[Top 10] LOL Best Duelist That Wreck Hard

Updated:

24 Oct 2020

A Duel is a Dance

Practicing the art of dueling in League of Legends allows you to outplay your opponents in even the most unlikely situations. If this is your type of playstyle, then duelist champions are your cup of tea. Armed to the teeth with combat tools, you can never count a duelist out.

10. Lillia

Coming in 10th is Lillia, a champion that can run circles around her opponents, even though she lacks any mobility beyond her stacking movement speed buff. Lillia excels in fights where she can dance in and out of close range combat moving at mach speed. Enjoy melting your opponents while they helplessly try to keep up with you.

Strengths

Movement Speed
Kiting Tools
AoE CC
True Damage and %MaxHP Damage

Strategy

Prioritize farming over low-impact ganks in early game
Try to path opposite of the opposing jungler
If playing in lane and not jungle, consider taking cleanse to survive hard cc
Be sure to track any engage tools the enemy has. It’s safest for you to fight while they are on cooldown
Lillia shines the most in mid to late game team fights. The longer the fight, the better chance Lillia has of winning, due to her immense sustained DPS

How To Play Lillia Like a Pro:

9. Riven

Riven’s ability toolkit is as broken as her sword. This girl comes with really high damage ratios, 4 separate dashes, a knockup, a stun, and an AoE ultimate that deals execute damage. Mastering Riven isn’t easy, but putting work into this champion yields 10 times the returns.

Strengths

Mobility
Durability (Shields)
AoE Crowd Control

Strategy

Take short trades prior to level 6

Try to make the most of each ability you have
- Ex: Don’t just use your E for the dash if you know the enemy is about to lay some damage on you. The shield is very valuable too
Auto Attack between your ability casts to get more damage from your passive
Be creative with your third Q (Q3). You can go over many small walls, and towers with it
In skirmishes or teamfights, look to get into the backline and cc as many players as you can

How To Play Riven Like a Pro:

8. Tryndamere

Tryndamere is named after one of the founders of League of Legends, so you know he has to be a total badass. Tryndamere stacks Rage with his attacks, which he converts to more damage and critical strike chance. This is insanely powerful on its own, however, the coolest thing about him is his ultimate, Undying Rage, where he simply refuses to die.

Strengths

High damage throughout all points of the game
Mobility
Durability (Heals from Rage and doesn’t die during ult)
Split Push

Strategy

Level One: Hit minions to stack rage, then try to get a critical strike on your opponent
In a winning matchup, try to push and get plates, or freeze the lane and kill them
Tryn has excellent sustain. If you have time, steal enemy jungle camps
You can group for objectives, but often times the best play on Tryn is to split push
Making more than one person come to kill you is really good, because you can typically use your ultimate and E to escape and waste their time

How To Play Tryndamere Like a Pro:

7. Master Yi

For as long as League has existed, Master Yi has been the late game threat in solo-queue. Once he has items, Master Yi’s kit allows him to evade enemy attacks while simultaneously annihilating entire enemy teams. If Yi is on your team, the game isn’t over, ‘til it’s over.

Strengths

Durability (Healing from W)
Untargetable during Q
True Damage
Late Game Terror

Strategy

Like with most scaling champions, you want to make safe plays early on. Focus on not falling behind
In fights, don’t be in range of too many players at once. Yi can avoid spells with his Q but not frequently enough to dodge multiple in quick succession
Don’t use your ultimate until you are certain you can get at least one kill.
Be aggressive when you know you can kill someone. Your Q resets on kill which will typically give you a way out
Never give up! It just takes one team fight to win in the late game with Yi. No matter how lost you think the game is

How To Play Master Yi Like a Pro:

6. Kayn

Kayn is one of the few Darkin that are known to League of Legends. A recurring characteristic we see amongst the Darkin champions is their ability to decimate their enemies, leaving them wondering why they even thought resisting was a good idea in the first place. To this, Kayn is no exception, and is one of the most terrifying champions to see snowballing early. Once the ball is rolling, Kayn can adapt to the game at hand, choosing to evolve his abilities to have additional fighter or assassin capabilities.

Strengths

Power-farmer
Mobility
Unique ability to walk inside of walls for extended periods
Flexibility
Choose to augment Kayn as an Assassin or Skirmisher in the middle of the game

Strategy

Balance ganking and farming. You want to use Kayn’s power farming abilities, but you need to damage enemies to obtain your Assassin or Darkin form
If you are snowballing and the enemy team is squishy, go Shadow Assassin
If you are behind or going even, Darkin is likely the better choice as it has a more well-rounded set of abilities
If you are ahead but the enemy team is quite tanky, you should probably still go Darkin, as Shadow Assassin will struggle to continue one-shotting once they have Armor and HP items

How To Play Kayn Like a Pro:

5. Yone

Yone is one of League’s newest additions, and has a lot of hype surrounding him due to being the brother of the popular champion Yasuo. While there are similarities in their kits, they are in fact extremely different from one another, and you will struggle trying to play the two the same way. While Yone is more of an assassin, Yasuo plays much more like a fighter.

Strengths

Extremely High Damage
Durability
High Skill Cap
Teamfight Terror

Strategy

Don’t overextend during the early levels. You need to consistently purchase your boots and first two items in time with, or before, your opponent
Get two Critical Strike Chance items ASAP. Your passive doubles crit chance
Remember that you want to get in, do your damage, and either kill the enemy or escape
Use your E right before Q3 or R to extend your reach with either ability
Your ultimate can end a teamfight in an instant, but don’t force it. Wait for an opportunity to kill a carry, or hit the entire enemy team with it

How To Play Yone Like a Pro:

4. Yasuo

Yasuo is the fighter brother mentioned above. Yasuo also receives the double crit chance from Yone, so he scales just as well, but due to his lower cooldowns and higher mobility, Yasuo is capable of maneuvering in a fight for extended periods, whereas Yone looks to exploit his short windows of immense power.

Strengths

Extremely High Damage
Mobility
Utility
Wind Wall: Destroys all projectiles

Strategy

Don’t overextend during the early levels. You need to consistently purchase your boots and first two items in time with, or before, your opponent
Get two Critical Strike Chance items ASAP. Your passive doubles crit chance
Sometimes the only way out is through! If you’re ever in a tough position, really explore all of the options you have to dash through minions or enemy champions
Communicate with teammates who have knockup abilities so that you can follow up with your ultimate

How To Play Yasuo Like a Pro:

3. Fiora

Fiora is known as the Duelist in League of Legends, so it was tough to not put her at Rank 1 for this list. While Fiora has the iconic traits of a duelist, she does so with finesse as opposed to wrecking her opponents hard. For this reason, the Duelist finds herself at a respectable 3rd on this list.

Strengths

True Damage
High Skill Cap
Outplay Potential
- Use Riposte to nullify even the most powerful enemy abilities. If the ability would immobilize you in any way, you reflect a stun back their way.
Split Pushing

Strategy

Fiora revolves around hitting the enemy’s vitals, and you need to do so consistently to survive lane phase. Don’t worry, you will 99% of the time out-scale your opponents
Make sure to plan ahead which abilities you will Riposte. If you wait until you see the ability coming at you, it may be too late to block
Don’t fall behind your opponent for any reason. Fiora loves to bully her opponents in a side lane 1v1
Split pushing is your friend! There are other duelists to play if you want to team fight

How To Play Fiora Like a Pro:

2. Jax

It is likely no surprise that our Rank 1 Melee champion from [Top 10] LOL Best Melee Champions That Wreck Hard is finding himself near the top of this duelist ranking. Jax’s abilities provide all the skirmishing power and outplay potential in the world. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; You do not want to take a beating from this guy, or his lamp post.

Strengths

Durability
Stacking Attack Speed
Sustained Damage
Mobility
Auto-Attack Immunity

Strategy

If your opponent is auto-attack based, trade with them level 1 since your E will deny most of their damage
Try to continually attack minions prior to an all-in. This will stack your passive and give you insane amounts of attack speed
You can Q jump to wards, save them for escapes or chases over walls
Building Attack Damage will give you Armor during your ultimate. Building Ability Power will give you Magic Resistance. Build accordingly
Split pushing is the name of the game with Jax. Take their towers down and dare them to stop you. In the mid and late game, you should be able to take on 2+ enemies on your own. If you’re snowballing, you can take all 5.

How To Play Jax Like a Pro:

1. Sylas

Sylas is one of the most unique champions in the game. He is also only the second magic-damage-based champion on this list, the other being Lillia. Sylas has the amazing ultimate Hijack, which allows him to copy ultimate abilities of enemy champions. His core kit embodies a duelist, but this Exodia-level ability is what brings Sylas to Rank One on this list.

Strengths

Flexibility
- Access to 150+ ultimate abilities, depending on which enemy champions he faces
Sustain
Some of the highest self-healing in the game
Crowd Control

Strategy

Do your research! Make sure you understand all ultimate abilities available for you to steal with Hijack
Sylas is weakest prior to getting his first item. Be safe in lane.
Use your W at the end of a trade, since the healing is much higher when you are below 40% HP
You scale extremely well! Make sure you are in lane as much as possible for XP and Gold from minions
Be creative about how you use your ultimates.
- Example: Use Sett’s ultimate to tackle him back into his own team. This one will hurt