Top 3 Flavours of the Month

Wondering what to buy next? What champ to play with and improve your skill with? Analysis of the Flavours of the Month will bring you the answers!

FotM - Flavour of the Month (September) - in short, presents a group of champions (at given period of time) which are most encouraged and/or played at that period of time. In this article we give you the newest Flavours of the Month!

SOLO TOP

1. Nunu - Probably the most odd choice for a Solo-Top FotM although Nunu has proven to be an extremely good laner and unbelievably good at dealing damage / semi-supporting. His skill-set enable him to be an extremely viable top laner by providing a heal, a buff, constant harrassment, and an enormous damage Ultimate. More and more do we see Nunu being played at both competitive and casual/non-competitive levels.

Probably the biggest reason behind Nunu being so encouraged is because there is really no champion that handles Nunu well. In fact, you will hardly be able to cut his laning phase off and prevent him from getting stronger, unless a jungler provides constant ganks to your lane solely.

 

2. Shen - Long story short, Shen was and still is probably the most encouraged Solo Top champion. The reason he is so wanted is because Shen at the same time is able to provide constant entire map presence while actually being able to split-push a lane. In short, his skill-set combination is probably the most utilizing in the entire game, so, Shen is simply unavoidable to pick unless banned.

 

3. Rumble - Just before the recent patch changes and nerfs, Rumble was, along with these 2, probably the most encouraged Solo-Top. The reason? Rumble was simply plain overpowered. Just dealt too much damage and did too well in the lane, that he was certain to be nerfed as soon as the next patch was to be released. Mostly (ab)used by CLG.eu team, who were actually the first ones to discover "the new FotM". Although despite the fact he was nerfed and is not played as often as he was during his first FotM, I still recommend Rumble.

 

JUNGLE



1. Nunu - Being the top Solo-Top FotM, Nunu occupies the first position for the Jungler FotM as well. Very fast jungler, extremely good counter-jungler and a nice ganking potential, Nunu is mostly picked for the purpose of denying an enemy their buffs. His Consume ability is probably one of the best jungling abilities in the entire game, acting like a Spell-vamped Smite.

 

2. Cho'Gath - While the recent buffs might not seem much, it was perfectly enough for Cho'Gath to become a viable and one of the newest Junglers in the current metagame. Just that combination of CC consistent of knock-up + silence, as well as his ultimate that acts like a second Smite. A mediocre ganker, but his silence is very useful during the teamfights.

 

3. Alistar -Even though the nerfs for Alistar were long announced, he still maintains the position of one of the highly anticipated junglers in the entire game. The key to Alistar's success comes in relatively fast early-game jungling, combined with his unbelievably good ganking potential. Jungle Alistar is just a threat as soon as you are aware that you play against him. Countless games are won due to his early ganks and snowball onwards...

 

AP CARRY

1. Diana - Upon her release, it was clearly obvious that this was going to be the FotM as far as AP Carries are concerned. Diana just fit the role of the bursty mage-assassin perfectly. With mediocre utility, but extremely much damage to provide, Diana was the first-pick/first-ban for a whole lot of time. She was even played as a jungler on a few occasions, but definitely not as much as AP mid. The mobility, the damage, the utility? Excellent. Even after the nerfs, I personally think she is still good and worth giving a try.

 

2. Zyra - The same generation like Diana, Zyra is one of the newest AP Carries and is as well one of the most contested. We've actually seen Zyra quite a bit in the competitive scene as well. When released, she was instantly recognized as a viable AP carry that is able to provide huge amounts of AoE during the team-fights, while having an incredibly strong laning phase thanks to her plant minions. Talking of similarities to Diana, she was also nerfed recently and a bit fell off the scene, but was definitely the Flavour of the Month.

 

3. Orianna - Probably one of the strongest AP Carries of the Season 1, Orianna was widely regarded as the most skill dependant champion and also one of the most overpowered.  Hence the facts, she was nerfed a while ago. That's where the end to Orianna came (as well as at the beginning of the Season 2). Then, some repair-balancing was done, she was buffed a bit again, and, recently, we've seen her picked quite a lot. Posseses an incredible synergy of engaging the fights, damage, crowd-control, as well as range. Lately we've seen SK Gaming's Ocelote play her quite a bit and do very well with her.

 

AD CARRY

1. Ezreal - Upon the release of the Pulsefire Ezreal skin, it seemed like Ezreal exploded all the sudden. Became the most powerful AD Carry choice in a very short period of time - a period of time in which the skin was released. Coincidence or not, the fact is, an extreme laning phase, a very-well scaling Essence Flux which deals significant amount of damage and goes through minions, and much much more were all the reasons Ezreal became so contested in a short period of time. Even though the latest patch had him nerfed, I still consider him to be a stronger AD Carry and definitely one to look out for!

2. Corki - Definitely the AD Carry created to melt everything in its path. Combination of burst damage, armor reduction, hybrid damage sources and his passive make Corki much less counterable than other AD Carries. The only con to this crazy pilot is his short range - therefore requirement of an extremely good positioning. Does very well in lane, and certainly a lot in team fights. Corki was actually always good, although just recently he was getting played more and more.

3. Graves - Probably one of the older FotM's, Graves still continues to hold one of the top AD Carry positions. Just like the most of the rest FotM's, Graves also got hit by slight nerfs - and it's a potential let-down.. But still, Graves is one of the most anticipated AD Carry picks statistically - the reason behind this is his pure lane domination as well as the burst damage combined with some CC and some mobility.

 

SUPPORT

1. Nunu - The only champion maintaining the top position in all 3 of the classes, Nunu surely is there for a reason. One of the reasons is just being purely a good support champion. Why? Combination of slow on an enemy and a buff on an ally just makes your AD Carry worth double the more for the duration. Also, Nunu's ultimate is just priceless during the team-fights. That way he attracts most of the CC towards him, therefore also indirectly supporting the rest of his team as well. Also, part of the reason he is so anticipated is because people simply pick him intentionally for another role, and get counter-picked so they just move him to the support role.

2. Alistar - Along with Nunu, the second champion that earns its spot with big thanks to his primary role. Alistar does get picked in order to confuse the opposition, thinking it's a jungle Ali, who then orient their team composition based on this fact - although it's just a fake call. Also, big thanks to his combined CC which, when teamed up with a bursty AD Carry simply creates an entirely advantageous situation. Also, his skill-set allows him to play defensively, which also defines his usage in the long term.

3. Taric - Even though this choice might be debatable, I still think Taric fills in the third place at the Top 5 FotM for the similar reasons to Alistar's. Combined with a CC/bursty AD Carry just represents danger during the laning phase at all times. Also proven to be deadly when combined with a CC-heavy jungler. And, besides all of that, still posseses a heal and a buff.

 

CONCLUSION

Taking all of the champions noted above as an example, we can see that the metagame is changing quickly, rapidly, always new champions coming by, more and more champions become highly anticipated, although we can say one thing - the metagame is surely moving towards the "unknown".

What does "unknown" mean? The champions the players are more and more encouraging are simply the champions people don't have clue or very little clue how to deal with.

Instead of producing good results with a champion thanks to your skills and experience with it, players are mostly relying on champions other players don't know how to deal with / play against, which is a poor and probably not the inteded approach. However, the environment changes, so must we with it...