In his career, Faker has played many champions in League of Legends. These might include very familiar names in the Mid Lane (Ryze, Twisted Fate, LeBlanc…) or unexpected picks, situational choices, or champions he just wants to use, such as K’Sante, Fiora, or even those rarely seen like Master Yi or Taric… In recent years, Faker has mainly played according to the meta and strategies set by the team. However, his current comfortable champions can be grouped as Orianna, Azir, Neeko, Corki. Orianna and Azir, in particular, have contributed greatly to T1’s championship at the Worlds 2023.
However, it seems that Faker is also trying to adapt to the changes in the new season. Because one of the champions that Faker is currently performing poorly with is Azir – the name that helped T1 overcome JD Gaming in a “godly” Shurima Shuffle play in game 3 during the match between the two teams at Worlds 2023. This moment also contributed to “crushing” the spirit of JDG players and led T1 to a final victory of 3-1 in the Semifinals.
Accordingly, Faker’s Azir currently has a win rate of… 0% after 3 games where Faker had the chance to use him. In those 3 games, 2 were in the match against Gen.G and the other was against KT Rolster. Overall in the LCK, the champion considered “preferred” in South Korea also has a very “disastrous” win rate: only 26.7%. However, the problem is that on the world stage, Azir remains a powerful pick with a 50% win rate.
In reality, not only Faker but another player who is also “comfortable” with Azir, Bdd, has a relatively low win rate with this champion (only 33.3%). However, the player causing Azir to have such a low win rate is Charis – a player from OKSavingsBank Brion, with 6 losses out of 6 games. Meanwhile, Zeka is the most effective Azir player with a 100% win rate after 3 uses.
Besides the fact that the terrain has changed, making Azir harder to control in the Mid Lane now, as pushing too high can easily lead to “ganks” while standing too low makes it impossible to “farm”, there is also the issue of removed items being a crucial factor. Everyone knows that the Crown of the Shattered Queen and the Stopwatch are two “core items” for Azir. They help Azir deal more damage, provide shields, health, and reduce cooldowns. Meanwhile, the most important benefit of the Stopwatch is that it allows Azir to dive into the enemy team, execute the Shurima Shuffle, and still survive. But in the new season, both of these items have been removed.
Not to mention, Azir’s combos are now being studied more thoroughly by teams. In recent matches, there have been quite a few instances of “Shurima Shuffle” going awry, even with Bdd – a player who is very familiar with Azir. The increased attention from players towards Azir’s combos has led to a gradual decline in the effectiveness of this champion.
Azir has never been an easy champion to play, even for professional players. Once heavily “nerfed” and subjected to thorough study, it is perhaps not surprising that not only Faker but other players also begin to have “disastrous” win rates with Azir.