K’Sante is once again a hot topic amongst the League of Legends community, with the tank Top Laner’s popularity continuing to be high in pro play.
Despite mass changes to K’Sante, he has gone unscathed and remains the dominant force in the top lane for competitive play. According to Gol.gg, the tank was picked the most of any champion at the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational—a whopping 51 times—amongst the top three champions in pick and ban rate. And while Udyr briefly provided a challenge to K’Sante’s top-lane dominance earlier this year, there is yet again no competitor for the Pride of Nazumah.
The champion’s global presence in top LoL leagues is still increasing. Over the two seasons K’Sante has been available in LoL, he has had an average presence percentage of 65.
Across the four major regions, K’Sante has the highest presence percentage of any champion in his role. One of his biggest counters, Rumble, is limited in availability due to a high ban rate. So where does it end?
K’Sante is a mainstay in pro LoL
Fans on Reddit to expressed their displeasure with these trends, and many think K’Sante will be in pro play forever. There are several champions in competitive League that pro players naturally default to as comfort champions, even if they are not favored in the meta. Renekton, Sejuani, and Azir are all examples of champions played consistently throughout the year.
According to the fans, K’Sante is starting to fall into the same bracket. “He’s pretty much top lane’s Azir. Now we have to figure out who’s Corki’s top lane equivalent,” one fan wrote, comparing K’Sante to the Corki and Azir meta that has dominated the mid lane.
Even when the meta invites change, casual and pro players will resort to comfort if it means getting the victory. “He just fills all the boxes that you need,” claimed the original poster. Along with Renekton, K’Sante is a go-to when your team needs to blind-pick the top-lane champion, ticking all the boxes necessary for a top-lane tank. “He’s just a stonewall champion top lane that can lane against anything,” the original poster followed up.
It will be interesting to see how Riot tackles the top lane problem in competitive LoL. In solo queue, the champion does not fare as well, ranking in the D tier of Mobalytics’ solo queue tier list for high Elo on Patch 14.14.
