A counter pick is a champion that wins its lane against a champion the enemy has already picked. A handful of things decide that: range, sustain against poke, crowd control against mobility, early power against scaling, and damage type against the enemy's items. Counter pick when you pick after your lane opponent and own a real answer in your pool. Don't when it means a champion you have barely played, when it leaves your team without a frontline or a damage type, or when your lane opponent hasn't picked yet.
What decides a counter
A common question on Reddit asks whether a counter is as simple as one champion dealing more damage than another. It isn't. A matchup is a contest between two kits, and one of them usually takes away what the other needs to win the lane. These are the things that tend to decide it:
- Range. A champion that hits from further away can trade for free whenever the other has to walk up. A short-range champion needs a way to close the gap, or it loses every small trade before level 6.
- Sustain against poke. Poke wins by chipping you until you have to go back. A champion that heals or shields through it, or that ignores small trades, takes that plan away.
- Crowd control against mobility. A dash or blink is the answer to a skillshot; a point-and-click stun or a root on a short cooldown is the answer to a dash. Matchups often come down to who has the last spell to answer the other.
- Early power against scaling. Some champions are strongest at level 2 or 3, others at three items. The early champion counters the late one only if it turns that window into a real lead: kills, plates or a big CS gap.
- Damage type and items. Armor against an all-physical lane, magic resist against a mage. A champion whose damage the enemy can't itemize against cheaply keeps its strength in the long run.
- Wave control. A champion that clears waves fast can shove and leave to help elsewhere. One that can't is stuck in lane, which is a counter of its own if the other team plays around it.
A matchup win rate sums all of this up in one number, measured over everyone who played it. That is why it is useful and also why it isn't the whole story: it says the matchup is hard on average, not that it is hard for you.
Counters of the most played champions on patch 26.21
From our tier data: for the two most played champions of each lane, the opponents they do worst against. A counter here has at least 8 games in that matchup and a win rate below 50% after it is pulled toward 50%, so a few lucky games don't make one. Made from 5,352 ranked games on patch 26.21.
| Lane | Champion | Win rate | Countered by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top Lane |  Sett | 54.4% |  Urgot Tahm Kench Fiora |
| Top Lane |  Garen | 55.1% |  Yone Tryndamere Yorick |
| Jungle |  Master Yi | 50.6% |  Shaco Rammus Warwick |
| Jungle |  Viego | 48.8% |  Evelynn Cho'Gath Lillia |
| Mid |  Ahri | 49.9% |  Lux Xerath Cassiopeia |
| Mid | Yone | 48.6% |  HweiXerath Yasuo |
| ADC |  Miss Fortune | 54.0% |  Draven Twitch Jinx |
| ADC |  Caitlyn | 46.3% |  Ezreal Xayah Varus |
| Support | Lux | 50.6% |  NeekoTahm Kench Senna |
| Support |  Seraphine | 49.5% |  Thresh LeonaXerath |
Every champion has its own counter page with the matchups per lane, both the ones it loses and the ones it wins.
When to counter pick
- You pick after your lane opponent. A counter only exists once you know what you are countering.
- The counter is in your pool. You have played it enough to know its trades and spikes. By iTero's analysis that starts around 20 games.
- It still fits your team. Your team keeps a frontline, some engage and both damage types.
- The matchup is clearly lopsided. A counter that wins the lane by a small edge is worth less than the comfort of your main.
When not to counter pick
- It would be your first game on that champion. League of Graphs finds that players with 50 or more games on a champion win about three points above its average. A first-time counter gives that back and more.
- Your lane opponent hasn't picked. Then you are blind, and a champion with few bad matchups is the better choice. See the best blind picks per role.
- The enemy pick can go to two lanes. A champion that plays top or mid may not end up where you think. Wait for a second clue, or pick something that holds up against both.
- The counter breaks your team. A third AD champion or a team without a frontline loses more games than the lane wins.
- The enemy still picks after you. If their jungler or support comes later, they can answer your counter and turn the lane back.
Bot lane is two against two
In bot lane a counter is a pair, not a champion. An ADC that counters the enemy ADC can still lose the lane to the support that comes after it, so a bot laner who picks early often does better with a safe pick and lets the support do the countering. The duo tier list shows which ADC and support pairs win together.
A counter pick routine
- Before you queue: look up the counter pages of the five champions you meet most in your lane, and note which champion in your pool answers each one.
- In champ select: if you pick after your lane opponent, check whether the answer is in your pool and fits the team. If not, take your main.
- Before the game loads: one sentence on how you win the lane. “Trade when their dash is down, back off when it is up.”
- After the game: one word on whether it worked. Your own record against a champion beats the average in time.
Counter picks from your own pool
The best counter is the one you can play. In champ select LazyElo weighs the lane matchup, your own record on each champion in your pool and your record against that opponent, and what your team still needs, and it says why it suggests a pick. Its Matchups page keeps your own notes per opponent: in champ select it first asks for your plan, and only then shows what you wrote last time. You still pick and lock in yourself.
Building that pool comes first: how to build a champion pool shows which champions cover each other on this patch.