We saw a lot of changes in champions popularity during this LCS Spring split. I will try to explain some of them or just point out some flavor of the month or some difference between EU an NA…
Before starting with the numbers, I will introduce myself quickly, I’m the founder and webmaster of www.gamesoflegends.com, a website where you can browse a lot of stats about competitive tournament (LCS, LCK, LPL and International tournaments). It’s my first article on goldper10.com and English is not my native language, so I apologize for my poor writing style.
First, start with the datas.
You can see the interactive table here :
NA week by week: http://www.gamesoflegends.com/tournament/weekbyweekNA.php
EU week by week: http://www.gamesoflegends.com/tournament/weekbyweekEU.php
How to read the numbers in this table: Picks – Bans (Winrate %). Champions are ordered by their presence (picks+bans).
LCS NA
LCS EU
TOP
Gnar
Popular pick in week 1-2, the 5.3 nerf (week 5) completely remove the champion from the NA scene. We still saw some successful plays in EU. When we look at the winrate, it seems like NA toplaner are not Gnar players: 61% winrate in EU versus 24% in NA.
Maokai
Not played in week 1-2 (4 games in 2 weeks), the champion is now a top pick. He didn’t receive any buff, but he may have benefits from the nerf of other top lane champion (Gnar).
Rumble
Popular champions all the split in NA (as well as LCK and LPL).But only 22% presence in EU.
Jungle
Jarvan
Jarvan used to be a must pick at the beginning of the split, but he nearly disappear in week 8 and 9. He even completely disappear from the jungle since he was played top or mid. With the small nerf he received in 5.4 patch (week 7) and the new jungler item of the 5.5 patch, players seems to favour others junglers (Sejuani/Nunu/Reksai/Nidalee or Vi in NA).
RekSai
Despite the nerf he received in 5.2 (week 3), the champion is still played a lot in LCS. It’s even more surprising when we look at his winrate (36% in NA and 41% in EU).
Vi
Vi was played alot in NA, but the champion is nearly inexistant in EU (32 vs 7 picks during all the split).
Mid
Lissandra
Strong pick during all the split in NA, 85% presence with a 73% winrate, and it’s a flex pick as well (58% Mid and 42% top). Less popular in EU and less successful (56% presence with 45% winrate).
Ahri/Leblanc
The remove of deathfire grasp in patch 5.2 (week 3) didn’t kill AP assassin. LeBlanc and Ahri still had a good presence after.
Azir/Kassadin
Typical exemple of champions not played after a nerf. With the 5.3 and 5.4 patches nerf, Kassadin and Azir loss the favour of the players. Their 5.5 buffs didn’t bring them back.
ADC
Corki/Sivir
Corki and Sivir shared the top pick position in the botlane during all the split (42% presence for Corki and 50% presence for Sivir).
Graves
Graves was always popular in EU since the beginning of the split. But he only became popular in NA since week 3-4.
Kog’Maw
With the 5.5 patch and the tank meta, we saw more Kog’Maw picks (especially in EU) during week 8 and 9.
Support
Nothing surprising for the support position : Janna, Thresh, Morgana and Annie have been here all the split.
Flex pick : Lulu
Very present in the end of the split, Lulu was played in every lane. She was played more as a support in EU, and more as a Toplaner in NA.
Patches reminder :
| Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patch | |||||||||
Patch 5.5 : more diversity
The 5.5 patch bring more diversity in the picks and bans phase :
Week 1-7 : average of 38 picks
Week 8-9 : average of 45 picks
Patch notes have a huge impact on the competitive meta, but still there is some flavor of the month. We can see some champions having a strong presence one week and completely disappear the next week without any change (Kennen week 7 in NA for example), or some champions being played in NA and not in EU (Rumble).
