Best Scaling League Of Legends Champions For Late Game

Key Takeaways

• League of Legends has champions with various play styles, from early-game powerhouses to powerful late-game scaling behemoths.
• Some champions, like Veigar, Kayle, and Kassadin, excel in the late game with their stacking mechanics and burst capabilities.
• Late-game champions like Sona, Senna, and Vayne become unstoppable with their scaling abilities and utility.

League of Legends has a champion for just about everyone, with over 160 to choose from and a wide variety of play styles. Some champions are at their strongest at level one, and look to do as much damage as they can before minions spawn, while others only truly come into their own after 30 minutes of farming and scaling.

Plenty of characters in League of Legends have infinite scaling, but this is no guarantee they’ll out-scale other champions unless the game continues for an unrealistic amount of time. Often the best scaling champions can utilize their levels the best, or get enough stacks to become relevant by the team fight stage. Here are some of the best champions to try out for players looking to become raid bosses in the late game.

Updated November 19, 2024 by Joe Grantham: League of Legends is always changing, with patches shaking up the meta every two weeks and occasionally introducing larger updates. As such, the best scaling champs in League are constantly in flux depending on their innate strength and how powerful their counters currently are.

Furthermore, one of the newest additions to the League roster, Smolder, happens to have incredible scaling thanks to his passive stacks, which further enhance his abilities. Here’s an updated list for the current League of Legends meta.

19 Sion

Can Stack Health Infinitely

• With access to infinite HP, Sion is one of the hardest champions to kill.

The first champ here with infinite scaling, Sion is perhaps the best late-game tank out there. With infinite scaling HP in his kit, and with the help of Heartsteel, he can theoretically scale to have more HP than the whole enemy team combined.

Sion’s threat comes in his ability to split push and shred towers very quickly. Paired with his passive that still does massive tower damage, leaving a Sion unattended can be a very easy road to defeat. With tank slayer items he is possible to counter, but will usually require multiple members to take down, leaving the rest of the team outnumbered.

18 Yorick

Late Game Split Push Power Is Often Overlooked

• Late-game Yorick will destroy the enemy’s base in seconds if given the chance.

Yorick is a less popular champion, and one not generally renowned for his scaling. However, his threat of ending the game with little counterplay once the game goes late is unparalleled. His split push potential with his Maiden and Mist Walkers can shred through towers, and snowball a lead very quickly.

Like many split-pushing champions, Yorick’s threat comes in the fact that any opposing team will have to send multiple members to deal with him and his summoned units, leaving the rest of his team with a numbers advantage. Allowing him to push uncontested can quickly spell disaster, with multiple towers and inhibitors falling.

17 Nasus

Q Stacks Infinitely, Dealing Obscene Damage

• If Nasus is allowed to sit in lane and stack his Q, the enemy will soon have a raid boss on their hands.

Nasus is one of the better users of his infinite scaling, farming for most of the early and mid-game until he is as stacked up as possible, and the time for team fighting arrives. He is a disastrous champion to leave unchecked to farm up, as even in the early game it can be tricky for his laner to shut him down, thanks to his sustain and disengage.

A Nasus with 1000 stacks can easily one-shot any squishy enemies caught out of place in the late game, and each one he kills only adds to his stacks and his power. Add this to his ability to split push and 1v1 almost any champion, and a terrifying late-game threat is born.

16 Gwen

Her Late-Game Max Health Damage Can Melt Front Lines

• Gwen’s fully stacked Q and her ultimate can cut through even the tankiest of teams.

Gwen is one of the more recent additions to the list of best late-game champions in LoL, and many players are still unaware of just how strong she gets. Beyond the traditional benefits of building lots of AP, Gwen deals magic damage based on the maximum health of her targets, and this percentage increases as she gains more AP.

Thus, with a fully stacked Q, and her ultimate, Gwen can thoroughly melt an entire team in seconds, including their tanks. Her strong autos also mean that she isn’t reliant on cooldowns and can always chip away at enemies. In addition, she becomes incredibly hard to kill, due to the fact she heals based on all this damage she is dishing out.

15 Gangplank

After Building Crit, Gangplank’s Barrels Can Wipe Out An Entire Team

• A skilled Gangplank is one of the scariest late-game opponents, even from a seemingly safe range thanks to barrel chains.

If there’s one late-game ability capable of destroying an entire team’s hopes and dreams, it is probably Gangplank’s barrels. After maxing out his E and building Crit, lethality, and AD, Gangplank can chain his barrels together for a massive explosion that sees healthbars deleted. However, pulling off such combos is far from easy, and the skill required for using his barrels effectively makes Gangplank one of the hardest League champs to play.

Beyond his barrels, Gangplank’s autos and Q also do plenty of damage in the late game, and his ultimate, especially with its many unique upgrades, is always capable of turning the tides in a team fight.

14 Jinx

Jinx Can Take Over Teamfights With Her AOE Crit Rockets

• Jinx is a classic hyper-carry who literally gets hyper with every kill, meaning she can chase every last enemy down with her AOE crit rockets.

Beyond being one of League’s most popular champions and being the star of the hit animated series Arcane, Jinx also happens to be one of the best late-game champions in LoL. With all her items and 100% Crit, Jinx is an absolute terror as long as she has some protection and setup. Any enemy that gets in range of her will be quickly whittled down by her fast-firing minigun, while those at a distance will be hit with her AOE rockets, which can crit.

What makes her especially great in late-game teamfights is the fact that every time she scores a kill, she becomes excited, gaining movement speed and attack speed. Her kills are thus chain reactions, as she zips between enemies while gaining power. The only problem is that no matter how late the game goes, Jinx is always easy to kill. For this reason, it’s imperative her team plays around her, protecting and enabling her.

13 Twitch

Late-Game Twitch Is A Machine Gun

• When Twitch has enough AD, Attack Speed, & Crit, his ultimate will shred through an entire team.

Most ADCs are strong in the late game, but Twitch is easily one of the best hyper-carries, especially for teamfights. Twitch’s ult grants him enhanced range with attacks that pass through enemies, meaning that teams grouped up in a line will all be hit at once.

However, unless he snowballs early, Twitch doesn’t deal much damage for most of the game, as he is heavily reliant on items for AD, Attack Speed, and Critical Strike Chance. Once he has these, preferably including an Infinity Edge, he becomes an unstoppable machine gun capable of wiping out an enemy team in seconds. To take late-game Twitch to the next level, players will want to pair him with an enchanter such as Lulu.

12 Ornn

Ornn Eventually Upgrades One Item For Each Of His Allies

• Ornn makes his entire team scale better by providing them with extra stats, while becoming incredibly tanky himself.

There is one major reason why Ornn scales well into the late game – his blacksmithing powers. At level 13, one of his items is permanently upgraded to receive 1000g worth of extra stats. Then, at levels 14, 15, 16, and 17, Ornn can similarly upgrade his teammates’ items in turn, providing his team with a total of 5000g worth of stats. This power cannot be overstated.

Furthermore, by the later stages of the game, Ornn is incredibly tanky, and his arsenal of AOE knockups is perfect for late-game teamfights. Unlike other late-game scalers, Ornn is fairly safe in the early-game, and can always sit under his tower in rough matchups to soak up gold and XP.

11 Sona

Sona Is The Best Scaling Support

• Sona makes late-game teamfights a breeze with her AOE heals, shields, speed boosts, and damage buffs.

Sona is arguably the best late-game support, but to make up for this, she has a horrendous early game, meaning players can only pick her into matchups where she will be safe. When Sona is allowed to scale, however, she turns her team into an unkillable deathball, with her AOE heals and shields, while speeding everyone up and providing them with extra damage from her Q.

The first part of Sona’s scaling is her passive, which sees her stack up ability haste for her basic abilities, meaning she can spam her spells. Naturally her shields and heals also get stronger with more levels and items, and she will even grant more movement speed. Lastly, Sona’s late-game damage is nothing to be scoffed at, especially if she builds Lich Bane.

10 Senna

Senna Stacks Range & Damage Infinitely

• Senna collects Mist from minions and enemy champions to gain infinitely stacking AD, crit chance, and bonus range, making her untouchable in the late-game.

Senna is a unique champion, as she is a marksman designed to be played as a support, although she can still function as a traditional ADC who farms. She also happens to have an infinite stacking mechanic where she collects mist from fallen minions or from attacking enemy champions twice in quick succession.

Senna gains AD for each Mist acquired, but for every 20 stacks, she gains bonus attack range and critical strike chance. Once she reaches 100% crit chance, any extra gained is converted into life steal. The bonus range is perhaps her greatest asset because if the game goes late enough, she reaches a point where she can kill enemies long before they are in range of her.

9 Master Yi

Late Game Yi Is Unstoppable

• With crit, AD, and attack speed, Yi can melt through the enemy team before they even touch him.

Master Yi is every low elo player’s nightmare and is one of the most well-known late-game threats, able to 1v5 almost any fight after 30 minutes if he can get ahead. His movement speed, untargetability, and huge damage make him very hard to counter if he can get on top of a team.

His ability to snowball a lead makes him particularly powerful as even in the mid-game, particularly with Duskblade, he can often one-shot an enemy before they can react. Add to this his ability to split push and shred towers and objectives, and he is a force to be reckoned with as the clock runs later.

8 Azir

With Damage & Attack Speed, Late Game Azir Can Clean Up Any Fight

• Azir needs both AP and attack speed to be effective, but once he gets it, he becomes one of the highest damage dealers.

Fans of LolEsports will be intimately familiar with Azir, as he has consistently been one of the most popular champions with pros. He has an incredibly high skill ceiling and can scale into a terrifying threat in the late game, capable of shredding through opponents and objectives faster than almost any other mid-laner once he has some levels and items under his belt.

Azir might not scale infinitely, but with the average game becoming shorter and shorter with each passing season, his late-game spike is almost perfectly timed to win the deciding fight for any team. Along with this, his mobility and disengage make it easier for him to use his powerful kit, and much harder to counter.

7 Veigar

Can Stack AP Infinitely

• With infinitely stacking AP, Veigar can one-shot almost anyone in the late-game.

One of the best-known infinite scaling champions in League of Legends is Veigar, whose simple kit and incredible late-game damage make him a force to be reckoned with at any rank. Veigar’s stacks convert directly into AP, and he is one of the easiest champs to collect stacks on.

Veigar only falls so far down the list as he is heavily countered by enemy teams with range. When outranged, it can be incredibly hard to get damage down while playing him, and in this case, all the AP in the world won’t help him. When a game reaches the late stages, however, one misstep by an enemy will quickly leave them looking at a gray screen.

6 Vayne

Late Game Vayne Shreds Through Health Bars

• Once Vayne has her Q and W maxed out and enough attack speed, she becomes one of the best tank killers.

Like many marksmen, Vayne excels in the late game, particularly at three items, but she is arguably the biggest threat in her class once in the late game and fully built. Her massive attack speed scaling, invisibility, and true damage make her a very hard threat to deal with even alone, and with a good frontline to play around, she can become absolutely unstoppable.

Vayne’s strength comes in her ability to deal with any kind of target, even shredding tanks at an alarming rate due to the true damage in her kit. This makes her incredibly hard to counter in build path, with only a few items providing any decent protection. Allowing a Vayne to go unchecked through the mid-game and build a lead is a death sentence for any team.

5 Vladimir

Late Game Vladimir Is Unkillable With His Damage & Sustain

• With access to more cooldown reduction and AP, Vlad keeps healing and dealing terrific damage.

By leveling up and purchasing Ability Haste, Vladimir’s abilities end up with incredibly low cooldowns, allowing him to constantly deal damage and heal himself back up. Additionally, when Vlad buys AP, he also gains a maximum health bonus and vice versa. This means that his item power spikes make him even more unstoppable.

Despite not dealing much damage in the early game, Vlad at least has his W, Sanguine Pool, to help keep himself safe from early ganks and aggression. Of course, he can still be punished, as this ability has a very long cooldown early on. But if the enemy lets him scale, he will take over the game.

4 Smolder

Stacks His Passive Infinitely To Enhance His Abilities

• When Smolder is fully stacked, his Q can execute enemies like Elder Dragon.

Many ADCs simply want to play safe early and wait for their late-game scaling to kick in, and the fiery fledgling Smolder is the latest to join the squad. Whereas most late-game ADCs rely on their auto attacks for damage, Smolder’s strength lies in his abilities and infinite stacking.

By hitting enemies with abilities, or last-hitting minions with his Q, Smolder gains stacks of Dragon Practice, which provides bonus magic damage for all three of his basic abilities. While this damage stacks infinitely, the biggest rewards are at 25, 125, and 225 stacks as Smolder’s Q evolves, gaining new effects and AOE damage. The last upgrade adds an elder dragon-like execute, making Smolder a terror in the late game.

3 Kassadin

At Level 16, Kassadin’s Ultimate Is On A Short Cooldown

• If Kassadin can survive his weak early game, his mobility and damage are unmatched post-level 16.

Perhaps the scariest champion to deal with in the late game is melee mid-laner, Kassadin, whose level 16 power spike is well-known and feared among League of Legends players. The incredibly low cooldown and ramping damage provided by his fully-leveled ultimate ability can tear apart an enemy team very quickly and is impossible to escape.

Kassadin is one of the trickiest champions to counter in the late game, as his ultimate can provide an excellent gap close to the enemy back line, or the perfect escape. He only falls to 3rd on this list as he also spikes well at level 11 in the mid-game, and excels in skirmishes around objectives at this time, so he is not just a late-game threat.

2 Aurelion Sol

Abilities Scale In Size As Well As Damage

• Late-game Aurelion Sol lives up to his place in the lore, and with abilities that get bigger, his damage is unavoidable.

Newly reworked for Season 13, Aurelion Sol has been transformed from a niche, unpopular pick, to the most powerful infinite scaling champion in the game. By collecting stardust, his Ultimate Ability grows in size infinitely, stunning enemies in a huge area, or knocking them up when empowered, which can have a devastating effect in the late game.

Aurelion Sol is so powerful in the late game because, by the 30-minute mark, he can easily secure enough stacks to make his Ultimate area of effect very large, as long as he has farmed well. His zone control around objectives with his infinitely scaling E ability, and his ability to incapacitate an entire team with his ultimate, make him a serious threat.

1 Kayle

Fully Evolves At Level 16, & Melts Enemies With Her AOE Autos

• Kayle starts as a weak melee champion but transforms into a ranged goddess with AOE damage.

The best-known and most powerful late-game threat in League of Legends is almost certainly Kayle. Her power spike at level 16 gives her massive AoE auto-attacks and a larger Ultimate, dealing massive physical and magic damage to any enemy unfortunate enough to stray close to her.

Beginning the game as a melee champion, and getting range upgrades to her auto-attacks at levels 6,11, and 16, Kayle has a rough time in the laning phase, but at level 16 she becomes a raid boss unto herself, and possibly the most powerful back-line threat available in the game.