The Best Solo Queue Champions in LoL

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Human Made

Penned by Brett Moss

I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love arena shooters, MMOs, and MOBAs, but I'll pretty much try any kind of game.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Playing solo is the most common way to play League. It’s much easier to jump into a game by yourself than to coordinate schedules and convince your friends to get on Discord for a game or two, but it does have its disadvantages.

You don’t really get much communication with your team when playing solo. Champions that require a lot of teamwork aren’t really the best when playing alone (sorry, Kalista), so you’ll need to know who all the best solo queue Champions are before getting into a game.

We’ve put together a tier list of the best Champions for solo queue in League of Legends. We’ll cover all the Champions on our tier list, then jump into specific breakdowns of our top 10 to give you a better look at the best picks.

Let’s get started!

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LoL Solo Queue Tier List

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Let’s check out the top solo queue Champions for each tier.

The best solo queue Champions are defined by their ability to succeed in lane and carry a game without much help. All four of our S-Tier picks can do this with absolutely no difficulty, as long as the person playing them is skilled enough.

Sett is an amazing brawler that can handle almost anyone in a fight, Zed and Katarina are deadly assassins with the ability to kill anyone and swing a teamfight, and Xin Zhao is just insane in general. If you’re setting out on your own, give any of these a try.

This group is similar to the S-Tier champs, just slightly lesser. Strong 1v1 Champions are usually great in solo queue, and that’s what we mostly have in our A-Tier.

Riven and Yasuo are glass cannons, but they can be very reliable when used safely. That’s just how some Champions are, though — sometimes you have to accept that you’ll either win hard or fail spectacularly when playing solo queue. Just ignore the people who try to blame their loss on your preferred Champion. No matter how well or how badly you do, they’ll never shut up.

Our B-Tier is a group of safer picks (plus Lux). Malzahar is a personal favorite of mine because of his ability to shut down virtually any Champion in the game, and the others are the opposite of this.

Diana, Pantheon, and Lux are all still safe picks, but in a more aggressive way. If you’re hoping to snowball but you don’t want to play it too risky, any of these would be an excellent pick. Just be careful with Lux since it’s so easy to die with her. Even then, there are certainly more risky picks, so I’d still recommend her. 

C-Tier starts to get into the stranger picks. I do want to say that these Champions aren’t ranked this low because they’re bad. It’s just that most of them are either bot laners (who are most affected by not having good comms) or need communication for some other reason.

Tristana, Sona, and Vel’Koz are all great picks. However, they’re much better if you’re in a duo queue with another person. And Urgot always feels worse to me when I’m in solo queue. He just needs to communicate his positioning too much, but still not a bad pick. 

The D-Tier consists of objectively bad Champions in solo queue — especially Kalista and Ryze. When a Kalista uses her ultimate without being able to talk to her teammates, it becomes an absolute disaster nine times out of ten.

The exact same is true for Ryze. I have yet to see a competent Ryze ultimate in solo play, and I don’t expect to ever see one. Playing any of these Champions in solo queue is a very rough choice, so if you want to play these, I highly recommend finding some people to queue with.

10 Best Solo Queue Champions in League of Legends

The top ten solo queue Champions on our tier list all benefit from their ability to play effectively with little to no team communication. Obviously, you still want to communicate as much as possible, but when you don’t have voice comms and can’t talk during fights, these are the best picks to have ready.

Before getting into our specific Champion breakdowns, I want to talk about solo queue in general first. When you play solo queue, you’re effectively signing up for a game where there will be minimal communication other than people getting mad in chat. It’s just how it is most of the time. To make your solo experience as enjoyable as possible, don’t be afraid to mute people if necessary. Obviously, try your best to get along with everyone and work as a team, but this isn’t always an option.

There will always be players who make it their sole goal in life to upset and offend as many people as possible. When you get against those players, just mute them and ignore everything they do. Do that, and you’ll have a much better time — it’s not worth giving yourself a bad gaming experience.

10. Lux

I love Lux for many reasons, and one of those is because she can easily go mid lane and just hang out there. No one expects Lux to be roaming to top and bot lane, and since none of her abilities really require any teamwork, she’s at least in the top ten best Champions to carry solo queue.

Lux is a great Champion for staying in your own lane and spamming abilities during teamfights without the need for much communication. When playing Lux solo, be aware of your surroundings and try and help teammates out with well-placed long-range ultimates whenever you can. Who knows, you might even steal a kill or two while you’re at it.

9. Fiora

Fiora is a master duelist, so she’s not new to fighting on her own. Fiora is arguably the strongest Champion in the game for one-on-one encounters, which is exactly the kind of fights you want in solo queue. Obviously, you can still participate and succeed in teamfights, but why not focus on what you can do most optimally?

If you take Fiora into solo queue, you’ll almost certainly find yourself in less annoying situations than if you try to pick someone teamfight-oriented. Just make sure to group up with your team when it’s time to do so, or risk getting flamed in chat. 

8. Yasuo

Nothing embodies the spirit of the best solo queue Champions like Yasuo. Do you want to hard carry a game? Pick Yasuo. Want to die fifteen times in ten minutes and then blame your support? Pick Yasuo. He’s the answer to every question, so he must be the answer for “Who are the best solo queue Champions?” as well.

All jokes aside, Yasuo is quite good in solo queue. His strength is his game carry potential, and while it may be a running joke to assume all Yasuo players will feed and rage quit when they don’t do that it’s great to have one on the team. 

7. Camille

Camille is a very rewarding Champion to play, but she can be risky in solo queue. Her duelist nature makes her strong, but she does have abilities that can benefit her team. Her ability to lock down a specific Champion is a wonderful asset to have, and it’s one of few aggressive abilities that helps your team without requiring their cooperation. Camille isn’t the most flashy Champion, but she’s a solid pick for solo queue where you have to prioritize abilities that require cooperation. 

6. Wukong

Ever since Wukong got buffed last year, he’s been an absolute blast to play. Having a really strong Champion like this on your team is a necessity, and one that’s fun to play is just a bonus. I recommend Wukong to everyone these days because it’s rare to have such a good Champion that isn’t somehow boring. Wukong’s ultimate is an unbelievably good combination of crowd control and damage, and his generally useful kit means there’s no reason not to play him.

5. Riven

Riven is in the same realm as Yasuo when it comes to solo queue, but less one-sided. Riven is a pretty safe pick as long as you know how to play her, and she can usually handle her own in lane without much issue. She also has the potential to outplay multiple people at once, and is good enough that there’s no reason not to play her.

It’s all about skill and experience with Riven, though, so make sure you truly understand how to play her before going into games. I’d recommend either watching a few videos or reading a full guide on Riven first.

4. Xin Zhao

Xin Zhao has been one of the strongest junglers for solo queue for a long time. His playstyle is so aggressive that he’s able to carry a team, and none of his abilities require teammates to do anything.

Xin Zhao’s solo nature pushes him to the top, meaning he’s one of the best junglers right now. When playing Xin Zhao, it’s important to know how to counter jungle. Don’t worry about it if you’re not very experienced with jungle, but if you’re able to make use of this skill, Xin Zhao is one of the best to do it on.

3. Zed

Assassins have an obvious advantage over most other Champions in solo queue. Since they want to be on their own most of the time anyway, they don’t lose anything at all by queuing up solo. Zed in particular is one of the best Champions for solo queue since his ultimate allows him to go in by himself and get away safely.

If you choose to play Zed, make sure you’re aware of his best damage combos. Also don’t try to kill tanks if you can avoid it. Zed is best used against squishy Champions to farm kills before moving on to tanks. 

2. Katarina

Similar to Zed, Katarina can easily be played in solo queue without any disadvantages. She’s less of an explosive assassin than Zed, meaning you can’t just dive in on a single person, kill them, and leave. Katarina specializes in both focused and group damage, so she can actually handle multiple people at once.

Zed tends to crumble in any situation that’s not a 1v1, but Katrina thrives in them. This makes her one of the rare LoL solo carry Champions, with ripe opportunities for pentas. This unique trait for an assassin is what has kept her at the top of the meta for so long, and you can’t go wrong with her in solo queue. 

1. Sett

Sett is one of those Champions that you love on your team, love to play in solo queue, and hate to run into in lane. When you’re playing Sett, it doesn’t matter what anyone on your team is doing. You just run at enemies and kill them.

Sett’s been nerfed pretty significantly since he came out, but don’t let that stop you. In solo queue, you can basically play him the same way you would when queued with teammates. He’s not complicated, so there’s no need to overthink your play style. Use teamwork as much as possible, but you’ll be fine just doing your best. That’s why Sett’s our pick for the best Champion for solo queue in League.

Become a High Grounder

Playing solo queue is a lot like trying to move houses without a truck. It’s not efficient, but it’s what you’ve got to do sometimes. The key to doing well in solo queue is having a Champion that doesn’t require teamwork, as well as knowing how to cooperate with a team of people you don’t know.

We hope this article has helped you find a good solo queue Champion! Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media for more guides like this one.

Happy gaming!

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