User blog comment:Muffintehbrony/Unseen 'unviable' champs/@comment-1330314-20140323033443

Riot's toying with, and I don't think he's in too much of a bad spot right now. He is, however, confusing to build (he deals a lot of magic damage, and thus requires to function properly), and is overshadowed by super-strong lane picks like  and. If the latter two fall back a little, Corki would likely be a much more popular pick.

's a little weak right now because he got overnerfed during his rework (he was far more dependent on his perma-slow than Riot thought), but his power is something that can be adjusted through pure number buffs now. I'd wait a few more weeks or months until he gets properly buffed, and then he should be a really good pick.

is a terrible pick because his entire purpose is to make his top laning opponent's first few levels a living hell, and past that he falls off hard. His mana costs are sky-high, and his damage becomes trifling fairly quickly, even against squishy enemies. His ult is his only real saving grace, and it's often too confusing for his target to be used properly. There are stronger picks out there, namely and, who not only have a strong early game but also a better mid and late game (Renek doesn't fall off as hard, and Shyv actually becomes even stronger as the game goes on).

got intentionally nerfed to the ground so that she wouldn't see too much play. Her only advantage is her late game, but even then it's outweighed by her terrible early game, crippling mana problems, horrid unreliability (she's dependent on her E combo to function, but has no real way of landing it reliably) and all-round terrible top laning capabilities. There are champions out there with a similarly awesome late game but far less problems.

could be good if it weren't for his mana problems and heavy dependency on to make plays. He provides decent CC and utility, but his kit is badly focused to the point where he doesn't feel impactful most of the time. His passive also needs to be reworked directly into ability ratios, so he's technically missing a passive.

is a strong champion, and used to be part of the holy trinity of ADCs, but like Corki he's just not built to be as strong in lane as Lucian and Jinx, and consequently can't really hold up to them.

used to be overwhelmingly strong until his regen and early damage got nerfed. By all rights he should still be a strong pick, but he doesn't really fit into the same hyper-tank meta as Shyvana, Renekton and, which is currently dominant, and so isn't picked as often as he should be. Currently, he can do well in lane, but he depends on damage items to continue being effective, whereas the aforementioned hyper-tanks can build fully tanky and still deal a lot of damage.

's a complete mess, and Riot's keeping him in his current terrible state until they figure out a way to somehow make his kit make sense. He's an ADC with the kit of a ranged bruiser, which means he's not that good at being an ADC and not that good at being a bruiser. His ult is completely inappropriate to his kit and role, and by all rights should be removed and given to a new champion. In terms of power, he can make life very difficult for his opponent in the early stages of the game, but past that serves no real purpose.

I've seen more and more people play, including as an AP bruiser, but his main problem is his power curve: unlike most supports, whose utility gets better as the game goes on, Ali's utility is about the same at the start and the end of the game. He has no real power progression, and thus ends up feeling gimped compared to most other supports once the mid game begins. His kit is also designed in such a way that he can't really make any meaningful contribution past his E+Q combo besides heal for a small amount and make himself tougher.

has the same problems as Poppy in that he's super-toxic to gameplay and thus got nerfed to the ground accordingly. I don't think it's the meta that pushed him away, since he can technically do well as a hyper-tank, but rather it's the way his kit has aged badly: most top laners now are resourceless, or have a way to not spend too much mana. Sion is extremely mana hungry, and has none of the perks inherent in most top laners, i.e. mobility and sustain. He's also absolutely terrible during his first few levels, even when playing AP, and so gets eaten alive by strong laners such as Darius or Renekton.

's not that underplayed right now, actually (she gets played more than ). I have a feeling people are getting used to her now, even though her win rate's a little low. She doesn't have any real power spikes across any phase of the game, but she's extremely strong against assassins.

's not used because he doesn't bring as much to the table as other supports or mages. He has only one source of damage and once source of utility on his basic abilities, neither of which are as impactful during the late game as other abilities, and so his only real advantage is his ultimate, which is fairly situational in terms of results. He gets outperformed by every support in terms of utility, and every mage in terms of crowd control and damage.

's not in a good state because of his passive, in my opinion. The poor slot efficiency of his Hex Core upgrades means he ends up with only give real item slots, which in turn gimps his late game. His kit's good, but as a mage he can never reach the power level of similar champions.

's not in too bad a spot, except his main strength is in counterjungling, and the S4 changes (trinkets, additional jungle routes) made counterjungling a lot more difficult. As a support, he can deny farm and apply a useful buff to his marksman, but he's also extremely mana hungry when not able to hit minions.

's not particularly viable this season, but mainly because other AD assassins evolved far better than he did. Even with his recent nerfs, has great burst and sustained damage capabilities, and  gets to shred through most targets. Talon's kit, on the other hand, is unfocused (he's a burst assassin with a DoT on his Q), and he's being kept deliberately under his full potential because his abilities don't have enough counterplay (he can pull off his full combo without his target being able to react properly).