Season 23 is ending in about a month, so it is definitely time to start the grind to Mythic. If you are still hard stuck on Epic on Legend, the best thing you can do right now is get a duo or trio climb together. However, if you can’t find any friends to play with, I highly suggest picking heroes that can solo-carry your games and care less about your teammates. After all, solo-queue games are always a 50-50; sometimes you get reliable teammates, sometimes you get teammates that feed the hell to the enemy’s hyper carry. The most optimal strategy is to rely on your own skillsets and pick heroes that allow you to those skills to shine.
So what are the best heroes to solo push rank in this meta? Before answering this, I think it is wise to broaden the question to what are the best roles to solo carry? In this meta, marksmen are and junglers are generally the most suitable roles. Junglers or hyper-carries for the longest time have been the staple option for solo carrying since they always roam around the map and create opportunities for kills. They always farmed and leveled the fastest, reaching their power spike earlier than other heroes on the map. When played properly, jungles can create space that your team can use to win fights, get farm, take objectives, and snowball your way to victory. However, junglers have been receiving a lot of nerfs in the last couple of patches and paved the way of the “marksman meta”. Although they used to be non-existent in the meta, marksmen are now the fastest farming heroes in the game, even faster than hyper-carries, due to the amount of gold that the gold lane gives. As a result, their map presence, especially in the late game, can even be more terrifying than junglers.
A role that I will mostly not consider as suitable is mages. Can mages carry? Yes. They have the ability to wipe out the enemy team in a blink of an eye. However, mages all suffer from the same big problem: taking objectives or towers. It doesn’t matter if you get 30 kills with mages if you cannot hit towers. As a result, you still need to rely on your team’s marksman or jungler to stay alive after a fight to take towers. Exp-laners are also not very optimal carries in the meta. They used to have a decent carry potential when they build half-damage items. However, the current team composition in Mobile Legends requires two mages instead of the old one mage one tank strategy. Thus, exp-laners now have to build full tank items and be in the frontline soaking damage instead of dealing damage. Of course, with no damage output, your chances of carrying are incredibly slim. As for roamers, I don’t think I need to explain why this role can’t carry, except for one exception that we will discuss later. The other name for roamers is support, after all.
Now that we have established the most optimal roles to choose from, let’s discuss the specific heroes for solo carrying. Note that the heroes mentioned is not listed in any particular order. I will also avoid mentioning heroes that are frequently banned in the meta.
1. Brody
Brody is currently one of the most dominant marksmen in the meta. Due to the nature of his abilities, he is able to out-harass most matchups and actually win the lane from the get-go. His damage output in the early game is also high, unlike most marksmen out there who need items to get damage. Thus, junglers have to think twice about ganking Brody since they must risk the formidable burst damage and potentially getting killed. Furthermore, because of his naturally high damage output, Brody can get away with getting defensive items (like Brute Force Breastplate and Antique Cuirass) for his first or second item, making him even more unkillable as a marksman. Indeed, if you look at the top Brody item builds, you will see a majority of players buying the Blade of Despair + Brute Force/AC. Even after you buy these defensive items, I can guarantee that you will still out damage the enemy marksmen. If Brody wins the lane, which he can comfortably do in most matchups, he can easily three-shot squishy opponents and essentially become the team’s hyper carry.
2. Beatrix
Beatrix, in a lot of ways, is similar to Brody. Her early damage is quite high and can is a very tedious matchup in lane due to her harass potential in-lane. Despite her complex kit, winning her lane is not that difficult to do. Lower your enemy HP with your machine gun and switch to your sniper to finish them off. Once you manage to accumulate some gold lead, her sniper becomes a deadly long range weapon that can instantly remove 1/3 of an enemy hero’s HP. The only primary downside of Beatrix is her entry barrier, since her abilities can be incredibly daunting to learn for players who want to pick her up. But rest assured, once you master her kit, Beatrix allows you to excel in all kinds of clashes, whether it is up close with her shotgun or long range with her sniper.
3. Moskov
Now, this might be a controversial opinion, but Moskov might be the most underrated marksman in the game. The most obvious downfall of Moskov is his early game damage, which is almost non-existent. However, in the late game, Moskov can essentially 1v5 the enemy with no problem. His damage and attack speed destroy all sorts of heroes. He is also impossible to catch because his blink ability, which has almost no cooldown in the late game, makes him super slippery.
I was actually debating to place Clint on the list, but for the sake of solo-queueing, I think that Moskov might be a better hero. Why Moskov over Clint? The answer is late game. Clint is the exact opposite hero when compared to Moskov. Clint has high burst damage in the early game, similar to Brody. However, Clint actually falls off in the late game and is incredibly easy to catch. What if we never made it to the late game? Isn’t Mobile Legends all about early game dominance? You are not completely wrong. Mobile Legends has always put more emphasis on winning the early game and snowballing your way to victory, which is why heroes like Lesley or Aldous are always considered a low-tier pick. Most matches in the top-level rarely made it past 20 minutes, or even 15. But keep in mind that you are playing solo ranked, where there is little to no coordination in the team. When it comes to ending the game early, coordination is always key because you need to communicate when to push, take lord, freeze or clear lanes, etc. I am sure that you have experienced the dread of pushing high ground. For example, you might be in the bottom lane when suddenly three of your teammates decide to start a fight at the top lane, which they obviously lost due to the man disadvantage. As a result, a majority of solo queue games ended up going to the late game, exactly where Moskov shines. You may get slightly out farmed by the enemy Clint in the early game, but you can easily destroy him later when his team constantly fails to push high ground.
If you are always playing with a 5 stack, then don’t pick Moskov; pick Clint or the other two previously mentioned heroes. However, for solo queue, this spear-throwing maniac is your best bet to 1v5.
4. Yi Sun-Shin
Now that we have covered all the best gold-laners, let’s move on to the junglers with the highest carry potential. Yi Sun-Shin, which coincidentally is also a marksman, is currently one of the most well-rounded junglers in the current meta. What do I mean by well-rounded? Well, his damage is decent in the early game like most junglers are, but also does not really fall off into the late game. Furthermore, he does not have any problem sieging towers since the hero relies mostly on his auto-attack damage. Therefore, YSS checks all the boxes of being a hero that can solo carry games: good damage early, good damage late, can take towers. Do other junglers not have these attributes? At least for most of them, the answer is no.
5. Roger
Roger, in many ways, is a similar hero archetype as YSS – a jungling marksman that plays up close to the enemy. Like YSS, Roger is also a well-rounded jungler, able to dish out a decent amount of damage in all stages of the game and take towers conveniently on his own. His recent buff of HP growth and defense pushed him back to the meta, although he is not as broken as he used to be. Roger arguably also excels in this meta MM and Mage meta because he is specialized in bursting down and closing the gap with long-ranged squishy heroes.
6. Aldous
Although Aldous has always had a bad reputation as an “Epic” hero, he has proven to be quite a stable pick even at professional play after his recent adjustment. By now, you probably should know that Aldous is a late-game beast, which is a common occurrence in solo-queue games. Therefore, Aldous should technically excel in solo-play. However, if you pick Aldous, the first half of your game will always be a struggle, since your team’s damage output is at a major disadvantage. I myself hate this kind of playstyle where you always have to play from behind, and your team’s mentality will usually be at an all-time low as well. But if you manage to sustain the high-ground defense, rest assured that your late game will be a walk in the park with the Aldous one-shotting all enemy heroes.
Aldous can also act as a flex pick, meaning that he can be placed at multiple roles to keep the enemies guessing. His ideal role is probably hyper-carry or jungle, where he will be able to get the most uncontested farm because solo-queue enemies will not have the coordination to invade your jungle properly. He can also be played at the gold lane; not the best method to fill his passive stacks (especially if the enemy knows how to freeze the lane), but allows Aldous to get some early damage items to boost his mid-game farm. Exp-lane is also an option but I rather not put Aldous there because he is not an early game hero after all.
7. Lancelot
Lancelot is our first assassin on the list and has been a staple choice as a hyper carry for the longest time. After the jungling assassins were heavily nerfed a couple of patches ago (which moved the trend to fighter junglers), Lancelot is probably one of the few assassins that still survived the meta. Why so? Unlike most other assassins, Lancelot is extremely good in the early game and can burst any hero on the map when played properly. He is also one of the most slippery assassins out there rivaling the likes of Benedetta or Ling and giving access to the most impossible kills without the risk of punishment. In the right hands, a Lancelot can get into the enemy’s backlines, eliminate the team’s mage and marksmen, and vanish into thin air. After all, this hero’s skills ceiling is extremely high, allowing your skills to shine and create an impact in the game. Of course, this point also suggests that a Lancelot player needs to be incredibly competent to carry his team. If you can’t ever hit an enemy with your skills, then Lancelot is no different than an AFK teammate. Therefore, if you want to solo carry your team, make sure that you practice playing Lancelot in bots or classic; save the embarrassment of missing his dashes to yourself. Another fundamental issue in Lancelot is that his damage falls off in the late game. However, unlike the likes of Clint, Lancelot has the potential to fully dictate the pace of the game. If you are a godlike Lancelot player, you will have no trouble ending the game before the 15-minute mark, assuming that your teammates don’t feed too much of course.
8. Karina
Karina has been rising in popularity in the meta after receiving a ton of buffs in patch 1.6.10. Although she was nerfed a few patches ago, a lot of players are still first-picking or banning her in ranked. Simply put, her burst damage is insane in the early-to-mid game, maybe even better than Lancelot. Complimenting her high burst damage, she also has the potential to chain kill the entire enemy team, so they must always be on the lookout if they are low on HP. Unfortunately, since Karina is a Mage-Assassin, she will undoubtedly have trouble taking towers, which is an important trait to have when you want to solo carry. Therefore, I suggest playing around your team’s marksmen if you decide to pick up Karina in your games. In other words, try to exert as much pressure on the gold lane. Use your bursting threat to create as much space in clashes so your MM can comfortably deal damage and stay alive, allowing you to take objectives after the teamfight.
9. Aamon
Aamon is essentially the same hero as Karina, a mage assassin jungler with high burst damage. His playstyle, strengths, and weaknesses are also identical to Karina’s, so I don’t think I have to re-explain these attributes. Despite receiving constant nerfs since his release, he is still an extremely strong hero with high carry potential. However, it is important to note that he is still sometimes banned in ranked, although not an auto-ban like he used to be. But you will rarely see Karina and Aamon banned together in a game, so you can definitely master these two heroes if you want to constantly play the mage-assassin role.
10. Selena
How is Selena going to carry games? Sure, she is a mage-assassin, but you play her as a roamer right? Selena is the one roamer exception that I established in the introduction of the article. Indeed, she cannot take towers, and her high burst damage is not very useful in the late game. However, she has arguably the best disable in the game. Stunning an enemy with her arrow is almost a guaranteed kill in ALL stages of the game. Therefore, in theory, she could render the enemy’s hyper-carry and marksmen completely useless.
Her early game presence is also a force to be reckoned with, and a good Selena player can make the enemy feel like they are dealing with two hyper carries at the same time. If you keep landing your arrows, your teammates won’t even have a chance to feed because you are giving them opportunities to win their lanes. The arrows also pose an incredible threat when going high ground because a single arrow connection can turn the fight into a favorable 4v5. Thus, even though she is classified as a support, she can truly carry her team on her back with proper play. Just like Lancelot, however, she is not a very beginner-friendly hero, and using her arrows requires some big-brain game sense.
If you are still not convinced that Selena can carry, then you probably never met a good Selena player on the enemy team. Trust me, a pro Selena will make you wish that you carry a Purify instead of Flicker. So, if you have never tried out Selena, try adding her to your hero pool. Your ranked teammates will greatly appreciate you carrying with a role that most players refuse to play.
