With Worlds around the corner, League of Legends is receiving substantial changes that will likely warp the meta, especially around professional play and high elo. The goal was to nerf some of the power picks that have been dominating playoffs across the world.
Now that patch 12.17 has hit the live servers for a few days, it’s time to look at how the meta has shifted for the support role. We will consider professional play and solo queue, providing stats and explaining why they are meta.
Here are the best support champions in League Patch 12.17.
Janna
Janna is likely the strongest support of this patch 12.17. She received big buffs on her base shield and heal on her spells (namely E and ultimate), making her less reliant on building items.
What makes Janna so strong is her kit as a disengager. She can disable hard engage comps and pick comps which are quite common in this meta. Not only that, but she shines particularly with scaling ADCs, and her ultimate can completely turn around a possible teamfight.
Currently, she has a win rate of more than 53 percent in Master+ across almost 2,000 games. Her ban rate is not that high, currently sitting at 5.3 percent, so you can get to play her quite often.
If you want to climb the solo queue ladder, she’s definitely one to pick.
Renata Glasc
Despite the nerfs received in patch 12.14, the Chem-Baroness is finding great success. Just like Janna, her kit revolves around protecting the ADC and allowing him to take over the teamfights.
Her ultimate is also very powerful, especially in closed areas and around objectives. The nerfs were directed at her early game, but they only lowered her trading power rather than her peeling power. Once you get to the mid-late game, Renata will feel almost the same as before. The stats also back it up: 52.7 percent win rate on 1,630 games.
Senna
Senna hasn’t been touched for quite a few patches, and has stabilized as a strong pick if the conditions are met. Usually, you want to play Senna with an aggressive support that wants to abuse the range advantage. The perfect example is the famous Senna + Seraphine combo. While both need time to scale on paper, the laning phase is solid compared to many other bot lanes duos.
The great thing about Senna is that you can pair her with many different champions and decide whether you want to let her farm or not. It gives you great draft edge, and that’s why she is strong at the highest level of play.
Pyke
We’ve mentioned mainly enchanter supports that want to heal or peel the allies of the team. Pyke is the exact opposite of that. In most cases, Pyke’s shining moments are in the early to mid-game transitions, when he can leave the lane and roam around the map.
Once you build the boots and get the W, you can swiftly move from one lane to the other and use the fog of war to your advantage. The assassin support also excels in dive thanks to his hook, dash, and ultimate.
Pyke excels in the uncoordinated solo queue environment, where players don’t have as much map awareness. People don’t seem to enjoy playing against him: a 22.4 percent ban rate. However, his pick rate is still quite high, around the 10 percent mark.
Underestimated Pick: Rell
Aside from the four picks we mentioned above, two champions are nearly as strong but played much less. One of these is Rell.
She just got some good buffs by the balance team, hoping to launch her back into the meta. By looking at the early data, it looks like the goal has been reached. She has a win rate slightly lower than 53 percent, which usually is considered the benchmark for top-tier champs.
That said, her pick and ban rate are quite low, showing that many still have to realize her potential. Pay attention to how her stats will fluctuate in the following days.
Sona
The second and last pick for this patch is Sona. The Maven of the Strings ticks all of the boxes that the other meta enchanters have: good poke, strong healing, and a powerful ultimate.
What’s gatekeeping Sona from entering the S-tier status is that the other meta picks counter her quite badly. Her early game is also weaker, making her more vulnerable and punishable. Despite a much lower pick rate, her win rate is consistently above the 52 percent mark. Keep an eye on her and try her out, she might be the hidden-OP pick you were looking for.
