The 10 least-played League of Legends champions

With more than 160 unique champions released, League of Legends has one of the largest character rosters out of any MOBA game. Every year since the release of the game back in 2009, Riot Games keeps designing new champions with exciting kits and unseen mechanics or playstyles.

While this is great to stimulate players and add even more depth to the game, the constant addition of new characters has inevitably made others obsolete.

Here are the 10 least-played champions in League right now based on their games played (and consequential pick rate) according to lolalytics’ data at time of writing. 

10) Annie

Annie is one of the champions that was a part of the initial League roster when it hit the live servers back in 2009. Despite receiving multiple buffs or nerfs throughout the years, her kit has remained more or less the same. Riot has tried to push her play rate up, but the champion doesn’t offer the same tools as other mid lane mages now. As a result, she has only 222,049 games played recently (1.36 percent pick rate), according to lolalytics.

That said, she remains a solid character that is mechanically friendly to master, allowing players to focus more on other fundamental parts of the game. 

9) Quinn

Once played as a bot laner, Quinn is now mainly seen up in the top lane. Due to her short auto-attack range as well as suboptimal kit, Quinn’s laning phase was terrible since she could easily get outranged by all the other marksmen. In the top lane, though, she demolishes most melee champions and provides one of the best roaming potentials a champ could offer. 

That being said, her squishiness and her dependency on early-game trading have made her a coinflip pick. There are only a few players who are willing to pick her up, but for the majority, the champion has just slightly more than 227,000 games tracked (1.36 percent pick rate), according to lolalytics.

8) Rell

Rell is in a weird spot: she recently received multiple buffs that have turned her into a strong support champion, yet her play rate did not go up by much. She requires great mechanical proficiency and a synergizing bot lane partner to be effective.

In addition to that, she requires a strong understanding of tower dives and roams, which is rare at lower levels of play. Based on the criteria set, she made it onto this list with just over 200,000 picks, according to lolalytics. But if she remains a strong pick by the start of the new season, her play rate should ramp up from the current 1.19 percent. 

7) Rumble

Rumble has been off the radar for quite a while. Back in season 11, Riot tried to push him into the jungle, making him one of the strongest picks in solo queue. In a meta where AP junglers were weak, he was the outstanding exception and became so powerful that he was hit with nerfs quickly after. Those nerfs, in turn, also hit him as a top laner.

In his current state, Rumble is not a viable pick and is only played by those who can really exploit his kit to the fullest, as evidenced by the paltry 177,963 games tracked, corresponding to a 1.06 percent pick rate, according to lolalytics. 

6) Kennen

Similar to Rumble, Kennen is yet another unpopular champion. The durability patch, as well as the new items that were introduced last year, have made AP top lane burst champions weak. Kennen has a strong ultimate that can turn teamfights around but he doesn’t provide as much value as other meta champions like Fiora or Darius, who are also effective splitpushers beyond their ability to fight in skirmishes. With a weak laning phase and a hard kit to master, it’s only rational that Kennen doesn’t get picked often: a little over 173,000 times to be precise (1.04 percent pick rate), according to lolalytics.

5) Corki

Corki was a popular mid laner during the first part of the 2022 season. His great scaling and poke potential, as well as a great teamfighting tool with The Package, allowed him to stay relevant at the beginning of the year. But he had such a strong presence in professional play that Riot had to nerf him down, especially his AP poke build. 

Now that he has much lower numbers and damage output, only 174,000 people picked him up in the last 30 days (1.04 percent pick rate), according to lolalytics. The Daring Bombardier will have to hope for some new buffs if he ever wants to return to his glory days. 

4) Rek’Sai 

The Void Burrower is the type of champion that goes completely under the radar when she is not a part of the meta. Not only that, but people have realized that her in-game power doesn’t last enough to be valuable: she has a great early game but falls off really quickly. If she doesn’t manage to get ahead, Rek’Sai can be none other than a walking ward.

Her tunnels and clears are difficult to master and the way she engages is telegraphed and easy to predict. A few years ago, Rek’Sai received a rework with the hopes of making her more enjoyable. But it seems like the goal wasn’t reached with just 129,000 picks and a mere 0.78 percent pick rate, according to lolalytics.

3) Ivern

People will likely remember the famous League streamer LS mention how Ivern mid was a viable pick, and he proved it during the first few weeks of the LCS. It seemed like the champion had found a new dimension, but people soon realized that the pick could only work in the coordinated environment of professional play. 

Sadly for Ivern, a champion that brings utility but little to no carry potential doesn’t often work in solo queue. In addition to that, the champion requires a considerable amount of effort to master, and with the new jungle changes in the 2023 preseason, players have to relearn everything about him due to his unique interactions. For many, it’s too much of a hassle, and as a result, Ivern has one of the lowest pick rates in the game right now (0.52 percent, according to lolalytics, with just 87,000 picks in total).

2) Skarner

Skarner is a unique jungler with a particular passive and playstyle that no other champion can offer in the same role. Yet the Crystal Vanguard is rarely played. But why is that? 

First, his strength is too reliant on his passive and the areas where his six spires are placed. If he’s inside one of those areas and the spire is active, the champion is strong, but most junglers will straight-up outperform him elsewhere on the map where his stats are too weak. Using the spires to the fullest is practically impossible in solo queue since Skarner requires help from his laners to capture them.

Not to mention that the enemies can see in the fog of war whether the spires are captured or not, which makes Skarner’s movements predictable and easy to read. In a meta where most champions have dashes and abilities to quickly reposition, a juggernaut like him struggles to be useful. Unless he has Flash or Ghost, he can’t really chase people down and kiting him is relatively easy. 

There was a period in season 12 where Skarner was a viable pick in professional play, but he only came up in specific situations where all other junglers were banned. The only reason he was picked was his ultimate, which allows your team to quickly pin down one of the enemy team’s carry. When the ability is on cooldown, however, Skarner reverts to a subpar jungler with little to no value.

The community has been well aware of Skarner’s weak state (with just 83,704 games tracked and a 0.5 percent pick rate, according to lolalytics) and voted for him to receive a rework in 2023. It’s the second time he’s getting reworked, following the one he had back in season five. People are hoping to see a refreshing kit, fix his mono-dimensional style, and finally turn him into a more popular champion.  

1) Aurelion Sol

Some of you probably saw this coming: Aurelion Sol is No. 1 when it comes to the least-played League champions right now with just 66,000 games played and a meager 0.39 percent pick rate, according to lolalytics. 

In terms of stats and numbers, Aurelion Sol is in a good spot, which partially explains why he hasn’t received nerfs or buffs in the last year. That being said, the main reason why he’s so unpopular is his kit. 

We already mentioned in the Skarner section how the current League meta is full of champions with dashes or repositioning abilities. Aurelion Sol also faces a similar problem. His value is highly dependent on the enemy team composition and he doesn’t have enough tools to handle counter-picks.

Furthermore, the playstyle Aurelion Sol requires is drastically different from most champions, which can only be done with constant practice. They also need to have an impeccable understanding of spacing and positioning to maximize his power. 

Overall, the Star Forger’s unique kit has become a double-edged sword: even if you are able to master him, he might not feel as rewarding as other champions.