League of Legends matches can be a real rollercoaster. Winning or losing mostly comes down to your team’s skill, but your champions can also determine the outcome. Different patches buff certain characters and nerf other ones, meaning that not all of them will perform the same in any given lane. Naturally, you want to pick the best champions for your current meta to increase the chances of victory.
To help you do so, we’ve come up with a League of Legends tier list. We’ll cover each role to help you climb to high Elo in any lane.
League of Legends Tier List
Our tier list consists of five categories, from God Tier to Tier 4. Here’s an in-depth overview of each lane:
Mid Lane God Tier – Ahri
Recent nerfs to Zed brought back many fan-favorites into the fray, including Ahri. Both her Luden’s Tempest and Everfrost builds perform well due to her elusiveness and difficulty to assassinate. She also picks off ADCs without a hitch.
Mid Lane Tier 1 – Annie
Annie is an overpowered mid laner due to her extremely powerful AOE CC ultimate. She starts team fights effectively and is relatively easy to play.
Mid Lane Tier 2 – Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia is one of the most powerful AP duelists. You can win nearly any 1v1 with her by opening with the ultimate and spamming the E ability. That said, champions with high CC are usually her downfall.
Mid Lane Tier 3 – Ekko
Ekko is a high-mobility assassin with many potent spells. He can easily eliminate the opponent’s carry while disengaging with his ultimate. However, he struggles against champions with CC and elusiveness, like Leblanc.
Mid Lane Tier 4 – Morgana
Morgana is a safe mid lane pick owing to her shield. She also has ample CC, and her W ability lets her farm from afar. Still, she can be a huge liability until she buys Zhonya’s Hourglass since she’s pretty squishy.
Jungle God Tier – Taliyah
Taliyah’s Q buff dramatically increased her room to maneuver in team fights. It also gives her a larger margin of error if she misses her Worked Ground ability. Combined with high damage, she’s a powerful and safe jungle pick.
Jungle Tier 1 – Gragas
Gragas’ passive keeps him highly viable in the jungle, allowing him to preserve his health and damage to monsters. His W also inflicts massive harm to enemy champions and jungle camps. There’s also the reliable knock-back ultimate that works excellent for starting team fights.
Jungle Tier 2 – Hecarim
Playing Hecarim in the jungle is much safer than bringing him in top lane. This is because he can clear monster camps fast and sustain HP throughout his journeys. His potential for surprise ganks is also formidable.
Jungle Tier 3 – Sejuani
Gone are the days when Sejuani was one of the most forgotten junglers. She now boasts powerful team fight capabilities thanks to her AOE CC ultimate and damage scaling. Nevertheless, her early game could be better.
Jungle Tier 4 – Vi
Vi is a strong pick if you’re facing high-mobility junglers. She can easily outduel and outgank assassins. Her biggest weakness is low AOE damage, making her team-dependent.
Top Lane God Tier – Wukong
The game is pretty much over if you can dominate your laning phase as Wukong. The damage he can do with Black Cleaver and Tiamat is often enough to dive multiple opponents under their turret. His team fight abilities are also phenomenal.
Top Lane Tier 1 – Kennen
Many popular top laners have been nerfed, allowing Kennen and other lane bullies to shine once again. His ultimate lets him take down entire teams and is especially useful in mid-to-late game.
Top Lane Tier 2 – Gnar
Gnar is one of the strongest top laners in League of Legends. Counter-picking him is extremely hard, and playing a melee champion against him is tantamount to suicide. He would be higher on this list if he weren’t so hard to master.
Top Lane Tier 3 – Irelia
Irelia is a solid top lane pick in any patch due to her formidable damage and gap closing. Her laning phase is terrific against most opponents because she’s a fantastic duelist. But like Gnar, mastering her abilities is challenging.
Top Lane Tier 4 – Hecarim
Hecarim makes another appearance in this tier list. Top lane is his secondary option, and the biggest strength he brings here is his roaming potential. He can easily travel to mid lane and set up surprise ganks, putting him and his teammates ahead. That said, he can be useless against champions with CC, such as Nunu and Nasus.
Bot Lane God Tier – Vayne
The nerfs on Varus and Ashe paved the way for Vayne to excel in bot lane. Relying on her team-crushing abilities and raw stats, she’s a death sentence to bruisers and tanks in team fights. Once she acquires her core build (Kraken Slayer and Phantom Dancer), she can easily carry you to victory by herself.
Bot Lane Tier 1 – Karthus
Karthus used to be a jungle or mid-only champion, but the buffs to range and damage make him a powerful bot laner, too. You can easily farm with Karthus, and you’re guaranteed to win most trades if you land your Qs. Plus, his late-game ultimate can almost one-shot full-health squishy champions.
Bot Lane Tier 2 – Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune is consistently one of the safest bot lane picks. She recently received a 17% increase in mid-game damage potential, allowing you to auto-attack more effectively and not just rely on her ultimate.
Bot Lane Tier 3 – Kalista
Kalista’s late game is fantastic due to lots of damage and mobility potential. She synergizes with tanky supports that can save her life when it matters most. The only issue is her relatively weak early game.
Bot Lane Tier 4 – Sivir
Sivir is a solid late-game ADC with exceptional wave clear and management. Her ultimate can help your team prevail in team fights, and she’s pretty resistant to CC. Still, her early-game damage is low, which is why she often falls too far behind.
Support God Tier – Nautilus
Nautilus is a nightmare matchup for most ADCs and supports. It’s packed with crippling CC abilities that scale with his damage surprisingly well. He also has a powerful shield, enabling him to survive long team fights.
Support Tier 1 – Soraka
Negating Grievous Wounds with her ultimate is one of the most significant buffs to Soraka in recent years. It lets her restore her allies’ HP even if the opponent is chock-full of healing reduction. Unless she dies quickly, she can easily carry her team.
Support Tier 2 – Leona
Leona is an easy-to-play champion with lots of tankiness and CC. She also offers high base damage and robust defenses from her W. Just be sure to ban Morgana when playing Leone since she can be impossible to outplay.
Support Tier 3 – Thresh
Thresh provides your team with a considerable amount of utility. His hook lets him engage easily, while his lantern offers a quick escape for other team members. The only downside is that learning how to play Thresh takes a lot of time.
Support Tier 4 – Tahm Kench
Tahm Kench is another tanky support with a tremendous ability to take a lot of damage. Killing him at his full build takes forever, and his Abyssal Dive can catch his enemies off-guard. The main drawbacks include low mobility and vulnerability to CC.
Now that we’ve covered the tier lists for all lanes, let’s see what picking champions from each tier mean for your team.
God Tier Champions
These champions are virtually impossible to corral. If the enemy doesn’t prioritize shutting them down, they can be a massive boon for your team. Even if they fall behind in terms of CS or lose their lane, they can effortlessly come back and carry you to victory in late game.
Tier 1 Champions
Tier 1 champions perform well in all Elos and have many advantages over their matchups. Even if they get outperformed during the laning phase, they can provide a lot of utility for their team.
Tier 2 Champions
Tier 2 is home to well-balanced champions. They do well and are powerful picks with a high chance of winning. However, they’re not overpowered, and there are several weaknesses their opponents can utilize.
Tier 3 Champions
These champions can do quite well, but they usually require a sizeable lead in the laning phase to translate their utility in late game. Players picking them need to be extra careful since stronger champions can easily turn the tables on them with a mistake or two.
Tier 4 Champions
Tier 4 champions are typically underpowered or require a lot of effort to make the most of their abilities. They need more gold than God Tier and Tier 1 champions, and if they don’t obtain enough of it, they can quickly become punching bags. Furthermore, their chances of making a comeback are minimal.
Make Your Pick and Climb
Picking the abovementioned champion doesn’t guarantee you’ll climb easily in League of Legends. Despite the tremendous power of some of these characters, you’ll still need to master their abilities, choose the right items, and make smart plays. You should also learn at least two or three champions for your favorite role if your favorite gets banned. This way, you’ll increase your chances of winning the match and reaching higher divisions.
What’s your primary role in League of Legends? What’s your favorite champion, and do you think they need a buff? Let us know in the comments section below.
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