Champion Pool Feedback

He offers about as much in "support" capabilities as a Lux or Annie. AKA, he's an APC masquerading as a support. One that can deal plenty of damage even on support gold, and one that can shift into another APC if the situation calls/allows for it. I don't intend to pick him over Nautilus or Braum, unless the matchup really favors someone in that vein. I also am under no illusion that I'll be succeeding with Ekko support all the way into gold and higher. But for where I'm at (B5), just about anything can work, especially when it's something unexpected that catches your opponents off guard. Honestly, though, he's a bit of a place holder for kill-lane support until I can put some time into Lux in that role.

Sona, I honestly forgot to add. She was the first support I found success with, but she's since fallen way out of favor for me due to finding Nautilus and Braum, the first two supports I feel fit me 100%. Annie, I'm trash with both mid and support. Likewise, Zyra seems beyond me. Soraka, though, is a possibility.

As far as ADCs are concerned, with how weak an ADC I am, and how rarely I ADC (3 times in 200+ matches this season), anything to do with them is dead last on my priority list. Graves was the first ADC I could do ADC-like things with, and Varus the second. Outside of them, Caitlyn is the only one I can manage to not be a complete liability with. I've tried every ADC at this point, minus Quinn, and the only other possibilities I see are Twitch and Ashe.

Lastly, for mid lane, I plan on maxing out LeBlanc, Zed, or Ahri next. Or maybe even Fizz, since I have been trying to learn more champions with position flexibility, and he can go top, mid, and jungle with varying levels of effectiveness. Ekko has me thinking seriously of other assassins for the first time. I'd had some success with Zed and Ahri prior to his release, but for me Ekko did for the assassin role what Warwick did for jungling, he helped ease me into things, serving the role of a learner champ that allowed me to lay the groundwork and to survive those early mistakes that would ruin me on other champions.

P.S. Sorry I've yet to hit you up for a match after you said you'd be willing to give me some live feedback on my jungling. When I saw you were plat, I admittedly was concerned that you'd play one match with me, deem me a lost cause, and unfriend me. It doesn't help that I'm woefully out of practice as a jungler. Prior to last night, hadn't jungled Amumu in 3 weeks, since the 2 matches that ruined ranked for me. I'd jungled other champions (i.e., Wukong, Ekko) during those 3 weeks, but Amumu's the one I want to hone in on the most. He's a top-tier tank jungler, like Sejuani, yet I think I've seen him banned once in my ranked matches.

Flexibility is something I've been working towards slowly. My first priority was searching out the champions that fit me and the ones that don't. Top lane, if you were to list every possibility, of which there are many, I could go down the list telling you who's worth the time and who'll take too much time and effort for the possible payoff. Lissandra, for instance, I'll admit I've barely played, yet she's such an ideal fit for my play-style that I see no real hurdles to working her into my champion pool minus the obvious one, experience.

Mid: I'm new-ish to assassins (and mid lane in general), as I pointed out in my response to James, so that's why I'm lacking there. I see plenty of champions I could go with to flesh out my mid lane pool, it's just a matter of committing to one or two and putting in the time. But, to give you an idea of where I was at not too long ago (AKA, maybe a month or two ago), I used to take Wukong mid due to having no reliable on-meta choice. It's slowly becoming one of my top priorities, however, as it's like top lane (what I main) with a dash of jungling (i.e., ganking) and a lot of carry potential. So expect this particular pool to expand rapidly.

ADC: See my response to James. Even having 2 ADCs I can play competently with is huge, considering I've only had to ADC 3 out of 200+ times, neither is likely to be banned, and both are relatively safe. Graves has his dash, his smoke screen, and is tanky. And Varus has range plus CC.

Support: Been tempted to try out Morgana support. Did it once a while back, but it didn't go too well and so I've yet to try again, despite knowing I've improved immensely in areas that could make it work for me now.. Plus, she has no hard counters, and I know from experience that she can ruin your day if you're a Nautilus, Leona, Blitzcrank, or any other support built around your engage(s). Sona slipped my mind and would make the pool. Soraka I tried, liked, and proceeded to forget about entirely in favor of other supports that I fell completely in love with (Nautilus, Braum). I actually felt similarly about Nami when I tried her during free week. Two other champions that I can see working for me, at least in theory, are Galio and Orianna. Mostly due to the fact that it's doubtful my opponents will have a wealth of experience facing either.

Jungle: Wukong remains the only jungler I've found I can carry with. Vi and Ekko could both fill that role, but Wukong's my second most played champion after Garen and so he's also a comfort pick. With Sejuani and Nautilus, I can't really decide. I feel so much more at home with Nautilus support than jungle, but my experience with him should help. Sejuani, on the other hand, has more mobility, and that ult of hers will always be a game-changer just like Amumu's, but she has been receiving nerfs as you pointed out.

Funny. I hate to admit it, but I lost twice in a row to Ekko APC. I was support both times, and both times my ADC was at a complete loss for how to play against it. I'll probably try it once at some point for laughs, since Ekko is my new favorite champion, and since I've tried him everywhere else, but it's never something I'd try in a match that I'm trying to take seriously.

Ekko support, for instance, might have people looking at me like I'm crazy and/or dumb, but I honestly feel it's no stranger a choice than some of the things the pros do from time to time. Kennen support, for example. I know they're pros and could probably make something as stupid as AP Supp Jinx, which a friend of mine does somewhat regularly, work if they tried hard enough. But my point is that, as far as weird supports go, Ekko is far from the weirdest. For one thing, good luck escaping him and his ADC if they go in for the kill with the slow on his passive, the slow on his Q, the slow/stun on his W, and his E. Plus, if he overextends, he can get out just as easily. Give him an Ashe to lane with and you could conceivably have them slowed and/or stunned the entire match if you play it well enough. His stun is difficult to land, but if you land one at the right time it's pretty much a guaranteed kill. He's great at peeling with his Q and W. If an enemy who's low gets to tower and out of range of your ADC, your mobility and ult give you a great chance at finishing the job for them. He's also adept at foiling gank attempts with all his CC, mobility, and survivability. And, until they nerf his AP ratios, he doesn't need much in the way of items to deal a lot of damage, meaning he can settle into the role of another APC later in the match if necessary, just as a Lux or Annie can.

Like I said in another comment, I still won't pick him over a more traditional support unless I feel the situation I'm picking him into is a favorable one, but my friend climbed his way from B5 to S4 playing Yasuo support primarily. At low levels, don't underestimate the impact of the unexpected. Though, like I also said, I plan on working with some other "off-meta" supports that are at least a little more traditional (ex. Galio, Orianna, Lux).

You don't need a big mid pool. 99% of the games someone else will want to play mid.