Rammus, the Armadillo, was released on July 10, 2009 during the game’s Alpha phase. His casual play rate has always been on the low side since his kit and play style is boring and very linear, run into the enemy team and make the AD carry hit you. His professional play rate is also on the low side, having only been picked 50 times in all competitions since Season 3.
Rammus first pops up in professional play, at least in gol.gg records, in Season 4 summer in the EU LCS. He gets played in both the jungle and top lane once. The first adopter of the champion was the innovator of the jungle himself, Danil “Diamondprox” Reshetnikov, in a defeat against Fnatic, and then by Mike “Wickd” Petersen in a win against Millenium. He then made an appearance on the Season 4 world championship stage, being played in the jungle by Ilyas “Shook” Hartsema in the group stage and then by Choi “inSec” In-seok in game three of the grand finals. That was the only game Star Horn Royal Club won against Samsung Galaxy White in that series, all thanks to the Armadillo from Shurima.
Rammus
Rammus only saw the rift once in Season 5 but got a boom in pick rate in Season 6 Spring. Finally, Rammus was in the meta. He was played a total of 38 times, all in the top lane; he was especially popular in the EU LCS and the LPL with a couple of appearances in LCK and only one in the NA LCS. The champion was picked in response to the rise of Graves and other AD carry buffs along with being a counter to Fiora, who was a popular top lane pick at the time. In that season, Rammus had a 60 percent win rate against Fiora, and a 68 percent win rate in EU LCS. He had a sub-40 percent win rate in LPL and LCK, with a 50 percent win rate across the board.
While in the meta Rammus did not average a gold lead or an experience lead, his CS per minute was 367 and his Damage per minute was 406. He was always built as a tank, AP Rammus has yet to make a showing, and was banned 12 times, making his presence in the game professionally 2.5 percent.
Rammus saw a drop off after that Season 6 run, only appearing four times in Season 7, twice in Season 8 and once so far in Season 9.
The best Rammus players include Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu for H2K at a 100 percent win rate on the champion in three games, with twice the KDA of the next best at 14.5. Noh “Gamsu” Yeong-jin for Fnatic is next at 75 percent in four games with a 7 KDA, and Simon “fredy122” Payne for Roccat at a 60 percent win rate in five games with a 5 KDA. In the jungle, the best Rammus player is Yevgeny “SaDJesteRRR” Starovetskiy for Team Just Alpha in the LCL with a 75 percent win rate in four games played, with a 5.7 KDA.
Rammus has no planned rework, not that he needs one, but could use a few tweaks and buffs here and there. He sees little to no professional play now because he clears too slow in the jungle and so many champions do the be-really-tanky thing better than he can. He could be seen as a sneaky counter to some popular top lane picks, he technically counters Jayce and Riven, or as a counter to a double AD carry composition. Other than those scenarios, this spiked ball of death will be on the fringes of professional play.
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Featured photo via Riot Games
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