League Power Picks - Patch 12.14

The changes from the latest patch have settled, so let's rundown some of the best picks in the meta.

Poppy

Poppy offers a ton of utility in the top lane or jungle. She has great ganks with her stun, can interrupt dashes with her W, and yeet enemies back to base with her ult. Altneratively, her ult can be used instantly for a quick knock-up, making her very dangerous if she can find picks.

Not only does she deal a surprising amount of damage, but Poppy is incredibly mobile. She can become near impossible to catch between the movement speed from her W, taking runes like Phase Rush, Water Walking and Celerity, and the mobility from her E. Undoubtedly, Poppy is one of the best picks on the patch.

Gwen

Gwen received a ton of changes in 12.13. Though she received several nerfs to her jungle clear speed, she is now a much stronger top laner. The most important change was to her ult, as now she doesn't need to land a basic attack or Q in order to use all the charges of her ult. This makes it much easier to clear waves and finish off enemies.

Her AP ratios were also increased, making her an unkillable powerhouse in the late game. Gwen's innate mobility means she doesn't have to take Flash, allowing you to opt into Ignite for a stronger laning phase or Ghost for more mobility in the late game. Additionally, Gwen is one of few AP top laners in the meta, so can help diversify a team's damage profile.

Taliyah

Just like Poppy, Taliyah offers a ton of utility outside of her raw damage. Her ult was recently changed to let Taliyah jump off whenever she uses it, expanding its uses. Now, the ult can be used to zone enemies by blocking them with the wall, gank another lane, or engage from afar.

Her E was also buffed, as it now stuns enemies that try to dash through the stones. This is a fantastic counter to the amount of mobility in the game, and something that enemies often forget about. Outside of her utility, Taliyah's Q damage is now much higher and the new boulder means having Worked Ground is no longer a disadvantage.

Zeri

Will Riot ever be able to balance Zeri? Despite being released just 9 patches ago, she has already received an absurd 12 balance changes and still doesn't feel like a balanced champion. The latest point of frustration is her W, which can crit for a stupid amount of damage and one shot carries. Not only is its cooldown relatively short, but its range is extended when used on terrain.

With this new focus on her W, she has seen play in the mid lane building a hybrid AP/AD build. Items like Luden's Tempest increases the W poke damage, while Manamune helps her spam her W as much as possible. She can still be played as an ADC in the bot lane, focusing on attack and movement speed.