Understanding Team Compositions: The Pick Composition

The pick composition is focused on one objective; catch a target out on their own and burst them down before help arrives. It follows then that the pick composition features high mobility and a lot of single target burst. This composition excels at fast paced gameplay, constantly rotating around the map making picks and taking objectives as a group, but falls flat if the enemy groups and plays slow.

Core Picks
To form the basis of a solid pick composition, we're looking for a healthy mixture of crowd control, burst, and mobility. I've chosen Thresh, Rengar, and Fizz to be the core picks of this composition but many champions slot in nicely. The flexible nature of the pick composition is what makes it such a staple in competitive play. 

Thresh
Thresh is a solid support for a pick composition as his kit fits the bill entirely. Death Sentence lives up to its name, usually signaling the end for any unlucky champ caught by it alone. Flay and The Box seal the deal ensuring the target can't get away easily, while Dark Passage can quickly bring teammates into a pick or swiftly move them around the map.

Champion Synergy: Kalista
The Shadow Isles' bot lane synergises more than just their aesthetic when it comes to making a pick. Death Sentence's wind-up can make the ability unreliable and greatly hinder the team's ability to lock down a target. Making use of Kalista's ultimate, Thresh can land aggressive hooks and set the team up for a kill.

Typical Combo
Kalista: Fate's Call
↓
Thresh: Death Sentence
↓
Thresh: The Box
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Thresh: Flay
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Kalista: Rend

Kalista launches Thresh at an enemy, knocking them up in the process. Taking advantage of this, Thresh can now land an easy Death Sentence and chain the rest of his combo together to make sure their target won't be escaping any time soon. Finally, after building up enough stacks, Kalista can Rend for a swift kill.

Rengar
Every ADCs least favourite champion is most at home in a pick composition. His ultimate, Thrill of the Hunt, allows him to sneak up on isolated enemies while revealing them in the process, while Bola Strike can keep them locked down. By roaming with his team, Rengar can afford to dive onto targets knowing there's backup not far behind.

Champion Synergy: Shen
Shen's ultimate, Stand United, provides insane global utility for any team composition but is particularly potent when combined with Thrill of the Hunt. An unaware enemy can quickly find themselves in a surprise 2v1 as Rengar leaps from nowhere only to deliver Shen with him.

Typical Combo
Rengar: Thrill of the Hunt
↓
Shen: Stand United
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Rengar: Bola Strike
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Shen: Shadow Dash
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Rengar: Savagery

Combining Thrill of the Hunt with a well-timed Stand United can deliver a pain train on any champion unfortunate enough to be caught out. Using Bola Strike to slow down their prey, the duo can make full use of Unseen Predator to jump right on top of their target. This sets Shen up for a point blank Shadow Dash with Rengar following up with his damage to snag the kill. 

Fizz
Fizz's abilities, combined with his standard Lich Bane itemisation, truly make for one slippery fish. While jumping into a team fight with Playful/Trickster can lead to some troubled waters, his ability to spring onto a champion and deal massive damage make him perfect for a pick composition.

Champion Synergy: Jarvan IV
Fizz benefits the most if he can land Chum the Waters from a distance but doing solo can be risky, forcing him to jump on his target first and sacrifice some assassination power or firing it from a distance and hoping it lands. Jarvan's ultimate provides the perfect opportunity to land a max range ultimate of his own.

Typical Combo
Jarvan IV: Demacian Standard
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Jarvan IV: Dragon Strike
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Jarvan IV: Cataclysm
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Fizz: Chum the Waters
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Fizz: Playful / Trickster

Jarvan covers a huge amount of ground by chaining his classic "flag & drag" combo with his ultimate, Cataclysm. While their enemy is trapped inside, Fizz can land a smooth Chum the Waters and follow up with some damage of his own. Both ultimates work nicely to isolate an enemy even in team fights and their damage can quickly turn the fight favourable.

Supporting Picks
As always, it's important to make sure a composition is well-rounded and at least somewhat adaptable if things start going sour. Below are some champions that you can slot in to give the composition some diversity.

Ashe
The Frost Archer is a solid choice in AD Carry for the pick composition. Other roles are likely to be loading up on damage, opening up the marksman pool to utility carries like Ashe. Her ultimate, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, allows her to join the team in making picks, while her utility and solid DPS make her a formidable team fighting presence.

Gragas
While Gragas has all the tools to make great picks on his own, his utility to the pick composition comes from his ultimate, Explosive Cask. With the composition looking to avoid team fights at all costs, the disengage Gragas provides can prove invaluable to his team.

Zyra
While the suitable of Thresh as a support pick is undeniable, a mage support like Zyra certainly has a place in the composition too. With a huge amount of burst as well as some built in CC, a Zyra pick can enable Top or Jungle to pick tankier or more CC-heavy champions.

 

Final Thoughts
Like the wombo combo composition, the pick composition has a well-defined play style that is simple to execute. The challenge comes in making enough picks early to snowball into the mid game, while doing your best to avoid unfavourable team fights. The compositions high damage and fast-paced gameplay mean the team is constantly moving around the map, bursting objectives before the enemy can arrive. Because of the flexibility to pick a range of champions across all roles, it is common to see some variation of the pick composition in competitive play and this is unlikely to change going forward.

Sources

[1] League of Legends Wiki (2017) Thresh | League of Legends Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Thresh ↩
[2] League of Legends Wiki (2017) Rengar | League of Legends Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Rengar ↩
[3] League of Legends Wiki (2017) Fizz | League of Legends Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Fizz ↩
[4] League of Legends Wiki (2017) Ashe | League of Legends Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Ashe ↩
[5] League of Legends Wiki (2017) Gragas | League of Legends Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Gragas ↩
[6] League of Legends Wiki (2017) Zyra | League of Legends Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Zyra ↩

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