More often than not, new League of Legends champions make a splash in the game’s meta shortly after their release—but few have done it like Naafiri. The game’s newest addition is arguably the best champion in the game right now as she owns the top win rate in solo queue games at not one, but two positions.
Across all competitive ranks, Naafiri has the highest win rate among all top lane and mid lane champions on Patch 13.16. Her top lane win rate is at 53.02 percent, while her mid lane win rate is just a bit higher, sitting at 53.13 percent, according to LoL stats site U.gg.
Although players initially tried to get Naafiri jungle off the ground when the champion was first released last month, that experiment failed quickly. The champion never had a strong win rate in the jungle and even still owns the lowest win rate among 44 qualified jungle champions on Patch 13.16.
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But it’s clear that Naafiri is a threat in solo lanes, and if you’re climbing the ladder as either a top laner or mid laner, you should consider adding her to your champion pool. The champion’s future is still up in the air as we await the official Patch 13.17 notes, but if she gets overlooked, there could be at least one more patch where the dogs are going to be off the leash. Naafiri was nerfed in Patch 13.16 but is still having strong showings in the meta across the entire ranked ecosystem.
For reference, Naafiri’s dominance of the mid and top lanes is still a trend that continues even when the sample size is reduced to only include solo queue games played at Platinum rank or higher, meaning she’s just as strong of a pick at the top level of the game as she is in the lower ranks.
In professional play, we should expect Naafiri to have an effect on the upcoming World Championship, especially if the champion remains untouched between now and then—though some balance changes seem likely.
