What’s up guys it’s me Jeremy.
Riot are generally pretty original with each Ultimate ability because they end up being
the signature of that champion.
They aren’t all created to be equal though, so some are definitely more impactful than
others.
It’s kinda hard to decide which are best because a lot of kits are designed to add
power into the Ultimate’s but we’ve taken that into account to try and give our list
of the Top 10 Most Powerful Ultimates.
Keep in mind we aren’t including Transform ultimates like Jayce, Elise or Nidalee, because
they aren’t really Ultimates at all, they are more like a 4th basic ability.
We’re going to try rank ultimates based on raw power, utility and overall how powerful
each of them are in an actual game on average.
Let us know if you think we missed anyone, and if you like the video hit that like button,
if not then hit the dislike.
Our number 10 choice is Azir!
His Ultimate is Emperor’s Divide, a wall of soldiers that charges forward from Azir’s
position, knocking back enemies it hits and forming a wall that they cannot move or dash
through, although allied teammates can still move through the wall.
It deals a good amount of magic damage too, but Azir’s Ultimate is best used in combination
with the rest of his kit to swoop into a good position then Ult to prevent the enemy team’s
escape and shove them into
your team.
It’s crazy powerful when used well, but the dependance on the rest of Azir’s kit
and the recent nerfs definitely moved it lower in
the rankings for our list.
Another important statistic for measuring the power of an ability is ‘variance’
which is basically the number of different outcomes to using it.
Emperor’s Divide has quite a lot of variance, sometimes it might let you destroy an entire
enemy team and at other times you might fail to hit anyone.
It’s quite tricky to use properly, and although it’s a bit easier thanks to some changes
to where the wall of soldiers starts moving from relative to Azir.
You can use it for damage, the CC or zoning so it’s pretty flexible, but overall there
are more impactful and reliable ultimates out there for the average player.
Number 9 is Sejuani’s Ultimate, Glacial Prison.
Sejuani throws a frosted bola in a line that shatters when it reaches max range or hits
an enemy champion, dealing magic damage to all enemies in an area.
If it detonates from reaching its max range, it only slows enemies hit, but if it collided
with an enemy champion it will stun that champion and all other enemies in range.
This is where most of the power in the Ultimate is, being able to stun up an entire enemy
team from a distance is crazy powerful and it’s one of the things that made her such
a force of nature in competitive play last year.
AoE crowd control Ultimates are always going to be powerful because they can carry teamfights
by themselves, so a bit part of ranking them is how reliable it is.
Sejuani’s ultimate power is impressive, but it can be locked as a projectile or even
missed completely, so we decided although it’s a top 10 ability, it’s not as strong
as some of the alternatives.
So at Number 8 is Ashe with her Enchanted Crystal Arrow.
On activation it fires a huge arrow in a target direction, not stopping until it hits an enemy
champion or flies off the map.
Some of you may disagree with me because it’s a single target Ultimate, but although Ultimates
like this aren’t as powerful on paper because they only hit one person, they are meant to
be used in totally different ways and Ashe’s arrow is pretty much the single most powerful
ultimate for team comps that want to pick off one person at a time and then fight with
a numbers advantage.
It’s definitely going to be less impactful in terms of swinging a teamfight which does
keep it from reaching a better rank, but for a single target utility Ultimate you really
can’t get better than this, especially if you catch someone across the map for bonus
style points!
7.
Karthus At Number 7 is a guy that too many people
have forgotten about, Karthus!
His Ultimate Requiem is a channeled ability that hits every targetable enemy on the map
with a ton of damage.
Although it can be interrupted, it has amazing synergy with his passive, giving him time
to channel it while being untargetable for the enemy team.
He can even cast it for free because while in his passive he has no mana costs, so he’s
pretty much guaranteed to get this insane Ult off in every fight.
It does a ton of base damage with a reasonable amount of scaling too, so it’s a really
good way to deal with squishy targets that don’t have ways to dodge the damage such
as.
Karthus kinda fell out of favor because he’s quite weak to Assassins and tricky to play
right, but guaranteed damage is no joke and a good player can abuse it for free kills
across the map every couple of minutes as long as they keep an eye on the enemy health
bars and time it right.
6.
Shen Number 6 is Shen with Stand United, one of
the only parts of his kit that survived his rework.
It lets him channel to give a shield to a teammate, teleporting to their side after
a few seconds.
Teleport ultimates are pretty insane because rather than having crazy direct effects, they
let another member of the team join a fight instantly and it can quickly get out of hand
and hard to deal with.
On top of the ability to join his teammates that are in a fight, Shen hands out a huge
shield while he channels, letting him support from across the map before he even arrives
on the scene.
Global Ultimates are among the most powerful in the game, and being able to save your allies
and then jump into a fight instantly is crazy strong and definitely makes Shen worthy of
a spot on our list.
One of the really cool parts about global teleports is that it gives the option of playing
a split push playstyle, annoying the enemy team by shoving side lanes without needing
to worry about your team fighting without you.
After a few seconds, the fight would quickly be a 5v5 again so you get a ton of map pressure
pretty much for free.
Stand United is kinda scary when used by an experienced Shen player, and it’s a great
way to introduce newer players to playing tanks too - it pretty much forces you to be
in the frontline protecting your teammates.
5.
Twisted Fate Breaking into our Top 5 is the other side
of the Teleport coin, Twisted Fate with Destiny.
We consider Destiny to be a little more powerful though because the impact it can have on the
game it a bit higher.
A level 6 Twisted Fate is one of the scariest things in the game for the side laners because
at any moment you could be facing a 3v2 or 2v1, and he packs a ton of damage and CC to
make the most of his ganks.
Twisted Fate is the all-star roamer of League of Legends, and is notorious in both competitive
and ranked games because of his global pressure.
It pretty much defines him as a champion, and he’s one of the most popular champions
to play in mid lane because he’s one of the few champions remaining that can reliably
snowball a game by getting not just himself fed, but the rest of his team too.
He can fill the splitpush role or use his Ultimate to jump on objectives or help defend
towers at a moments notice, and it makes him a pretty flexible choice for any team composition.
He definitely feels most at home along early snowball champions that he can help push ahead,
though!
Next up in the Number 4 spot we have Amumu.
His Ultimate is Curse of the Sad Mummy, and it binds all enemies around him, stopping
them moving or attacking and dealing a chunk of magic damage.
Remember what we said amount Sejuani being a little unreliable?
We rate Amumu’s ultimate higher because although it does a similar job, it’s actually
way easier to land because you don’t have to hit a champion directly with a skill shot.
Amumu is pretty much always going to be on the front line with his Bandage Toss, so waiting
till a few enemies are attacking him then popping his Ultimate is an almost guaranteed
way to swing a fight.
It’s still not perfect, dodging Amumu’s Bandage Toss and kiting him can stop him getting
a really optimal Ultimate so he has to use it on just one enemy at times, but it’s
way easier to land an insane Amumu Ult than a big Sejuani one.
This is all about variance again, and you can really see how it sets champions apart
in their strengths and weaknesses.
At Number 3 our choice is Janna with her Ultimate Monsoon.
It knocks enemies back and channels for 3 seconds to heal allies, and it really sets
Janna apart is the best disengager in the game.
Janna’s kit is packed with playmaking ability, and her Ultimate is a huge part of it because
she can use it to save an ally with a clutch heal, knock back an enemy that’s trying
to jump on your team or even use it with a flash to push an enemy into the middle of
your team.
Janna is all about peeling for her carry, and her Ultimate is a huge part of what makes
her so good at it.
If left unchecked she can heal a huge amount, which can just cancel out damage an enemy
team has put down on Janna’s team.
Monsoon is really good when used with proper positioning, and a good Janna ult can be the
difference winning and losing a lane or even a game, whether it’s by surviving early
tower dives or securing powerful end game objectives like Baron.
Just missing out on the top spot is Orianna at Number 2 with Command: Shockwave.
The ability functions in a similar kind of way to Azir, able to CC and burst the entire
enemy team and put them into a position that works better for your Ultimate.
Although it’s a little trickier to land than Azir’s Ultimate because you have less
of an element of surprise, it’s arguably even more powerful because Orianna doesn’t
have to use her entire kit to make it work.
A well placed Q or even an E onto an ally with good engage can set Orianna up for an
insane ultimate, and the power it brings has made her one of the most played mid laners
in competitive League in the history of the game.
It offers everything a mid lane mage would ever want - zoning power, crowd control, insane
damage and the ability to destroy either one enemy or an entire bunch of them.
There’s been some super cool Orianna ultimates in professional play and they really acts
as a testament to how powerful she can be in the right hands, whether she’s carrying
teamfights with a ForellenLord 3k ELO shockwave or just straight up bullying enemy laners
with her 100-0 burst potential.
In our Number 1 spot is Malphite with his Unstoppable Force.
It’s a dash with a ton of damage and a knock up at the end, and while using it Malphite
can’t be CC’d.
Once he decides to dash, there’s no stopping him.
It’s the king of group-CC, and as an ability it’s so powerful that the rest of Malphite’s
kit is kinda bad to compensate for it.
When you lock Malphite in, you do it for his Ultimate, and unlike the high variance on
other AoE CC abilities like Amumu or Sejuani, it’s way harder to avoid.
You can’t kite Malphite because of the dash part of the ability, and once he hits a champion
he ends up right where he wants to be, in the middle of the enemy team ready to tank
as much damage as possible.
The utility is huge, and it actually has quite a lot of magic damage
scaling so it’s a big part of what makes Full AP Malphite so fun to play.
With his 100% scaling, it works by turning him into pretty much an assassin, giving squishy
targets two choices - either time your flash right to escape, or just roll over and die.
He’s the best wombo combo enabler in the game because of this insanely reliable ultimate,
and he’ll probably always have a place in the meta as long as he has access to this
crazy gamechanger.
That wraps up our Top 10 Most Powerful Ultimates in League of Legends based on their ability
to impact a game.
It’s honestly pretty hard to compare some ultimates because they affect the game in
so many different ways, but we’re pretty happy with how it came out!
As always top 10 lists are gonna come down to personal opinion, so please be gentle in
the comments but definitely let us know if you think we missed anyone.
And it looks like that’s gonna be it from me, if you enjoyed the video drop a like,
subscribe if you want, thanks for watching, and I’ll see you guys next time!