LCS caster Clayton “CaptainFlowers” Raines jokingly explained Ornn’s “class” in last night’s head-to-head between Cloud9 and Team Liquid.
He referred to the champion as the “tank, mage, support, bruiser, assassin, fighter, DPS, burst Ornn”—and he has a point. Liquid’s Jensen may have lost with Ornn mid, but the game almost went his way.
Ornn is one of the most popular picks in the North American league due to his flexibility. He’s been featured in the top, mid, and bottom lane to great success. In the pick and ban phase, first-picking Ornn is almost never a poor choice.
Even if Ornn loses lane by a large deficit, his passive ability, Living Forge, allows him and his team to scale. The longer the game goes, the better. And when he isn’t scaling, he’s dealing damage, engaging teamfights, crowd controlling, and assassinating enemy champions. Ornn does it all.
Related: CaptainFlowers pulls off Skarner 1-vs-4
Despite recent nerfs in League of Legends Patch 10.5, Ornn has a 77 percent pick and ban ratio in the LCS, with a 58 percent win rate. He’s one of the most consistent champions in the league, but his power quite doesn’t stretch to solo queue.
Following the nerfs to his passive ability and his Masterwork items, he’s fallen to a 48.95 percent win rate in Platinum and above in the top lane and a devastating 45.84 percent in the support position.
But maybe Riot has the right idea. Ornn is one of the most frustrating champions to play against and beating him is often a 40-minute struggle.
