A lot of people come to me and ask, “Redmercy, what do I do to get out of Bronze, Silver, Gold Elo”? Other than just getting better as a player, which seems to be the obvious answer, I tend to say this: play champions that snowball hard. Now, in-case you are unsure about what this term snowball means, let me explain briefly. Think of a snowball, it can start small but as it keeps rolling down a hill of snow it will get bigger and bigger. This applies to League as well, if you let certain champions keep getting kills or get ahead in CS, they will just snowball hard and become extremely strong and hard to stop. Certain champions are better than others when it comes to snowballing, and this can be determined by either their skill kit, their ratios, etc. Keep in mind this is a Solo Queue version, and such things can possibly not apply to ranked 5’s or versus a coordinated team that can shut down these kinds of champions easier than a miss-coordinated solo q team.

This is going to be the purpose of this article. I will give you my thoughts on who I personally think are the best 10 snowballers for the middle lane. Champions I feel like can carry very hard if given the chance, on top of being somewhat easy to even get to that state of hard-carry unless you are constantly camped and/or the main attention of the enemy team all game, which in that case will take pressure off of your other lanes on your team. If you are wondering what may qualify me for giving such advice, or why you should read a single word of advice I give, let me convince you a bit. First off, I run a YouTube channel called Redmercy that has over 115k subscribers and primarily revolves around education videos. I also have a main NA account in Diamond 5, on top of my smurf (Zedmercy) that is currently Plat 3. I main the middle lane, followed by ADC (Marksman?), so I do know a thing or two about what I am saying! Anyways, without much further ado let us jump into my top 10 snowballers for middle lane (SOLO QUEUE VERSION). NOTE: This is NOT in any specific order, #1 can be just as good if not better than #10 champion that I list.

#1 – Kha’Zix

One thing you may notice about my list, is that it incorporates champions that have high mobility/resets. This is a primary attribute I personally look for in a lot of champions since I believe League to be hugely based around how well you can position yourself. This is why Kha’Zix is a perfect champion to kick off this list with. He brings in insane single target damage with his upgraded Q now, and once you upgrade his E at level 11, you get the important reset that will just let you jump from target to target, annihilating them 1 by 1. People in solo queue love to NOT group, and Kha’Zix is one of the best punishers for that mistake.

#2 – Zed

Another assassin that is one of my personal favourite champions in this game. Not only is he just so much fun to play, he is one of the most mobile and tricky champions as well. The main thing I tell most people that ask me how to get good with Zed is to just get amazingly good with his shadows. Understand how it works, and understand the limitations. Know how to juke with it, or how to be able to go in, Death Mark someone, and be able to get out while picking up a kill. One of the best things about Zed, is he is probably one of the strongest duelers in this game, and is very good at split-pushing. This is important since it will cause the enemy team to bring at least 2 people to try and stop you pushing, giving your team opportunities elsewhere. He is also very good at going to other lanes and ganking, as his ultimate just does so much damage.

#3 – Katarina

This baby here is one of the main definitions of being a snowball champion. Everyone loves and hates her with a passion, but for good reason. She can be just so dominant if you put little to no attention towards shutting her down that it becomes very scary. One of the main reason this is the case is due to the fact that she can reset her combo’s per kill, similarly to Kha’Zix, but bringing in much more AOE (Area of Effect) damage. I feel like this champion is easy to learn but hard to master. Sure you can just demolish lower ELO, however once you start rising up in brackets, players will be more knowledgeable at how to shut her down, and it will require a lot more concentration on your part to know when it is safe to go in and when it is not.

#4 – Fizz

This little squirt is just so damn strong. His laning phase is absurd, and just from that alone he can probably leave laning phase a monster. His ratios are just so good that getting lichbane on him as the first item can also make you do half hp to people without much work on your end. His playstyle is somewhat different than most champions, however if you can learn this little man, I guarantee you can dominate your bracket and rise to gold or plat without much trouble.

#5 – LeBlanc

A somewhat under-appreciated champion in my opinion. Ever since her recent rework I think she is very good now. Sure her damage in lane may not be as absurd as before, but it is still enough to dominate if played right. On top of this, she can scale into mid/late game much better and actually be useful to her team rather than being the do or die champion as she was before. There was a post from HotshotGG talking about her and how he got into challenger from diamond playing primarily her. I really recommend giving her another whirl, I promise she is a good champion now. Just max Q, then W, then E and get Deathfire first.

#6 – Gragas

Another under-appreciated champion. Gragas has one of the best skill kits in the game. He has a Q that has amazing ratios, long range, AOE, AND slows attack speed. His W gives him damage reduction (which is amazing since he is melee), extra AD that helps so much in lane and to last hit, plus mana regen and hp when taking into account his passive. His E gives him amazing mobility is great ratio that works well with his W, and he can go over walls plus it slows movespeed. Then he has an amazing ultimate that has 100% AP ratio (which is crazy), it is ranged, fast, AOE, and a displacement. He literally has everything a champion would want, his only flaw is that he is melee. Sure he is purely skillshot oriented, but he has many ways to make landing these skillshots easier. Pick him up..please.

#7 – Akali

One of the first champions I became known for back in the days. Though I feel as if she is a bit too easily countered now with oracles/pink wards, she is still one of the most dominant champions in lane once level 6, and has one of the best out play potential of any champion. The damage she can bring in if ahead of her opponent even slightly is very high and she, along with Katarina, is one of the first assassin champions that brought the “yeah I snowball hard” roles into League.

#8 – Diana

One of the harder snowball champions to stop. She may not be as snowbally (is that even a word) as the above champs, however she is a lot harder to stop just because she is naturally tanky on top bringing in very strong damage. Granted it is assumed you can land your Q, she is someone I am personally scared of when I lane middle. Maybe I just suck, but I think her laning phase and general kit is surprisingly very strong and even if you want to stop her from getting stronger, you are going to have some trouble with that.

#9 – Kennen

A champion that the Koreans seem to favor, but for good reason. Kennen has one of the better ultimates in the game as the damage and CC it brings is one of a kind. His Q poke is very strong, and his overall kit just complements each other very well. People tend to play Kennen a bit more towards the AD side in laning phase, such as buying Doran’s Blade first item, and then transition into the AP items. This ensures his laning phase is strong while still bring in the immense AP damage he is known for.

#10 – Kassadin

Another champion I am somewhat scared of playing against. Kassadin is one of those champions that if you, as the middle laner against him, are unable to absolutely shut him down in laning phase…he will be a very big problem. One of the main things I like about all the champs I listed here is the fact that they all can roam to other lanes well (as opposed to someone like Karthus) and gank. Kassadin is probably one of the best when it comes to that due to his ultimate. He has very strong ratios, and his W active will hurt like a b***h when auto attacking. Granted his laning phase is sub-par, if you can come out at least equal to the enemy laner, you won your lane.

Other  worthy mentions

There are a couple champions I also wanna give a quick mention. These are also very solid champs that fit under my specifications of snowballer/assassin. Ahri is such a champion. She brings crazy damage, true damage, good CC, and just an amazing ultimate that gives her so much potential and control over a fight. The second mention is Talon. This is a champion I put down a while ago, but recently found a liking to him again just because I am seeing his potential. Zed, being one of my best and main champs, was picked against me and I picked Talon into him and realized that not only can Talon beat Zed, but he just has a good laning phase with his W, and a solid kit that works well together.

Other Thoughts

So these are my favourite champions when it comes to being able to hard carry those solo queue games playing middle lane. I have the same thing already on my channel but about ADC champions which I may write an article for as well soon. Try these champions out, pick 1 or 2 of them and just get good..very good..with them. I promise you will see an increase in your rating. Playing champions like Orianna in solo queue, as good of a champion she is, can not work so well because you can’t ever rely on your team in that queue, you have to go in thinking, I am going to carry this game! Anyways, hope this helped you out, check out my channel for educational videos! PEACE!