Analyzing all early, mid, or late game champions - Part 1 (Champions A - I)

A while ago, I saw a request on reddit asking for a list of all early or late game champions, so I'm going to go into detail about why I categorize each as I did.

For reference:
- Early Game: The laning levels, mainly the first 15 or 20 minutes, when it is most likely just between you and your lane opponent. Levels 1-9.

- Mid Game: After the laning phase. This is when you see more roaming occur, and the first towers should start to fall. One team generally has a clear advantage by this point. Levels 9-16.

- Late game: After about 30 or 40 minutes. This is when the carries start to get their fifth or sixth items and live up to their names. This is when death timers are high and one team fight can lead to disaster for one team. Levels 16+

 

A

 

Ahri: Mid Game. Generally, post 6 she can have potential for a kill in lane if she can land her skillshots, but I feel she really shines in roaming with her ultimate and set up kills for her team. She has good base damages as well.

Akali:  Mid Game. Like Ahri, is pretty reliant on her ultimate. Her jumping around makes her awful to lane against, and her W is great at escaping ganks, especially in mid lane. In the first teamfights, she excels as an assassin, jumping to the enemy carrys and bursting them down. Late game, her damage falls off a little bit and she can be burst down more easily, so getting some tanky items is generally a good idea, like Voyboy's Bruiser Akali.

Alistar: Early game. In lane, his headbutt-pulverize combo, if landed, is incredibly deadly and a great set up for kills. As the game progresses, you can't really do anything than your headbutt-pulverize, as late game heal is neglible at best, but yor ultimate makes you a great tank. Buy Aura items to avoid being useless. For those who watched Vulcan vs TSM during super week, you know what I mean.

Amumu: Late game. Doesn't have an incredible clear time, especially with the smaller creeps in camps becoming weaker, which lengthens the cooldown on his E. As teamfights start to erupt, his ultimate becomes incredible though. A 2 second AOE stun is beautiful, and can set up some great fights for your team to clean face while the enemy team is facing the Curse of the Sad Mummy. 

Anivia: Late Game. Her Ultimate, and E can do huge burst damage late game, and the Ultimate and her W can block off almost the entire river, or block off an entire jungle path. This makes her incredibly useful, and she has probably the best wave clear in the game. Shes also pretty good mid game, but her early game is pretty weak. 

Annie: Early Game. She has huge burst at level 6, and her huge autoattack range makes her great at harassing and last hitting, especially with her Q passive restoring mana. However, all of her spells have very short ranges, which makes her fall off late game, because unless she can land an AOE tibbers stun, she'll probably be burst down quickly. 

Ashe: Late Game. She has a good level 1 thanks to her passive, but her laning phase isn't incredible due to her long cooldown on W and no other damage spells besides that. Late game though, her ultimate can be used to great success, and can easily make or break a teamfight. Her Q is also decent at kiting, but she is weak to hard engage due to lack of escape.

B

Blitzcrank: Early game: It isn't really fair to class Blitzcrank into a category, as a sucesfull pull can make huge plays throughout any stage of the game. However, early game is when blitz shines, as pulling someone in laning phase when they only have a few luifebars can be absolutely devestating. In addition, probably has the best level 1 in the game, as a sucesfull pull into your team guarantees first blood. Also pulling a buff away from a jungler is so cruel its terrible. 

Brand: Mid game. Has a decent laning phase, with some potantial to kill iuf he can land his E+Q. However, mid game teamfights, his AOE potential with a Q+E+W+R is incredible. However, isnt the best champion right now, as called by some pro gamers, he is a "skillshot version" of Ryze, with slightly longer range. If you can land his combo on a grouped up team though, its worth it. Falls off slightly late game as people get tankier.

 

C

Caitlyn: Early and Late game. Caitlyn is defined by her auotattack range and Q range. She is a sniper after all. Early game, her Q lets her put good poke on the enemy, and her autattack range lets her farm at a distance, and her E keeps her safe from ganks. She falls off some mid game, as she doesn't have great damage. Late game though, her damage still isnt incredible, but her range keeps her safe from a lot of enemies, and her passive scales great with damage.

Cassiopeia: Early and Late game. Early game, her Q+E damage is incredible at zoning lane opponents and doing ridiculous damage. Mid game, her damage falls off a little bit, but late game, her damage is disgusting, and a full ultimate is incredibly deadly. She is kind of risky with her ranges though, but her damage is great, just land her ultimate. 

Cho'Gath: Mid Game. Thanks to his passive, Cho has one of the best laning phases in the game, and is very safe, letting him farm very effeciently, and his W is awesome for harass. However, unless you're dove, you probably wont get a kill. Mid Game is when Cho shines, as hes incredibly tanky due to items and his Ultimate. Your Q is great utility, and to fight effeciently, you pretty much have to walk up to the enemy carry, Q, W, Ultimate, and then autoattack them. Just walking up to a carry and ulting them for 500 or so true damage is probably enough to flash away in terror and allows you to zone them. Damge and tankiness fall off late game. 

Corki: Mid Game. Corki has two major problems: mana, and autoattack range. This makes him best mid game, as his levels give him more maximum mana, and his E and R are great for damage. late game he will fall off due to his low attack range, so he needs to make mid game where he reigns dominant, and thanks to his high mobility with W, he can.

 

D

Darius: Early/mid game. Darius has great harass with his Q, a good gap closer with his E, and his ultimate is damn terrifying. He has great potential kill from 6 onwards. However, late game, he can easily be kited due to his lack of mobility. 

Diana: Mid Game. Like Darius, has great potential from 6 onwards. Her Ult>E combo is incredible for starting team fights, and her damage is insane. The biggest problem I can see is that she can easily be zoned due to her melee range, but as Dignitas Scarra has shown time and time again in LCS, start with upwards of 9 health potions, and leveling W twice early for a strong shield. Then, mid game she can facilitate teamfights incredibly well and wreck havoc, along with incredible 1v1 potential. 

Dr. Mundo: Mid Game. Dr. Mundo has decent clear times, but is relatively squishy in the early phases of the game. However, once Mundo can get to mid game, when he has some health and resistances, he excels in popping his ult, and running into the enemy team for disruption, dealing high damage for a tank with his W and Q. Still does decent damage late game, and is incredibly tanky, but has no CC.

Draven: Early Game. Draven's Q is what makes him such a powerhouse AD Carry, but spinning axes is incredibly difficult. In a Late game teamfight, it can be incredibly difficult to catch your axes and not get focused. In the laning phase however, this is much easier, and the damage amplification is incredible. 

 

E

Elise: Early and Mid Game. The reason that Elise got so incredibly popular is probably her good laning phase against melee bruisers in top lane. Her Q in Human form does % damage based on health, and at a low mana cost, this is great harass. Mid Game, she can build some magic penetration items, and then go tanky from then onwards, which gives her good assassination potential, and her Spider repell is one of the most unique abilities in the game, and used properly is incredible. Late game she falls off a bit, but her Human Q is still very good by dealing percent damgage. 

Evelynn:  Early/Mid Game. Evelynn makes plays by roaming. Post 6, she can move around the map very quickly, and pop her Ultimate onto the enemy when coming out of stealth. Late game, there won't be as many people farming unportected, so her assassination potential falls off and she can be burst down very quickly in teamfights. So focus on roaming in the laning phase and getting ahead through that, and popping an ultimate onto carries in the mid game is incredibly frightening. 

Ezreal: Mid Game. Ezreal has one of the best laning phases of all the AD carries, as his Q is a great poke, and his E makes him almost impervious to ganks. This continues into mid game, and his E is probably the best skill in the game bar none, giving him basically a second flash every few seconds. However, late game, his damage falls off incredibly, as he doesn't have any natural steroids, and to maximize his skillset, he doesn't build straight damage (iceborn gauntlet), but this hurts him late game.

 

F

Fiddlesticks: Late Game (AP/Jungler) Early Game (Support).
Ap/Jungler: In the early phase, Fiddlesticks wants to mainly just focus on farming, and keeping himself health with drain. His Roaming/Ganking isn't that great has he doesn't have a reliable gap closer, and his Q at level 1 is alright. However, late game, if you can land a full crow storm, your enemy will melt, and combined qith a zhonya's you have a lot of potential. 
Support:  Maxing Q gives you one of the best CCs in the game, and can lead to a lot of potential kills thanks to the 3 second fear at Level 9. Falls of late game as the only think useful you can do is one fear and have auras. 

Fiora:  Late Game. though, has a good level 2, but from then on, isn't that great. A full ultimate on the enemy team is devestating though, but just isn't a great champion right now, doesn't deal much damage if builds tanky, and is only useful for her ultimate if builds damage, then crushed to death.

Fizz: Mid Game. Has huge burst potential with his Ultimate, and his E mechanic makes for some awesome plays. Doesn't have a very good 1-6, and then falls off late game, and is incredibly dependent on landing his ultimate. If you miss shark, you lose all your CC and a lot of damage. Falls off late game due to being melee.

 

G

Galio: Late Game. Laning phase isn't spectacular due to him being Melee, and doesn't deal huge damage. From about level 7 though, becomes a great farmer by spamming Q, and can get tanky and naturally build AP with passive. The reason hes strong is because he has one of the best ultimates in a game, and landing one with a team to back you up is devastating. Isn't that strong overall though, as hes useless in teamfights without an ultimate. 

Gangplank: Mid Game. Gangplank has a decent laning phase, as his Q is good harass and a last hitting tool, but dont expect to get any kills. Mid Game is when he shines in my opinion, as this is when he can be tanky enough to zone out the enemy carries, relying on his Q and passive to deal damage. His Ultimate is also very potent here. If you decide to build critplank, your mid game is pretty strong, but if you can land a Q crit onto an adcarry, you probably just took half their health. However, you are probably going to die as critplank is very squishy. 

Garen: Early Game. He can pretty much fight and win every single Top lane in the game except for Ones with kiting potential. His Q and E do great damage, but he really falls off late game by being kited and not doing that much damage, late game, Darius does everything better than him.

Gragas: Mid Game. His Laning phase is pretty decent, but has potential to be burst down or harassed. Really excels in Mid Game with his ultimate having huge catch potential. Late Game, he kind of has to get pretty close to maximize his damage, which can be deadly late game, but his ultimate is always incredibly strong for catching potential and damge. 

Graves: Mid game. Like Ezreal, has a safe laning phase, but instead of good poke, has a great burst. His E is a bit unique by being an escape and steroid, but is a very safe ability. His Q is what make him shine though, he's incredibly deadly with it at close range, and does huge burst damage. That's the problem though, its only great at close range, which makes him fall off late game.

 

H

Hecarim: Mid game. He has a pretty decent clear time, but his ganks aren't incredible, you have to come in at exactly the right angle with his E. But mid game teamfights, he can become a powerhouse with his ultimate, and getting a five man ultimate is a great teamfight set up. However, he can be potentially kited, and lacks damage. 

Heimendinger: Mid Game. His missiles in conjunction with his turrets do great damage, but has pretty short ranges on his abilities, and has an incredibly useless ultimate, which makes him fall off late game.

 

I

Irelia: Mid Game. Irelia has received some interesting changes as of late. Back in season 2, people loved building a Wit's End and an Ionic Spark on her, or an early triforce for damage. Now both of those build paths are no longer effective with increased phage costs and no more Ionic Spark, so it has become increasingly harder to ride the line between tank and damage like she did so well. Now, with the nerf of Warmogs recently, Irelia players such as Megazero from Team Marn are playing damage Irelia by abusing the new Blade of the Ruined King on her, which makes her have insame damage, but she has to build tanky or she'll be burst down as the game draws out.

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