Yao and Doriya are outdated; it turns out Cai Wenji's ultimate skill heals a single target, not an area-of-effect attack?

With the new season upon us, everyone is searching for the top-tier (T0) heroes in ranked matches. Season 41 belonged to the era of supports, while the new Season 42 is an unknown. Regardless of the ecosystem and system that emerges from hero balance and equipment adjustments, players must establish a solid foundation. To do this, one must start with the support role. This position is like an observer, watching the situation, providing silent assistance, initiating team fights, protecting teammates, occasionally taking control of the tempo, providing support everywhere, and considering the team's role.

After the rank reset, all the top players have descended to the mortal realm to fight everywhere. It's undeniable that the new ranking system will show the average rank for matchmaking. However, even players with 100 stars returning to the Diamond rank will face the challenge of finding teammates who are either weak or strong. For this reason, summoners tend to favor T0 options. However, in our understanding, the most popular characters have always been Yao and Doraemon. The former provides a shield by attaching to an enemy, while the latter refreshes skills. Their skin designs are exquisite and have generated numerous discussions. Regardless of whether they have entered the new season, these two have long since become outdated. Their selling point is their appearance, and they have become weak in actual combat. So, quickly discard them and try Cai Wenji instead.

Cai Wenji

Despite years of criticism—a mobile fountain of health, easily countered by heavy damage items, a parasite—she seems to have little presence beyond healing. Yet, data shows she's a top pick for climbing ranks, boasting a 15.9% pick rate and 52.35% win rate across all skill levels; in top-tier ranked matches, her pick rate is 15.8% and win rate is 51.18%. Her skill mechanics may sound silly, and many players misunderstand the healing details, mistakenly believing it's all group healing. In reality, her first skill is the team buff, while her ultimate is a single-target heal.

Compared to the basic skills, the ultimate skill provides higher healing and additional dual resistances. All these buffs are applied to the target with the lowest health. The key to reviving teammates is their health level. If you're trying to save a marksman, but there's a low-health warrior nearby, the effect will automatically transfer. The simplest approach is to keep everyone's health level even, use basic skills to heal others first, and save the ultimate for the core target.

Thanks to its strong recovery ability and certain damage mitigation capabilities, the gameplay is straightforward: just stick together. If the marksman is reliable, just follow him all the way. After the laning phase, find your teammates to push towers and engage in team fights. The mechanics are not complicated.