This summer, I found out that no one of the lonely players has been picked or banned since 2023

The LPL was the first major city to start its Summer Split due to the higher number of participants, and also having a Bo3, regular season format. After two weeks of playing, the Chinese league has played 88 games in total. KSante can either pick or ban all the matches.

According to gamesite, despite the repeated nerfs at the start of the season in patches 13.3 and 13.1, KSante continues to hold a strong standing in professional play. The top lane tank has great value to team and the team’s reputation as an expert, especially if he is at full height of tank life.

He has been banned for 38 years. Over the course of those 40 games, KSante’s victory was achieved on 21 occasions, with an average KDA of 3,6.

Why is KSante in professional play so powerful?

There’s always been League of Legends champions who have excelled well in professional play, and even KSante isn’t the exception. It happens in general to the champions designs, and the extent of proficiency and success. Even though KSante doesn’t have difficult abilities, he’s having a great learning curve when it comes to mastering him.

This is why KSante performed well at the highest Elos in a queue, according to stats site lolalytics, and his numbers continue to tumble. At Platinum, his win rate dropped to 47 percent.

In such a way only a limited number of players can draw the maximum potential of KSante. The riot game can’t make any champion more powerful for the average player base. The champion’s hands become too overpowered.

KSante Classic Skin. Video courtesy of the Riot Games.

KSante has one clear strength that no other meta champion has in the game: the ability to remove champions from teamfights. By using All Out at the right moments KSante can destroy an enemy and drive him out of the fight through the hills. This can be cast onto the most important enemy threat and given his strength as a whole, he has enough damage to kill a concentrated target.

While the highest-level athletes work like Poppy and Mordekaiser do a similar job, they don’t have the same amount of damage and mobility as KSante. This makes him the best choice.

Besides that, KSante is currently one of the best blind selections in the game, having the ability to be flexed between mid-stakes and tops. This makes him one of the most valuable picks of the meta, which further increases his priorities during the draft phase, and thus reduces his ban rate. Since the LPL is entering Patch 13.11 of Week 3, it’s likely that KSante will continue to be the first in the list.

The other four champions were nearing 100 percent presence in the LPL.

KSante is not the only one in high demand in the LPL, as a fourth in the league has the best performances. In addition to Ksante, Milio is the champion, with a 99 percent presence rate (87 out of 88 games, according to Legends). With the total score of 73 bans and a win rate of 71 percent in 14 games, the team has a sharp 10,7 km2. If he fails in future patches, he will likely contest KSante for the highest presence.

With 98 percent presence, we have Vi and Aphelios, the most preferred jungle and the most preferred ADC picks. Vi continued playing professionally throughout the season: she is over 71 percent on the four major regions and the MSI, with a huge win rate of 54,8 percent.

Aphelios was rising toward the end of the Spring Split and is now a favorite in eastern regions. Despite his acuity, teams are always willing to pick him up.

Neko is the last runner who had close 100 presence rates. After her recent mid-scope update, she became a potential flex pick. With her updated passive, she brings tremendous value for ganks and teamfights. She is sure to retain his damage and crowd control, unless she maintains her presence and can remain the cheapest option for the remainder of the split.