This month, we take a somewhat different approach with stats corner. With the LCS in Europe and America coming to an end, we examine the total of 230 games from both circuits (112 in NA and 118 in Europe due to the tie-breakers) and compare the popularity of champions and overall champion pools used in both regions. Let's get started.
?While Thresh is the uncontested leader in both regions (by just being an awesome support and all), there are very few similarities between the two graphs. With Europe, we see the heavy favoring of Varus not only as the most picked AD carry but as the second most picked champion as well, just four spots below Thresh. Furthermore, three spots below him is Caitlyn, the second most desired AD carry on the old continent which has edged out even high-profile champions like Shen, Sona and Zac.
This is in a sharp contrast with LCS NA, where AD carries are not that heavily pursued at all, with the small exceptio of Ezreal at #6. Instead, NA players prefer to go after supports and we see the ambiguous Elise as second, Sona as third (heavily used by six of the eight support players in the league) and Zyra at #8.
Whatever similarities there are between the two graphs end with Jarvan's and Shen's relatively equal popularity across regions. We see Lee Sin, Ahri, Orianna, Lissandra and Nami making their way in the EU top picked while being completely missing from NA top 15. At the same time, the Americans would rather go for their Kennen, Zed, Nasus, Draven and Twisted Fate (whenever they can) and, of course, Jayce, who's become more of a mid than top champion to follow the trend set by the Korean teams.
Jayce is also the most first picked champion in North America, barely edging out Elise with one spot and SHen with whole eight, which is yet another trend difference between the regions. A look to the left graph show how Europeans still value Shen over everybody else and not only like picking Thresh but will go for him as often as possible.
Hey, look, Twisted Fate is the most hated champion. This has definitely not happened five times in a row now... (This author plans to copy this opening sentence every time until the situation changes. Let's see how high the counter goes)
Unlike the most picked graphs, the most banned ones are quite similar to each other. South of Twisted Fate, we see Shen, Elise, Thresh, Jayce and Zed having reapeated appearances across the regions. The most notable differences is the hate towards Nunu in Europe and the one against Jayce in North America.
Looking down at most contested there are again trends that repeat themselves across regions and which are not really a surprise to anyone following this stats corner or the LoL professional scene in general. Four of the top five most contested champions in both Europe and North America are the same - namely Shen, Elise, Twisted Fate and Thresh - the fifth ones being the aforementioned Nunu for EU and Jayce for NA.
Time for examining win rates! Starting in Europe, we see the Diamondprox's factor (and other jungler's aspiring to reach his level of mastery) making a difference, elevating Nasus and Lee Sin - two of his signature champions - to first and third place respectively. Between them is sandwiched one Shen, who due to his high pick rate enjoys varying win rates but this time around sits at the none too shabby 65%.
In America, we have Ashe at the astounding 78%,mostly thanks to C9's Sneaky who's at 11/11 wins with the champion. Below are Zac at 66% (a preferred jungler/top for the top four teams in the split), the signature for the region Jayce at 64% and the very popular among the big four Zyra, again at 64%.
Down at the losers, we see Twitch, Nautilus and Fiddlesticks really struggling. While their low win rates can somehow be explained however, most interesting is the 32% win rate of Nunu who, as it was already mentioned, is actually one of the most hated and overall contested champions in the circuit.
Over in North America, we find out the reason why Varus is not as pursued a champion as it is in Europe - Americans just suck at him. With 6 wins out of 19 games, the archer is the second worst after Renekton (who is at the apalling 13%) and just before Twisted Fate. The latter is another interesting occurrence showing that the cardsman is not the auto-win champion other regions consider him to be.
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| Champ pool in EU: 82/112 | Champ pool in NA: 75/112 | Champ pool across both: 90/112 |
