As an added bonus to preseason coverage, this week GameSkinny is bringing you a competitive tier list for patch 4.21. We’re going to help you get the most out of champion select and make sure your picks are strong enough to help you #getdatLP.
For the purposes of people who have never seen a tier list before I’m going to go through each different tier with a small explanation.
S-Tier: S-Tier champions are currently regarded as the strongest in their role. Being prepared to play as or against these champions is key.
A-Tier: Just below S-Tier, A-Tier champions are seen as the next most viable picks when the previous tier has been all banned or picked.
B-Tier: This tier is where player specific comfort picks come into play. Still strong in the right hands, B-Tier champions can still influence a game heavily.
C-Tier: These champions should be a last resort in solo queue, picked into specific team compositions or as direct counterpicks to champions higher on the list.
TOP LANE
S-Tier
Lissandra: With double AP compositions emerging, Lissandra becomes an attractive pick in both the top and middle lane. This allows you to play mind games with your opponent during champion select and potentially end up with a favourable matchup.
The current meta-game also favours poke heavy compositions and Lissandra’s spammable Q spell Ice Shard is a great poke tool.
Additional bugfixes to Frozen Tomb along with her great survivability and chase potential make her a great fit in any team.
Rumble: With Dragon becoming a much more highly contested objective in the early game due to the importance of the first Dragon Slayer buff, Rumble’s level six power spike and early item thresholds have thrust him into the spotlight again.
Rumble’s main weakness is dealing with tanky champions in lane and with the revival of carry picks in the top lane Rumble has a much easier time in lane. Highlighting The Equalizer power spike again it is important that Rumble can’t get bullied out of lane early and having favourable matchups against many current meta top laners accomplishes this.
A-Tier
Irelia
Gnar
Maokai
Jayce
B-Tier
Dr. Mundo
Jarvan IV
Kassadin
C-Tier
Sion
Kayle
Poppy
JUNGLE
S-Tier
Jarvan IV: With Jarvan seeing play in the top lane the theme of champion select trickery continues. The new jungle has prompted two separate reactions, hyper aggressive junglers or hyper passive junglers.
Jarvan as always been seen as one of the most aggressive picks possible in the jungle. His ability to gank at level two with a high degree of success means the enemy team can never feel completely safe even extremely early in the game.
Lee Sin: Regardless of what the jungle looks like, Lee Sin always seems to be at the top of any jungle tier list. His kit’s mobility, pick potential, sustainability, and game-changing ultimate make it hard to ignore him as a top pick.
Pantheon: Pantheon fits the hyper aggressive moniker. Like Jarvan, Pantheon also the ability to gank well at level two, and a nearly guaranteed kill at level six make him a strong contender for top jungler on 4.21.
With the new rules in for junglers being take less damage and gank more often; his passive Aegis Protection means he takes marginally less damage in the jungle and is free to gank more often at higher health.
All three junglers seem counter-intuitive to a poke heavy metagame based on their hard engage tools. However note that it is important for poke compositions to get ahead early and these exceptional gankers help accomplish that.
A-Tier
Elise
Rengar
Warwick
Nunu
B-Tier
Kha’zix
Nocturne
Fiddlesticks
C-Tier
Evelynn
Xin Zhao
Kayle
MIDDLE LANE
S-Tier
Xerath: Xerath is the embodiment of the poke metagame. With long-range skillshots galore it is obvious to see why he has become a strong pick in the middle lane.
Xerath has the added ability of being useful even when playing from behind. His kit includes a skillshot stun and an AOE slow that make him extremely potent at chasing down enemies. The added waveclear in his kit is also important to prevent enemy poke compositions from setting up an extended siege.
Jayce: Jayce is the longest range AD caster in League of Legends. A Shock Blast / Acceleration Gate combination can hit a target up to 15 Teemos away. Acceleration Gate is also an exceptional tool when chasing down enemies. On top of his amazing poke potential he also has the ability to deal 390% of his attack damage in just over one second when Hyper Charge is at max rank.
Long Range: ☑
Chasing Ability: ☑
High Burst: ☑
Leblanc: Leblanc’s popularity is contrary to every other champion in the middle lane now. Due to the prevalence of skillshots, Leblanc’s mobility, thanks to Distortion, allows her to dodge a large chunk of damage while trading.
Skillshot crowd control and arguably the highest burst damage of any mage in the early game allow her to find continued success despite the silence being revomed from her kit.
A-Tier
Orianna
Lissandra
Ezreal
Zed
B-Tier
Syndra
Ahri
Azir
C-Tier
Kassadin
Ziggs
Lux
AD CARRY
S-Tier
Lucian: This guy has been on top of the AD carry tier list for long enough that he has set up a tent and made s’mores. Even during a time when hyper carries like Tristana, Vayne, Kog’Maw, and Caitlyn were extremely popular due to their tank slaying potential, Lucian is still considered pick or ban worthy in nearly 75% of games.
His mobility allows him to stay incredibly safe with the increase of gank-dependent junglers and his skillset allows him to be a strong part of any current poke composition. Additionally, his varied build paths allow him to spike during different points of a game depending on what the team requires.
Corki: With the changes to Magic Resistance, Corki has found his way back to the top of the AD carry food chain. Corki deals the most consistent magic damage of any AD carry while still being able to dump out as much physical damage as any other carry.
The ability to spilt the enemy team’s itemization requirements has always been key to winning a game and Corki allows for an attack damage focused middle lane without the ability for the enemy team to only stack armor. This opens up picks like Jayce, Ezreal, and Zed.
Continuing to restate the obvious, Corki has the ability to reposition effectively in teamfights and to avoid ganks while also having one of the most reliable poke tools from the AD carry position: Missle Barrage.
A-Tier
Ezreal
Caitlyn
Sivir
B-Tier
Jinx
Vayne
Graves
C-Tier
Draven
Twitch
SUPPORT
S-Tier
Janna: What do you not want to do with a poke composition? Engage in a full 5v5 teamfight is the correct answer. Who has the best disengage mechanics in the game? Janna is the correct answer!
Janna can be paired with any AD carry without much difficulty in the laning phase and can add bonus attack damage to the AD carry or caster late game with her Eye of the Storm shield, thus supplementing the poke.
Thresh: Thresh’s kit makes him much like Lee Sin, because of his versatile kit he will never fall out of favour. The Box offers great disengage in the event the enemy team decides to go all in. Dark Passage and Death Sentence are such unique mechanics that are powerful enough by themselves that adding them both to the same champion means we will likely see Thresh played until long after he is nerfed into the dust.
Soraka: Everybody’s favourite unicorn has made her way back to the highest tier of play around the world. Her ability to spam heal gives an unmatched level of trading for her AD carry during laning phase and later allows for extended sieges by keeping her teammates very healthy.
An AOE silence/root and slow gives her great zone control in teamfights and just when the enemy thinks they have secured that kill across the map Soraka is always able to Wish them back to life.
A-Tier
Morgana
Braum
Nami
B-Tier
Alistar
Leona
Annie
C-Tier
Zilean
Sona
