With Week 3 of the NA LCS Summer Split behind us, Riot has released their weekly infographic detailing the stats for the week. The Infographic contains all sorts of information, ranging from the match results to the best players of the week. However, one thing that specifically jumps out is the champion presence and win rate stats. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

Champion Presence

Over the last week of play, it seems many champions have been prioritized heavily in the pick/ban phase. However, in the case of 3 champions, they were present in 100% of the matches played in some form. The most interesting champion here being Taliyah, the Stoneweaver.

Taliyah has come out of nowhere to become one of the most popular champs in the game. However, she is not being seen in her typically played mid -- she's being played in the jungle. After patch 8.11, Taliyah’s Q was changed so it no longer deals AoE damage, It deals 100% damage to minions and worked ground no longer grants move speed. This was met with a lot of criticism by mid lane Taliyah mains, but one man’s loss is another man’s treasure as they say. The change to minion damage increased Taliyah’s clear speed massively in the jungle, and when paired with her W, allowed for easy kiting of jungle camps that would otherwise be quite difficult.

Not only was her Q changed, furthermore, they changed her wallriding passive to give 10% extra move speed at level 1, not to mention a flat move speed increase of 15. All of this combined allows for Taliyah to clear the jungle at a much faster rate than most meta junglers and also allows for amazing gank potential due to her consistent damage, good CC and phenomenal mobility.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have Aatrox, the Darkin Blade. Now bear in mind that we are talking about pre-rework Aatrox here, a champion that most have compared to a heaping pile of garbage. Nonetheless, the meta has shifted towards quicker matches with an early/mid game focus, and Aatrox just so happens to have the strongest 2 item power spike in the game. These two items are Titanic Hydra and Guinsoo's Rageblade, items which Aatrox can make incredible use of. Aatrox is able to fully stack the Guinsoo’s passive and proc Titanic Hydra three times off of a combo that is guaranteed to work by simply landing his Q knock-up. This ability to abuse the combo meant that no champion in the game could 1 v 1 him, and very few could 2 v 1 him, which is why he is valued highly by LCS players around the world.

Champion Win Rate

Moving onto champion win rates, the infographic only lists champions that have been played in 3+ games. Looking at the champions listed, it is immediately obvious that no scaling champions, such as crit marksman, are anywhere to be seen. Mentioned briefly earlier, this is due to the way meta has changed and its shift towards shorter matches focused primarily on the early/mid game.

Most notably due to Baron and Turret changes, the last few patches have caused games to speed up.
Baron was changed so that it had increased health but significantly reduced damage allowing for it to be taken much earlier on in the match. Pair this with the nerfs to Inhibitor and Nexus turrets health and you can see why games are closing out much faster.

In adaption to this, we are seeing early game focused champions such as the aforementioned Aatrox, Alistar and Lucian. Alistar is a tanky playmaker capable of making picks on priority targets and is also able to peel for his backline in team fights, which is incredibly valuable in a meta filled with bruisers capable of diving your backline. Lucian is a strong early and mid game champ due to his non-reliance on items, his abilities also deal AoE damage that is invaluable in team fights.

To take a look at the rest of the infographic, which includes lots of interesting information about the week, click here.