Playing with the most effective champs is a great way to help increase your chances of winning. However, that doesn’t mean you should keep your champion pool narrowed down to the crowd favorites. Today, we’re going to talk about one of the best ways to catch opponents off-guard at LoL best off-meta picks!.
LoL Best Off-meta Picks – The Rundown
Want to catch the other team off-guard ASAP? Here’s a rundown on a few examples. We’re going with three picks for each role. However, you have to remember that any champ can excel depending on the players’ abilities.
Off meta – Top
- Bruiser Kai’Sa – Abuse the range and keep ‘em guessing on how to build against you.
- Braum Top – Great all-in brawler thanks to his passive and a monster tank if not pressured in the early game.
- Blitzcrank Top – A surprisingly good brawler with one of the best crowd control/displacement tool. Works even better with a cooperative Jungler.
There is a lot of other great alternatives that you really should check out if you wanna play off-meta top.
Off meta – Mid
- Caitlyn – An AD bully that works so well against non-assassin mid champs.
- Cho’Gath – A versatile pick with good scaling damage plus the potential to be a hard-hitting off-tank mage.
- Master Yi – Good wave clear plus a self-heal makes it possible for him to shrug off poke-oriented champs during laning phase to secure the early power spike.
Here’s our guide to off-meta mid lane champs for even more awesome ideas!
Off meta – Jungle
- Annie – Decent jungle clear, with Tibbers for soaking up damage from dragons. Her passive means every gank has a targeted or AOE stun on demand.
- Ezreal – A mobile jungler that trades utility for more damage, range and utility. Works best with CC-heavy lanes.
- Malzahar – His ultimate can be a strong ganking tool, and his voidlings can soak up damage from jungle camps AND enemy champs trying to slow you with a skill shot CC.
Want to know more about off-meta jungle champs? Check out our in-depth guide!
Off meta – Support
- Ahri – A high-damage, mobile all-in support with a decent crowd control. Good kill potential at the cost of weaker laning.
- Anivia – Good CC, Damaging AOE, and an excellent partner for a strong meta champ (Vayne).
- Jhin – Adds insane damage to a lane with decent AOE courtesy of his W and traps.
Our guide to the best off-meta support picks will give you more unexpected options.
Bot Lane
Garen – Works surprisingly well when paired with Yumi, which offsets his lack of range. Capable of trading and can still remain effective as with his meta role.
Thresh – Strong initial hit combined with crowd control that works well with a damage-oriented support.
Veigar – An off-meta pick that works with another off-meta pick, Veigar’s W will almost always stun with a CC-heavy support pushing targets into it!
Looking for other ways to catch the enemy team off-guard in the bottom lane? Here’s our comprehensive guide to off-meta bot lane picks!
You now have a few ideas to start out, but what makes them good as off-meta picks? Read on to understand how to make the best off-meta picks
Understanding LoL Best Off-meta Picks
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: going off-meta is very different from going for a troll pick. Off meta picks may not be as effective as meta champs, but they are still capable of performing their intended job. The best off-meta picks can win you games with via one or more of the following factors:
Effectiveness
Your pick must still have the abilities or raw stats to perform a specific task necessary for a given team role. For example, a champ normally picked for mid could have enough durability or sustain for it to clear jungle camps, making him a viable off-meta. On the other hand, a top lane bully can be used as a bot lane champ and shut down the enemy’s early game.
Counterplay
Since people don’t expect the champion in that specific role, it could also mess up your enemy team’s strategy. For example, if the enemy mid laner is expecting to gain an early advantage thru poke damage, a champ with a self-heal or sheer sustain will shut down their original strategy. Consequently, this would force them to take a less optimal approach.
Synergy
There are many times when an off-meta pick works simply because they synergize well with a teammate. A good example would be Annivia as support. She’s normally played as a mid laner. However, the fact that her wall makes Vayne’s E usable anywhere makes her a potent niche support. Fortunately, synergy isn’t that complicated; pick something that complements a teammate’s weakness or counters an enemy’s strengths.
Tips on Picking Off-meta Champs
Even picking LoL best off-meta picks can be a risky move; after all, you’re using a champ that isn’t considered the best in its role. Playing an off-meta champ can also cause team players to accuse you of throwing away a game. Here are a few tips on how to increase your chances of winning with the best off-meta picks in the game.
- Let others pick before you – A huge part of what makes an off-meta pick work is its synergy with the rest of the team. By letting other players get their preferred champs, it will be a lot easier to find an off-meta pick that will complement your team’s existing champion line-up. “Insta-locking” is a no-no even with meta champs, so think before you hit that lock-in button.
- Let them know your intention – Letting your teammates know that you’re going for an off-meta pick does two things. First, it lets the team the chance to prepare to accommodate your pick. Second, it helps reduce toxicity by letting other players know that you’re not going for a troll pick.
- Play with a teammate – the best off-meta picks tend to work better when you have a dedicated partner. The most common examples tend to be bot lane players because that’s where two teammates need the most coordination. Playing with a friend instead of a random lane partner will make your pick more effective.
IMPORTANT – If you’re going off-meta in top or mid lane, having a friend play as jungler works since you can have more coordinated ganks. Conversely, Jungle off-meta picks should pick a friend that plays either top or mid. - Don’t push it! – If the team doesn’t want you to go off-meta, you should consider just going for a more conventional champ. Ignoring their requests during champ select could cause friction between teammates, severely reducing your chances of winning. Going off-meta adds to the uncertainty of winning, so it’s still better if you have two or three conventional champs as backup. Save your surprise pick for a more willing team.
LoL Best Off-meta Picks – Conclusion
Meta champs may be popular for plenty of reasons. However, League of Legends offers plenty of possibilities to win the game. We hope our guide to the best off-meta picks has helped you get the element of surprise against other players!
