Why was League of Legends’ 2021 season a “Lee Sin” meta?

The 2021 meta within League of Legends saw the rise and fall of a wide range of champions.

However, one champion that became the crown jewel of junglers, especially for professional players, is Lee Sin. Lee Sin has boasted a 91.4% pick/ban rate at the Mid Season Invitational 2021 and a 98% pick/ban rate at League of Legends Worlds 2021.

This raises the vital question of what exactly happened that made Lee Sin so powerful. During the previous League of Legends Worlds 2020, he had a mere 17% pick rate, but he became an auto-win condition as soon as the first international tournament dropped in 2021.

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Goredrinker’s addition to the game changed Lee Sin massively, allowing him take head on fights in League of Legends

Firstly, before any incorrect assumption is made, Lee Sin was never a bad champion. He always had the strength to go head-to-head against the other top junglers in the game. Lee Sin has a unique kit that has practically no skill cap. Players can keep refining it to get even better and more capable.

Players like Canyon from DAMWON KIA have mastered Lee Sin to an insane level and even then, they are able to surprise fans with unique plays. This is because the champion provides a massive playmaking ability to players, when used correctly.

However, the reason why he became so powerful in season 11 was because of the introduction of an item called Goredrinker. This is a mythic item that was introduced in pre-season 2021 and it is well known that the item is outright broken.

Goredrinker is an item that can work on a lot of melee AD champions simply because of its overtuned active ability. The item description for Goredrinker reads as follows,

"Thirsting Slash: Deal 175% base physical AD physical damage to enemies in a 450 radius centered around you. Heal for 25% AD (+10% of your missing health) for each enemy champion hit"

Therefore, the item's active basically provides great damage as well as insane sustainability with the heal. Apart from that, the item also has 45 attack damage, 20 ability haste, 450 health, and 10% omnivamp.

Goredrinker also scales very well in League of Legends and that is what makes this item even more deadly on a champion like Lee Sin. Lee Sin, along with Goredrinker and Conqueror Rune, can face off against any champion in the game.

Therefore, he provides a lot of utility to players and becomes a huge influence in any fight. Lee Sin is naturally tanky, and Goredrinker allows him to stay alive and continue battling for even longer. In short, the item synergizes very well with Lee Sin's kit.

While Lee Sin was always a very strong early game champion, Goredrinker allows him to remain relevant in the late game as well. Combined with the playmaking potential that he has, even professional League of Legends stars find it hard to drop him.

During the Mid-Season Invitational, he was popular in the toplane. However, at League of Legends Worlds 2021, he has primarily been picked as a jungler. Nevertheless, the champion boasted over 90% win rate in both scenarios, proving how capable it can be.