Imagine a Sion roaring out of Blue Base, middle lane straight at the Red Base with a Shen Ultimate shield on him. Then, right before he hits the enemy, their vision disappears. Briefly blinded by darkness and unable to see what is happening. Suddenly they regain vision, but the Sion has now multiplied into a Sion, Nocturne, Shen and Galio. Red Side Lee Sin instinctively kicks the Galio out, only for Kalista to throw him back in just in time to taunt the Red team. What a play, everyone loves when a plan comes together.
Now the likelihood of this happening in a SoloQ game is astronomically low. This requires a level of coordination and communication that is found at the pro level. On the topic of champions that need communication to be effective brings Ivern into the conversation. Ivern was drafted against Cloud9 during this past week of games. Ivern has a low win rate in SoloQ, currently about 48% or 35 out of 45 junglers, but arguably worked in the LCS. Which begs the question: What is the worst SoloQ team composition that will work on the professional level?
In order to truly handicap SoloQ, only champions under a 50% win rate in their role on Champion.gg will be considered.
Courtesy of LeagueofLegends.com
Ryze. Why Ryze? His ultimate and his clear speed are perfect for pro play. His ultimate, Realm Warp, allows him to create a small circle on the ground. After brief channel, Ryze blinks everyone in the circle to a location a short distance away. This requires the utmost coordination because the channel is only two seconds long and requires teammates to be close to Ryze.
Ryze has never been a strong SoloQ pick. Currently, he is sitting at a 48% win rate in Platinum and above. Ryze in pro play is no secret as he maintained a whopping 64.9% presence throughout Season 8 and 41.9% in Season 9. Although during Season 10 he has been benched as the meta has shifted more to straight-up damage rather than lane control.
Image Courtesy of Riot Games
While many Jungle champions require a certain level of communication to effectively play, Nocturne would be the most effective in pro play. Hence why he saw action in pro play during the Spring and Summer Splits. The main reason for his inclusion is his vision eliminating ultimate, Paranoia. Upon casting Paranoia, the enemy team loses all vision with the exception of a small amount around each champion. The second cast sends Nocturne hurdling towards his target, allowing for a quick and somewhat unexpected engage.
In SoloQ he sits at a 49.7% win rate, 29 highest win rate, on the ninth highest pick rate. Although there are a plethora of reasons for this below-average win rate; communication, or lack of, is the most likely culprit.
Image Courtesy of Riot Games
Twisted Fate would be able to make the use of Nocturne’s ultimate and even when that is on cooldown, can engage via his own ultimate. His ultimate, Destiny, is another two cast ultimate. The first cast reveals all enemies, but the enemy team will be able to know when it’s cast due to a large eyeball appearing over their champions. The second cast instantly moves Twisted Fate near the enemy, allowing him to engage and surprise them. This couples well with Nocturne because while they both have ultimates that tell the enemy team what is happening, they don’t know where the hammer will strike. Twisted Fate also has both magic and physical damage scaling meaning he is more flexible in team compositions, which is a must for pro play.
Twisted Fate has as 49.6% win rate in SoloQ, just barely making the cut. Although he has a middling SoloQ win rate, he is quickly gaining popularity in the LCS, showing up on the Rift 12 times in Summer Split so far.
Image Courtesy of Riot Games
Kalista is the best choice for a bottom lane carry. Not only because her ultimate allows an ally to get right in the enemy’s face, but the passive on her W (Sentinel) applies bonus magic damage. This effect is applied when either Kalista or her Oathsworn, typically the support, auto-attack an enemy. Which will pairs very well with Ryze or a mage support.
Barely making this list with a 49% win rate in Platinum and above. She has a very high skill floor as her passive causes her to move after each auto-attack. This requires a lot of clicking and a complete understanding of how to position during fights and farming. Which is why she is a good choice for pro play where the players are the best of the best in terms of mechanics.
Image Courtesy of Riot Games
The only thing this team composition is missing is a beefy, staunch support that gives his allies free gold. Ornn is the final piece to cap off this coordination loving team composition. Ornn is currently rocking a solid 48% win rate in SoloQ.
Ornn’s passive Brittle allows for bonus magic damage once the enemy is hit with a form of crowd control. Twisted Fate’s Gold Card and Ryze’s Rune Prison can both trigger this effect. This is even more effective due to the majority of this composition will be building attack damage. Thus forcing the other team to build armor and not magic resist. Ornn’s Ultimate (Call of the Forge God) pairs well with the blind Nocturne’s ultimate gives, allowing Ornn to land his very avoidable ram charge.
He also creates and upgrades items for his allies, minimizing trips back to base as well as making strong items even more effective.
The main play will be Kalista and Ornn in mid lane with Ryze and Twisted Fate pushing the other two lanes. Nocturne will be wandering the Jungle until Ryze starts heading to mid. Once Ryze is near mid lane, Nocturne pops his Ultimate, hiding the incoming Ryze and Twisted Fate’s Destiny. Ornn casts his ultimate, hidden from the enemy. It lands and knocks up the enemy team just as Nocturne and Twisted Fate appear. Kalista throws Ornn into the enemy team,knocking them up once again. Ornn casts Bellows Breath, applying Brittle to the enemy team. Twisted Fate throws a Gold Card and stuns one champion and Ryze uses Rune Prism on another player. Both times applying the bonus magic damage to the magic resist-less team and rooting them in place. The whole time Kalista is going crazy throwing spear after spear, bouncing around avoiding skill shots. At this point the enemy team should be running if they are still alive, which is unlikely. Ryze can either use his Ultimate and move his team to wipe up or save it for another surprise attack.
Seeing this composition in action would be…entertaining to say the least. Immortals or 100Thieves have a chance to pull this out at the end of the split if they continue on their current trajectory. Or maybe Cloud9 pulls this out because why not?
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