Will Burton
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7 Min read Everyone has a tolerance when it comes to anything and everything. Some people love spice, and some people can never handle the heat. It’s the same with League. Some people love the play hard champions, while some just don’t care how mechanically challenging a champion is, and they just play whoever they want for fun.
If you’re up for the challenge and want to master someone tough in League of Legends, this article by Mobalytics might be for you. We will list 12 of the hardest champions to play and master in LoL. We’ll suggest some builds, what makes them hard, and give you some recommendations on playing them.
So are you up for the challenge? Make it a little easier by signing up for a free Mobalytics account to give you the best edge over the enemy team.
Our Mobalytics list isn’t in any particular order, and you may find some other champions harder or these champions easy! That’s okay, and everyone has different preferences and expertise. This guide will be a little long, so maybe you’d like to watch or listen to our video instead?
While this video states Season 12, it remains true for Season 14…
Yasuo is the first champion on our list. He is pretty hard to play due to the mechanics required to play him. Timing is everything when it comes to his Q and E. When using your E for a basic trade, you will need to watch the minion wave so you can disengage by dashing onto one of them. Going in at the wrong time can cost you your life and result in you dying repeatedly. So map awareness is very important too: something my allied Yasuo’s never really understanding!
Learning how to play Yasuo at a high level is very difficult. You need to analyse every situation before engaging or activating your Ultimate. Learning how to play out each fight before it happens is important if you want to stay alive and win the fight.
Lee Sin is one of the most popular champions in League of Legends. Loved by all, hated by many, a good Lee Sin can take over the map. His sharp and steep learning curve can only be mastered by playing tons of games on him. What makes Lee Sin hard? Well, there are many things. Firstly, he needs to land his Q to be a proper threat when ganking. If he misses his Q, his gank fails, and he has to head back into the jungle. Next, you have to contend with his resource bar. Playing around it, weaving attacks and making use of his Passive is quite challenging.
If you love flashy mechanics, the Insec can look amazing but doesn’t always lead to success. Furthermore, ward hopping and kicking isn’t the easiest thing either. To truly master Lee Sin, you shouldn’t go for the flashy plays always, but learn his different playstyles to maximise his effectiveness in team fights.
She is one of the hardest champions in the game due to her unique kiting ability. Kalista requires the player to understand how to kite, and how to kite well. If you can’t kite in general, Kalista is not the champion for you. Kalista is pretty immobile, so she needs to kite as much as possible to escape the enemy. You need to keep auto-attacking and moving as much as possible to create distance between you and the enemy.
During the later parts of the game, your E can be the thing that wins you the game or the objective. Keeping track and knowing how much damage your E will do to a target is very important. You want to put enough spears in them before activating your E so you can kill them without them escaping.
There are a plethora of reasons why Bard is a hard champion to play. Firstly, let’s talk about his mechanics. His Q can be quite hard to hit, and for it to CC the enemy, you need to hit another target or wall. He must constantly weave in auto-attacks to make the most of his damage output. Something that also makes him difficult to play is his awareness and overall map presence. You need to find a healthy balance between roaming and using your E. A bad tunnel can cost you time and your life.
Furthermore, you also have to keep an eye on the charms dotted around the map. Picking them up at the right time is crucial: going at the wrong time can leave your ADC dead, or you’ll fall behind in gold and XP. Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.
The pirate a very underrated pick in the current season. Gangplank has a high skill ceiling and takes lots of practice to perfect. While his kit is pretty simple, it gets hard to understand his combos and timing everything right. Unlike many other melee top laners, he doesn’t want to fight early and prefers to scale. It will be hard for you to adapt to his kit if you’re used to fighters and skirmish heavy champions.
There are tons of different nuances in his barrels and his Ultimate. Upgrading his Ultimate at the right time is something to keep in mind. If you can master these things regarding his kit, you’ll have an easier time playing GP.
It should be really obvious why Zoe is on our list. She is tough because of her skill shots. Her Q can be quite hard to play with as you have to adapt your positioning to deal more damage to a target. Minions can block this ability, so you also need to consider that. Her E is also problematic. It has excellent pick potential, but unless you can land it and fully utilise terrain to pick people off, it will be hard for you to get picks and be the playmaker your team needs.
Post 6, your Ultimate can be used with your E and Q to get picks or deal damage. But, if you time it wrong, you will fail and miss out on a lot of potential damage. All-in-all, timing is everything for Zoe.
Pussy cat Rengar is mechanically difficult because of his kit. While his basic abilities are simple, timing is everything with him, just like every champion on our list. With poor timing and management of your resource bar, you will find it hard to play Rengar. If you’re not able to play around your Ferocity and keep your stacks up, it will be hard for you to pull ganks off on the enemy. You need to have your bar full (or almost full) to pull off successful ganks.
Decision making and learning your role in team fights is very important too. Do you take down the squishy ADC, Mid or Support- or do you build tank and absorb damage for your team. You need to decide who to try and kill and make sure you kill them quickly; otherwise, you’ll jump in, deal some damage and then die before you can take the enemy champion down.
Qiyana is a hard champion- regardless of the role she is played in. Outside of the main constraints of playing Jungle in general, she is challenging in both roles. Playing around the elements is important, and if you pick the wrong element, you can mess up your combo. On the topic of combos, Qiyana has lots of combos that need to be mastered. Some combos are different depending on which element she has, but each combo can be a game-changer, especially in the later parts of the game.
Qiyana is one of the strongest roamers in the game. A good Qiyana will be roaming around and helping her allies all over the map. So you need to do the same. Roam bot, roam top, just roam and get your team ahead.
Unfortunately, Taliyah isn’t played as much as she once was. She was strong in the Mid lane, then in the Jungle, but now she is not exactly consistent. Nonetheless, Taliyah isn’t the most straightforward champion to play, which could contribute to her lack of play rate. One thing that makes her pretty difficult is her worked ground. Whenever she uses her Q, she leaves this circle on the ground. This circle has pros and cons, but it does reduce her damage output.
Another thing to consider is that minions can block her Q, so when you’re trading with the enemy, you need to keep this in mind and try to aim the ability so it doesn’t hit minions instead of the enemy.
Let’s not sugarcoat this one. Riven is one of the hardest champions in the game due to the amount of combos she has. There are tons and tons of combos for Riven, with each more difficult than the last. Her abilities aren’t that difficult to understand. What is hard, though, is the order you use them. She can do tons of basic combos, but a good Riven will be weaving in auto-attacks while using her abilities to dish out tons of additional damage.
A great Riven player has hundreds of thousands of mastery points in her. They have played so many games with her and love the champion and her skins! If you want to learn someone who is always going to be testing your skill and reaction timings, then Riven may be for you.
The next champion is Azir. Azir requires the user to be great at kiting for him to dish out damage. You need to keep auto-attacking and using your W to trade with the enemy; otherwise, you’ll be a sitting target. Unlike most champions on our list, he will mostly be using his abilities to last hit with, and he will not use his basic attacks as often (although he can still auto the minions to secure them).
Mechanically, he is challenging. However, something else that is even tougher is his decision-making and how he plays the team fights. He shouldn’t always go for the aggressive Ult plays, but calculate and understand the best cause of action for his Ultimate to keep himself and his allies alive.
The last champion on our list is Aphelios. It doesn’t feel like he’s been out long, but he has been out for quite some time. However, still, it feels like not many people know how to play Aphelios and understand what each of his guns and colours do. Managing your ammo and your weapons is very important. If you do not manage them correctly, you’ll find it quite hard to get kills, escape skirmishes and set up ganks. You have to keep an eye on your ammo at all times.
Finally, he doesn’t have a dash. Most ADCs have some form of mobility spell, but Aphelios has none. You cannot rely on an ability to escape, which makes him a little harder to play compared to some other champions in the ADC role.
That sums up our article on who we think the hardest champions are in League of Legends. You may find some of these champions easier than others, or you may think that there are much harder champions out there. Everyone’s opinions are different, and that’s okay.
Stay up to date with the latest LoL news and find more guides by heading to Mobalytics!
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