The first League of Legends patch of the year is zooming by, but a handful of champions are already rising up as must-play picks for the current solo queue meta.
Miss Fortune, for example, is currently leading the way for all AD carries in League solo queue, boasting outrageous numbers by herself and with a friend. In Platinum ranks and higher, Runeterra’s favorite Bounty Hunter currently has a 55 percent win rate or higher with six different supports, including Maokai, Blitzcrank, Rakan, Leona, Bard, and Janna, according to U.GG.
In general, Miss Fortune has a 53 percent win rate in the same ranked distribution, while holding a whopping 18 percent pick rate and a 13 percent ban rate. She is also the most-played champion in the game across all ranks with more than two million games played globally, making her the go-to pick for most marksmen players in the game.
In this patch, Miss Fortune has been enjoying some indirect buffs to her kit due to the significant item changes brought over for Patch 14.1. This included a new change to Lethality that provided an earlier power spike than in previous patches when Lethality was given gradually over the course of a game. Now, AD items will give all Lethality right when an item is purchased, giving Miss Fortune a ton of damage off of her first two items alone.
Some players, like superstar AD carry Doublelift, believe Miss Fortune is a bottom-tier pick for solo queue since she is forced to stand still during her ultimate ability. This does leave her vulnerable to crowd control and assassins, but these current numbers reflect a worthwhile tradeoff with her strong damage, zoning potential, and synergy with multiple champion types.
Durable tanks with crowd control, like Maokai, Blitzcrank, and Leona, are all viable picks alongside Miss Fortune since they can lock down enemy players while the Bounty Hunter lines up her ultimate ability for some massive damage. Even if she is interrupted, a couple of seconds in her Bullet Time ultimate can be enough to sway a skirmish in your team’s favor.