while jungling.

Also his early game is still incredibly strong, the natural power of his kit consisting of 6 high utility moves at level 3 still makes him feel like he starts out strong, rather than needing to get ahead through farm or fighting. What riot calls snowballing and almost treats as some negative aspect of the game. You don't want champions to snowball easily, but you do want them to snowball.

Lee sin's win rate compared to his pick rate is most likely a result of those two factors. People play him, go 6/0/3 in the first 20 minutes, then complain that their team is throwing the game for them, when really they were just piggybacking off of the innate power of lee sin's early game. Also his abilities just feel more flashy than most other champions, multiple dashes, a knock back, tons of combo potential, but that doesn't mean much in terms of actual power or effectiveness.

Riot always wants their game to be more flashy, but you can't assume that a flashy play will be a "good" play. It's just very easy to identify and clearly has some kind of effect. A lee sin, R is no more powerful than a Galio ult, but it looks like it has a much larger effect, because you literally sent the enemy flying and into their teammates.

DreadlocksApr 13, 20152 votes

He is fun to play, and believe it or not, pro players do like to play fun champions lol.

NoMonkuApr 13, 20152 votes

He is fun to play imo. His kit allows you to do a LOT of things. He is similar to Thresh(imo at least) in that if you land your abilities correctly and pull them off just right, you feel like a god. Lee Sin is also one of those champions who has the ability to outplay his opponents a lot easier then others. He has a good late game that if he snowballs a lane, it should transition into a good mid game. Late game he falls off, but if you are able to inSec a priority target into your team, you win.

Shadow GilgameshApr 13, 20151 votes

He's fun, but also has an almost unarguably overloaded kit that rewards players willing to reach for the skill ceiling with a champ that rarely will do poorly, so learning him means you have a "go to guy" that'll work most of the time. Not to mention that, for better or worse, he seems to be a champ unlikely to change very much, as he's rarely significantly changed to be made either stronger or weaker so he's a stable champ.