This isn’t the first article to be written about the difficulty of play for League of Legends champions and it most certainly won’t be the last. Besides there being a lot of passionate researchers within the community, the deep pool of champions in the game means there will be less consensus compared to other MOBAs with smaller selections. And it doesn’t help that virtually every list is deeply divided from other lists and usually generates a good amount of hostility in the comments sections.
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So why write another list? Simply, this list hasn’t been written before. Most players come at this from a very high-tier perspective and wonder who the hardest champions are to play based on their experiences of bringing certain characters into bruising arenas. But for new players, the question isn’t what champions have the hardest time climbing the ranks, but rather what champions are the toughest to even competently function with?
Updated on July 29th, 2021 by Hodey Johns: League of Legends has more than proven that it is capable of standing the test of time, and its massive roster of champions is the main reason why. The game provides plenty of options for all sorts of playstyles, but certain champions are undoubtedly harder to play as than others. LoL’s meta is also constantly evolving, ensuring there is always a reason to remain plugged into the MOBA’s development. This article has been updated to keep up with recent patches after looking at the latest win/loss ratios and discussing things over with the community.
14 Riven
The big issue for Riven is that, based on pro usage, she’s almost exclusively picked as a counter for Vladimir. And, to be fair, she absolutely wrecks him, making her a natural pick once a Vladimir locks in the hero selection for an opposing team.
However, picking an entire hero to counter one player isn’t all that exciting and good supports will negate this advantage with vision to keep tabs on Riven. She’s got some moves with movement, which help, but she’s dependent on mixing ability and attack damage, which is a tall order that even veterans don’t like to attempt.
13 Irelia
Offhand, Irelia doesn’t seem too bad to play with. She’s got a charge-up attack which can be tough to land and her ultimate takes some talent to position, but this isn’t anything a longtime gamer will balk at.
Her downfall is that she has two moves that basically require other enemies to be around for her to succeed. So she’s dangerous in a lane or groups, but find her alone and she’s mincemeat. This leads to her getting picked off with frequency and more than just a small pile of broken gamer keyboards.
12 Kalista
Usually, extra movement is a surefire way to make an overpowered character but Kalista is a rare exception. After years of practice, high-level players can make use of all of her quirky moves.
For the average player, though, she’s got too many attacks that require precise vectoring and perfect timing. Moderate gamers have no issue dodging most of her attacks unless she’s got lots of help. As a solo player in a team game, Kalista is one of the worst choices.
11 Thresh
Nothing comes easy for poor Thresh. Everybody is used to making rookie errors when they first play the game, but Thresh is a champion that makes every action that much harder. All of his moves require skill to land and activate.
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Additionally, his mana pool is very small and he’s expected to support instead of farming for necessary items. By the time the late game comes around and he’s finally geared up, group fighting is prevalent. Picking off stragglers is his specialty, so these moments become rarer with each tick of the clock.
10 Rumble
Ever since his inception, Rumble has been a poster child for the worst win rate in the game. Veterans insist that he can be good and, at times, they are able to execute on that promise. He shows some anti-tank capability that is hotly desired.
But pulling off the necessary maneuvers is tough as he needs to become a tank himself. Patches have nerfed his ability to stay in lane. He just seems lost right now and the induction of rules and heroes that don’t bode well for him hasn’t turned around Rumble’s notorious reputation.
9 Vayne
Vayne is often compared to Draven when it comes to tough heroes to play, but ultimately she gets the edge. Most heroes thrive with extra utility options, whereas Vayne’s biggest obstacles are a permanent feature of the character.
Vayne is unquestionably one of the best ADC champs if she gets everything she needs farmed early. But her short range and slow attack essentially give a head start to other carries and so she’ll often never be able to catch up.
8 Akali
Akali is expected to solo either the top or the mid lane, so automatically she becomes a tough hero to play for a beginner as she’s essentially trying to win a duel. But that’s only the beginning of her troubles.
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It’s one thing to win one-on-one and it’s quite another to be getting ganked constantly. Akali is prone to the jungler coming out and getting an easy kill against her. There are many other beginner-friendly heroes that do better at higher-tiers.
7 Lee Sin
Lee Sin has the ability to instantly blow up enemy players in the mid to late game. The cost? He’s designed to be a glass cannon. This leads to a need to balance survivability and damage that the community still hasn’t figured out how to perfect.
By buying items that toughen him up, he will lose just enough damage to where enemy champions can survive Lee Sin’s burst. Conversely, without these items, he becomes an easy person to disable and kill when it comes to group fighting.
6 Yasuo
The middle lane is where the cutthroats live and Yasuo is expected to hold his own. His damage is fantastic, but he’s easily harassed against other mid-laners with nukes or range. After he gets some lifesteal, he’s in real business.
Even though he’s fantastic in a team fight, his moves are tough to pull off and a small mistake sets him up for early death by crowd control. There is a reason pro players hate these kinds of heroes, but new players that try him out will hate him for a completely different reason.
5 Nidalee
Often junglers have the easiest job in all of League of Legends and that rule holds true for Nidalee. Her moves are complicated and difficult to pull off, but against NPCs and stagnant creatures, it’s easy to get a consistent rotation going on.
Unfortunately, enemy champions are not NPCs, meaning their unpredictable movements and actions really mess up her combos. Her low health pool all but assure that she’ll be hearing enemies smack talk to her and her team while players are learning the ropes with Nidalee.
4 Aphelios
Playing with Aphelios incorporates the very worst new player traps that exist. Penalties for missing attacks? Check. One move that has five different settings that need to be used at the right time? Check. No movement boosts? Check.
The cherry on top of this disastrous sundae is that he must balance attack damage with ability damage. And unlike some heroes that can cheat one way or the other, he has his moves firmly split between the two camps, so he is forced to play balanced.
3 Orianna
Perhaps no champion has a higher skill cap than Orianna. This is great news for those who are persistent because learning to master her abilities and positioning will be rewarded with lots of wins and huge accolades from teammates.
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Her biggest problem is that her move set demands that she be close to enemies and stay close to enemies. When the champion has to do this to be any good, there are bound to be a bunch of free kills. Amateur players will frequently be accused of feeding when trying their hardest just to keep up.
2 Gangplank
The “jack of all trades and master of none” phrase fits Gangplank like a tailored suit. He does a little bit of everything between split pushing, lane support, ganking, and global aid. There isn’t one aspect that he does better than anybody else, though.
Capitalizing on this versatility, pros can sometimes wedge him in and find the perfect method to use these various skills by changing builds depending on how the game goes. But this is a lot to put on the shoulders of a new or even intermediate gamer.
1 Azir
While no pick will be without controversy, Azir is on almost everybody’s top ten list. Averaging out all of these polls, Azir comes out to be the clear “winner” by earning recognition as a champ with a learning curve so steep that ever pro players haven’t learned to use him yet.
Azir is placed into the mid lane but instead of carrying, it’s expected that Azir will go for siege damage later. Azir’s early game damage is laughably bad and he has a tiny mana pool. Since he’s not a standard carry, this means games that aren’t over by the middle minutes are bad news for his teammates.
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