The dust has finally settled on patch 7.10, and it looks like most of the huge outliers from 7.9 have taken their leave from the top of the win rate charts. Brutal nerfs to Sejuani ended her dominance in both the jungle and the top lane, but a new tank rose up almost immediately to fill in the void. In the mid lane, the brief reign of Anivia has come to an end in favor of an old powerhouse. Finally, the bottom lane saw almost no changes whatsoever outside of Draven’s winrate sliding down enough to give another champion the top spot. There’s definitely quite a few familiar faces this week, but there’s also some that might not be quite so expected, and there’s certainly quite a few bizarre champions waiting just under the surface and ready to take the spotlight for themselves when the moment finally arises.
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Without further ado, allow me to introduce WWG’s top solo queue picks from the last week!
Pantheon
Now that Sejuani has beenย putย in herย place, the top lane meta game has once against stabilized in a somewhat predictable fashion. I say “somewhat” because while the man on top is no surprise, everything beneath him sure is. Pantheon may have retaken the top slot this week, but he does so by a narrow margin over some frankly bizarre champions. Somehow Yorick, Akali, Irelia, and even Mordekaiser have all broken into the top ten top laners for this week, and all four of those were champions that were thought to be all but extinct.
it should be easy to figure out how Pantheon ended up with the top slot, though. He absolutely smashes all four of those champions, and with the exception of Darius he curbstomps every member of the top ten. As always, though, the late game is your enemy as Pantheon. Use your ultimate early and well, and take control of the whole map with the lead that you’re almost sure to rack up. Calling your jungler top for a free kill and then using your ultimate to take down the enemy mid laner is a common line of play with Pantheon that will ompletely cripple the enemy team, assuming the game is still somewhat even. Whatever you do, just don’t let the game go to 45 minutes, since by then all you’ll be is an exceptionall long range initiator.ย
Zac
In what may be one of the most impressive comeback stories in the history of Leagueย of Legends, Zacย managed to go from the worstย championย in the game to the absolute bestย at hisย role in the space of a single patch. He not onlyย got a hotfix to buffย hisย damage up at the end of 7.9, he also received massiveย buffs in 7.10 thatย made hisย utility and damage bothย overbearing. While he wasn’tย quite able to play assassin Zacย like in the days of old, he still was able to out damageย championsย like Eliseย by the mid game, which was absolutely a problem, especiallyย sinceย Zacย wasn’tย even levelingย up damage abilities to do it.
Consequently, Zacย ateย some hotfixย nerfs the other day thatย toned down hisย damage a bit, but the resultsย have beenย prettyย negligible. He’s still strong — he’s second in win rateย onlyย to Nunu — and he’s definitely a pick thatย players should be looking to abuse, evenย if the ban phase seems to be targeting him more often thanย not.
Aurelion Sol
The sassy dragon is back, and better than ever. It was really only a matter of time before all the Aurelion Sol mains came back after the changes to Banshee’s Veil, and it seems that time has finally arrived. While Aurelion Sol is still a fairly unpopular champion — he barely clocks in above the 2% threshold that it takes to make it in this article — he’s also one that any solo queue player needs to be ready to face. Fighting an Aurelion Sol isn’t like playing against any other mid laner, and treating him like any other mid laner is a recipe for disaster. Watch the orbs and keep your distance when they’re down, and do everything you can to get close to him when he expands them.
Now if you instead want to harness the power of the stars for yourself, then you have a long road ahead of you. While Aurelion Sol has been one of the best mid laners in the game since his inception, he’s never really caught on with the play base as a whole for one reason. He’s extremely difficult to play until you’re used to his unique mechanics and roam-heavy playstyle. If you want to pick up Aurelion Sol, know that you will certainly lose a game or ten while you get used to him. Once you do get used to him, though, he’ll easily become one of the strongest arrows in your quiver, ready to smash theย immobile mages of the world.
Twitch
Twitch has once again regained his throne in the bottomย lane now that playersย areย getting moreย and moreย used to the sudden popularity of Draven and adapting accordingly. It probably alsoย helps that Bangย hasย been makingย Twitch look like the best champion in the game all throguhoutย the Mid-Seasonย Invitational. Regardless, Twitch is a monsterย in solo queueย thanks to his stealth and overwhelming damage output. Experiencedย playersย mayย be able to track Twitch well enoughย to keepย him from sneaking kills, butย in moreย disorganizedย gamesย he’sย able to win the game almostย by himself.
The keyย to beatingย Twitch is the laning phase. While he’sย no pushover earlyย on, he’sย still definitelyย amongst the weakest laningย ADCs in the game, and he’sย quiteย vulnerable to both pokeย and strongย engage. Need to takeย down a Twitch lane? Give them a taste of a combo likeย Leonaย and Miss Fortune, and you’llย never need to worry about anotherย death from the shadows again.
Thresh
At this point, is anyone surprised? Blitzcrank, Sona, and Thresh are the threeย mostย popularย supports in the game. Thresh countersย bothย of the otherย two, all while bringingย playmaking ability that is entirelyย comparable to Blitzcrank’s. He does everything you could askย of from a solo queue supportย except deal damage, and that’s something best leftย for otherย rolesย anyways. I’dย tellย you all to start playing Thresh, but judgingย by his 40% pick rate, you already were.
