Jayce Dominates League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational
Jayce has emerged as a surprising and successful pick during the first week of the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational. According to gol.gg, Jayce has a 87% appearance rate and an impressive 80% win rate in the top lane at MSI 2019. This champion’s dominance is unmatched, making it the most banned champion with 36 bans so far. But what sets Jayce apart from the competition?
Why is Jayce so Dominant?
In the previous professional Spring Split, Riot Games decided to nerf Jayce due to his oppressive performance in the lane during pro play. However, the nerf didn’t deter Jayce’s dominance. Players have found new ways to sustain him in the early game without having to rush Manamune, a previously necessary item to compensate for his high mana usage. The introduction of the Manaflow Band and Biscuit Delivery runes has provided Jayce with enough sustain, allowing players to prioritize damage output with Conqueror and Biscuit Delivery as secondary runes.
In addition to these changes, players have also been opting for full lethality builds with Youmuu’s Ghostblade and Duskblade, which has become a staple in every Jayce build at the competition.
The Perfect Environment for Jayce
The meta during the Mid-Season Invitational has emphasized early to mid-game focused matches, which lasts an average of 30 minutes. This plays to Jayce’s strengths as he excels in the early game and continues to dominate throughout the laning phase, easily scaling into the mid-game.
Solo Queue vs Pro Play
While Jayce may be dominating the professional scene, his performance in solo queue is not as remarkable. According to op.gg, Jayce’s win rate in solo queue during Patch 9.8 hovered around a modest 49%, which remained constant in Patch 9.9 as well. This suggests that the recent nerf in Patch 9.6 affected inexperienced players more than the pros. Jayce has a steep learning curve, making it challenging for inexperienced players to find success with him since the nerf.
With Patch 9.8 being used throughout the Mid-Season Invitational, we can expect Jayce to continue dominating the pick ban phase.