At the beginning of each ranked or draft pick game, players must decide which champion to ban. Many opt to ban powerful and high win rate champions, or those that counter their main.
However, not all ban decisions are this straightforward. In reality, many common bans do not align with a champion’s positive demonstration of power much at all, or only loosely. What are some other reasons to consider banning champions, and which champions have a ban rate that doesn’t match their statistical presence?
[See also: Try Building These Skarner Items: The Best Players Already Have]
While it is advantageous to ban the enemy team from playing a strong champion, some players prefer to prevent undesirable champion picks among their own teammates instead.
For example, when Smolder was first released, his win rate was low for a few days, starting around 40%. However, he still appeared in nearly every game since players still wanted the chance to try him out. As a result, people began banning Smolder so that he wouldn’t drag their team down.
Additionally, people may also just be sick of seeing the same champion over and over during release. While playing new champions is enjoyable, repeatedly running into the same matchup grows dull for some players. This makes for a good opportunity to use a ban, even if it doesn’t have as great of an impact on win rate.
Skarner is another recent example of a champion that has low win rates, but skyrocketing ban rates after a new release. In this case, players are banning him more and more following his VGU. However, his win rate is only 46.5%: hardly an overpowered opponent, at least at this point.
But, that makes for yet another reason why it may be advantageous to ban Skarner, even though he is not the strongest: Why wait around until he is? Once again, it is common for champions to perform “poorly” at first. Skarner is a bit better, but still also has an upward projection. But that means that he could grow to become shockingly powerful in only a matter of weeks. Some players might want to ban him early, rather than finding themselves caught off guard later.
In the worst of scenarios, winning an annoying game can be worse than losing a straightforward one. Some opponents opt to use psychological warfare as a League of Legends strategy, and who can blame everyone else for being fed up with it?
An objective, numbers-based, analytical view of the “ideal” champion to ban falls short in light of these tactics. Certain champions are far more frustrating than others, whether it verges into full psychological warfare or not. Even if Shaco’s win rate fell to 40%, or Blitzcrank’s to 30%, who wants to deal with them anyway?
Particularly for players who are prone to tilting, the “annoying” champ can sometimes have a far bigger advantage than a simple counter. There is no chance of winning a game where a player is bothered to the point of giving up.
So, Shaco might have a 27.4% ban rate (#3 most banned!) with only a 49.5% win rate. And Morgana’s ban rate is 24.5%, even though she too wins less than half of games. But players can rest easy knowing that they won’t be stuck in a Dark Binding for the next 45 minutes of their life, and that counts for a lot.
Sometimes, a champion’s “overall” power measured throughout thousands of games, on hundreds of different players, fails to paint an accurate picture. Yes, Yasuo might have a 48.3% win rate, and maybe players could roll the dice and hope they end up with one the Yasuos that just ints to 0/18/1.
But eventually, the day of reckoning will come, and their Bot Lane will get demolished at every stage of the game by ADC Yasuo, who will roam and send the entire team to League of Legends hell. Yasuos overall may be middling, but that one sure isn’t. And he might have even spiraled out of control before anyone else on the team got much of a say. Better off using a ban, and it seems players agree: Yasuo has a 22.5% ban rate, seventh overall.
Overall, there are a variety of reasons players might choose to ban a comparatively “weak” champion. And there are plenty of champions who have a huge impact on the game that isn’t limited to just win rate. Skarner, Shaco, Morgana, Yasuo and many other champions will continue to be ban-favorites for players everywhere.
Featured Image from Riot Games
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