The 2023 World Championship has only just begun in South Korea this week, but iconic (and diminutive) League of Legends champion Poppy is already well on her way to becoming the event’s most banned pick.
In League’s Patch 13.19, certain champions have become nigh-unstoppable on Summoner’s Rift, and the first few days at Worlds usually give us a good idea about which characters are high priority, low priority, and ones everyone wants to ban because they’re way too strong. And no, we’re not just talking about Kai’Sa.
Although she doesn’t have a sky-high win rate like Kai’Sa or Orianna, at least among regular players, Poppy has become a champion excelling in the jungle and the top lane in Patch 13.19, and has already been banned in every Worlds 2023 game.
The Keeper of the Hammer is already versatile and dangerous, but in the hands of the world’s top League pros, she’s downright scary, with a huge 63 percent win rate.
What makes Poppy such a good champion, though, is that from the mid game, she does solid damage and has incredible crowd control. There have been times when a good Poppy ultimate has saved her teammates from death or meant her allies could focus on the squishy backline without having to worry about peel from tanks.
It’s not that Poppy is being built too outlandishly by the pros in several roles, either. They’re still taking Plated Steelcaps and either Divine Sunderer, Iceborn Gauntlet, Dead Man’s Plate, or Sunfire Aegis, and similar rune trees like Sorcerer and Inspiration for the jungle and Grasp of the Undying and Inspiration for the top lane; it’s just they’re more experienced and are great at teamfighting, mechanics, and reading the map. Plus, they have elite teammates they can rely on, which means they can perform at their best every game.
While it’s only the start of Worlds 2023 and we have many more League matches to go, Poppy’s high ban rate is likely to stick around for at least the Play-In stage.
Maokai, Jax, Lee Sin, and Rell are all close behind on power too, so we’ll just have to wait and see who eventually claims the crown as the most banned champion at Worlds this year.
Published: Oct 10, 2023 10:15 pm