Predator is THE rune keystone to take if you are playing a champion that can make enemies run from you. If you play champions that struggle due to their lack of mobility, Predator is going to make your League experience a whole lot better.
Although this rune is commonly used for top tier high speed meme builds and plays, Predator is actually not a rune limited to trolls and easy-goers. In fact, some champions get amazing value out of this rune, and this is the best rune choice for them.
In this article, you will find out about the best champions that make excellent use of the Predator keystone in the Domination tree of runes.
Also read: Top press the attack rune champions
How Does Predator Work?
Predator is the only rune keystone that does not work without a required item, which are boots in this case. So once you buy boots with Predator as your main rune, you will get an activatable Active effect on your boots. This means you can then press the button of the item slot in which your boots are present to activate Predator.
Once you press the key that activates your Predator boots, you will start gaining an increasingly higher movement speed towards enemy champions over the next few seconds. Then, your next attack or ability against an enemy will deal some additional AD or AP damage, depending on your champion’s build.
Predator works best on champions that have strong burst potential, or good crowd control but lack the mobility required to make use of these abilities effectively. It is a good alternative to an actual gap closer, and can help you kill enemies that would otherwise outrun you.
Best Picks For Predator
Even if Predator looks like a run-them-down kind of troll thing, you should try one of the champions that take full advantage of the huge movement speed bonus. The best picks for Predator are listed below.
Gragas
Predator and raid-boss style jungle champions – still a better love story than Twilight. Gragas is one of the best junglers in League of Legends, thanks to his high damage abilities with large areas of effect, as well as lots of crowd control built into his kit. But his biggest weakness lies in the fact that he is extremely kiteable.
This is exactly what makes Predator the rune keystone of choice for Gragas players. Activating Predator just before you gank a lane will almost always get you a kill, or an assist at the very least. This makes Gragas really good at ganking because you can literally run up to your enemy’s face before you bust your cask and kill them.
There are also other ways in which jungle Gragas benefits from Predator. Imagine that you see the enemy jungler just as he is about to gank your bot lane. You can pop your Predator and counter gank him quickly before he can hurt your teammates.
Veigar
Veigar, the tiny master of evil, has been enjoying a lot of popularity in Season 12 in League of Legends. Even the pro players and high elo streamers have started picking him up ever since he got buffed in Patch 12.4.
Predator is currently the best rune keystone for Veigar, and Predator Veigar enjoys the highest win rate out of all Veigar builds, even in high elo. You must already know that Veigar can easily have the highest Ability Power in every game thanks to his infinitely scaling passive. So damage is definitely not his weak point.
In fact, the only thing that holds Veigar back is his lack of mobility. He has absolutely no dashes or gap closers, which allows his victims to escape from him when they have low health. Thankfully, Predator solves this problem for you, and you can take Predator to make sure that no one can ever run away from Veigar’s little legs again.
Skarner
No one really plays Skarner. This monstrosity of a champion consistently competes with Aurelion Sol to take the spot of the champion with the lowest play rate in the game. But, if you are cultured enough to own him, you should try playing him with Predator as the rune keystone.
If you play all champions on this list one by one, this is the pick that you will have the most fun with. Skarner’s R Impale is one of the funniest abilities in the game. Using it on any enemy champion suppresses them and allows you to literally drag them wherever you go in the next few seconds.
Taking Predator on Skarner allows you to do this per your own will, and compensates for your lack of gap closing abilities. When your enemies see your Skarner crawling to them at full speed with this rune, they will have no option but to watch as you drag your prey back to your own team.
Poppy
Poppy is another jungle champion that gets insane value out of Predator. Since she is a tank at her core, Poppy is hard to kill. But she is sluggish and you can die very easily before you even lock someone down if your enemies know how to kite you properly.
Predator will help you fix this issue, and you will be storming in the lanes at full speed for your ganks with the active effect on your boots. Poppy also really needs the initial boost in her burst damage from Predator because otherwise she does not have a lot of damage built into her kit.
With the mobility creep really affecting League of Legends meta thanks to Riot’s new champion designs with tons of dashes for every champion, old champions like Poppy suffer a bit too much from the lack of mobility. However, Predator makes Poppy really viable again, and you will definitely have a blast winning matches with this setup.
Volibear
Nothing can be scarier than a giant, electrified bear charging at you, right? Volibear is one of the strongest champions in the game, and it is hard to match his duelling power. Taking Predator on this champion will definitely leave your enemies thoroughly shattered by the time you are done with them.
Volibear’s kit is designed in a way that it rewards you for running straight at your enemies, because his Q will get a cooldown reset if you get stunned while running towards enemies. This is exactly the playstyle that Predator was released for, so the synergy here is pretty much matchless.
Word of advice: if you run Predator on Volibear, you can buy any other mythic item instead of Turbo Chemtank, because the movement speed of your Q paired with Predator boost should be more than enough to chase anyone down. If you want to have fun, try taking Sunfire Aegis or a lethality item as your mythic, and wreak havoc on the Rift.
Fiddlesticks
Sorry kids, but the creepiest champion in League of Legends has also made its way into this list. Predator on Fiddlesticks is one of the most broken strategies in the game that you can abuse to consistently win matches and boost yourself up the ranked ladder.
Fiddlesticks has a lot of damage on his abilities with a large area of effect. Landing a good fiddlesticks ultimate will bag you a pentakill before you know it. The only area where he lacks is his mobility. Due to this, his ganks in the early levels are a bit too weak without Predator.
An early gank with Predator is an entirely different story though, and this setup will allow you to consistently be the MVP in most of your games because of how much impact you can create with this combination. A good fiddlesticks can do a full jungle clear and a gank faster than most other junglers, and Predator helps you to really utilise Fiddle’s full potential.
Darius
One of the most broken champions in the game, Darius, can be picked with Predator as the rune keystone to making life hell for all your enemies. A champion that was once restricted to the top lane, Darius got buffs that made him a viable jungler. But even with decent jungle clear, he did not have the best ganking power.
However, players of this braindead champion were quick to realize that pairing him up with Predator gave him insane gank potential and made him an amazing, niche jungle pick. If you want to truly make your enemies pull their hair out, take Predator Darius to the jungle and gank your enemies over and over again.
Rest assured, you will definitely have a blast abusing Predator on this champion, especially if you build even more movement speed items like Chemtank and Dead Man’s Plate. There really is no escaping this menace!
Our Verdict
Predator is an extremely effective rune, especially for junglers. If you like playing a champion that is not the most mobile, you will love using Predator in your games. It is also an extremely tilting experience for your enemies, so you can really drive them nuts if you want to.
That said, these champions definitely are the best champions to take Predator on, and if you are serious about winning with Predator, try picking these champs up. Also, be sure to comment out your favourite users of this rune in the comments below!
Check out this list of the best chamipions with zero cost abilities in LoL.
