Riot Games Offers Tips for Facing League of Legends’ Most Frustrating Champions

A League of Legends project from Riot Games looks to ease the pain felt by players when laning against troublesome champions like Yasuo, Zoe, Katarina, and more.

“Face Your Fears” is a collection of tips that Riot Games gathered from actual players after surveying European players to find out which champions were the most dreaded opponents. After identifying the six most problematic picks, Riot then turned to the players that play those champs the most to share advice on how to shut down champions like Teemo and Vayne.

“Success in League of Legends depends on good decision making, which breaks down when you tilt,” Riot Games began on the Face Your Fears project. “We surveyed a thousand European players to see which champs cause them to lose their cool and invited the League community to offer tips on how to fight back against the highest-voted.”

The video above was provided alongside the guide – a worrying scenario with more shrooms than can be counted – before it dove into tips for fighting these champs, starting with arguably the most notorious champ of all.

Yasuo

First up is Yasuo, a champ that’s banned by players regardless of how he fits into the game’s meta. With the champion zipping in and out of minion waves with quick stabs, mobility, insane critical chance, and powerful dueling potential, it’s no wonder that many players don’t want Yasuo to be a part of their games.

But players that frequently use Yasuo know more than anyone what shuts a Yasuo down and how to play around the champ. Amid other tips like using shove-happy champs such as Azir or having a tank be on Yasuo patrol during teamfights, a Yasuo main who goes by HCD offered a tip for fighting the champ.

“Stay away from minions. Yasuo’s entire strategy is that if he can’t out-DPS his opponent through auto-attacks then he needs to out manoeuvre/kite them,” the player said. “This is why he falls prey very easily to damage-focused champions who can chase him down. Late game you just have to CC-lock him and prevent him from E-ing around. This can typically be accomplished by forcing him to E to a frontline character, then CC-locking him down so he can’t use that character for mobility while keeping the rest of your team out of range of his E which effectively leaves him as a sitting duck. If you memorise his E range then as long as you monitor that a lot of champions can beat him with fundamental kiting mechanics.”

Zoe

Zoe might be relatively new to the Rift, but that hasn’t made her time in the game any less frustrating for players. Nerfs or no nerfs, Zoe can still put a player to sleep and quickly send them to a grey skin under the right circumstances, but despite what many who simply ban the champ away might think, Zoe actually does have some exploitable counterplay.

“If you don’t have vision of Zoe, get away from any nearby walls. This gets said a lot, but it really is the best way to limit Zoe’s effectiveness,” said Zoe main SomeNoobTroll. “Mids, it’s your job to spam those MIA and caution pings when Zoe disappears from lane, and please do not face-check that bush she just went through. Or maybe you should – we like getting fed. As for champion counters, Braum and Yasuo are two very specific ones that make me cry myself to sleep at night. They both can make a Zoe do zero damage right as she’s about to blow up your ADC. Other than that, pretty much any mobile assassin will do well post-level 6, though you may have some trouble in lane. A beefy frontline is also very good for absorbing and mitigating her damage”

Other champion suggestions for countering Zoe included a Talon who brings Cleanse and a Gangplank who can simply shoot at his leisure and brings his own Cleanse.

Teemo

Older than both Yasuo, Zoe, and many other champions is the long-standing annoyance that is Teemo, a champ whose laugh and quotes will haunt you all the way back to your fountain.

Teemo’s mushrooms that he throws down around the map are one of the champion’s biggest frustrations for enemies, especially when it comes to junglers who try and gank him. But like Rule No. 1 of League – don’t chase Singed – Teemo mains suggest that not chasing Teemo is a smart idea as well.

“Don’t chase Teemo!” said “SirTeemoMushroom, a fitting name for a Teemo main. “Once you deal a lot of damage to him he will start running into a bush which he prepared beforehand with at least 3-4 shrooms. He will enter stealth, gaining 20-80% attack speed based on level because of passive, and once you try to run away he will start attacking you.”

Zed

Starting out the second half of the list of champs is Zed, an assassin that you can almost guarantee will be on you as soon as he hits level six with his ultimate and Ignite ready.

Zed’s enemies can either plan for him in lane by trying to kill him or just surviving the laning phase, but it does little good when he can just pop your ADC in the middle of a teamfight. For everyone who has to go up against the champion, a Zed main had this to say about fighting him.

“Step 1: Accept that Zed has a good and safe laning phase,” said Zed main TheSlogs. “This is something unique compared to other assassins and it is something that is definitely something taken advantage of by Zed players. You aren’t getting anywhere by complaining about his safety… Take advantage of how predictable he is. He is the most predictable assassin, period. Especially in late game where his only true kill potential in team fights is a good ult, you KNOW what he is doing. You have time to react, you have time to process what exactly Zed is trying to do. You have to either CC him right when he becomes target-able, use your magic counter items (Zhonya’s Hourglass, etc), or just kill him before he can deal any damage to you, making his ‘pop’ irrelevant.”

It’s also worth remembering that if you do find yourself ulted by Zed, he’ll always appear behind you, so Zed mains encourage opponents to direct crowd control that way.

Katarina

There seems to be a pattern with players not enjoying facing off against assassins, a trend that continues with Katarina being the next on the list of troublesome champs.

Like other assassins, Katarina main Izayeth says that the champion wants to get kills to snowball a lead into a victory for her team. But while that’s Katarina’s greatest strength, the player says that’s also what makes her so easy to counter.

“You need to play against her ambitions,” said the Katarina main. “People have different playstyles, but when they pick Katarina, they WILL try to get kills. Deny that by saving abilities till she goes in. Also, most Katarina players consider point and click CC to have insanely low skill floor and risk-to-reward ratio. Just picking Pantheon, Lulu and Skarner together is enough to make half of Katarina players tilt in the loading screen.”

Vayne

You may not want a Vayne on your team, but it looks like players definitely don’t want her on the opposing side either.

Vayne rounds out the end of the frustrating champion list, a tank-buster who can be tough to pin down in hectic teamfights. With as devastating as Vayne can be later in the game, Vayne mains say that shutting her down before she can get to that point is the key to victory.

“The best tactic for playing against a Vayne is to apply pressure to her in the early stages of the game,” said Vayne main Antenora. “Once she comes online she is a real threat. Poking her down, zoning her from farm and having pressure from outside sources (jungler, mid-laner, TP ganks) will also help with keeping her in check. You’ll never 100% stop a Vayne from scaling but you can definitely slow her down which gives your team more breathing room to close out the game.”

More tips on each of these champions, as well as a sticker pack that shows off unique artwork for each champ, can be seen through the official Face Your Fears project page.

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