Preseason Drafting Guide
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Preseason Drafting Guide

Hey everyone! We’ve seen a few changes heading into the 2019 season, Dark Harvest changes and the early-mid game focus being the two most significant, and as such, have had a few champions that we thought were lost to the meta forever, resurface. I’m sure these changes, as well as a few others, have made some of you wonder just which champions should be your priority picks when drafting. Whether in solo queue or competitive, please allow us to take you on a journey through the draft phase heading into 2019!

As Dark Harvest has been nerfed, we won’t touch on the champions that it makes viable this time around. In fact, we’ll be looking at a few picks that will serve you well in your drafts this season regardless of the state of runes, as well as potential counters you could pick up should they be on the other team. Additionally, there are four champions that are typically banned in almost every game at the moment, Irelia, Aatrox, Akali, and Urgot, and therefore, we won’t look at those this time, but a few options with which you can potentially counter them if they make it through the ban phase.

Remember, if you’re red side you can give away one overpowered pick if it means securing two for yourself. But if you’re blue side, you can force the red team to ban some of these champions regardless, because they know you will be able to freely pick at least one. So, get ready. Here are some champions worth putting some time into learning (or banning)!

Alistar

First up on our list of champions to draft is a support that’s been omnipresent immediately following every patch in which his ultimate has been even slightly changed. I am, of course, talking about the raging bull, Alistar.

Renowned for his engage potential, a mini-Malphite ultimate on a ten-second cooldown in the Headbutt-Pulverize combo, and the fact that he can stay in fights or under towers for ridiculous amounts of times, Alistar’s strength in all facets of the game cannot be underestimated. Phenomenal roaming, ganks, and teamfighting as a result of his insane crowd control ability means that teams looking for a high-impact priority pick (that isn’t hard-countered by many champions) should secure Alistar as soon as possible as either their first or second pick.

Should the enemy team pick Alistar, your best bet is Braum who has comparable tankiness, the ability to peel for your botlane partner should he be jumped on, and some of the best disengage in the game. This means that an Alistar that engages too overzealously could find himself immediately punished and either isolated in a teamfight with no followup or rendered completely useless without cooldowns. Braum’s trading potential in lane is also significantly better than Alistar’s, if only because Winter’s Bite, Braum’s Q, can be safely fired from range and allows the champion more choices in picking an engage without fully committing his body (or two of his spells).

Another option into Alistar is Zyra, who offers not only some of the best disengage potential in the game, but a fantastic laning phase in which she is renowned for practically 1v2ing the enemy botlane with her legions of plants. Zyra’s ability to manipulate the waves in botlane with a well-timed Q (Deadly Spines) means that she can freely push and coordinate a tower dive onto whichever AD carry Alistar has left alone while roaming, or simply push in the cow himself to deny him any chance to leave lane with more than 50% health at any given moment. Her relative immobility means you have to be careful, however; as no amount of disengage potential from E roots and Stranglethorns can save you from a Flash-Headbutt-Pulverize from out of the fog of war.

Ezreal

With one go-to champion out of the way, let’s head on to the next, another stalwart presence in the botlane for multiple seasons in the past, with a recent resurgence and an even more recent mini rework, the next focus of our attention is the Boy Explorer, Ezreal!

A phenomenal marksman and somewhat-middling mage and a unique caster-esque heavy poke playstyle that can transition into great all-in is something only Ezreal brings to the table in his role. Add a completely retooled W, Essence Flux, that was often neglected in the past (a one-point wonder, where you would only skill it to function as an extra Sheen/Spellblade proc) has given him even more poke, trade, and (perhaps most importantly) tower-pushing potential.

A very safe pick that scales well into the late game, Ezreal’s ability to play back and harass opponents from distance before moving in for either a kill or to siege really augments any composition. His Ultimate Ability, Trueshot Barrage, even had its damage reduction on multiple targets hit dramatically reduced this patch, thereby bringing him further into the spotlight this season and for seasons to come. His early trading in lane is not even limited to his Q, Mystic Shot, alone, since his passive, Rising Spell Force, gives him enough attack speed (that most players don’t even account for) to trade blows with even the most fearsome of threats (Miss Fortune, Jhin).

Ezreal really only has two glaring weaknesses, both of which actively contribute to the pick being relatively useless while behind (though most poke champs generally are) and the first of these is the fact that his item thresholds early are fairly clunky in comparison to the more standard, raw-attack-damage-focused builds of other champions in his role. Tear of the Goddess gives him an undeniable power spike, or at least the lead to one (Muramana), but by the time you complete that and your Sheen, you are already down 2000 gold on what is effectively a larger mana pool to farm and occasionally trade with until you can upgrade your items quite a bit later. However, despite the delay, Ezreal’s two item power spike with Muramana and Trinity Force/Iceborn Gauntlet, is one of the strongest in the game, and he can put up a solid fight around the 20-minute mark.

Ezreal’s other glaring weakness is especially notable when he itemizes for the more aggressive Trinity Force, rather than the more utility-focused Iceborn Gauntlet — and that’s his innate lack of waveclear compared to other AD carries. Yes, he pumps out more than decent poke and single target damage, but that doesn’t help break a siege or immediately clear hoards of minions — leaving him and his team vulnerable to being sieged upon if they don’t find themselves safely ahead at the mid game mark.

Ezreal is, again, fairly unique in his position at the moment, simply because he doesn’t really have a counter. The pick is safe enough that he can hang back and farm from a distance, and he can really snowball his leads through aggressive trading, thanks to his utilization of the Kleptomancy rune. If you are looking to punish him early, choose someone that can really dominate the laning phase. Miss Fortune, Jhin, or even Draven can make sure Ezreal never even has the chance to come online to begin with. A word of warning, supports typically just give Ezreal free Kleptomancy gold, simply because he is so hard to lock down due to both his range and mobility.

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