Briar made her debut in League of Legends following the release of Patch 13.18 on Sept. 13. Virtually every new champion in League has a poor win rate after their release, but Briar seems to have set a new record.
At the time of writing, Briar is the worst jungler in all ranks with an abysmal 35.81 percent win rate, according to a stats site U.GG. This is together with a worrying 2.8 percent pick rate. But do Briar’s early stats really come as much of a surprise?
The opinions seem to be split on the matter. While players on Reddit acknowledge the champion is fresh on Summoner’s Rift and may have a poor win rate due to her being new, they also underlined she has tricky abilities.
“She has an int button on W/Ult, no innate regen, and requires knowing when to pull out of a fight to be effective. Unsurprising she seems so bad for novices,” one player said. This seems to be the main reason behind Briar’s win rate so far.
The champion is all about timing and knowing when to fall back from a fight. For the average player, who focuses on teamfighting and lacks efficient macro knowledge, retreating is often an unknown concept. Even the Riot Games devs themselves warned players about the champion.
“Briar was built around the idea of losing control to gain power and putting that choice in your hands. So instead of sophisticated mechanics and precision skillshots, she’s all about timing,” David “Phreak” Turley said in Briar’s Champion Spotlight.
We believe most players are still getting the hang of Briar and getting to grips with all her abilities. But saying that, she might just be undertuned at the moment and needs a hotfix or two before making an impact on the meta.
