League of Legends: five champions you least like to see locked in during solo queue

If you’re in your Gold promos, final game, there are certain champions that will get locked in which make you throw your hands up in despair. We’ll show you which ones to be on the watch for next time you queue up in League of Legends.

When it comes to winning in your League of Legends solo queue ranked games, perhaps no aspect is more vital to success than a well, thought-out team composition where champions can compliment one another’s strengths and weaknesses. On the contrary, however, there are definitely champions which have no place in a particular lane and would be considered troll picks, which would definitely result in losing your ranked game.

Then there are champions which don’t fall into the category of a troll pick. They’re in the correct lane which they’re supposed to occupy, yet they still feel out of place and just like flat out troll picks, have the ability to give you chills before your ranked game even starts.

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These are the champions which may have once even dominated their respective lanes. Whether it be a lack of buffs in recent times or the overall advancement of the game and release of new and improved champions, there are certainly a few picks which could use some love right now from Riot Games.

Those are exactly the champions which we will be covering in this article.

Top Lane – Teemo

Coincidentally enough, this list starts with a champion that since the dawn of League of Legends has seen the term satan used synonymously alongside him. Teemo is a champion which people seem to either adore or utterly despise and so this pick may stir up some controversy among the Teemo mains out there, but let’s be honest, Teemo doesn’t offer much right now in terms of team composition synergy, especially in the current top meta.

A strong bruiser type like Jax and Darius, or a hardy team fighting tanks such as Malphite and Ornn are examples of team complimenting top laners which have traits in their kit that allow them to pressure the map’s objectives and enemy carries.

Teemo fails to really do any of these key things that make up an effective top laner and his measly blinding dart fails to have the impact which it once did in previous seasons. He is very prone to kiting and crowd control debuffs and his W ability – Move Quick fails to be quick enough to outrun the majority of champions with any type of gap close ability.  A Teemo which is behind is basically doomed and if you’re 20 minutes into the game and still haven’t completed your Liandry’s Torment, you’re going to have trouble making any impact whatsoever.

If Teemo is going to be relevant, it almost seems like he will need some sort of built-in sustain or tanking mechanism. Going the Frozen Mallet tanky build on Teemo doesn’t even do him justice with the added survivability seemingly cost inefficient and thus sacrificing too much-needed damage. Some sort of harmony between built-in tankiness and sustain while maintaining current damage ratios seems like a good fit for Teemo if he is to become worth picking.

Jungle – Taliyah

Is Taliyah still even a jungler? Is she a mid? That’s honestly how long it feels the champion has been irrelevant from the current game.

It was no less than a year ago where Taliyah jungle was seeing bans in solo queue and now, she’s almost but completely vanished. So what gives?

Nerfs to her kit hit Taliyah quite hard and when her main source of damage and jungle clear in her Q – Threaded Volley ability lost its area of effect damage, it was the nail in the coffin for this once carry jungler which had great clear speed as well as ganking and team fighting potential.

This was likely an attempt from Riot Games to get Taliyah out of the jungle and into the mid lane as originally intended.

Regardless of the position Taliyah plays in, she just doesn’t seem to possess the power she once had and thus, has completely plummeted in play rate.

Now, if you are seeing a Taliyah in your ranked games, especially one in the jungle, you might want to reconsider things if you are to hold on to your precious lp.

Mid – Aurelion Sol

Aurelion Sol is a champ which has unfortunately suffered the same fate as Taliyah. Once a dominant mage in the mid lane, Aurelion Sol has seen some nerfs which have impacted his ability to perform at even a marginally decent level.

An ultimate ability which now does less damage than many champions’ basic abilities, combined with some hefty mana costs on his main wave pushing W ability – Celestial Expansion and you’ve got yourself set for a disaster just waiting to happen.

Aurelian Sol is a challenging champion to play in his own right and so the fact that he also has trouble playing into the current mid lane meta and struggles against top assassins like Zed, Ahri and LeBlanc of which are the most contested mid lane picks right now, means Aurelion Sol gets outshined by other mage picks which aren’t as risky to play and can hold their own against the assassins in the mid lane.

There are just simply far batter mage picks in the mid lane as of right now and until there are some improvements to Aurelion Sol’s damage, which is lackluster at best, for the time being, the Star Forger will remain a bad pick in solo queue and certainly one you won’t want to see in your ranked games.

Some useful information, along with other helpful League of Legends statistics can be viewed here.