This win rate tho....
LoL: Briar's Debut Did Not Go As Planned – Win Rate Suggests
The new LoL champion Briar has not had the most convincing start on Summoner's Rift, but does this mean it's time to worry for the new champion, or will she actually end up as an OP champion in the jungle?
Some League of Legends champions are better than others upon their release. While we have the overachievers like Zoe or Aurelion Sol who had everyone convinced from day 1 that they are decent picks to play in solo queue, we've also got the underachievers. Which category will Briar fit into?
Of course, Briar has only been out for a total of like 12 hours, but she's already captured the hearts of thousands of players who felt the need to try her out right away, but is it recommended to pick her in your ranked matches? Her initial win rate might suggest otherwise.
LoL: Briar's Win Rate Is Horrendous
Flame your duo when they pick Briar with the Razer Kraken Gaming Headset!
When players think of bad champions upon release with extremely low win rates, they think of Yuumi, Sydnra or Akshan. Both Syndra and Akshan made their debut at the bottom of the win rate spectrum with 27% which no other champions have achieved since. Yuumi got pretty close with a 29% win rate upon debut.
While Briar is not on the same level, she is far from a convincing pick. Her win rate at all ranks according to lolalytics is a mere 36%, while her Emerald+ win rate is even worse at 32.6% – as of writing this article. This doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the pick, eh?
It is important to note that these statistics are very early on in the champions' life span on Summoner's Rift. She's been out for a few hours and there isn't a big enough sample size to truly tell just how strong the champion is.
We also have to consider her kit, with both her W and her ultimate basically being "I am going to int" buttons. If you don't have your E off cooldown, then you will be fighting for a long time, either until you die or your enemy dies basically – though the W is capped at 5 seconds... which in LoL is a long time.
As champion designer August "August" Browning explained before the release of Briar, the key thing about Briar is to play her with restraint. She might be simple, but you're going to have to know when to go in and not just simply press R, fly across the map and then die to the enemy tank.
Briar is going to need a lot more time to settle into the meta and find her own niche. As mentioned, her kit isn't difficult, but it does require decent game knowledge and restraint not to just go into a fight whenever you please. Within the coming weeks Briar will likely raise her win rate as players understand when and how to use her abilities more. But for now, ban her so your jungler doesn't pick her and ruin your ranked climb.