League of Legends Picks and Bans Guide

League of Legends Picks and Bans Guide by astropenguin

Hey guys. This is the Patch 4.10 Pick/Ban Guide. This patch only really changed things up for the bot lane. With the huge item changes, a lot of champs fell off and a lot of champs got indirectly buffed. One thing stayed the same: Keep kayle on the permabanned list. Riot will be nerfing her in Patch 4.11 so you just have to hang in there until then.

Key:
() = Ban Priority
{} = Skill Cap Rating

Tier List by Lane:

Top:
1. Jax (4){7}
2. Ryze (7){4}
3. Lulu
4. Renekton

Mid:
1. Kayle (1){6}
2. Ziggs (6){6}
3. Kassadin
4. Syndra

Jungle:
1. Lee Sin (3){9}
2. Vi (10){5}
3. Elise
4. Skarner

ADC:
1. Kog Maw (8){8}
2. Twitch (9){5}
3. Caitlyn
4. Lucian

Support:
(The support list could change over the course of the patch as new playstyles are discovered for the new items, but this is pretty close to what I expect the patch to end on)
1. Thresh (2){9}
2. Nami
3. Morgana (5){7}
4. Alistar

I also think other supports like Janna and Alistar will see a lot more play, but we will have to see. Also, I’ll explain more about why I think Nami ithe 2nd strongest support later on. I still think Morgana should have ban priority over Nami, but Nami is really strong this patch.

Top:

Not much has changed from the last patch other than TP getting a slight nerf. TP is still really strong, but I don’t think using ignite over TP in some situations is a bad option anymore. Jax still wrecks teams late game, and I expect some nerfs unless the meta changes really fast. The TP nerf actually buffed renekton a little as it promotes the use of ignite top lane, but tp is still better.

Lulu:

Lulu is actually a really strong pick in mid and top, but having Lulu top and another utility mage mid lane creates enough damage and utility to create a ridiculous and almost unstoppable combo. Lulu is a strong lane bully that scales really well into the late game. Lulu provides utility that other champions can’t provide which makes her scaling ridiculous. The one weakness she has is getting 2v1 dove or 3v1 dove, but this can be said for nearly any top lane champion. Definitely watch out for Lulu.

Mid:

Not much to say other than Kayle still being broken beyond belief. One champion you should look at other than Kayle is definitely Ziggs. Ziggs is only getting stronger as the mid lane meta shifts more and more towards farming mid laners. While we all know Ziggs is on Riot’s radar as far as balancing goes, you still might want to ban this guy away for a bit. Keep in mind when you’re banning Ziggs, if you’re going to pick someone who excels at splitpushing or just straight up counters him in lane then banning him isn’t necessary. Ziggs did get a tiny nerf this patch with the Athenes nerf, but he is still a force to be reckoned with. Also, keep an eye out for Leblanc  s more nerfs will come to her next patch.

Kassadin:

Kassadin has endless snowball potential. While Kassadins mid game is really bad, his early game mage bully style and late game hyper carry style can definitely make up for it. In high elo Kassadin is being banned nearly every game (from what I know) and is still a really strong pick even after the nerfs. The easiest way to shut down Kassadin is to set up some sort of dive pre-6, but doing this is risky. You can’t just gank Kassadin pre-6 because he usually has his lane frozen, but if you see an opportunity take it immediately.

Jungle:

Strength in Competitive Play:

So jungling on patch 4.10 will change a bit in competitive. Early dragon got buffed so expect so see a lot of Nunu picks as he has great objective control. Really only expect this pick if Lee Sin and Elise are banned out as they have around the same objective control and more early game map presence. Lee Sin is either pick or ban this patch for competitive. He is the king of the early game and has pretty good objective control. I expect to see a lot of Lee Sin bans on 4.10 in competitive play.

Strength in Solo Q:

While nunu will be strong in team play, I don’t think he will see as much success in solo q because most of the time solo q games aren’t going to go for that super early dragon. In Solo q the only thing that will change is the surprising strength that Skarner possesses. With the addition of Skarner’s new passive, his ganks are actually pretty strong and is really good at counter ganking. I expect to see a lot of Skarner this patch.

Bottom Lane:

Bottom lane changed a lot this patch. Twitch and Lucian are no longer top 2, and Kog’Maw now reigns as the king of the ADs. Twitch was hit pretty hard with the nerf hammer, but Blade of the Ruined King was overall buffed so that helped him out a little. Lucian got a baby nerf, but BT was hit really hard and Lucian relies on this item to get going. I think people will eventually realize IE+TriForce+LW is actually really OP on him, but until then he will be the weakest of the top 4. I could be completely wrong, but I think we will see Vayne make a return in competitive play. She is still horrible in solo q in lower elos, but I think she has a strong chance to return to competitive play with these changes.

Kog’Maw:

Kog’Maw got some pretty nice buffs in earlier patches, but when BT got nerfed so did most of the lane bullies that could outsustain him with BT. The best way to build Kog’Maw is BotRK+TriForce+LW. This makes for a deadly combo and a huge power spike. Kog is easily the strongest AD this patch due to his build patch being the most effecient and his ability to chunk down tanks late game. I think we will see a small rise in Tristana due to his ability to chunk down tanks late game, but kogmaw just does it so much better. I expect to see Kog’Maw prioritized in competitive play on 4.10.

Twitch:

Twitch got some pretty big nerfs, but is still in a good spot because BotRK got buffed. Twitch’s early game and mid game is a lot weaker, but his late game is still really strong with the right support. Honestly, I wouldn’t put any ban priority on Twitch, but I would for sure counter  him if he is picked with a lane bully AD or support.

Thresh:

Not really much to say. Great at anything and everything. Only weakness is poke lanes, but he can deal with those too.

Nami:

Nami was already in a decent spot, but when riot nerfed the BT path it made ADs buy a very little amount of lifesteal for the laning phase. This automatically gives a buff to all sustain supports. Nami has great catch, great disengage, great sustain, and great lane trading. She also gives an auto attack buff with one of her abilities. She’s pretty much perfect for this patch, considering you can’t rush lifesteal anymore. She easily beats any support without a heal or some form of sustain. I wouldn’t put any ban priority on Nami because I would just feel silly, but she is definitely strong. An easy way to counter her to to pick all in supports like leona, but these supports usually have no sustain and will lose trades on this patch unless played perfectly.

Morgana:

Morgana is a tough support to jugde because she doesn’t have any sustain, and on this patch sustain is what supports need to do well. Morgana still has great zoning potential and a ridiculously long snare. Great for setting up ganks and catching people out. I would put some ban priority (only if you really hate Morgana) on Morgana in solo q as she can be a pain to lane against.

Thanks for reading my pick/ban guide for patch 4.10. If you have any questions feel free to ask below!