The 5 Most Played League of Legends Champions

A Question More Complicated Than You May Realize

League of Legends is defining a new “genre”, if you will, of “sportsmanship”, and that is the electronic contest. Esports are a legitimate pastime presently, and becoming increasingly mainstream as gaming embeds itself into modern society.

To that end, League of Legends boasts over a hundred Champions to choose from, and a few statistical trends have developed. The thing about data is, it isn’t always necessarily representative if not viewed as a whole.

There’s an old saying that goes something to the effect of, “torture” data long enough, and it’ll sing whatever song you like. If you focus on one segment of data over another, you may come away with different conclusions. Furthering the complication are associated biases.

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Independent Contrast Indicates a Hidden Perspective

Some people use different metrics steeped in their own preconceived notions to interpret data, producing results that are more or less representative than the truth. To see this reality in action, you need only to conduct a search engine query on which LoL Champions are most popular.

You’re going to get a lot of responses that are cobbled together from data and narrative combined. Consider what Early Game’s opinion is, as an example. They label the five most popular characters as Lucian, Yasuo, Jhin, Miss Fortune, and Lux—you can explore their list here.

In contrast, LeageFeed.net lists the top ten as Ezreal, Lee Sin, Thresh, Leona, Vayne, Lux, Yasuo, Irelia, Miss Fortune, and Lucian. You’ll notice there is some crossover between Early Game’s five, and LeageFeed’s ten. It’s not a one-to-one ratio, though.

You’d expect that all written pieces regarding character popularity would agree, given how in-depth and precise gaming statistics tend to be—it’s not like games in the physical world, where some stats simply can’t be attained. So here’s the value: you can find key info from this contrast. Lux, Lucian, Miss Fortune, and Yasuo are represented in both lists.

So What’s Going On?

Jhin is in dispute, and could ostensibly be subbed out by Ezreal, Lee Sin, Thresh, Leona, or Vayne. The question is, why do these two lists only have 80% agreement? There is only a difference in time of 19 days. Early Game’s article was put online 11/18/2021, League Feed presented theirs on 10/30/2021. Is the issue a change in player usage over time?

Perhaps, but that’s a pretty big shift, statistically speaking. A more accurate interpretation of this contrast may be this: you can’t inform your opinion on the best Champions from just one or two sources, owing to how perspectives work. People will inform what they present to others based on the perspective through which they see everything.

Accordingly, what you want to do is find uninhibited statistics, like these useful LoL stats from MOBA Champion. When you’ve got the “raw data”, as it were, you have the ability to weigh pros and cons yourself, then determine what makes the most sense for your particular playing style. Because, as many realize, which character is genuinely best may depend on the player.

Popularity is not always an indicator of your best choice. The best-selling truck in America in 2021 is a Ford F-series; 534k+ have been sold. Have you ever owned one? Some people don’t own a pickup their entire lives. Does this mean such people should follow the force of the crowd and purchase one owing to associated popularity?

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Making an Informed Decision Fitting Your Style

You shouldn’t simply trust what those who interpret data say. You have to use the lens of personal applicability to define your choice. With League of Legends Champions, you’re going to find that some Champions everybody loves just won’t work for you. Meanwhile, you might do exceptionally well with a character that nobody likes.

In fact, there’s an argument that going the “road less traveled” will give you a considerable advantage. People don’t familiarize themselves with LoL Champions that nobody likes. Accordingly, they’re not as familiar with their stats, with their strengths, with their weaknesses, and with their special attacks. This gives the player using them a mild element of surprise.

But regardless of whether or not you find this strategy worth pursuing, knowing which characters are considered “the most played” will help you inform your choice. To that end, Lucian, Lux, Yasuo, and Miss Fortune are arguably in the top four. Whether Jinh, Vayne, Thresh, Leona Lee Sin or Ezreal fill that fifth spot is up to you.