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Riot Games officially kicked off Season 2022 of League of Legends with Patch 12.1. The new patch brought in a soft ranked reset and players have been grinding ranked ever since 7th January. With over 158 champions in the game, not all of them produce the same results when thrown into a ranked game. This is usually because some of them fit well within the current meta and seamlessly work around other popular champions of the patch. But the early win rates help gain insight into what can be expected from future patches, especially the buffs and nerfs.
The statistics only reflect the current status of the new patch and could change over time. Here is the list of champions with the highest win rate for each role in the tiers of Platinum and above.
Top lane - Shen - 52.66%
Shen is a top lane champion who is relatively easy to play and master. Though Shen gets picked in every skill tier, he is not a very popular choice. With a combination of abilities that let him duel and a global ultimate that protects allies, he can turn around team fights and bring timely advantages. With his R - Stand United, he can teleport to an ally champion while granting them a shield to reduce incoming damage.
Given that new changes to summoner spell Teleport were rolled out in this patch, it is safe to say that players are using Shen to create an impact on bot lane, which is relatively safe in the early phases of the game.
As a self-sufficient champion with a safe laning phase, Shen can go head-to-head with most of the top lane champions. As a tank and a carry, Shen now has a comfortable early win rate of 52.66%, a pick rate of 6.5%, and a ban rate of 1.9%.
Jungle - Nunu and Willump - 53.05%
Counter jungling and starving the enemy jungler by denying them their camps is the first thing a player does as Nunu and Willump. The champion sets up very early ganks with W - The Biggest Snowball Ever.
The snowball grows in size and speed as Willump rolls it, making enemies air-borne upon contact and dealing significant damage. Nunu and Willump also come in handy while securing objectives as Q - Consume allows the champion to double smite a monster.
Additionally, R - Absolute Zero can deal tremendous amounts of damage while fully charged. The champion can be used offensively while still tanking up damage for the team.
In Patch 12.1, Nunu and Willump comfortably dominate the rift with a win rate of 53.05%. The champion’s pick rate is 4.8%, while the ban rate is 2.7%.
Mid - Zilean - 54.07%
Zilean currently enjoys an early win rate of 54.07% in the mid lane while his pick rate is only 0.5% in Patch 12.1. The low pick rate is due to the fact that the champion is mainly treated and played as a support. However, Zilean’s kit reaches its true potential when he unlocks all of his abilities.
He combines a massive area-of-effect (AoE) damage and a game-changing ultimate to bring forth team fight wins. Zilean’s champion kit also comes with great poke and zoning capabilities, allowing his allies to play around him. His R - Chronoshift can revive fallen teammates in the middle of a team fight to turn around the tides. His ban rate is 1.4% in the current patch.
Bot lane - Karthus - 54.37%
Karthus is widely preferred as a jungler and sometimes he gets drafted into the mid lane. The Karthus pick in the bot lane became quite a trend after the infamous nerf to attack damage carry (ADC) champions in Season 8. Since then pro players and streamers have occasionally pulled off Karthus in the bot lane.
The only downside to playing him as a carry in the bottom lane is that the team could become too centered around Ability Power (AP) unless teammates pick attack damage (AD) champions in top or mid.
Karthus does insane amounts of damage with his Q - Lay Waste that deals increased damage to isolated units and his R - Requiem does damage to all enemy champions. The Deathsinger’s pick rate currently is 0.7% in the bot lane with an early win rate of 54.37%. Karthus’ ban rate in Platinum and higher ranks is 2.1%.
Support - Soraka - 52.86%
Soraka is called the walking ambulance of the rift for a reason. Her kit allows her to stay close to allies and heal them every time they take damage. She is a support enchanter that players hate laning against. Her constant pokes from her Q - Starcall and endless heals from her W - Astral Infusion make it difficult to reach the enemy carry.
In Patch 12.1, she sits on an early win rate of 52.86%, a pick rate of 7.7%, and a ban rate of 4.9%. Her R - Wish is an ability that instantly restores health to all friendly champions including herself and also removes any grievous wounds effect.
Having a Soraka on the team can significantly negate the threat of allies getting one shot by enemy assassins. The only downside to playing Soraka is that she instantaneously becomes the target as enemies always look forward to slaying her first.
Regardless of skill tier and ranks, it is always good to understand what the current meta is and which champions are finding success in their respective lanes. The statistics were sourced from https://u.gg/lol/tier-list.
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