There’s so much to think about when you’re playing League of Legends with a bunch of randomers. You constantly have to adapt your playstyle, as well as team strategy on the fly as allies get picked off, make amazing plays, or stumble into ambushes. Not only this, but you also have to keep things civil in the chat. If you believe you’ve got what it takes to give your team a distinct advantage, though, you can attempt to “carry” your team. Below we’ve rounded up exactly what this means before we take a look at some Champions we believe fit the criteria, for all skill levels. What is a carry? The idea here is that you pick a Champion that you have a lot of experience of, and can be used in such a way that you snowball an advantage for the team overall. From here you simply maintain the pressure and keep putting the enemy team at a competitive disadvantage - even if the rest of the team is more inexperienced. Who can carry? It’s safe to say that certain Champions are much better suited to this role, but with that said you are going to need to know these characters inside and out. A lot of people want to take the carry role, but without skill and experience you’re just going to make a frustrating experience worse for everyone. A certain amount of hubris when dealing with your teammates is also a vital social skill to have. With those brief definitions out of the way - and if you think you’ve got the chops to pull this off - here’s a selection of Champions that you’d be wise to think about picking. We’ve started with the easiest to master, and then worked our way down to the trickier characters.
LoL: Best Carry Champions 2020 - Pantheon
While many carry Champions come into their own as the game progresses, Pantheon is one who can press an advantage in the early-to-mid game instead. First, he’s a significant threat during the laning phase. You’ll most likely find yourself in top lane, where his Spear Shot makes for excellent poke damage to whittle down your opponent, and Aegis of Zeonia is an easy to use stun. Pantheon can make a few risky plays too, thanks to his ability to block incoming basic attacks and turret attacks. If you’re feeling confident and a little aggressive you can punish weaker players - even if they’re hiding under structures - using a well-time tower dive. That stun can prove incredibly handy here too. Perhaps the most significant benefit of Pantheon, though, is that you can make plays anywhere on the map with his Grand Skyfall ultimate. This allows him to leap to a place of his choosing and pick off a target that’s overextended too far in lane, or help out allies in trouble by turning a fight in your favour. That ability to be responsive, combined with Pantheon’s strengths elsewhere, allows players with high awareness to be responsive anywhere in the game and lead the team to victory. Watching Pantheon in action will give you the biggest head-start. Here’s a video which shows off some gameplay tips:
LoL: Best Carry Champions 2020 - Fizz
Fizz is the epitome of a slippery Champion who’s capable of delivering obscene burst damage before sliding out of the enemy’s grasp in seconds. Its his Playful/Trickster which grants him the ability to get out the stickiest situations, and it’s also something which delivers a surprising amount of damage. His Seastone Trident also deals damage over time, and his Ultimate chucks out a massive shark which slows enemies hit, deals damage and knocks them up after a short delay. Oh, and he has a dash too. There’s so much utility in his kit, as well as - frankly annoying abilities. This is what makes Fizz a carry, really. He’s a nuisance to play against, and if he gets strong, he can blow up single targets, roam around the map and push his advantage in every lane. Fizz’ ultimate is also a great initiator, and you can follow up the damage/knockup with a Playful/Trickster, auto attack and his dash, depending on if they’ve managed to escape the burst damage you’ve output. Finally, if there’s one reason you should play him - he’s really fun. A guilty pleasure, if you will. If you’re after a decent rundown on how to play Fizz, make sure you check out this guide by Shark Zone:
LoL: Best Carry Champions 2020 - Darius
In terms of bruiser Champions who pack insane kill potential, Darius is definitely near the top of the list. A lot of his strength lies in exploiting his passive ability, Hemorrhage, which adds a bleed effect to the attacks he makes on enemies. When this hit the maximum five stacks you also greatly increase Darius’ damage, so it’s an important bonus to work towards. In the early laning phase, try to keep this refreshed on your opponent as much as possible to gain a health advantage in trades. Much of his mid-game power, though, comes through Noxian Guillotine, which allows Darius to go on an absolute rampage through the enemy team. If timed perfectly to achieve a killing blow, the ability immediately resets, enabling you to cut through opponent after opponent - one after the other. Take an early lead and pick up a few key items such as Black Cleaver and you’ll have an incredible amount of armour reduction to press your advantage even further. We found this video guide to Darius incredibly useful, so give it a watch and considering subbing to the creator if you like it! More great League of Legends guides:
- Best Carry - LoL: Best Carry Champions 2020 2. Best Duos - LoL: Best Duo Combo Champions 2019 3. Best Support - LoL: Best Support Champions 2020 4. Beginner Champions - LoL: Best Beginner Champions 2019 5. Early Game Champions - LoL: Early Game Champions 2019
LoL: Best Carry Champions 2020 - Jax
Jax is the definition of a slow and steady carry, thanks to the way he scales as the game progresses. Sure, he might have a rough start, but once you hit the later levels and pick up some key core items – especially Trinity Force, which synergises so well with Jax – he’ll begin to excel in 1v1 duels and team fights. He truly becomes a monster once his Relentless Assault trait begins to charge up attack speed. Fully powered you’ll be chewing through opponents in seconds, especially when combined with the extra damage you can gain from both Empower and Grandmaster’s Might. Soon enough you’ll be merrily split-pushing a lane solo and taking down towers to give your entire team extra experience without a care in the world. Anyone who dares move in to contest you will find themselves quickly set upon, and chunked down in no time with repeated thwacks to the head from Jax’s lamppost. Here’s a video guide to Jax which we think will really help you get to grips with this Champion. Make sure you give it a watch!
LoL: Best Carry Champions 2020 - Nasus
Nasus can be a frightening Champion in the right hands, but a lot of his potential is locked into how well you can empower his Siphoning Strike in the game’s early stages. If you use it to slay a target, even a minion, it increases in power with each subsequent kill. That means if you stack them up quickly enough, you’ll have access to some incredible damage potential against enemy Champions. This does put a lot of pressure on your laning phase, as you’ll need to make sure you’re landing Siphoning Strike on as many minion kills as possible to give you that big power boost. A smart opponent will be well aware this is where your strength lies, and will try to deny you or punish you every time you move in to attack. Just be aware of this. Nevertheless, if you manage to build a solid number of stacks then enemies will find it nigh-on impossible to contend with you in a duel. You’ll even be able to press that advantage further with skills like Wither, which will prevent their escape, and Fury of the Sands, which will turn you into a terrifying beast on the battlefield. If you’re new to this Champion and want to use it to carry, we recommend watching the following video that contains build and gameplay tips!
LoL: Best Carry Champions 2020 - Katarina
Katarina has been a bit of a menace in League of Legends for a long time. She is a champion who can start to snowball in the early game and then happily assassinate squishy targets on the enemy team in the blink of an eye, or clean up any low health targets after a messy team fight. One big strength is her mobility, which allows her to leap on and stick to targets. Shunpo allows you to blink right onto an enemy and begin striking them, while Preparation can give you the boost of speed to catch them or keep up with them if they try to flee. It’s also important to squeeze out any extra damage you can by picking up the daggers she leaves behind after using skills. All together, this’ll allow you to build up many kills early and stack the match in your favour as you roam around the map, picking off any susceptible targets. You can take this advantage into team fights too, where a lot of her power comes from her ability to significantly reduce the cooldown of her abilities. Any champions that die within three seconds of receiving damage from Katarina cut 15 seconds off the cooldown of her skills, meaning she can fling out more daggers or jump between more targets even faster. If it comes down to it, she can simply stand in the middle of a team and turn them into pincushions with Death Lotus. That works pretty well too! We think the following video will help you out a great deal when you’re getting started. Give it a watch and a thumbs-up if you find it useful!
LoL: Best Carry Champions 2020 - Vayne
Vayne can pump out some immense damage with her crossbow and truly chew through enemies. She struggles in some matchups and – as with most attack damage champions – she starts off very slowly Once you’ve gained a few levels and purchased some key items though, she starts packing a serious punch that can see her wipe out an entire team if left unimpeded. Weaker targets often don’t stand a chance, but even some of the game’s tankiest champions can suffer at the hands of the Night Hunter thanks to her Silver Bolts ability. This skill makes the third consecutive attack on a target deal a percentage of their maximum health as true damage. This term means that the damage can’t be reduced by armour or magic resistance, so it can have a significant effect on tanky, high-health champions. Once fully powered up with massive attack damage and crazy attack speed you’ll be rinsing through any champion that dares stand in your way in a matter of seconds. You’ll be disappearing into your surroundings, tumbling forwards to capitalise on mistakes, and chasing down any stragglers who dare try to escape. If left to freely do this Vayne can easily carry a team to victory time and time again. Here’s one last video guide which should make acclimiatising to this Champion much easier.
