Competitive Hybrid Laning Champions

As we play League of Legends, you’ll see that champions are fixed into certain roles. Due to their damage scaling, base stats, abilities and ranges, champions will fit themselves into one of the five primary positions; Top, Jungle, Mid, ADC or Support. There are few champions though that can fit into multiple roles due to their stats and abilities. Through this writing, I’ll demonstrate some of the popular competitive picks that we’ve seen played in multiple roles in the recent patches. Here are the four champions this article will discuss with you.

Gangplank

Now Gangplank hasn’t been a meta champion in forever but his recent rework has really brought the pirate to the limelight, demonstrated by the fact that he’s the only champion to have 100% participation in Worlds. His major changes come with the barrel mechanic brought into his kit. The reworked E, “Powder Keg”, creates a keg in a target location. The kegs have three health which go down either through ally/enemy auto-attacks or the passive level-scaling lowering of health that occurs. The kegs can also be connected and detonated together to create a chain explosion, amplifying the length of his damage.

With skilled mechanics and the correct use of game changing ultimates, Gangplank can have a huge impact on games. With armour penetrating AOE damage and late game scaling, Gangplank can work in either of the solo lanes. Primarily on top lane but against the correct opponents, he can work just as easily in the middle lane. While farming in your lane and getting to the point where you’re unbeatable in damage, you can still impact a fight by sending your global slow “Cannon Barrage” across the map to give you a few assists and your team a helping hand.

Lulu

Lulu has to be one of the most consistently dominant champions in the last two seasons. Ever since her abilities were tweaked to give her utility an AP scaling, Lulu has seen competitive showing in the solo lanes. An early game bully that builds into one of the best partners to an ADC. She optimizes allies to do the most damage while keeping them alive and out of any potentially fatal situations.

You’re not playing Lulu to be the big carry of your team. Her damage is only relevant in the early game where she can bully opponents through enhanced autos and “Glitterlances”. The damage part falls off in the mid-late game and that’s where Lulu will stick with her allied carries and enhance their ability to output the most damage. Her slows, speed-ups, shields and heals really help her allies stick to enemies while preventing their deaths. Match-making Lulu with a competent ADC can see the highest benefit as you know the utility in your kit will actually come in use in either the solo lane or bot lane support.

Ekko

Ekko hasn’t been in the LOL roster for so long but we’ve seen him in multiple places on the upper region of the map. Ekko was built to be an AP assassin with his high burst and survivability in “Chronobreak”. These same tools also saw him be played in the role of a tank in the jungle. With the AOE stun and his mobility, if used well, can stun multiple targets with well thought out pathing. Then with Chronobreak, he can jump back from dives and failing ganks to save his life.

Ekko has received a few changes which have aimed to bounce him back in the solo lane build to be an AP assassin. His route into the jungle tank can still be played but with the changes he received, his scaling isn’t as good. As an AP assassin, his burst mainly comes in the activation of his passive. With the combination of auto attacks and abilities, Ekko aims to deal the damage that comes with the passive. Ekko has a kit which makes him highly compatible with the solo lanes and jungle role. With burst damage, mobility and survivability, he can survive trades and ganks effectively. Then as a jungler, with the right setup and understanding of abilities, you can flank enemies from large distances and set up advantageous fights with huge zoning.

Kennen

Kennen’s resurgence into the meta has been really sudden and his rise in professional popularity has correlated with the introduction of juggernauts. Kennen has four roles he can work in and has a different playstyle in all of them. In the solo lanes, he aims to get multiple enemies in “Vengeful Maelstrom” and lock them down while dealing AOE magic damage to all of them. In support, he plays a similar role but aims to engage or amplify an engage and win grouped up team fights. As an ADC, Kennen fits in the same archetype as Champions like Ashe who are classed as utility AD carries.

We’ve seen Kennen’s prominence through Worlds as we saw more and more teams pick the champion. One of the reasons comes down to how neutral Kennen is right now. By picking him in your first round of picks, due to the vast amount of roles he can fit into, the enemy can’t figure anything of the strategy you’re aiming to put together. He can bully his lane opponents with constant low CD harass and keep his enemies away from him and his teammates. Kennen is an apt champion to pick up if you want a champion who can be played in multiple roles and have the same game plan in each instance.

The few picks discussed are only the beginning to the multitude of champions playable in multiple roles across the map. Why not play support Shen and be a global presence. Or play solo lane Tahm Kench and devour your opponent for unexpected damage. There’s a world of picks out there and I hope this article has opened your mind to the potential of champions with cross role efficiency. I hope you enjoyed this work and can’t wait to see you on the Rift.

Liam Roberts