In League of Legends, your health is everything. Once it reaches zero – you’re dead; that’s basically it. Maintaining an advantage of HP during the Laning Phase is something everyone should be looking to do. As long as you have more HP than them, you’re safer and freer to do things around the Lane.
The best way to achieve this advantage is to take away the enemy’s HP without losing any of your own. Without any direct confrontation, you’ll be able to peel away at the enemy with no real cost to you whatsoever.
How do you do this, I hear you ask. Well, you do it by poking.
Poking is a mechanic in League that utilizes spells, often ranged, for peeling the enemy’s health bar from a safe distance. Poking spells can be used for many different things like punishing overextension or denying farm. Whatever the purpose be, the result is the same. The enemy will have less HP than you do, and you can force them into a recall even if they don’t wish to do so.
Without further delay, let’s begin with our list.
7. Vel’Koz
Vel’Koz has a ton of range, damage, and just about everything you’d want from a poking Champion. He can strike at enemies from the most unexpected angles using his Q. By casting it into a wall, its range extends, and thus you can land hits even when they seem impossible to hit.
Vel’Koz’s passive stacks give him the ability to deal true damage to his opponents. All of his spells, not only his Q, are ranged and have a pretty good range at that. Vel’Koz can chunk the enemy’s HP hard with a quick combination of Q, W, and E. This means that he can, from level 3 onwards, be a dominant force in the Lane without even breaking a sweat.
Sure, skill shots can be hard to hit at times, but Vel’Koz makes it seem like it’s nothing. I think he’s definitely among the best Champions for this mechanic, if not the best. It simply comes down to your ability to use skill shots. Everything else – the game plays it out for you.
I recommend you try Vel’Koz out before making any assumptions. He’s a Champion who has found his way into Mid and Support. The latter seems to fit him quite nicely, but the former isn’t a bad idea either.
Also read: Best Control Mages
6. Karma
I often mention Karma in these lists, and my fangirling over this Champion seems never to cease. She’s definitely the best poking Support out there, and I am here to defend this claim to the very last drop of blood. Okay, that got a bit too serious for a moment, but let me elaborate.
Karma can, from level 1, chunk any Champion on the map. Karma can buff her Q and turn it into a powerful nuke using her Ultimate, which comes unlocked right off the bat. It even makes it AOE, which leaves even less room for mistakes. You don’t even have to hit the enemy, just aim at their general vicinity, and you should be good to go.
Karma’s Q is one of the more annoying spells in the game. It has a low cooldown, is easy to hit, and can deal massive damage. Depending on which build you go for, this spell will and won’t be highly effective. However, I think that it retains a certain level of effectiveness regardless of what items you build. Its base damage was purposely buffed to fill the gap of damage for Karma’s Enchanter build.
I think that this Champion deserves a whole lot more respect and credit than is given her. She can become super powerful and helpful as the game progresses. Hell, I’ve won so many games with her, all of them because of her shields.
I recommend Karma to Enchanter Support players and everyone else who stumbles upon the Lane. She is super fun and will turn the tedious auto-filled experience into some actual gameplay.
5. Pantheon
Pantheon is a Champion that won’t keep his place. Is he a Support, is he a Bruiser? No one will ever know. He might be both, and he might be neither. But I digress. He’s definitely a literal embodiment of the poking mechanic. I mean, he only pokes people with his big spear, and occasionally he throws it from a vast distance.
That throw is exactly what landed Pantheon a spot on this list. You see, he can use his spear to poke enemies from a distance so huge that he doesn’t even have to pretend he’s in the Lane. He can sit under the Turret and safely farm and chip away at the enemy’s HP until he feels comfortable. Not saying that’s an excellent strategy to go for, but hey, it’s a possibility.
This poking is what I think forced him into Support. He can stay behind the minions and at a distance, using his spear to his own advantage. Melee Champions never do so good on Bot as getting too close can mean an immediate hail of bullets from the enemy ADC. Pantheon has a counterbalance for that, and I think it’s a great tool.
I recommend Pantheon to Top Lane players auto-filled to Support.
4. Ezreal
Moving on from the Supports to an ADC, we have Ezreal. Now this Champion takes poking a bit too seriously. Ezreal doesn’t stop at the “chip away” part. No, he means business. He wants to kill and kill he will if he gets a few of his powerful combinations to land. His primary tool of poking will be his Q.
IT is a bit difficult to use. However, a solid Ezreal player will always find ways of landing it somehow. He can constantly spam it, as it is considered a secondary attack in Ezreal’s kit. It is his primary source of damage (apart from the basic attacks). Ezreal must use it effectively so he can achieve any actual advantage.
This makes poking incentivized for this Champion, and he will do all he can to land as many of his Qs as possible. His mobility allows him to move around the Lane quickly and with ease, so finding opportunities shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.
I recommend Ezreal to highly skilled ADC players. He is highly challenging to play with a massive reliance on skill shots that are in no way easy to use.
Also read: Tankiest Champions in League of Legends
3. Teemo
The devil himself always seems to find his way into these lists. As much as I hate to see Teemo in Lane against me, I love playing him from time to time. And his poking ability is precisely the reason for it. It is insane what this Champion can do using only his basic attacks. Nothing else in this world is required for him to achieve what he wants. Simple basic attacks, that’s it.
Of course, there’s his Q, which is annoying as all hell if you’re playing an attack-reliant Bruiser or Fighter. His Q does a ton of damage on a very low cooldown, and it’s a point-and-click spell. It takes no effort, skill, or knowledge to poke efficiently with Teemo. Either use your basic attacks and poison or use your Q. The best, however, would be to use both.
He can bully any Champion into submission on the Top Lane. If the misfortunate Champion happens to be melee, they’ve immediately lost against Teemo. He’s regarded as the most influential Top Lane Champion as of now, with very few that can challenge him. The only way to kill Teemo is through ganks, and even then, it’s not a guarantee.
Teemo is the easiest Champion you can think of, and poking with him is no exception. I recommend you give him a try and play as much as possible. We all hate him, but he is fun. It’s also freelo, so, yeah, just play him.
2. Vladimir
Vladimir is a similar case to Teemo. How? Well, his Q is a point-and-click spell, too. What he is superior in, however, is the fact that he doesn’t have any mana. And his Q doesn’t even have an HP cost like the rest of his kit.
Vladimir can constantly spam his Q on the enemy Champion. Every time they get too close, slam them. The spell can also be amplified, doing extra damage every two casts, making the poking stronger and more unbearable for the enemy.
Vladimir is much simpler and has no infamy like Teemo. There’s really not that much to be said about him. I recommend you try him out as he is among the most fun Champions you’ll ever play. I love him, and you will, too.
1. Gangplank
Gangplank is my favorite Champion in this game. I’ve gone on tangents about him more than once around these lists, and I won’t bore you with him as much this time. I will focus solely on his ability to poke, as it is something quite insane at times.
Gangplank has two primary ways of poking the enemy – his Q and his E (the barrels). His Q he will have readily available at almost no cooldown, and one simple addition can make the spell quite powerful for poking.
Grasp of the Undying is a rune that can amplify your next attack. Gangplank’s Q can apply on-hit effects and thus the extra Grasp damage. This can make the spell do a ton of damage in the early game, and when combined with Sheen, well, you can already figure out what’s going to happen.
His barrels are something else. They also apply all on-hit effects (save for Grasp and some others) and do extra damage while ignoring a part of the enemy’s Armor. Gangplank can obliterate enemies and make them suffer heavily. If they’re melee, this is particularly emphasized. However, against ranged opponents, Gangplank will likely find himself at the receiving end of the pokes rather than being the aggressor.
At any rate, he’s excellent at what he does – killing and blowing things up. I recommend him to everyone and anyone. He is pretty challenging to play, even more so to master, but every minute spent on this Champion is worth the while.
Also read: Best Recordings Softwares for League of Legends
Conclusion
Poking is one of the best mechanics in League of Legends since it helps you stay safe while screwing up the enemy. It will create an atmosphere of pressure on the enemy, which is all you need to maintain your dominance. I think that having an excellent poking tool on your kit will undoubtedly help you win the Lane, if not give you some leverage and freedom in gameplay. I hope you’ve found this list helpful and wish you all the best on the Summoner’s Rift.
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