The 5 best solo queue champions for League of Legends in 2021

William Davis Published 09/07/2021

If you’ve recently seen the new very popular ruined skins and are thinking of getting back into League of Legends, now’s a perfect time. Season 11 brought quite a few changes to the meta. This is especially the case with ranked matches, where the better champions have been very much decided by the item rework.

Of course, not everybody has a team to play with and we all know the difficulties of playing solo ranked. From the wildly different skill levels to the incredibly annoying smurfs, it can definitely feel like you’re gambling on an online casino. As such, the idea for this guide is to provide some guidance and a top pick for each position.

Keep in mind that most of these champions are the type that have a higher skill cap, meaning that they take a while to master. If you do manage it though, they’re really powerful for leveling up solo and you can absolutely dominate with a few.

Jungle: Xin Zhao

Much like you’ll see with other champions on this list, the season 11 item buffs have really helped Xin Zhao become a top pick for jungle, making him very flexible. He excels at filling out gaps in compositions, whether as early picks or late-stage picks, which is really great.

Domination is the tree you’ll want to go with Xin Zhao, for both early-game damage scaling (Hail of Blades and Sudden Impact) and late-game damage output. Eyeball Collection and Relentless Hunter are also good for extra damage and mobility. As for a secondary tree, that’s a bit more open but Precision is a good option for Triumph and Legend: Alacrity.

As for ability priority, it’s R>W>E>Q, with W being the primary, followed by maxing E and then Q last.

In terms of strats, you’ll want to take advantage of his mobility to clear jungle camps and try to find overextended opponents to put the hurt on. At later stages, once you hit level six or so, you’ll want to look for team fights if you can, where you can leverage your ultimate. You’ll also want to heavily focus on farming to get those extra items.

Mid Lane: Zed

Zed can be incredibly powerful if you’re able to master him properly and he can absolutely wipe a whole team nearly single-handedly if done right. It’s no surprise that Zed often gets banned. There are probably tons of vids you’ve seen this champion feature in because of how slippery he is.

In terms of trees, you’ll want to pick Domination as the primary. Ultimate Hunter is great with the bounty stack, helping a lot with cooldowns, and Electrocute can get in a bunch of damage if you’re able to strike quickly. A good secondary tree is Sorcery with Scorch for extra damage and Transcendence for the haste.

As for the plan, you have to be aware that Zed is squishy so it’s all about knowing how to play around Living Shadow and Death Mark. The latter can be especially problematic if you aren’t very experienced with Zed. But with some practice, you can be pretty deadly.

ADC: Ezreal

One of the great things about Ezreal is his high skill cap, which means that there’s lots of room to grow and out-pace other players (and you can even carry if you’ve mastered him). Also, the recent rework of items has helped push Ezreal to the forefront of ADC meta. He’s a great source of damage and has tons of flexibility in terms of build path.

The main tree you want to focus on for Ezrael is Precision. Conqueror gives you extra healing and damage, Legend: Bloodline for sustain and Presence of Mind is great for extra mana regen. Also, you can go for Sorcery as the secondary tree for ability haste, although if you need more sustain, Biscuit Delivery from Inspiration is a good option.

Ability priority for Ezrael is R>Q>E>W with Q being maxed first regardless of anything else. E is maxed second for mobility.

Mid-game is where Ezreal shines so you’ll want to be efficient in your farming during the laning phase for Manamune and a Sheen. At 20 minutes or so you’ll have both completed and at that point, you’ll want to focus on objectives. You probably won’t be able to out-pace damage in the late-game compared to other ADCs, but you’ll still be viable, especially if you remember your auto-attacks.

Top: Wukong

The advantage of Wukong is that he’s excellent at one versus one, although his mana leaves a lot to be desired. Thankfully, his ultimate is quite impactful and his decoy is pretty useful now on the damage front, compared to how it was in the past. Also, he has some great passive for health regeneration.

For solo, you’ll want to mainly aim for the Precision Tree. The reason for that is that it gives extra damage through Conquer stacks, as well as extra healing with Triumph with a full stack.

Ability priority is going to be R>E>Q>W and once you’re out of laning and your ultimate is ready, roam around the map and look for opportunities. One of the best things you can do is a combo, ultimate, combo, ultimate for tons of damage. Also finally, make sure you make good use of your clone.

Support: Lulu

A mix of nerfs to other supports and some buffs to her kid have raised Lulu up recently in the meta. The changes have made her carriers much better and allow you to put them in much riskier situations. There are some great new synergies with new items, which is always something you want to look for in a top-tier champion.

In terms of tree, you’re going to want to go down Sorcery, as the keystone Aery gives you extra damage and healing. You can also keep your mana up with Mana Flow and Transcendence will add ability haste, especially as you level up. As for poke, you’ll probably want to primarily go for Scorch, although Gathering Storm is another good alternative.

For Lulu, ability priority is going to be R>E>W>Q, with E maxed first, followed by W and Q maxed last.

As for strategy, you’ll want to combine her with hyper carriers, such as Tristana, Vane, or Jinx (The latter of which showed up in an animated league of legends Netflix trailer). While she is super-powerful as a support, she is also super-squishy and tends to die a lot, so be careful of that. Also, be sure you don’t waste abilities during laning, you’ll regret it later.

Also, vision for your team is really important and will be key, as well as getting as many Control Wards as you can.

William Davis

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