In League of Legends’ 100+ strong roster, there’s one thing we have no shortage of: incredible, powerful women. From a typical archer archetype (pun not intended), to half of death itself, to a wordless Shuriman monster, there are ladies of all sorts to choose from. All of them are worth a place on this list, but I had the tough, tough job of picking just ten.
10. Rek’Sai
She never misses her prey.
Fine, fine, I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for unconventional characters. And what's more unconventional than a blind land shark that consumes everything in her path?
Yes, to many players' surprise when she was released, this monster is a "her". And Rek'Sai's kit is just as alien as her physical form. She spends most of the time burrowed and blind, but with a sense of her surroundings that mimics echolocation. Her Burrowed and Unborrowed forms give her different abilities. Burrowed, Rek'Sai slinks through the map, tunneling through the jungle, stalking her prey. When she unburrows, she is a vicious flurry of claws and bites and tail. And heaven help you if she marks you as her prey for her ultimate—not much can stop an apex predator.
Unfortunately, there is not much more to her story. She is a legend in the Shuriman deserts, a Bogeyman for their children. But we know that her hunts have earned her an ominous reputation. To wit, she's called The Void Burrower, The Terror Beneath, and the Scourge of the Desert.
What makes Rek'Sai a great champion:
- Unique kit
- Single target burst
- Good against high mobility
- Unpredictable map movement
9. Poppy
Just a girl and her hammer.
I couldn't resist putting at least one Yordle on this list, and that honor goes to Poppy. Who on earth doesn't find her voice lines endearing? She says she's not a hero, just a Yordle with a hammer. It's okay, Poppy, we know you're a great ally in-game with a heart of gold in lore.
Poppy is a bouncy, blue, blonde, pigtailed, tank. Now that I think about it, she looks like Smurfette if you put her in armor. But don't let her small stature fool you. She is an incredibly durable tank who can easily lock up your carries, stop your assassins and bruisers, and keep most of her health pool while she's at it. Her W is the bane of many mobile squishies, and her R, though hard to time at first, can both engage and disengage. Not to mention that her E makes you position entirely differently just to avoid her stunning you into a wall.
Her greatest mission—in fact her only mission—is to find the legendary hero who is capable of unleashing the full potential of the hammer she wields. She inherited it from a Demacian commander, her mentor, who gave her the weapon on his deathbed. It was from him that she heard of the legend of the Hero of Demacia, the only one worthy of it. While both tenacious and charmingly innocent ("I hope the hero likes me."), Poppy seems to be the only one unaware of the fact that she is the only wielder the hammer will accept.
What makes Poppy a great champion:
- Very tanky
- Counters dashes
- Versatile ultimate
- Percent health damage
- Mobility with passive
8. Irelia
Hair and styling courtesy of Satsuki Kiryuin of Kill la Kill.
Irelia has always wanted to just be a dancer. But the war machine of Noxus forced her to use her art as a weapon. Her strength is a rallying cry for the people of Ionia, one that gives them faith in their beautiful, steadfast warrior. Irelia is a mobile bruiser; one of many, in fact.
But what makes her different is her ability to dance around a teamfight with her passive and Q resets. With her blades, she can stun enemies across great distances, and protect herself from crowd control as well. Her ultimate, during which she yells a battle cry, disarms enemies, and corrals them up for her to chop down.
As a young girl, Irelia was taught to dance by her grandmother, in the tradition of their people. But as she grew older, more and more of Ionia succumbed to the ambitions of Noxus. At only 14 she was forced into the battlefield, face to face with the grand emperor Jericho Swain. She cut off his arm in retaliation for his cruelty, and since then has led an arm of Ionian resistance. But war is not where her heart lies—she wants to dance again, but first, she must pay the price of peace.
What makes Irelia a great champion:
- Survivability
- Hyper-mobile
- Unpredictable crowd control that can catch enemies off-guard
- A great teamfight ultimate
7. Ashe
The good thing about having being a magical archer that you never really run out of arrows.
Ashe is the war mother of the Freljord, hailed as the reincarnation of the demigod Avarosa by her people. But before that, she was one of League's first champions. She was Riot's take on the archetype of a frost archer, but since then, her gameplay and story have evolved to majestic proportions.
A volley of slowing arrows is her signature ability. In fact, instead of getting extra damage on critical strikes, she gets to slow her enemies instead. At higher attack speeds and crit chances, Ashe is a pleasure to kite with. Her E gives her long-ranged vision, her W makes her hard to get close to, and even if you do, her Q gives her, even more, attack speed and automatically slows you. Not to mention her global stun on her ult. Though her kit has seen some changes, she still sees play while remaining the frost archer. She just gets the added title as the daughter of Avarosa and hailed as the queen of a united Freljord.
Despite her young features and physique, Ashe is a matriarch through and through. She wants to unite the Freljord people and create a culture of plenty, in contrast to the traditions of hardship and worth only being found in hardship. She protects and provides for her subjects, those who have been rejected from their society because they are considered "weak". As one of the three sister deities of their land, Ashe takes on Anivia and Lissandra, who have darker, more sinister plans for Freljord.
What makes Ashe a great champion:
- Consistent slow
- Excellent kiting
- High late-game damage
- Team utility with E
- Global ult can help with skirmishes across the map
6. Illaoi
These tentacles hang on tight.
The priestess is a looming presence in Bilgewater. As tough and sea-tested as any of the ships in the city, she tests the believers' faith through hard, dangerous trials. And playing against her feels like it. You have to constantly dance around the tentacles she summons and suffer through her pulling your spirit in and giving it a beating.
The Great Kraken's blessing gives Illaoi the power to call for otherworldly tentacles that will spawn around you unless you cut down enough of them. She is the highest priestess of her religion, and it carries over into the way she dominates lane. Get caught in the wrong teamfight, and you will lose your trial.
An intense woman who is devout to her beliefs, Illaoi shocked the people by leaving the temples of Buhru to bring her mission to Bilgewater. Unlike the Truth Bearers before her, the people of Bilgewater were taken under her wing, particularly during the Harrowing. She also considered some of them worthy of the great test. The religion was brought into positive light into the seedy pirate town solely by the priestess' hand. (The golden idol she uses to bonk us in-game probably helps her with that.)
What makes Illaoi a great champion:
- Teamfighting ult
- Objective control and zoning
- Lane priority
- Sustain
- Split push potential
5. LeBlanc
Three guesses as to who's the real LeBlanc. The answer: there is no real LeBlanc.
LeBlanc is the matron of the elusive, powerful, ancient cult operating beneath the shadows of Noxus. The Black Rose is a home for those practicing dark magic for dark purposes. Evania, as she is called, might not even be the real LeBlanc, who has manipulated Runeterra into the brink of war in centuries past. Only she knows.
LeBlanc is the queen of an infamous throne in the midlane (and in hapless bottom lanes). She has incredible mobility to go hand in hand with her burst damage. And she can do that damage twice, chaining her basic abilities together with their stronger forms with her ultimate, aptly named Mimic. LeBlanc will leave your head spinning as you sit staring at a black and white death screen, wondering what the hell happened. Just like she likes it.
Evania, as she is called now, was selected as a young woman to take on the mantle of the Black Rose's leader. But she might be another famed illusion, one of many from the sorceress's magic. She might only be a mortal vessel for the immortal spirit of LeBlanc. Her name means the white, after all. She can paint any reality she wants on a blank slate.
What makes LeBlanc a great champion:
- Can 0-100 an enemy carry in seconds
- Becomes a mobile, side-lane presence in the late game
- Her roaming ability gives her team map control
- Even when unable to pop a full combo, her basic abilities still make for a good poke
4. Fiora
Once she gets to you, you're gonna be saying a lot more than "Touche."
The grand duelist is arguably a femme fatale, though not in the same sense as Evelynn, Katarina, or Ahri. Her looks are regal and refined, hinting at her noble birth. She’s beautiful, for sure, but not in the classically ultra-feminine way. Regardless, she's a deadly woman, and there is steel under the velvet of her upbringing (and her lovely, accented voice).
Fiora's playstyle is very much tied to her identity as a duelist. This means that while she might not be the best ally to have in teamfights, she excels in side lane pressure and forcing an enemy to come and deal with her. And when they do, they have to dance around her passive and Q, which gives her percent health true damage, movement speed, and healing. This alone makes her one of the best champions of the game for a 1v1. But when you add in the crowd control immunity and AoE healing of her ultimate, it makes her even more elite among her class of sturdy, high mobility, healing bruisers.
Being such a gifted swordsman is her curse as well. Publicly rejecting an arranged marriage she didn't want, her fiance's offended family challenged hers to a duel to the death. Her father was forced to step in as the Laurent champion. Knowing he was going to lose to his Crownguard opponent, he attempted to poison him the night before. Instead, he got caught, forcing Fiora to challenge him to a duel for the family name. The duel ended with the daughter's rapier in her father's heart, and a new Laurent family leader.
What makes Fiora a great champion:
- Outplay potential
- Map pressure in side lanes
- Self-healing
- True damage makes her a late-game threat even to tanks
3. Jinx
You owe me a soda.
There are very few champions that can match the sheer charm of Jinx. A manic, destructive, Piltovian gunslinger, she owns her role as a playable minigun and rocket launcher. With bright blue hair and a visual identity that's pink and punk, you could almost forgive her for constantly putting the citizens of Piltover in danger. Almost.
Jinx's signature ability is arguably her Q, letting her switch between Pow-Pow (her minigun and default weapon) and Fishbones (the aptly named rocket launcher with shark teeth). Pow-Pow has a higher attack speed and is best for kiting and taking down objectives, while Fishbones costs mana for every attack, but gives you longer range, AoE damage, and a bigger attack damage ratio. A good Jinx knows which weapon to use in which situations. Aside from her range and passive, her W and E give her crowd control and some self-defense (admittedly, they’re not a lot, and are easily dodged). Of course, her rocket with its global range and fat hitbox is one of the most satisfying finishers in the game.
Her story tells us she's more than just an unhinged criminal, though. This Loose Cannon was a young, Zaunite orphan girl. And years after her release, we're still wondering who her even crazier (according to Jinx herself) sister is.
What makes Jinx a great champion:
- She's a hyper carry, meaning with a little help, she can just run down entire teams
- Insane scaling
- Long-range
- Global ultimate can help secure kills both in lane and across the map
- Can deal DPS over an area from a long-range
2. Kalista
Like her wrath, her spears are endless.
League’s wraith of revenge was one of the most groundbreaking champion releases in the game’s history. Kalista was one in a series of six champions that had new, creative mechanics that Riot had never done before (at the time). If you ask the League community, many players will happily say 2014 was the best year for champion releases. And it’s obvious why: Kalista has kept up with the newer, more complicated champions, striking a perfect balance between difficulty and ease.
While her passive is difficult to pick up, the muscle memory eventually sinks in. It feels incredible to dodge from your enemies’ skillshots on every auto-attack and kiting through teamfights. Her ultimate is unique in the game: it takes a bound ally, makes them untargetable, and allows them to be thrown at a location they choose. It’s incredibly powerful, both for engaging and disengaging. With the right lane partner (cough, Thresh, cough) there’s little you can do to chase or run away from her.
Lore-wise, Kalista’s is about as grimdark as it gets in Runeterra. The niece and lieutenant of a foolish king, she found a cure for the dying queen, but much too late. And what did she get for her troubles? Spears in her back, and the unenviable position of being the spirit of vengeance on the Shadow Isles.
What makes Kalista a great champion:
- Mobility
- Burst damage on E
- Bush control with W
- Ult that makes her great with engage supports
- Back-up “smite” for Baron and Dragon on E
1. Lux
The last thing you see before you die is a bright light and a high pitched laugh.
It wasn’t an easy decision but here it is. Our top spot goes to Lux, one of League’s poster girls. She’s in promotional material, cinematics, and more. And don’t even mention the sheer amount of skins she has. Bright (literally and figuratively), optimistic, and incredibly powerful, she’s a lovable character for legions. Just ask the Luxes I play against with 300k mastery points.
Her abilities are easy to grasp. A root, a shield, a slow with damage, and a low-cooldown laser beam of an ultimate. A good Lux player will know how to use both her poke and burst damage from range, making her impossible to get close to or engage early in lane. A newer player can still tell how her abilities are supposed to be chained together: Q first, then E for guaranteed damage, and R for the finisher.
But Luxanna’s lore is darker than her in-game persona would have you believe. A powerful mage of noble blood in a kingdom that famously persecutes magic-wielders, Lux is a hanged man. Falling under the influence of the rebel mage Sylas, she is betrayed and forced to reveal her powers in front of her family. This breaks the heart of her brother Garen, a respected Demacian commander. Their stories of honor, duty, and personal loyalty are easy to get lost into. Riot thought the same, too. They chose her lore as one of the stories to base a Marvel comic series on. And you can’t get a better seal of approval than that.
What makes Lux a great champion:
- Utility for the team with shield
- Zoning, which helps with both lane and objective control
- Crowd control
- Burst damage
- Easy waveclear, especially in the late game when R’s cooldown goes down
