Azir

Few champions fight the way Azir does. He never fires at foes himself. Instead, he calls up Sand Soldiers with Arise!, and those soldiers attack on his behalf, hitting everything in a line with magic damage. That setup gives him a hybrid identity, tagged as both mage and marksman. He builds ability power but functions like a scaling auto-attacker, applying steady damage from behind an army that never tires.

Every one of his spells revolves around managing those soldiers. Conquering Sands marches all active soldiers to a new spot, damaging and slowing enemies along the way, and it serves as his primary poke and repositioning tool. Shifting Sands gives Azir a shield and a dash to one of his soldiers. If he runs into an enemy champion mid-dash, the dash ends and he immediately gets a fresh soldier, which powers the aggressive drop-ins behind his best plays. Emperor’s Divide sends a charging wall of soldiers that knocks enemies back. It works as peel for wall-ing off divers, or, for skilled players, as the second half of the famous shuffle: dash forward, then ult enemies backward into their own team. Even destroyed turrets are useful to him, since Shurima’s Legacy raises a temporary Disc of the Sun from their ruins to hold ground.

Azir lives mostly in mid lane, though he can occasionally be flexed into the ADC role. Players value him for late-game teamfight damage, safe long-range DPS, and a skill ceiling rated 9 in difficulty, one of the highest in the game. He suits meticulous players who are willing to endure a demanding early game in return for a champion with almost no limit on how good he can become.