Faker inspired this LoL player to try out Azir—and it didn’t go well

Faker’s Azir is arguably one of the most recognizable and iconic champion-pro player pairings in the history of League of Legends. Chances are, your Azir is nowhere near as good. 

One League player was inspired to take Azir into their own hands for a game on the Rift after watching Faker play the champion in the League World Championship this weekend. The gameplay didn’t go well at all, though, as the player uploaded their clips to Reddit and it ended up being more of a lowlight reel than anything else. 

In the clips posted to the League subreddit, the player showed off two uses of Emperor’s Divide (R), both of which were way off the mark and failed to even come close to an enemy. The second instance is particularly rough to watch as they start the clip by using Azir’s E-Q combo to slide into the skirmish, but their ult wasn’t up at the time they slid in. Instead, they had to pause for a few seconds inside an opposing Veigar’s Event Horizon (E) while they waited for Emperor’s Divide to recharge—only for it to hit nothing. 

When Azir’s ult makes contact with an enemy and displaces them backward, it’s one of the most satisfying visuals in League. But when the ult simply slides across the Rift and hits nobody, it’s a lot less visually stunning. The animation attached to Emperor’s Divide is so grand and extravagant that when it makes contact with absolutely nothing, you can’t help but feel underwhelmed. 

Azir has a reputation for being a champion with an extremely high skill ceiling, meaning he’s much more effective in the hands of a skilled player than someone who’s inexperienced. Faker has consistently garnered a reputation for being the best Azir player in the world. Throughout his career, Faker has 150 games played on Azir, nearly 100 more than his next most-played champion, according to League stats site Games of Legends. At this year’s World Championship, Faker has a 4-1 record with the Emperor and a KDA of 6.1. 

It seems almost like a guarantee that he’ll bust out the champion at next weekend’s Worlds final, which will take place on Nov. 19 against Weibo Gaming.