League of Legends is a highly-dynamic game, with patch updates coming in once every two weeks. This frequency is made to make the game always refreshing to play, as well as to adjust some of the strongest champions in the meta.
For those who are not familiar, the League meta is always evolving as players find strategies, champions, and team compositions that are more optimal than others.
While you probably know which are the best picks and builds of the patch, we are going to be looking at those lesser-known picks that perform well. These are usually champions with positive win rates and low ban rates, making them available to play in almost all games of solo queue. They might not be as strong as the top-tier picks, but you can always count on them to climb the ladder.
Here are the sleeper OP picks you should be abusing in Patch 13.7.
Top lane – Gragas
A few seasons ago, players used to complain about the lack of diversity in the top lane, mentioning how there were always the same champions.
This season, however, the trend changed completely, as there has been an increasing variety of top lane champions. You can play tanks, bruisers, and even magic damage carries like Kennen. Top lane is probably in the best state it has ever been in.
This, however, also means that finding sleeper OP picks becomes a lot harder. If you don’t know what to play, however, we recommend giving Gragas a try, for two reasons. The first is that he has high base damages with great damage ratios, meaning he’s strong at most stages of the game. The second is that he’s one of the best teamfight champions you can play thanks to his crowd controls and ultimate which can be used to engage or disengage, depending on the situation.
Moreover, the champion can also be theoretically flexed across different roles, forcing the enemies to guess which position he’s going. Considering he’s mostly picked as a jungler currently, the enemies won’t expect you to play in the top lane.
Gragas’ top lane build is different from the jungle one. The core item is Rod of Ages, followed by Archangel Staff, and Cosmic Drive. For the remaining items, pick up Zhonya’s Hourglass and Shadowflame or Rabadon’s Deathcap.
With this build, you will be both tanky but also deal a good amount of damage, making Gragas the perfect magic damage bruiser. For runes, opt for Phase Rush as the core rune, followed by Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Gathering Storm. Choose Cosmic Insight and Biscuits Delivery as the filler runes.
Jungle – Volibear
Moving onto the jungle role, we have another bruiser champion, Volibear. The bear has been on the sidelines for quite a while, especially after they nerfed him quite heavily last season.
With the introduction of the new items in the pre-season, Volibear struggled to find the right footing to make him carry games in solo queue. This, however, was up until Riot tweaked Nashor’s Tooth by adding 15 ability haste to the item.
Even though it may look like a small tweak, it made a huge difference for Volibear. With the added ability haste, Nashor’s Tooth fully synergizes with his passive, spiking up his damage in the early to mid game. He can take advantage of the added ability power, the attack speed, and Nashor’s Tooth on-hit passive damage.
While he does lose out on some resistances in the first minutes of the game, it’s much easier to push a lead and snowball harder with the new build. On paper, you could decide whether you want to rush the item first or get the Mythic item (Iceborn Gauntlet) to become tankier during the game, so you don’t end up dying early and falling behind.
Regardless, you’re bound to build both items either way. After that, get Force of Nature for extra magic resistance and Dead Man’s Plate for the increased movement speed. Round off the build with a Thornmail, Frozen Heart, or Randuin’s Omen for extra armor, and Turbo Chemtank for magic resistances.
The runes are as follows: Press of the Attack from the Precision tree, followed by Triumph, Legend: Tenacity, and Last Stand. Waterwalking and Celerity are the filler runes.
Mid – Rumble
Rumble received some important changes in Patch 13.5 which made him a viable pick both as a top laner and mid laner. The magic resistance reduction works great to burst down both squishy but also tankier targets.
Even though he’s mostly played up in the top lane, he does a wonderful job against specific matchups, especially melee champions. Rumble will win most of the one-vs-one trades and thanks to his Flamespitter (Q), he can quickly clean minion waves.
But the nice thing about having Rumble on the team is his Equalizer (R), which can single-handedly win teamfights. Thanks to the high range, he can also cast it to gank and roam the side lanes.
The build for mid lane Rumble is the same as his top version: Night Harvester, Shadowflame, and Sorcerer’s Shoes. Zhonya’s Hourglass, Rabadon’s Deathcap, and Void Staff are his usual late-game items, but you can swap them out for Morellonomicon or Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, depending on the game state.
For runes, go for Arcane Comet, Nimbus Cloak, Absolute Focus, and Scorch from the Sorcery tree. The secondary runes should be Second Wind and Unflinching from the Resolve tree.
ADC – Miss Fortune
The bot lane meta is rather interesting, with many ADCs all performing well. That said, Miss Fortune has been going under the radar.
She performs particularly well at lower Elos, with win rates above 51 percent in Silver and Bronze. This is because, at the lower levels of play, she can annihilate an entire team with one good cast of Bullet Time (R) and carry the game alone.
Miss Fortune also has quite a strong laning phase compared to other meta ADCs, considering she can easily harass them with her Double Up (Q). Even though she might not be your primary pick, she definitely is an underrated champion to play.
Her best build now is a crit-based one, with Kraken Slayer and The Collector as core items. After those two, get Infinity Edge, Bloodthirster, and Lord Dominik’s Regard. If you’re scared of getting shut down, opt for Guardian’s Angel instead.
Miss Fortune’s has Press the Attack as the keystone rune, with Presence of Mind, Legend: Bloodline, and Coup de Grace as minor ones. Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery are the secondary runes to pick up.
If you like winning games through teamfights, you should definitely give Miss Fortune a try.
Support – Zyra
To round off the list of recommendations, we have Zyra in the support role. Not only because she does an absurd amount of damage, but also because she offers a good level of setup for her own team. She has a root and a potential AoE knock-up with her ultimate. Furthermore, Zyra also synergizes well with the best ADCs of the patch, like Jhin.
Just like Miss Fortune, Zyra performs better at lower levels of play: 51.83 percent at Gold Elo (according to U.GG) is impressive.
Whenever you’re looking for a support champion to carry the game, you should consider Zyra among the choices. As long as you’re able to build Liandry’s Anguish and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, you have the potential to burst people down.
For the rest of the build, go for Demonic Embrace, Zhonya’s Hourglass, and Morellonomicon if you’re facing multiple healing sources. Otherwise, swap the last one for Banshee’s Veil.
Her rune setup has Arcane Comet, Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Scorch from the Sorcery tree, paired with Taste of Blood and Relentless Hunter from the Domination tree.
Published: Apr 17, 2023 06:40 am