League of Legends

[Kaden]

currently-way-OP-because-of-the-retarded-meta champion!

Bloodrazor is the auto-build for him right now because of the meta.

Every character is a niche character. They all fit into a distinct role in their own individual way. There will never be a time when team comp isn't based on which niches need to be filled. That's metagame.

Even outside of the current meta, Kog'Maw is a solid ranged DPS champion. No, he doesn't have the escape mechanics of a Tristana, Ezreal, or Corki, but there are ways around that. Kog is an infinitely better harasser because of his insane range. Like we've both said, he's stronger than any of the other ranged DPS character right now because of his skills.

A month ago, Ezreal was stronger than all of the other ranged DPS because of his skills. Ez is basically the definition of poke/kite and when people were playing heal/push teams, he was the go-to DPS.

Back in beta, TF, Sivir, and Twitch were the go-to ranged DPS because of their awesome map control, be it through pushing, stealth, or teleportation.

Tanks go through the same thing. Amumu is the tank when AoE is the dominant meta. Shen is great when the team is built for high mobility. And so on and so forth.

I could continue, but it all leads back to my original thesis: all champions are niche champions and which niches need to be filled is determined by the metagame. Even Garen, who you describe as an always-effective champion is simply potent because of the "we're all fairly tanky so it doesn't matter if anyone's actually a tank" metagame. He's decent DPS and decent tank, but not great at either and eventually that will keep people from picking him.

Now I'm sure you'll have some different opinions about specific champions mentioned, that's not even close to my point.