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What Defines a Champions Viability in Different Elos?

iiRebs·12/18/2018, 6:23:22 PM·7 votes·7,991 views

This post turned out rather long. Here is a quick summary of key points. Complexity does not provide as much impact amongst elos. Safety provides a large amount of impact. Damage patterns recently effect reliability amongst elos.

Hey folks, I wanted to start a discussion to see if we could see what truly determines a champion's success at different elos. In other words, why do some champions see high success in high elo and poor success in low elo or Visa versa?

I would like to open this discussion by analyzing a few different factors. Factor one, the complexity of a champion's kit and a person's ability with it when mastered. Factor two, relative safety. Factor three, damage patterns (burst vs. Dps).

My thoughts on factor one. I do not think that complexity and mastery define success in elos. For example, Zed and Garen are both known for stomping low elo. Additionally, Zed is regarded as being intense to play and master while Garen is known for being relatively simple to play and master. I would like to also say that in my opinion champions such as Azir and Ryze rely heavily on team work rather than just mechanical ability. This is the largest factor that makes them reliable in pro play and high elo while simultaneously unsuccessful in low elo.

Moving on to factor two. This is a rather complex factor. Safety is not just a champion's durability or ability to safely eacape. I think this has to be broken into smaller groups but plays a large part into success in different elos. Group 1, champions that provide safety to teammates. This includes Galio, Thresh, Alistar, Tahm Kench, etc. These champions allow teammates to live through fights for extended periods. Group 2, Champions with safe engage; such as Orn, Sejuani, etc. Group 3, champions with higher durability, more on this in damage patterns. Group 4, champions with high mobility, which I argue does not effect play amongst elos nearly as much as the other groups. I believe this because champions like Fizz, Kha'zix, and Katarina appear to see less success in higher elo. That is because they are often easier to lock down and cant survive through being locked down. However, I believe this becomes more of an issue on champions such as Irelia and Camille that are more capable of surviving being locked down. Especially when these champions are capable of outputting consistently high damage. I think these groups often see differences in success along elos because of higher elo players ability to abuse what makes champions safe and lower elo players inability to do so.

Factor 3. Dps vs. Burst. I would argue that this has more impact than factor 1 but less than factor 2. Pro play appears to most often see champions that deliver consistent damage. I believe this is because there is a level of reliability offered by dps champions that cannot be matched by burst champions. Once burst champions exhaust abilities with longer CDs what are they to do when the enemy engages? They provide very little to their team past possibly blowing up the enemy carry. Now, I also said more to come regarding higher durability champions here. This is mostly targeting champions such as Irelia and Camille. The issue with these champions is due to their higher level of durability and their consistently high damage output. These champions can survive an initial stun and then continue to pursue enemy carries effectively neutralizing them.

Thoughts? I know I got a little side tracked with certain champions, but oh well.

22 Comments

Rock MD12/19/2018, 10:19:56 PM2 votes

Reliability and how well they mesh with the meta.

That's literally all there is to it.

If burst items are good the most reliable burst champs will be meta. If Ardent Censor is good the most reliable Ardent proc champions will be the best.

And that doesn't mean Soraka was good because she could proc it most frequently. Reliable is a metric of whether that champion can survive laning phase or how easily they can perform their job in a teamfight. Kassadin is reliable at performing his job in late-game teamfights, but not reliable overall because it's hard to make it to 6 with no pressure from the midlane, so he's relegated to being a counterpick.

Butterwood12/18/2018, 7:24:57 PM1 votes

I don't know about high ELOs, but Ivern is wildly successful in mid-low ELOs and isn't played enough.

Lon Wick 12/18/2018, 9:28:54 PM1 votes

How much something else is used. That's...about it.

LordGeovanni12/19/2018, 12:20:37 AM1 votes

in bronze and silver its what your allies are comfortable with. Doesnt matter if you are good with a champion if your allies arent comfortable with it they will just turtle and ignore the enemy team all game let the enemy stop your split or let you engage and dont follow it up then blame you because you as the enegager shouldnt have engaged with your team around or you as the split pusher shouldnt have went so deep when your team randomly gives up pressure in the lane they didnt want to leave before.

y0r1ck12/19/2018, 1:13:17 AM1 votes

You left out the biggest factor. Counterplay. If a champion has a lot of counterplay, it'll be better in low elo compared to high elo. If there isn't much easily available counterplay, the champion has a good chance of being high elo viable. You won't see champions like garen illaoi yi in pro games, but they're known for stomping low elo.

Kai Guy12/18/2018, 7:06:28 PM1 votes

Are we making the fundamental assumption of accurately placed players for their skill? Are we actively Omitting all the smurfs, boosted, and just the portion of playerbase mismatched in their skill to mmr?

Because what to look for if your over skilled to stomp a MMR vs what to look for at a mmr that represents your skill might be different.

Vlada Cut12/19/2018, 9:38:27 AM1 votes

Kit complexivity, learning curve, skill cealing and preffered gameplay playstyle.

Haze9712/19/2018, 3:00:36 PM1 votes

If there's anything I've learnt from low elo then it's that a champion's worth here is determined by his/her ability to solo carry.

I've had far more success playing champions such as Jax, Trynda, and Darius in elos below Gold than I've had playing characters such as Amumu because people just don't act as a team or even understand what the abilities of most champions do. In situations like these you're better off playing a split push champ top lane (such as Jax), who can 1v2 or even 1v3 late games.

I expect things to change high elo where people are more wary of the capabilities of different champions and know better than to run about as monkeys.

0 Hogapu12/19/2018, 10:15:15 PM1 votes

I think it is about 'win conditions', champions that can't fall off too behind even when actually behind, and champions that can secure games when ahead.

Regu1us 912/19/2018, 4:46:40 AM1 votes

On burst vs. DPS, I think the a big factor is positioning. DPS carries need to position consistently well in order to get good damage, while burst champions can for the most part run in, blow their abilities, and die or run away, and still get some value. So DPS would be more popular and useful in higher elos because the good positioning pays off.