In League of Legends, ranked is the most important type of game mode. You need to play and win ranked games to gain elo points and climb up the ranks, and with tanks getting buffed in season 13, the need for a good mid laner is much more prevalent than ever!
Hence the importance of solo queue and having a champion repertoire that can give you good chances to win solo queue games becomes apparent.
There are a lot of champions in the game that excel in team-oriented games but do not perform as well in Ranked. Cassiopeia has always been a strong pick for the players in professional League of Legends games, but how good is it for solo queue?
Without further ado, we will delve into what entails being a good ranked champion and how well Cassiopeia fits into those requirements.
Being a Reliable Blind Pick
One of the most crucial things in playing solo queue is blind picking. This is when you have to pick your champion before your lane opponent have picked theirs, leaving you vulnerable to being counter-picked. Playing into a counter or a losing lane matchup can be downright miserable.
Consequently, you need to know if the champion you wish to play has well-known counter picks or not. The lesser amount of counter picks available to the enemy team, the safer you are.
Cassiopeia is a weird champion in this regard. She can be countered by assassin champions such as Zed that have high burst damage and the ability to get close to her. Moreover, Cassiopeia has the “Miasma” to stop such champions from using any sort of gap close or dash ability.
Cassiopeia also has a tough time dealing with champions that can outrange her or zone her out of fights such as Viktor. Although it is clear that there are some counter matchups, she is still a great pick against a lot of champions. Moreover, Cassiopeia is a flex pick as she can be played at the top lane as well. Having a flex pick in your arsenal is always beneficial.
Strong Laning
Laning is one of the most important parts of the game. For solo queue, it can even be considered the most integral phase of the game. This is because generally when a lane starts losing in solo queue, it becomes a landslide. Due to the lack of proper communication and coordination, it is impossible to stop the enemy team from winning the game when they have dominated the laning phase.
Having said that, it is clear that whatever champion you wish to play in solo queue must have a solid laning phase. They must have tools to combat the enemy and not let them run away with the game. You also need the ability to make your own leads and start imposing your will on the game.
Cassiopeia has a very strong laning phase. Apart from a couple of above-mentioned poor lane matchups, Cassio is able to have strong lanes against the majority of her counterparts. She also has the ability to constantly maintain high farm or CS (creep score) by using “Twin Fangs” as a last-hit ability on minions.
Although Cassiopea is plenty strong, her mana consumption can be a point of concern. You can burn through a lot of mana very quickly in just a few extended trades as Cassiopeia. You need to be wary when trading with the enemy due to the mana issues.
Solo Carry Potential
Solo queue as the name suggests is a form of the game where you are playing on your own. You do not have the luxury of relying on your teammates to either help you or be able to carry the game themselves. So your champion should have the ability to carry games on their own.
Solo-carrying a game is never easy. A lot of it depends on the player’s own skill and even then you need to have picked a champion that has the potential to carry games. You need to be able to make your own leads and take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Cassiopeia is a champion that, as we have already discussed has a very strong laning phase. You can dominate the lane and make leads for yourself. Moreover, she also has the ability to carry games. The reason for this is simple, Cassiopeia does a ton of damage.
Mages are the type of champions that do high damage in their abilities. When their abilities go on cooldown, they do not offer much. Cassiopeia is unique because she has the ability to constantly dish out damage without any delay. You also have an AOE stun that allows you to fight more than one person at a time.
Survivability in Ganks
When you wish to make leads and win the lane, you end up playing aggressively. This gives the enemy junglers a golden opportunity to gank you and turn your aggression against you. Even if you do not give an opportunity, the enemy jungler can still gank you and put you behind in the game.
Cassiopeia is one of those champions that can turn the tables on the enemy in such a situation. This is thanks to her ultimate, the “Petrifying Gaze” which stuns all enemies facing Cassiopeia in a cone. While the enemies are stunned you can either choose to take on the 2-on-1 situation or escape.
Skill to Effectiveness Ratio
This is an often overlooked aspect of the game that plays a big part in the success of a champion. Generally speaking, the easier a champion is to play the more effective it will be. Since players of all skill levels will be able to play the champion at a decent level.
Cassiopeia has a very high skill-to-effectiveness ratio. This means that she is one of the most skill-requiring champions in the game. The champion is as effective as the player piloting it. The more mechanically strong a player is, the better they will be at Cassiopeia.
Efficient Build Pathing
The build pathing of a champion can be the reason a champion is good or not in the meta. In League of Legends, items are constantly being buffed or nerfed and even changed. The champions that have the ability to adapt to these changes stand out from the rest.
Cassiopeia is one of the most flexible champions in terms of build pathing. She can constantly change her build from one path to another as long as you are making ability power items, you will scale exceptionally well. You are not restricted to making a particular build in every game.
Also, Cassiopeia does not have to make boots. You get gradually increasing movement speed per level up. Although in some games you may wish to make boots early you do not have the ability to do so.
On the other hand, having a sixth item slot gives you the ability to make one more item than everybody else in the game. This gives you the ability to scale harder than everyone else.
Final Thoughts
To sum it up, Cassiopeia is a really strong champion to have up your sleeve when going into a ranked game in season 13. The champion possesses great carry potential and has the ability to dominate from the get-go. You scale exceptionally well and have the ability to go toe to toe with all mid-laners.
The only thing you need to be wary of in the early game is assassins. Cassiopeia has low base armor so assassins can really do damage to your chances in the game. Long-range mages might cause you issues, but you can farm up quite easily against them and play for the mid to late game.
As we all know, bruisers are always popular in League of Legends, no matter the meta. Cassiopeia is the ideal mid-laner to have against a team full of bruisers. She can consistently do high damage to them while keeping them at a distance thanks to “Miasma” and the combination of her other abilities.
Perhaps the biggest drawback of Cassiopeia for ranked is that she is a very high-skill champion. Only players with a high skill level can truly be effective on the champion. This often ends up limiting the champion despite its other obvious advantages.
(5 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)
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