This is not a top of the least popular champions in the game (especially since at this level, Aurelion Sol, Skarner and Ivern have been fighting for the title for years), but characters who have marked the history of the game before gradually disappearing from the Summoner's Rift, whether in competitive play or in ranked/normal play. Who have been the biggest losers in League of Legends history? Which gaming legends deserve a little help? These are the questions to which we will begin to answer.
The Spider Queen
There was a time when Lee Sin had his AP counterpart in the person of Elise. The influence of the Spider Queen was such that every professional jungler had to master her, just like the blind monk. However, over the years, Elise gradually disappeared from competitive radar, and suffered the same fate in soloQ. From one of the most popular junglers, she is now the ninth least played champion in the world (out of 160). Unfortunately, his kit is no longer suited to the meta. Elise is relatively slow to clean her jungle (compared to the best in this field), while imperatively having to succeed in ganks, the champion being relatively weak in the late game. She has therefore become a very all-in champion, because if her first actions are not successful, Elise will fall behind her opponent, a delay that she will not be able to make up for without the help of her teammates. At the time of writing, Elise has been less played on the competitive scene in S12 than Aurelion Sol (and the dragon has been played...twice worldwide).
Sona
For a very long time, Sona has been the representative of the support archetype in the minds of many players. Although hugely popular, in the early seasons changes to the game by Riot Games condemned it to a descent into the depths of lesser-played champions. If the Muse was very strong at the time, it is mainly because the supports had to spend the majority of their gold in beacons of vision (wards). Sona's spells benefit all of her allies as they are auras, have poor scaling with items, which made her a perfect candidate for the support position. She didn't need items to be effective, which allowed her to invest in vision, without losing impact in the game. Only since wards became free has Sona lost interest in favor of more specialized champions who no longer had to sacrifice most of their gold on the altar of vision. She remained very strong in ARAM, before Riot Games broke her knees in that mode as well, reducing her healing and shields. With only 21 appearances in competition in S12 around the world, and extremely rare in soloQ, the Harp Virtuoso seems doomed to stay in the depths. Today Sona sings a sad song, which no one hears anymore... (Sona says when chosen: "Only you can hear me, summoner")
The Falling Ninja
Shen may be a less obvious champion than the previous two, but he left a lasting mark on the top lane. Part of the reason teleport has become such a central spell in League of Legends is the nerfs to other summoner spells by Riot Games (teleport was less appealing than other spells in earlier seasons), but also thanks to Shen whose players showed the power little by little. His status in soloQ was a bit different, because although there were many main Shen, a lot of players defaulted to him when autofilling toplane. Simple to play, with good lane keeping and an ultimate to help his allies, Shen allowed autofills to have an impact in games if they played smart. Unlike Sona and Elise, the champion hasn't lost much of his power. Shen is still great against AD melee lane champions, and can do well against a lot of other characters. On the other hand, the changes made to the game seem to condemn it, at least for this season. The goal of Riot Games by integrating the Herald and the plates on the towers, was to energize the games. It worked pretty well, but doesn't benefit Shen at all. Due to the potential impact of his ultimate, the latter has a very long cooldown. S hen therefore needs the games to be slow enough so that his team can temporize when his spell is on CD. Only, today it is very rare not to have an action for the necessary time, which means that we prefer champions who can recover their spells more quickly. The community eventually went the way of the pros, and today Shen rarely appears in Summoner's Rift.
Valorant continues on its way and even if the game remains a bit apart in the universe of Riot Games (League of Legends), the FPS is not left out. A new game mode, long requested by the community, may soon be added.
