10. Karma
Karma is a very versatile support champion, but her biggest strength during the lane phase is her ability to poke. Since Karma has access to her ultimate at level 1 (as opposed to level 6 for other champions) she can bully champions very early on. Mastering this champion will allow you to poke down the high-priority enemy targets while empowering your team to capitalize on the opportunities you create.
Strengths
- Versatility
- While Karma’s poke is very strong, she also has a lot of utility in her kit, like shields, buffs, and crowd control
- Early Game Terror
- As mentioned, having access to your ultimate a good 10-12 minutes before your opponents is a huge advantage
- Efficient
- Like most champions that are designed as a Support, Karma’s kit is very effective even with very little gold income
Strategy
- In lane, focus on poking the enemy carry, not the support. Of course, if you cannot safely poke the carry, have a go at the support
- Be sure to control the vision of bushes. This will give you the best angles to surprise opponents from with your spells
- Karma is a supportive champ, so be sure to focus on keeping your carries alive before going all in to deal damage
- Be sure to master your ultimate. The way it augments each of your abilities is what makes Karma a jack of all trades
- Customize your build to best support the state of the game. If you’re ahead, some extra Ability Power can go a long way on Karma.
How To Play Karma Like a Pro:
9. Teemo
Known as Satan himself, Teemo is known especially for terrorizing the top lane. Though he has a lighthearted attitude as a character, Teemo’s design revolves around slowly killing his enemies with deadly poison. Lay explosive poison traps or stay invisible until you’re ready to surprise the enemy with a blinding blow dart.
Strengths
- Map Control
- Poisonous mushroom traps provide information and defenses at choke points all over the map
- Movement Speed
- Crowd Control
- Blinding enemies is a death sentence for many if their damage comes from auto-attacks
Strategy
- Early in the game harass your opponents as much as possible
- Try to hold your Q and W for whenever they try to engage or trade with you
- Many Teemos forget about their passive. Invisibility is powerful, use it!
- Your shrooms can serve as protection for you during the lane-phase, or to protect an objective that you don’t want the enemy to have
- Liandry’s Torment is probably the single best item on Teemo. Be sure to get it at some point.
How To Play Teemo Like a Pro:
8. Ashe
Ashe is a marksman, which would typically mean that sustained damage is their specialty, but there are exceptions. Ashe’s most popular builds at the moment provide a lot of Mana and Cooldown Reduction. These allow Ashe to poke multiple enemies with her W Volley every few seconds. Great for lane control, but also whittling down the enemies in the mid-game.
Strengths
- Crowd Control
- Sustained Damage
- Long-Range Engage
- Vision
Strategy
- Early on, your W cooldown is extremely long and very mana-expensive. Use it sparingly.
- Once you have Essence Reaver, your W will be close to being maxed out. You can now use your W very frequently while sustaining your mana with auto-attacks
- Practice hitting multiple enemies at once with your W, sometimes it’s best to shoot from the side
- If an arrow in the Volley kills the target it hits, it will continue traveling. If not, it is destroyed on impact
- Once the enemies are within kill range, engage with your ultimate
How To Play Ashe Like a Pro:
7. Syndra
Although Syndra is typically seen as a burst mage, she cannot typically one-shot an enemy without first poking them down. Lucky for her, she can poke from a very decent range and she doesn’t have to stop to cast. This makes Syndra a very deadly poke champion because if she lands anything, she can probably kill you on her next rotation
Strengths
- Crowd Control
- Self-Peel
- Burst Damage
- Long-Range Pick Tools
Strategy
- If you are against a melee champion, the game is pretty free. Poke them at-will and when they come at you, just disengage with E
- Don’t spam abilities too much early on until you have items or Blue Buff to sustain your mana
- Hitting the enemy frontline is a good way for you to stack up Orbs before launching them all at a squishier enemy for an insane amount of damage
- Use your W to grab Scuttle Crabs or enemy buffs to deny it from them
- Your E is your lifeline, it’s what keeps the enemies at a distance. Don’t waste it, because it’s much easier for you to be killed when it’s on cooldown
How To Play Syndra Like a Pro:
6. Brand
Brand is the second supportive champion on this list, however upon his release, most people played him in the Mid Lane. This is because his entire kit revolves around fire and destruction, which doesn’t sound very supportive. However, due to his %MaxHP damage, Brand can bring the heat even with minimal gold income.
Strengths
- %MaxHP Damage
- Crowd Control
- AoE Damage
- Teamfight Terror
Strategy
- During the lane phase, poke the carry whenever possible, without dying of course
- If you find an opportunity, stun and full combo the carry with ignite. This should kill them or at least force them to base
- Learn the different ways your abilities react to one another. This can greatly influence which spells you cast first.
- Control vision. You can poke and pick off enemies best when they can’t see your long cast animations
- In team fights, hold your ult until the enemies are grouped up. This is your time to shine! Or… Burn?
How To Play Brand Like a Pro:
5. Neeko
Neeko is likely the most unique champion on this list and certainly has the best voice lines. Since Neeko’s passive allows her to disguise herself as an enemy champion, it’s easy to get the drop on enemies. Loaded with AoE Damage and AoE Crowd Control, Neeko is probably also the toughest on this list to kill.
Strengths
- AoE Damage
- AoE Crowd Control
- Teamfight Terror
- Durability
- High Skill-Cap
Strategy
- Neeko’s passive is certainly the most underrated tool in her kit, but learn how to use it effectively to reap massive rewards
- Your E roots all targets for a much longer duration if you hit more than one target. This means enemies bunched together or standing in minion waves are prime targets
- Your Q will apply its damage a second and third time so long as you are hitting a champion each time. This is great for when you have already rooted someone
- The clone from your W can be a great protection tool from hook champions since it will block things like Thresh or Blitzcrank Q
- Switch it up with your W! Sometimes use it to go in, sometimes to go out. That way the enemy team will always have to respect your clones
How To Play Neeko Like a Pro:
4. Caitlyn
Caitlyn is the only other marksman that is making this list, next to Ashe. The reason she is rated so much higher is that while Ashe can qualify from one ability, Caitlyn’s entire kit allows her to poke from extremely long ranges, and also has one of the longest auto-attack ranges in the game.
Strengths
- Long Range
- Crit-Scaling
- Crowd Control
- Zone Control
Strategy
- Caitlyn’s entire early game is based around harassing the enemy bot lane, and taking gold from tower plates
- Be sure your vision control is on-point so you are safe while shoving up the lane over and over again
- Use your Headshots to deny the enemy CS. If they want that minion, make them trade lots of HP for it
- If an enemy steps on a trap, you do insane bonus damage to them. Late-game you can one-shot a squishy target when they step on one
- Your Q does great damage early game, but it’s often better to just Auto Attack late game so that you can get big crits
How To Play Caitlyn Like a Pro:
3. Vel’Koz
Escaped from The Void, Vel’Koz is a long-range, high scaling artillery mage that you need some fancy feet to survive. Damaging an enemy 3 times also deals true damage to enemies, which makes Vel’Koz the most difficult champion to shut down on this list, since true damage ignores any Magic Resist built by the enemy.
Strengths
- Long Range
- True Damage
- Crowd Control
- AoE Damage
- Late Game Terror
Strategy
- Early in the game, you will primarily use W to push waves and, occasionally, as a filler spell to activate true damage on an enemy
- Since your Q is a uniquely shaped skill-shot, you can hit enemies hiding behind cover where they would typically be safe from a normal, linear skill shot
- Holding onto your E is extremely important. This is your Fight or Flight button, use it to lock down a kill, or disengage from a nearby threat
- Your ultimate can decimate all 5 members of an enemy team, but try to stack up your other abilities on them first so it does true damage
- Try shooting your Q off to the side and hitting enemies with the second activation, instead of always aiming it at them head-on
How To Play Vel'Koz Like a Pro:
2. Lux
This royal citizen of Demacia doesn’t deal damage like you might expect dainty Miss Crownguard to. She’s packin’ so much heat she was sensed by the statue Galio and awoke him, and enough energy for Sylas to steal and break out of the Demacian mage-prison. Getting caught by Lux’s full combo can be a death sentence, but even if you avoid that, she’s going to be taking your whole team down little by little.
Strengths
- Long Range
- Zone Control
- Vision
- Shielding
- Burst Damage
Strategy
- Play safe! This isn’t so difficult given your insanely long-range but take extra care.
- Your Q is your Fight or Flight button. Don’t use it for poke unless you know you’re safe, it’s for all-ins and all-outs.
- A huge mistake many Lux players make is instantly activating your E. It’s a huge zoning tool and the slow is really strong. It doesn’t always have to be for damage, but that’s good too
- Your E will give vision of very large areas, and if placed in a thick will, give vision on both sides.
- Your ultimate is a very low cooldown and very long range. You only need to roam halfway to another lane to hit the enemies with it, and that can have huge implications
How To Play Lux Like a Pro:
1. Xerath
In the lore, Xerath is one of the Ascended, some of the most powerful beings in Runeterra. And the champion in-game is very representative of that fact. Xerath is the artillery mage. Do you want a poke-champ? This is the champion that defined the term.
Strengths
- Long Range. No, seriously. Nowhere is safe from Xerath
- High Damage
- Crowd Control
Strategy
- Xerath’s long ability-range allows him to influence the game safely at any point. Be sure to use that long range and keep your distance
- Your mana can be a hurdle early on, but auto-attacking a champion will grant you mana from your passive to allow you to keep poking
- Your Q charges up for longer range, but if you can hit someone without fully charging it, let ‘er loose
- Your E is your Fight or Flight button, but use it before they’re right on top of you if disengaging. The stun duration is longer based on how far it travels
- Your ultimate can influence fights that are across the map. Be sure to keep an eye on fights that are happening, you could win a fight or steal a Baron/Dragon without leaving lane
How To Play Xerath Like a Pro:
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