With the North American League Championship Series Summer Split dropping in just one day, here’s a list of the top three picks to see in each role. The League Championship Korea Summer Split has already been underway and it’d be a surprise for NA teams to not adopt the freshest Korean picks. So here it is, the top three picks in each role to be picked or banned in the NALCS.
Top Lane
Kennen– Sure this champion has yet to be seen in-game in the LCK, but that’s just because the Heart of the Tempest has had a 100 percent ban rate. This is in large part due to the on-hit Kennen build that has become popular the past few months. With this build shredding through tanks like an electric woodchipper, Kennen fits perfectly in the current meta. The on-hit build makes building resistances difficult into Kennen’s mixed damaged, making laning against him just as painful as team fighting against his AOE ultimate.
Jayce– Also a tank buster, Jayce continues to be the Swiss Army Knife of champions. Jayce brings resistance shredding, max health percentage damage, hard CC, soft CC, artillery, gap closers, utility, and a whole lot of swagger to the Rift. Tank busters are pretty strong in the top lane right now, but Jayce is all that and more.
Galio– It’s no wonder how strong tank busters are right now, given the state of tanks in the top lane. It was a tough choice deciding who of the big three tanks – Galio, Gragas, Sejuani – to put in this list, but Galio smashes in at number one of these tanks with his dominant crowd control and game changing abilities. Galio makes it into this list, because like the other OP top laners, he brings percentage max health damage with his Winds of War. Watch out for Galio top and mid lane as the NA LCS dawns because the Colossus is as fun to watch as he is strong.
Honorable Mention: Sejuani– The Fury of the North has seen some considerable playtime in the LCK, but her laning phase brings with it too many bad matchups to include in the top three. This alongside some horrible Sejuani performances by the likes of Kang “ADD” Gun-mo of MVP has pushed her into the honorable mentions section of the top laners rising out of Korea. Still, it would be surprising not to see her charging into the NA LCS in the hands of players like C9’s Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong, an expert tank player.
Jungle
Lee Sin– I don’t see this guy ever leaving the top three competitive junglers in the LCK. It seems that almost every jungler in the LCK is a Lee Sin one trick, constantly pushing this champion to a whole new level of play. Whether it is Han “Peanut” Wang-ho on SKT T1 during MSI, or recently, Longzhu’s Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan showing that move speed nerfs mean little in the LCK, everyone seems to be prioritizing the Blind Monk.
Zac– Zaun’s Secret Weapon is going to have to stay secret a bit longer, unfortunately. Zac, like Kennen, has seen the ban list each and every game and with good reason. Zac’s Elastic Slingshot into Let’s Bounce combo has carries seen on that back of milk carton’s since his release, but it seems players are just now mastering Zac as his win rate has skyrocketed as of late. Expect NA to follow in the blob steps of the LCK with a perma-banned Flubber cosplay.
Elise– The Spider Queen has returned as the Queen of the Jungle. Elise, also known as AP Lee Sin, is an early game playmaker with enough hops to rival the blind monk. The terrifying spider tears through the jungle without taking much damage, while also being one of the only viable sources of magic damage from the jungle. With her hard hitting early game damage and that sweet percentage health damage, Elise has rappeled her way into the top three.
Honorable Mention: Graves– The Outlaw has been hit hard ever since the return of his smoking habit. With no more slick combos on his ultimate and a lack of MR coming out of one of his ten passives, Graves seems to be falling out of favor. However, Raptors are keeping this smoker on the Rift. With Raptor control as such a priority in the LCK, Graves has found his calling as one of the best champions that can clear the Raptor camp. This allows for him to dominate both his jungle and the enemy’s, and while this is important for the jungle meta, Graves seems to be lacking in some of the game-changing abilities his peers have.
Mid Lane
Syndra– “Press R to Outplay.” Syndra has come back into the LCK with sovereignty. While she has been seen on the ban list more often than she has been picked, it is without a doubt that NA will assimilate her playstyle with ease. Like many of the popular mid laners, Syndra can set up ganks with ease via her semi-reliable CC, but more than that, she can capitalize on her allies CC by getting in range to press R and seal the deal. Just ask SSG’s Lee “Crown” Min-ho how easy it was to 2-0 SKT with Syndra.
Orianna– We saw Faker play Orianna to perfection at MSI, but have you seen Longzhu’s Kwak “Bdd” Bo-seong on Orianna? Longzhu 2-0’d kt on the back of Bdd’s Orianna in both games, where his Ultimates created tragically one-sided games for kt. Orianna has always been a staple of competitive League of Legends, but now more than ever has she risen to the top.
LeBlanc– While assassins seem to be falling out of favor in the LCK, LeBlanc consistently survives as one of the most valuable picks. There’s not much to say about the Deceiver that hasn’t already been said before, she is frustrating to lock down and packs a ton of single target damage. While Orianna seems to be able to survive the matchup pretty well, LeBlanc can dominate other popular picks in the LCK from Fizz to Karma.
Honorable Mention: Galio– Not only is Galio a top tier top laner, but he is doing pretty well as a flex pick in the mid lane. It is true that Faker lost lane using this pick, but Galio’s ability to freely itemize MR in a lane ruled by AP carries allows him to survive handily as a top value flex pick. With magic damage coming out of top laners and supports alike, don’t be surprised to see Galio smashing his way into the NA LCS mid lane.
ADC
Ashe– If you haven’t seen Kim “PraY” Jong-in’s Enchanted Crystal Arrows, you haven’t been watching LCK. The pro’s use the high-value Ashe ultimate on cooldown, while also itemizing cooldown reduction through an early Essence Reaver. For Ashe in competitive play, it really is about the ultimate, but this is not to say that her early lane is weak. Ashe can force a level two fight bot lane with her early pushing power, and when this is paired with some of the more meta supports like Karma and Zyra, Ashe lanes can be kill lanes.
Varus– With a high value ultimate and a kit the shreds tanks, Varus is one of the top two ADC’s alongside Ashe. Both of these top-tier AD’s utilize Blade of the Ruined King to the maximum of the item’s ability. They both have game changing ultimate abilities that provide for pick potential as well as peel on a relatively short cooldown as well as AOE damage with their preferred build paths. Ashe and Varus are near one and the same, so it comes as no surprise that they are the two most valued picks in the AD role. Other champions such as Caitlin, Twitch, and Xayah seem to be the go to backups in the LCK.
Support
Thresh– The Chain Warden is back, and that’s great for spectators wanting to see big plays coming out of the support role. With relic shield item line buffs and a rather disappointing coin rework, Thresh is stronger than ever. Over this past spring split, it seems like every viable support has been nerfed except Thresh, making this split his time to shine. However, it is worth noting that Thresh has a very bad laning phase into Zyra, who seems to be prominent as well.
Zyra– The Thresh counter is back at it. Zyra is the classic mid laner gone wrong, as she dominates the game with very few items and a very cheap overall core build. While she peaks damage charts in solo queue environments she seems to be doing the same in the LCK. Except to see the rise of the thorns in NA as a solid counter pick to not only Thresh, but hard engage in general.
Lulu– As Zyra counters Thresh, Lulu counters Zyra. Lulu has seen some play since her whimsey was nerfed a few patches ago, allowing her to be lifted from the perma-ban list. That being said, she is still very strong especially in protect the carry comps that are oh-so-good right now. Not only does she excel late game as an ADC steroid machine, but she also does very well in lane and can get rid of the pesky Zyra plants with her Pix passive.
Honorable Mention: Max’s Blitzcrank– MVP Max has always been a support player that pushes the meta. His claim to fame Sion Quadra Kill has been followed by his extensive playmaking champion pool. As the support player to watch in the LCK, his most recent success on Blitzcrank has given professional players in the LCK flashbacks to solo queue nightmares. While I don’t exactly expect him to be picked in NA, I would guess Cloud9 to pick him up first as they already have last split.
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Featured image courtesy of lolesports
