The Demacia Cup has given League of Legends fans a first look at pro play in Season 13, and one of the biggest takeaways is that K’Sante is really, really strong.
So far, the Demacia Cup has had its fair share of surprises. The tournament stands as an off-season staple for the LPL, bringing the best players China has to offer into one big event.
While there have certainly been some highlights this year like a streamer team making it to the Quarterfinals after beating FPX 2-0, to Azir support being picked twice in one set, one thing has remained constant through the tournament: K’Sante is a first pick/ban champion.
He has the highest pick/ban rate at the tournament, and the highlight clips showing off what this champion can do have been very illuminating as to just how strong this champion is.
K’Sante dominates League of Legends pro play
K’Sante’s win rate on release wasn’t anything special— or, well, it was special for all the wrong reasons. His win rate upon release was similar to the way Zeri launched; K’Sante’s win rate was on the edge of going below 40% in his very first days on the Rift.
As people learn these complex champions, the win rate will naturally rise. But K’Sante’s is still fairly low overall, still not breaching the 50% threshold. Outside of pro play, at least.
In the hands of pro players, however, this champion is a top lane demon. Players who have grasped the mechanical complexity of League of Legends’ newest character are tearing apart the competition.
This is an impressive solo kill as it is, but context makes it even more impressive. Bin, the Aatrox player here, is the very same player who won MSI 2022 with RNG and is playing one of the strongest champions in the meta.
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HOYA’s always been a strong individual performer and has had his fair share of highlight moments over the years, but it wasn’t expected for him to have such a massive skill gap against a player of Bin’s caliber.
By the time this game was over, HOYA was 11/1/5. He snowballed his lead and carried the game for his entire team, all off the back of some smart dives and strong mechanics.
Actually insane K'Sante mechanics, pay extra close attention to the last couple seconds: pic.twitter.com/lxwkkrxOWn
— Lennon "Mazel" White (@MazelCasts) December 14, 2022
Pros have also gotten creative with K’Sante, finding new tech that’s pushing the champion to new heights. For instance, in this clip you can see chaomeng, a player straight from the Chinese super server, using Wukong’s clone to get over a wall an avoid getting killed on a dive.
The fact that this was pulled off by a player who doesn’t have any prior pro play history is a testament to how strong players on the Chinese super server can be, but also that there are players in the region finding unique ways to use his kit even outside of pro play.
It remains to be seen whether or not the champion that’s been dominating our very first look at pro play for the year can maintain that high level of performance in other regions.