It’s quite rare a professional League of Legends player becomes synonymous with one of the game’s many champions, so it’s all the more impressive when it happens.
Throughout pro League’s history, only a handful of players have ever become known for their pocket picks, and an ever smaller number of players have gone down in history as the go-to player of a certain champion.
In a thread posted to the official League subreddit earlier today, fans of the esports debated which pro player/champion combinations are among the most iconic of all time, with factors like individual performance, all-time win rate, and iconic plays all being used to determine which players have the most recognizable picks.
The most agreed-upon answer most League fans pointed towards in that thread was JD Gaming mid laner Knight’s Ahri. Across his entire career, Knight holds a 39-7 record with Ahri (84 percent win rate), according to League stats site Games of Legends. In 2023, Knight’s Ahri holds a staggering 19-1 record in individual games, including a win over Team BDS in JDG’s opening game of the Worlds Swiss stage.
Another pick among League fans included Faker’s LeBlanc, which led to discussions about Faker’s Azir, Ryze, Corki, and Zed, among other champions with which he made a name for himself. Among those, LeBlanc is arguably the G.O.A.T’s best pick, as he’s won 45 out of 55 games all time with her while posting a KDA of 5.8—the highest among all League champions with which Faker has played 20 games, according to Gol.gg.
Faker very famously started his career with a 12-game winning streak on LeBlanc that was snuffed out in a high-octane game against Edward Gaming in the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational grand final. For as impressive as that winstreak was, Faker has toppled it again recently; he’s riding a 16-game winning streak on LeBlanc, dating back to January 2022.
For our money, the most iconic champion/player pairing of all time is Madlife’s Thresh. The way the one-time, undisputed best support ever used the Chain Warden to reinvent the support role and turn it into an engage-heavy, literally flashy position through the use of highlight reel plays will never be matched. Few other players come to mind other than Madlife when we think of Thresh—one of League’s most iconic champions—and those that do don’t even come close to the prowess he once had on the Rift.
Other all-time greats mentioned among League fans on Reddit included Keria’s support Ashe, Bjergsen’s Zilean, and of course, Froggen’s Anivia; no one’s played the bird quite like Froggen, even years after he retired from the pro scene.
Faker and Knight, in particular, will have the chance to square off with some of their top picks in the center of the discussion on Sunday, Nov. 12, when they’ll go face-to-face in the Worlds semifinals.
Sunday’s meeting between JD Gaming and T1 will mark the third consecutive international tournament where those teams meet in the semifinals. The two have split the last two meetings, and once again, a spot in the Worlds grand final is on the line.
Published: Nov 5, 2023 07:35 pm