Three months have passed since the start of the 2023 League of Legends season and we’ve gone through many different phases, both in-game and when it comes to the ranked system.
Not only was there the introduction of two different splits within the same season, but Riot also tweaked the LP gains not once, but twice within a couple of weeks.
With the increased LPs on both victories and losses, it was expected to see higher numbers on the Challenger ladder. All players in the top 10 are having more than 1,450 LPs and more than 150 players are already sitting above 1,000 LPs (according to stats site OP.GG).
But who is the current No. 1 on the EUW ladder? And how does he manage to succeed more than others?
EUW’s Rank 1 is not a LEC player
The current Rank 1 player on the EUW ladder does not play in the LEC, but he has made a name for himself in the European Regional Leagues. His name is Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek and he’s the bot laner for Zero Tenacity, a team playing in the Polish ERL, Ultraliga. He was previously raised in KT Rolster’s academy starting from 2020 until the end of last year, before joining Europe and the Polish team.
Zero Tenacity come from a stellar Spring split, having finished first during the regular split, and were the first team to lock a spot for the upcoming EMEA Masters, which will take place in April.
Within the team, Noah played a major role in carrying his team to the most prestigious competition below the LEC. He was a tier above all the other ADCs, scoring the best average KDA, the highest CS per minute, damage per minute, and the highest Kill participation percentage (according to stats site Games of Legends). On top of that, he scored a total of seven solo kills, second behind Grypciocraft’s bot laner Avra.
It’s not a surprise to see Korean imports succeed at the ERL level, considering the mechanical talent they bring to the table. That said, Noah is delivering across the board, having scored a peak score of 1914 LPs toward the end of February (according to his OP.GG).
He’s sitting above 1700 LPs, and even if he happens to drop some games, he’s usually always sitting in the top three the majority of the time.
What does Noah play in solo queue compared to competitive games?
Based on his main account profile, Noah has shown good proficiency on most ADCs. Throughout the 2023 season, he played basically all marksmen at some point in time, aside from some of the less popular options, like Vayne and Kog’Maw.
That being said, his most-played champions currently are Zeri, Lucian, Ezreal, Caitlyn, and Varus. His main champion is Zeri, the only champion with more than 100 games played (he played more than 400 games this season, averaging a win rate of 60 percent).
His professional champion pool is fairly similar to solo queue, with Zeri and Ezreal as the most-picked champion (five games for Zeri, three for Ezreal, according to Games of Legends). He showcased a large champion pool across the split, with a total of 10 unique ADC champions played.
He seems to be adapting to the meta as well, as he recently started playing Jinx, who is one of the strongest bot laners in the patch. Even though he lost both games, he was one of the better-performing players in those matches.
Being an ADC main, it’s expected to see him play meta champions in solo queue, but Noah also has a secret pick that he plays when he’s autofilled in the jungle role: Graves.
The Outlaw is not considered a top-tier pick in the jungle pool, yet Noah has been able to win and be successful with him, boasting a 59 percent win rate across more than 50 games, with an average KDA of 3.75 (according to his OP.GG).
He seems to enjoy the jungle as a secondary role, having played a couple of games on junglers like Lee Sin (17 games, seven wins) and Sejuani (five games, two wins).
With EMEA Masters approaching soon, make sure to watch out for this ADC prodigy: he might be a rising star waiting to be promoted to the LEC (or any other major region).
A couple of LEC players have made the top 10 of the EUW solo queue ladder
Even though Riot introduced the EMEA Champions Queue this year, there are still many players that are grinding hard on the solo queue ladder, and there are a couple of them that are in the top 10.
The highest-ranked LEC player is Bo, Vitality’s jungler, sitting in fifth place. The other pros are (in order): FNC’s jungler Razork in seventh, and FNC’s bot laner Rekkles right after him in eighth place. Having said that, the competition is tight at the top, so there are high chances that the standings will change.
