Originally Posted by
Resolude
Akali is a fragile burst assassin. She's far from the best, since you can counter her only defensive mechanism with a simple Oracles or pink ward.
Ryze is a mid-range DPS champion. He's not bursty, and the optimal builds on him make him somewhat tanky. Unfortunately, the recent nerfs made him suboptimal, but still playable.
Tristana is a late-game ridiculously strong late game AD Carry. Her power curve does follow an inverse parabola, where her mid-game is lackluster. Playable and rather safe with her W and longest base AA range at level 18 in the game.
Caitlyn is similar to Tristana in power curves and late-game scaling, but slightly less safe late game. To compensate, her early game is much stronger and she's a ridiculously strong lane bully, powerful enough to stop the latest round of Corkis we see.
Pantheon is an early to mid-game bruiser, not an assassin. He has terrible scaling and no escapes, so play accordingly. To compensate, his damage early and mid-game is rather insane.
Vladimir is a mid to late-game AP DPS. His passive ensures he's a little beefy. His early game is weak. To compensate for the health drains on abilities, rushing a Spectral Wraith is a good idea.
Malzahar is relatively weak. I wouldn't pick him. He has high single target burst, but unfortunately his ranges and lack of escapes usually make your trades late game one for one. Pickable, but difficult. Not competitively viable, but anything is usable in solo queue. I definitely agree that he's thematically cool.
Twisted Fate is a strong and safe pick due to his long range wave clear. His ultimate gives him global presence and allows you to snowball most of the games you play. His passive gives him a decent amount of extra damage and he has a relatively low single target stun. Definitely someone you should learn. He's not dependant on his team if he's fed, as a combination of Lich Bane and Zhonya's should have enough damage to take down mid-game AD Carries and squishies.
Fiddlesticks is best played as a support. And yes, you can drain while using your ultimate. His three second fear ensures that one carry on the enemy team is nearly entirely out of the fight. Used as a jungler, you can utilize your ultimate to pull surprise ganks and ensure kills. Zhonya's is necessary. Fiddlesticks is a good support because he doesn't need items to be good. He's strong with one of the longest CCs in the game.
Wukong is a strong pick, with both lane kill potential and a brutal AoE knockup teamfight ultimate. His only downside is the lack of a defensive escape (in the form of a blink or dash), but you do have your clone which allows a lot of room for outplays.
Zac can be played in both jungle and top lane because of his bloblets healing him for a percentage of his maximum health. His passive also allows you to be rather reckless when it's up, both when ganking and fighting in top lane. Build him mostly full tank, with a touch of magic penetration. In the jungle, rush the Spirit of the Ancient Golem and then build based off the enemy composition.
Dyrus calls them heroes. Chill out please.