The NEW BEST SOLO CARRY CHAMPIONS on PATCH 26.08 - League of Legends

[0:00]Welcome back, everyone, to a brand new edition to the best solo carries, as we provide you guys with three champions for every single role that hold some of the best carry power as we head into 26.8. And remember, our solo carry videos will always show you the most broken champions in the meta, but knowing what's broken doesn't mean you know how to abuse it. Which is exactly why countless players love our live Challenger commentaries. Every single week, our challenger experts upload full live games, walking you through exactly how to carry in your own rank games. From how to win trades in lane, to making the right macro calls in the mid game, and how to dominate team fights. Breaking down every key decision they make in real time to make sure you know exactly how to play every stage of the game step by step on your chosen champion. And if you still have questions, our coaches are, let's just say, compelled to answer them. And that's only the start, as we've updated our season 16 essentials courses for every role, breaking down how to play every stage of the game into easy to digest chapters. Giving you all the tips, tricks, and strategies you need to climb this season, guaranteed. As if you don't climb at least five divisions while actively using your service, then you get every penny back. So, what's there to lose? Get your exclusive one-time discount by clicking the link in the pinned comment or description below and start your climb today. So, starting things off up in the top lane, back on the list after barely losing any power from his 26.7 nerf, is Ornn. Ornn lost some damage on his passive last patch, and even though it did drop his power level a slight amount, he was already heavily overperforming prior to the nerf. So all the change did was bring him slightly closer in strength to many of the S-tier champs. Ornn is still extremely OP, though, and the best tank that you can play for solo queue if piloted well. His skill floor is definitely a bit higher than the likes of Malphite or Cho'Gath, but it's for good reason, because you have a lot more ways in which you can approach fights with Ornn, which gives him a ton of consistent impact. The long range from Ornn R is such a broken tool for when fighting around objectives, as there isn't a ton of counterplay for the enemies to dodge the spell unless they have a dash or flash available. The kill threat that Ornn has in lane is also incredible, so he really doesn't have a super weak point to his game. And of course, in season 16 with the roll quest providing bonus experience, you just get to your level 13 so much faster to where you can begin upgrading items, and that's where things become really silly with Ornn. As each item upgrade provides 1,000 gold worth of stats for free. The only matchup that you will want to try and avoid is Fiora, as her W makes things really hard for you to be the aggressor in the matchup. The item combo of unending despair, Kinetik Runkrn, and protoplasm harness has been performing really well in recent patches, but is still quite underrated. Sunfire and Hollow Radiance builds are pretty overrated on Ornn, and this is something that one of the best solo queue Ornn players who goes by Macro is really adamant about. It's an absolute shock that Garen is not on the nerf list for 26.8, so continue to spam him while you can. Garen jumped to holding a play rate above 14% last patch, and with no nerf on the way, that should climb even higher. Ever since Garen was directly buffed a few patches ago, he's been gaining in relative strength. The buffs were definitely the driving factor to his rise, but with other popular fighters like Riven and Zahen nerfed, it brings even more power to Garen. The fact that Garen has the ability to not only one-shot carries with his full combo, but also thrive in more extended fights, gives him so many ways to be impactful. You're just a consistent threat all throughout a fight, and if you have your flash available, then the opposing ADC has to play so reserved in fights, otherwise, you'll just one-shot them. What really separates Garen from many other fighters, though, is that his ability to single out a target and instantly delete them is unmatched. You're all point-and-click damage, so you just can't mess up with Garen, which makes him incredibly consistent and rewarding if you get a lead in lane. The best ban for Garen for the current meta is Kayle, as she's being picked at a pretty high rate, and it's been Garen's worst matchup throughout all of season 16. Garen's build revolves around stride breaker rush and Phantom Dancer second, while Conqueror slots in for the keystone rune. And then for the third and final solo carry top laner for 26.8, it's going to be Kayle. Kayle has been a staple solo carry champion for season 16, and with the rate at which Riot has been issuing changes over the past few patches, she very well could remain this way for a while longer. Riot did try to nerf Kayle a few patches ago, but the nerf did absolutely nothing to her relative power. It feels like all the changes that Riot issued these days are just placebo changes that don't actually influence the meta in any way. As we saw Ornn and Kayle both nerfed recently, but they continue to remain top tier champs. With Kayle, you've got some of the best scaling strength for any top laner, so she fits in season 16 so well, where you are granted bonus experience on your quest completion. Hitting level 16 just happens way more often, and as long as you're farming well and not missing waves, then you can hit your 16 in the majority of games with Kayle and turn into an absolute nightmare for the enemy team. This is one of the reasons to why Kayle is so impactful for solo queue, because she is a super clear win condition that you're playing for. You're actually incentivized to farm well and play a fundamentally sound game, which won't just help you perform on Kayle, but improve you as a league player in general. Kayle's early game really isn't that bad either, and she can actually solo kill at level one in a lot of matchups. This makes learning Kayle extremely rewarding, because if you can learn your matchups and understand your limits at level one, then the champ becomes insanely unfair. One matchup that can be more difficult for you to go toe-to-toe with early on is Irelia, as she's a good ban to consider. Irelia has really good extended fight strength early on when she gets her passive stacks, so even though Kayle's extended fight power is also quite good, Irelia can ramp hers up faster, so it puts the stat check in Irelia's favor. Another reason to why Kayle is so good for this season is because she gets to abuse Dusk and Dawn, which has been one of the most OP items for all of season 16. You rush Nashor's into Dusk and Dawn second, while Rabadon's is best third for most games, and then press the attack is the optimal keystone rune. A new addition to the solo carry top three for 26.8 has been on the rise in recent patches, as we've got Naafiri. So, it turns out that Naafiri is one of the best Hubris users in the game, and with the item recently buffed and the majority of Naafiri players now rushing the item, she's seen a considerable boost in power. You go Hubris into Axiom Arc, which adds for a ton of snowball power and a really great build for solo queue. You're getting a ton of AD out of Hubris, and then Axiom Arc puts your R on a shorter cooldown, which is really key for Naafiri as her skirmish is heavily amplified when she has her R. Naafiri is kind of like the Garen of the jungle right now, as she's an extremely stat-checky pick if she gets ahead. Since Naafiri R is point-and-click engage, you're able to snowball leads better than the majority of junglers and mess up a lot less. The one matchup in meta that you'll want to ban out if you intend on picking Naafiri is Nocturne. With Nocturne seeing a big play rate spike in recent patches, and with the champ countering a ton of Naafiri's skirmish power, it's a good ban for. Nocturne has the upper hand in the matchup because of his spell shield from W. If Nocturne can block Naafiri's Q, then it drastically reduces the strength of her Q2. In order for Q2 damage to hit hard, you need to land Q1 first, so Nocturne's ability to block Q1 really limits Naafiri's skirmish potential in the matchup. And then this leads into a nice segue for our second solo carry jungler of the patch, as we've got Nocturne. So, Nocturne has been great for a while now after he got buffed a few patches ago, and is even better due to the fact that he hard counters a lot of meta junglers. Naafiri and Nocturne are both especially good for the lower ELOs because of how it's a lot easier to be consistently impactful on them. Your ability to make plays happen on your own is really good, and you don't need any mechanical skill to engage fights. Something both champs are really good at is starting fights when they realize they have the numbers advantage. Of course, this is just basic league fundamentals, as taking fights when you have the man up is almost always going to go in your favor. But it's being able to quickly start those fights that many other junglers struggle with, whereas Nocturne and Naafiri have the point-and-click engages, so if they want to go in, there's no stopping them. A strategy that you can look to implement on Nocturne for season 16 is playing to get your top lane ahead, and then shadowing their lane for the rest of the game. Top lane can snowball out of control with the increased experience the role gains from its quest, so if you have a fighter top laner like Jax, Tryndamere, Fiora, or Riven who's got that 1v9 potential, then playing for them is a really good idea. With Knock R, you can make dive plays happen super easy, so if the enemy top falls behind, then they will end up a free kill for the rest of the game, and you'll end up cracking the enemy's base from top lane very early on. Of course, playing to top isn't a set-in-stone strategy you should implement in every game, because if you have a tank top, or if your bot lane is super volatile, then playing for bot is still really valuable. But definitely don't just autopilot play for bot each game, as there's a lot more value in playing for top in season 16. For your ban when picking Nocturne, look to get rid of a meta support who can nullify your dive power, so Lulu or Karma are two good options right now. For Nocturne's core build, it's going to be a Hexplate rush into Stridebreaker second, while Lethal Tempo and Conqueror are both good depending on the enemy comp. In our Rune Insight section of Nocturne's build page, we talk about how Lethal Tempo is best in games where you can freely hit. So, against lower mobile enemy comps, where if the enemy team has more mobility and you just need to burst as quick as possible, then grab Conqueror. And then for our third solo carry jungler to round out the top three, we've got more of a niche pick being Nasus. So, Nasus Jungle has been a very strong and underrated pick for a while now, as he plays super well into popular junglers like Graves and Viego. Nasus with his Wither from W hard counters so many junglers who are relying on auto weaving to succeed in skirmishes. Viego in specific is incredibly relying on auto-attacking because he needs to get his Crackslayer procs off, so Nasus can be so annoying to deal with in mid game fights. The meta right now for top and jungle is heavily condensed with fighters, as we aren't seeing too many spell reliant or AP champs being picked, which is great for Nasus's W strength. One matchup you may want to consider banning when picking Nasus is Lillia, as Nasus's W is way less impactful against her, and she's the most popular AP spell reliant pick we see in meta. Players running the most optimal build on Nasus Jungle is a big reason to why he's seen so much success with Trinity Force into Protoplasm Harness being a phenomenal core. Protoplasm is such a disgusting item for Nasus, because of how his armor resists synergized with Protoplasm's heal scaling off of resist. And then the tenacity you get when the protoplasm passive procs is huge for Nasus too. What's so great about playing Nasus in the jungle is that you avoid all of his weaker early game matchups in top lane and scale into your level six for free. When you get level six, you are able to out-duel the majority of junglers if you have everything available, so don't make the mistake of thinking you're weak at level six. Contrary to popular belief, Nasus isn't all about the late game. He's an early to mid-game spiking champion, so especially when you have your Trinity Force completed, you should be looking to force the issue. Moving on to mid lane now, back in the top three for another patch, and the best mage that you can play for solo queue is Xerath. Xerath has taken over as one of the premier mages for solo queue this season, with many champs around him getting nerfed due to pro play. Orianna, Ryze, Syndra, and Taliyah are all mages who have been nerfed in season 16, and it's allowed for this more niche mage that you don't see as often in pro play like Xerath to really excel in solo queue. Xerath is a phenomenal solo queue mage because he's way less team reliant. Champs like Orianna, Ryze, and Taliyah thrive way more when you have coordinated comps, but Xerath doesn't need that nearly as much. The long-range poke allows for Xerath to thrive around objectives, as being able to chunk out an enemy carry prior to a fight starting is such a huge luxury to have. As games go later, you can just straight up use your R for poke or even to kill because if you land multiple R charges on a squishy and you have a few items, then you can 100 to zero them. The only major weak point to Xerath is the fact that he doesn't have reliable self-peel and lacks a gap closer, so champs with dive threat excel against him. For this reason, prioritizing your ban on whichever assassin you hate the most or is picked the most in meta is always a good idea. Zed and Katarina are the two highest played assassins in meta, so that's where you'd get the most value out of your ban in 26.8. For the build on Xerath, it's going to be a Luden's rush into Horizon Focus as the standard core, and you always want to grab a Dark Seal on your first base. Especially in games where the enemy team lacks high mobility, you really shouldn't be dying much on Xerath if you're spacing well, so Dark Seal value is incredible on him. Also, look to grab First Strike as your keystone. A lot of Xerath players go Comet, but by taking the Inspiration tree and going for First Strike along with cash back, you accelerate into your core build way faster, and First Strike is super easy for Xerath to constantly proc in lane, so it's great value for him. A champion who has made her way back into the mid lane meta for the first time in a while and on the solo carry list for a second patch in a row is Lissandra. Liss just got that Q buff where the cooldown is lower by one second, and for a spell that was already on a relatively short cooldown, it's just added another layer to her early game poke power. Especially in those melee matchups, you can be spamming your Q for poke off cooldown, and then when you get in skirmishes, is where you'll really get the most out of the champ. Liss's Q is on just a three second cooldown at max rank now instead of four seconds, so as fights drag out, you really begin to benefit from that buff. Liss is one of the best blind pick mids in the game right now, because she can hold her own in ranged matchups, and then absolutely obliterates melee matchups. It's really only super long-range like Xerath and Vel'Koz that can be more annoying to play into, so banning out Xerath is a good idea with him being played so much in meta. The meta build for Lissandra revolves around a Blackfire Torch rush into Rocketbelt second. Rocketbelt is a core purchase, has been gaining in popularity on Liss recently, and it's been outperforming everything else in that second slot. On our stats page for Liss, we have an extensive breakdown as to when you should take this build, and then when going for Malignance is still good, so definitely check that out before picking her up. And then to round out the top three for mid lane in 26.8, we have an OP tier staple for most of the season being Ahri. So, Ahri was just recently nerfed, but like many of the other champions who have been nerfed as of late, the change did nothing to influence her spot in meta. What's even better about Ahri right now is that she has a few really distinct builds that you can run to adapt to each game super well. There's the Blackfire Torch into Cosmic Drive setup that our Challenger players really like right now, because of all the haste you get from the setup. Ahri isn't a true assassin in the sense that it's really difficult to straight up 100 to zero an enemy unless you're super far ahead. So, by playing this build, it allows you to thrive in those more extended fights, and is especially good into more bruiser or tanky enemy comps. If the enemy team is super squishy, though, then you can still opt for the Malignance build. Malignance into Rocketbelt is what a lot of pros are taking on their Ahri right now, and it offers up a ton of playmaking potential, so you've got a lot of snowball power when up against a squishy enemy team. One of the big perks to picking Ahri is that she doesn't have any terrible matchups, so she's one of the safer blind pick mids. For that reason, we don't have a must-ban champion for Ahri, but Mell is the closest to that right now because of her W being able to reflect your charm and just limiting your overall all-in power. Ahri already has a difficult time bursting a target if every single ability lands, so Mell being able to block a good chunk of your damage hinders any kind of snowball potential in the matchup. So, making your way down to the bot lane right now, and our first solo carry ADC of the patch is Ashe. Ashe is currently the best utility ADC that you can play for solo queue, so if you like being able to make plays happen on your own and not having to rely as much on your support to initiate fights, then Ashe is the no-brainer pick-up. Ashe has been performing extremely well over these past few patches, and her build diversity is through the roof. Ashe has four different viable items that she can rush right now, which gives her insane adaptability. Over the past patch, we've seen Hextech pick up a ton of traction on her as pros have been spamming it, and it's currently a good default option to rush. Kraken is going to offer up a strong one item spike. Yumtal is going to scale best into the late game, while Stormrazor brings some nice additional kiting power for when the enemy team has a more dive-heavy comp. So swapping your rush items around based on what you think suits you best for the current game, makes Ashe really intriguing right now, and we have all this information laid out for you guys on our stats page for Ashe. Things get a lot more simple when you get to your second and third items on Ashe, as Phantom Dancer and Infinity Edge are staples. The only major weakness to Ashe is that she is more vulnerable when playing against heavy dive, so banning out Zed or Katarina is good value. If you want an ADC you has the ability to simply output a mass amount of damage in team fights, then look no further than Jinx. Ashe is going to be a bit more of a consistent blind pick because her laning phase is great and she has the utility in her kit, but Ashe is going to lack that later game DPS power, so there's pros and cons to both. Jinx in a later game team fight is completely unmatched in terms of impact, as her passive allows her to quite literally one v five fights if you can space around your passive proc well. Although Ashe players have just picked up on the Hextech build, Jinx has been running it for a long time now, and it's a big reason why she's so good. You go Hextech into Phantom Dancer and Infinity Edge and deal a mass amount of damage once those items are in your inventory. We wouldn't be surprised if Hextech gets a small nerf in the coming patches, because the two best ADCs right now are both abusing it. So, instead of nerfing Ashe and Jinx, Riot can just tap down Hextech a bit, and it solves the issue. All Ashe and Jinx players are just praying that they don't get hit with the Riot special where they nerf the champions first, and then nerf the item a patch later when they could have just nerfed the item in the first place. Jinx is going to run into the same kind of issues as Ashe with limited success playing into heavier dive comps, so using your ban on a meta diver like Zed or Katarina is never a bad idea. And then to round it all out for the ADC top three in 26.8, we've got Xayah. So, with both Ashe and Jinx being champions that struggle more into heavier dive comps, if you already see that the enemy team has locked in a few dive champs and you have the luxury of picking later on in the draft, then Xayah is a super good option right now. The champ is in a really great spot in general after the recent buffs, and she's one of the few picks who actually doesn't mind the dive champs as much. Of course, with any ADC, playing into a completely immobile enemy comp is what you'd like, but that just doesn't end up happening all that often in solo queue, which gives Xayah a lot of value. You don't even have to pick Xayah only with Rakan either. Of course, the duo is incredible, but Xayah with any engage support is super strong too. Basically, anyone who's got a lockdown long enough for you to get a bunch of feathers out and then snap your E back for a ton of damage is who Xayah can play great with. Since Xayah is a shorter ranged ADC, she can run into issues early on in lane against a double ranged poke duo, so using your ban on Ashe or Karma is good value. Once you get to your Flickerblades completion, is where you really come online, as you'll have more uptime on W, which is key because the base cooldown of Xayah's W is super long. So Flickerblades helps out massively to reduce that, and therefore Xayah's consistent DPS potential goes up a ton. You can swap between Essence Reaver and Yuumi for your rush items, as Yuumi will be better for you into tankier comps. Joining the top three for support this patch coming off some really big buffs in 26.7 is Rell. As a result of those buffs, Rell has pushed past the majority of melee supports in strength, and she's arguably the best melee support for solo queue now, especially in the higher ranks. The snap engage strength that you get from Rell is so powerful, because it allows you to punish enemies mispositioning in an instant. A lot of the time, you only have these small windows in a game where the enemy may be out of position, and Rell can take advantage of that better than most engage supports. This is likely why we see Rell perform a bit better in the higher ranks than in low ELO, because if played to her limits and if engaging in the correct moments, she can completely swing a game in her team's favor. Lower ELO players don't have that same kind of opportunity recognition, which is why a pick that thrives more on sitting back and reacting like Milio always performs a lot better in low ELO. For Rell's build, she loves Zeke's as her rush item, and it makes her all-in plays when she has R extremely deadly, due to the damage amp and slow you get from Zeke's passive that activates when your R is used. Solstice Sleigh and Celestial Opposition can be interchanged depending on what your team comp is looking like. If you are the solo engage for your team and you'll need to be the one going in first always and soaking damage, then go for Celestial, but if you have a few beefier teammates as well, you can opt for Solstice. A few matchups that can be more difficult for Rell to play into that you want to try and avoid include Poppy and Maokai. Poppy's W makes it really hard for Rell to excel because Poppy's W can just root you when you try to dive in, and then Maokai with his point-and-click CC can disrupt you really easily and not allow you to reach your target in fights. So with the likes of Karma and Nami just recently nerfed, it's given some indirect power over to Milio as he's currently overperforming as one of the best solo queue enchanters. Milio is such a good champ to be able to pull out, because you know when you lock him in, you're going to bring immense value regardless of team comps. The cleanse from Milio R is such a broken team fight tool, and it makes it so that if you have a fed carry on your team who is able to take over a game, you can enable them to do that better than any other support. Playing Milio mechanically is not difficult at all. It's choosing the correct teammates to use your spells on in fights that will allow you to excel the most on the champ. Don't get sucked into the notion that you need to be playing for your ADC. If you notice your ADC sucks and they just aren't doing anything in fights, then pivot to enabling someone else in your team who's putting in work. Always take time to tab and just check in on which teammates are doing the best, which are currently on key item spikes, and so forth. Because if you notice your Viego just hit his two item spike and is ahead of everyone else, then simply play with him in fights and abandon everyone else. A super underrated rush item for Milio right now for when you are paired with an ADC who auto attacks a ton is Ardent Censer. We have this outlined on our stats page for Milio, and the TLDR is that if you are with a traditional ADC, then rush Ardent, however, if you are with a mage going for Echoes of Helia is the play. Milio plays completely fine into the majority of meta melee supports, but someone like Blitz who has the instant catch with Q can be more annoying, so he's a good ban to consider. You just can't use your R to stop a Blitz Hook from landing, whereas you can use it to stop a Thresh Hook, Leona R, or Rell stun. And then to round out our third solo carry support of the patch is going to be Sona. Sona has been the most consistently powerful support throughout all of the season thus far. The reason Sona works so well is because she has one of the most OP two item spikes for any support in the game. Echoes of Helia with Whispering Circlet allows for Sona to output so much reliable healing in fights, as she can just spam her spells off cooldown and never worry about running low on mana. If you reach two items on Sona and are playing with the team comp who has majority fighter champions, then that's where everything comes together. Sona loves playing with fighters or tanks because the longer a fight drags out, the more value you get out of her due to the constant healing and speed boosts you're providing. We're seeing these fighters like Garen, Darius, and Mordekaiser being picked the most in top lane right now, and Sona works amazing with them because the speed boost from E helped to alleviate the main weakness of those champs, which is being kited. It's instant catch power that is going to be the biggest threat to you succeeding on Sona, so banning out a meta hook support like Blitz or Thresh is good value. Something we have outlined on our stats page for Sona is that you should be adapting whether you max Q or W first on the champ. In easier matchups or in lanes where you are ahead early on, look to max Q so you can snowball the hardest. In a more difficult lane, though, where you just need to survive, maxing W is the way to go. All right guys, one last thing, our rank-up guarantee is insane. It's like signing up for the gym and getting a refund if you don't get ripped. That's how confident we are in Skill Capped. We obsess over making the best guides with top players, rigorous testing, and top tier video editing to make your climb easy. If you're ready to level up, visit Skill Capped.com and see the difference. So, there you have it, everyone. That's a complete look at the best carries for every role as we head into 26.8.