Carry on Regardless

Ashe

Ashe is probably one of the best places to start any article about League of Legends. As one of the oldest champions in the game, she has fallen in and out of favour more than most but has always remained playable. Although her early game damage is mediocre, her late game scaling and ability to initiate team fights are incredible for which she was once a much contested pick on many occasions. She kites better than just about anyone in the game and synergizes well with most supports, but especially with Nunu and the two can easily slow-lock and DPS down any AD that lacks or has burned down his escape mechanisms. Ashe is currently not as popular as “The Holy Trinity,” but will almost definitely see some play.


Caitlyn

Caitlyn is a champion who has never really been a huge part of the meta. Several teams have tried to make her work in passive “poke” compositions, but rarely with any success. Her long range makes her the perfect pick for that setup, but since that setup is rarely seen, so too is Caitlyn. Some of the teams who like to play off the wall strategies might give her a run out, but don’t be surprised if you don’t see Caitlyn at all during this event.


Corki

Corki is part of The Holy Trinity mentioned earlier. He and Graves are the lesser parts, who combine with Ezreal to dominate picks in the bottom lane. Even with some slight nerfs these three champions continue to be staples and that’s unlikely to change before the finals. Corki has everything a carry needs: damage, mobility and a reliable escape. He works with basically any support and fits well into pretty much every team comp.

Corki is scary by himself but grows beyond monstrous when in able hands. Chaox and Cop made compelling arguments during the NA continentals but the other carries of the world are not that far behind. You will see this guy a lot.


Draven

Honestly, you’re quite unlikely to see Draven get played. Aprhomoo loves him, and he does a ton of damage if you can play him right, but he has a few problems that keep him from tournament play.

In a real team fight, carries often go where damage is not instead of where axes are and since Draven relies on the latter to maximize his damage, he will often end up in dangerous spots. As high level teams will never allow him to freely jaunt around catching his weapons and with the lack of real escape abilities, Draven will face precarious situations more often than not. As high risk/high rewards styles step down to make way for more safe and solid compositions in tournament play, Draven is unlikely to appear more than sporadically.


Ezreal

Alright, the elephant in the room is here. Ezreal is the god of AD Carries right now, with pick and win rates far above any other champion. It’s unusual for an AD Carry to get banned, but Ezreal has started to make people rethink that to that point that he was banned in every single game at the Korean nationals grand final – he’s just so ubiquitous.

Like Corki, Ezreal has everything a Carry needs, but in this case he has it with bells and whistles on. He is extremely versatile and can be tailored to be a perfect lane partner to every support, be that aggressive Leonas, passive Sorakas or well-rounded Sonas. He is widely considered to be the number one carry right now and you will be seeing a lot of him over the course of the finals.


Graves

The third part of The Holy Trinity, Graves is arguably the lesser partner. Still, Graves’ power in the mid game is unquestionable and his passive makes him very durable compared to other carries. His escape is reasonable and synergizes well with his passive to make him fairly hard to kill while he dishes out a ton of damage. Only his short range works against him, but his damage output, ability to clear creep waves as efficiently as Corki and innate tankiness mean that he is a top three carry for a reason.


Kog’Maw

Once upon a time, Kog’Maw was one of the most played carries in the League. Nicknamed The Tank Destroyer, Kog’Maw’s kit allowed him to lay down some insane damage in the late game, practically ignoring armor. The problem is that Kog’Maw takes a while to get going. His early game is so-so and he relies heavily on getting into a long game where he can just obliterate opponents. He fits really well into setups that want to go long or ones that can tank/peal off incoming threats, but in a more rounded team he is simply outshined by Ezreal and co.

This doesn't mean we're unlikely to see Kog'Maw in the Season 2 Championship. He's still one of Imaqtiepie's best champions and is Nunu's best buddy, the two making a machine-gun couple that can DPS targets with extreme quickness before said targets can take advantage of Kog'Maw's lack of escape mechanisms and squishiness.

Miss Fortune

MF is a champion that has never really fit in. Her damage output is comparable to other carries and her ultimate, when used well, can devastate an entire team. The trouble is, that ultimate is hard to aim and although it still hits pretty hard, it’s really all she has. Miss Fortune is fast, but only out of combat – she has no escape except for an easily avoidable slow, making her very gankable. She’s a lot of fun to play, but is unlikely to see any play at such a high level.


Sivir

Ah, Sivir, expert wave clearer and master of tower destruction. In the teleport composition that gained a little popularity at NA Regionals, Sivir was one of the key parts. She split pushes faster than any other champion in the game, though she is much more susceptible to dying while doing it. Her ultimate allows her to take down a tower in seconds and she even has some minimal defence thanks to her spell shield that allows her to lane (and sustain herself mana-wise) against aggressive supports such as Taric, Leona, Nunu or Alistar.

Overall, Sivir is another champion on the fringes, like Kog’Maw – out of favour mostly because she lacks the utility of a Corki or an Ezreal. Her sheer damage output means she might get played at the finals, but not often.


Tristana

Again, Tristana is a fringe champion that it kept out of most tournaments just by being worse than Ezreal, Graves and Corki. Tristana does have an escape, her range scales to be very impressive and her damage is reasonable. But of these three factors only her range is exceptional. Her damage is fine and her escape is okay but her ultimate is awkward and at its most useful in a losing battle.

Yet what makes playing her awkward, however, is her mid-game, when she frankly has neither of her three strengths fully developed. Although she has both Rocket Jump and Buster Shot to keep threats away, it's often hard to live through those painful minutes that lead into the very late game where her true power lies.

Tristana hasn’t been played much in recent weeks and the world championship is unlikely to change that.


Twitch

A fun pubstomping champion, Twitch isn’t really cut out for tournament play. He is capable of immense damage, but he falls over in a stiff breeze and offers nothing except damage. Just like you almost never see him in soloqueue you will literally never see him at the world final.


Urgot

Not long ago, Urgot was the most sought after AD Carry. Before RIOT nerfed him, his combination of semi-unavoidable damage, tankiness and one of the best ultimates in the game made him a monster. Pair him with Soraka and he was a near unstoppable war machine, never running out of mana and constantly raining down damage. Since the nerfs, though, he’s fallen off the face of the earth. Chances are that Urgot won’t be played at all, since he hasn’t been seen in tournaments for a long time.


Varus

Varus is one of the newer champions in this feature, second only to Draven but terms of play style, he couldn’t be more different. Where Draven likes to get in your face with his axes, Varus will poke you from a distance and keep you there with his AoE slow. His ultimate is awesome, and if you’re wondering why he doesn’t get played, I must admit I’m not totally sure. He doesn’t have an escape, but his slow is reasonable. In a meta game where mobility is so important, however, Varus will probably remain on the outside looking in.


Vayne

In the world of late game hyper carries only Vayne out-does Kog’Maw and if you’ve ever seen her melting through an entire team in seconds, you know what I’m talking about. A farmed and fed Vayne is probably the scariest champion in the game but the problem is that if she fails in this she becomes a walking bag of exp and gold for enemies. On top of that, stopping her from reaching hyper carry status is not difficult at all. Her short range makes her very vulnerable and, although she can disengage pretty well, if the enemy can follow-up she is a very soft target. Vayne might see some fringe play if the likes of CLG want to go back to their ultra late game style but she will still be behind “Those Three” in most pick orders.