Riot Games’ newest champion,
Yunara, was released on Summoner’s Rift on July 16, but not immediately enabled for pro play.
The Unbroken Faith made her competitive debut just a few days ago, on August 2, in the
League of Legends EMEA Championship,
piloted by Natus Vincere’s AD Carry, Lee "
Hans SamD" Jae-hoon. Since then, the champion has been played
eleven times across the five major leagues—LCK, LPL, LEC, LTAs, and LCP.
The eleven times Yunara has been played across the five major leagues. Credit: GoL.gg
The champion currently holds a very low win rate—only 27.3% of the games where Yunara was picked ended in victory for her team. Wins came from
Team Liquid’s American AD Carry, Sean "
Yeon" Sung, against LYON;
Team WE’s Kim "
Taeyoon" Tae-yoon against FunPlus Phoenix; and more recently, Elias "
Upset" Lipp and
Fnatic against SK Gaming. It’s worth noting that the champion has yet to appear in South Korea, as she was still disabled during Week 2 of the LCK.
A rough start
Three wins in eleven games is a rather low success rate. In the LPL, the champion has struggled, with just one win—by Taeyoon—while the other two losses came from Hu "Leave" Hong-Chao, botlaner for Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Wang "Hope" Jie, whose team Anyone's Legend fell to Top Esports. In Europe, Víctor "Flakked" Lirola Tortosa also lost with Yunara against Fnatic, making Upset the only player in the region to find success on the champion. The same trend can be seen in the LTA North, where Yunara only won once in three games.
Yunara has been played with
Lethal Tempo as the primary keystone in 100% of games. When it comes to items,
Runaan’s Hurricane is considered nearly essential by AD Carries.
Infinity Edge is also bought in over half the games, while the remaining item choices are split between
Blade of the Ruined King,
Kraken Slayer, and
Lord Dominik’s Regards. If we broaden the scope to include all leagues tracked by
gol.gg, Yunara’s win rate rises slightly to 35% worldwide, with a few appearances in leagues like LCK CL, the Prime League, and the NACL. The champion’s Priority Score remains quite low at just 6%.
Some players have already shared their thoughts on Yunara—for instance, two-time world champion and T1 botlaner Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong described her as a fun mix between Twitch and Zeri. He noted that she’s currently very strong but is waiting to see how she performs in competitive play, adding that there will definitely be counters to Yunara. He said: "Since it looks like Yunara will be unlocked soon, I’m getting some practice on it. In the Gen.G match, Yunara might come out—whether it’s me or Ruler who plays her..."
Header Photo Credit: Stefan Wisnoski/Alexandre Weber/Riot Games
