League of Legends Solo Queue Tier lists for Patch 9.16:

League of Legends tier lists help you climb solo queue ranked ladders by picking the best champions to win more games. This LoL tier list organizes all the League of Legends champions in all their various roles. Other LoL tier lists only show champions that they think are viable.

This League of Legends tier list lets you pick your favorites and choose from among them the best LoL champions for climbing solo queue. Even if you love playing support Cho'Gath, you'll know where he places in comparison to the rest of the LoL champions.

SEASON 9 - PATCH 9.16
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS TIER LISTS
"Best Champions to Climb With"

Patch 9.16 Tier List Update Summary

Hey everyone, first off sorry for this crazy late update. You've probably all noticed a bit of a slowdown in posts over the last year and that's really due to some personal reasons. Things are looking better now though, so stay tuned for more updates on a hopefully more timely basis soon after I sort out a few other things.

As for League of Legends, this patch we're seeing some movement when it comes to marksmen, and players are favorite heavier hyper-carries as the meta continues to move towards all-in burst champions. Xayah, in particular, is looking really strong as a result of her offensive/defensive combo with crazy burst damage.

Check out what else has changed on the tier list below!

As always, don't forget to like the site on Facebook if you haven't already!

Contents and Related Links:

FOTM Tier List - Meta based tier list based on popularity and what high Elo players are using
Strongest Potential Champions - Champions with the highest potential in the game
Optimal Champion Bans by Division
God Tier Champions
Tier 1 Champions
Tier List Position Explanation
Champion Explanations

Patch 9.16 Summary

Buffs: Dr. Mundo, Ekko, Fiora, Jax, Kassadin, Leblanc, Lux, Nocturne, Shen, Singed, Sion, Syndra, Ziggs
Nerfs: Azir, Corki, Ezreal, Riven, Sejuani, Sivir, Sylas, Tahm Kench, Yuumi

Updates

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Toolkit and Options

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LoL Tier List

God Tier List

[Highest Influence | Good In Almost Every Situation | Easiest to Gain LP With]

Mid Lane	Fizz, Ahri, Vladimir
Jungle	Elise, Jarvan IV, Rek'Sai
Top Lane	Kled, Illaoi, Darius
Bot Lane	Jinx, Kai'Sa, Xayah
Support	Pyke, Thresh, Morgana

God TierRising: Xayah (Marksman)
God TierFalling:

Tier 1

[Strong/Preferred Choices | Faster to Learn and Win | Works Well In Solo Queue]

Mid-Lane: Ekko, Talon, Malzahar, Katarina, Rumble, Annie, Taliyah, Zed, Vel'Koz, Kassadin, Karthus, Nocturne, Anivia, Mordekaiser, Yasuo, Veigar, Ziggs, Twisted Fate, Qiyana, Zilean, Sylas, Kled, Aatrox

Jungle: Nunu, Karthus, Vi, Nidalee, Xin Zhao, Evelynn, Sejuani, Hecarim, Graves, Olaf, Kayn, Lee Sin, Zac, Kha'Zix, Jax, Shaco, Kindred, Amumu, Ivern, Warwick, Pantheon, Volibear, Shyvana, Master Yi, Rengar

Top: Aatrox, Jax, Riven, Renekton, Vladimir, Urgot, Sion, Pantheon, Kayle, Malphite, Yasuo, Camille, Gangplank, Hecarim, Rumble, Olaf, Mordekaiser, Irelia, Kennen, Quinn, Vayne, Lissandra, Wukong, Volibear, Poppy, Fiora

Bot Lane: Sivir, Ashe, Twitch, Draven, Vayne, Lucian, Miss Fortune, Ezreal, Jhin, Varus, Tristana

Support: Nautilus, Blitzcrank, Bard, Rakan, Nami, Sona, Soraka, Janna, Karma, Brand, Fiddlesticks, Leona, Alistar, Vel'Koz, Zyra, Braum, Taric

Tier 1 Rising: Karthus (Jungle), Malzahar (Mid), Nidalee (Jungle), Nunu (Jungle)
Tier 1 Falling: Aatrox (Top), Evelynn (Jungle), Sivir (Marksman)

Tier 2

[Viable/Balanced Choices | Common In Solo Queue | Needs Practice To Get Good]

Mid-Lane: Lux, Morgana, Leblanc, Cassiopeia, Zoe, Xerath, Swain, Brand, Orianna, Neeko, Aurelion Sol, Jayce, Galio, Kayle, Lissandra, Diana, Viktor, Karma, Corki, Ryze, Azir, Gangplank, Syndra, Kennen, Heimerdinger

Jungle: Rammus, Nocturne, Udyr, Qiyana, Camille, Taliyah, Trundle, Maokai, Ekko, Dr. Mundo, Skarner, Nasus, Cho'Gath, Gragas, Quinn, Twitch, Wukong

Top: Karma, Dr. Mundo, Singed, Yorick, Garen, Teemo, Tryndamere, Jayce, Nasus, Neeko, Sylas, Cassiopeia, Swain, Jarvan IV, Maokai, Shen, Gnar, Ryze, Viktor, Heimerdinger, Cho'gath, Ornn, Akali, Malzahar, Talon, Trundle, Nautilus, Ekko

Bot Lane: Caitlyn, Kog'Maw, Neeko, Yasuo, Quinn, Kalista, Brand, Swain, Ziggs, Cassiopeia

Support: Lulu, Lux, Yuumi, Xerath, Shen, Jarvan IV, Sion, Zilean, Ornn, Tahm Kench, Zoe, Maokai

Tier 2 Rising:
Tier 2 Falling:

Tier 3

[Needs Higher Skill or Knowledge | Counterpicks]

Mid-Lane: Wukong, Irelia, Akali, Ezreal, Lucian, Zyra, Gragas, Kog'Maw (AP), Cho'Gath, Pantheon, Quinn, Nasus, Lulu, Sona, Pyke, Varus, Urgot, Teemo, Sion, Fiddlesticks, Malphite

Jungle: Pyke, Sylas, Neeko, Poppy, Fizz, Galio, Kayle, Malphite, Sion, Nautilus, Diana, Rumble, Riven, Talon, Tryndamere, Kled, Mordekaiser, Irelia, Fiddlesticks, Tahm Kench, Kog'Maw

Top: Tahm Kench, Qiyana, Galio, Fizz, Kassadin, Diana, Pyke, Rengar, Gragas, Graves, Rammus, Lulu, Xin Zhao, Shaco, Karthus, Lee Sin, Shyvana

Bot Lane: Jayce, Heimerdinger, Vladimir, Kennen, Corki, Graves, Urgot

Support: Neeko, Poppy, Sylas, Teemo, Malzahar, Galio, Cho'Gath, Camille, Trundle, Annie, Volibear, Malphite, Shaco, Veigar, Gragas, Nunu, Kayle, Leblanc, Kennen

Tier 3 Rising:
Tier 3 Falling:

Tier 4

[Low Benefit Based On Effort Used]

Mid-Lane: Jarvan IV, Riven, Jhin, Master Yi, Janna, AP Kaisa

Jungle:Gangplank, Fiora, Shen, Darius, Zed, Aurelion Sol, Garen, Alistar, Yorick

Top:Blitzcrank, Taliyah, Alistar, Leblanc

Bot Lane:Twisted Fate, Veigar

Support:Miss Fortune, Pantheon, Ashe, Anivia, Lee Sin, Gangplank, Orianna, Lissandra

Tier 4 Rising:
Tier 4 Falling:

Instructions and Caveats

Champions in BOLD I will talk about shortly
Champions UNDERLINEDmay be over/undervalued, but aren't/haven't played enough for me to make a better judgment.
Within each tier, the champions are strongest from left to right, but within a tier each champion's strength is relatively close. This is especially true for Tiers 2 and 3 where these champions are ALL highly playable and player dependent on how strong they are in-game.
Win Rates are important in analyzing each champion's strength but are not the end-all criteria for any champion's position.
Professional Picks may not necessarily translate into good picks for solo queue ladder, the two have slightly different meta-games and skill levels.
The creator of this list is diamond so there may be some personal bias towards higher tier play on certain champions.

League of Legends Tier List Descriptions

God Tier: These champions are almost impossible to keep down. If your team doesn't make it a priority to shut down these champions and shut them down hard, even if they lose their lane, lose in CS, and it's their first time playing the champion, they can be a massive nuisance for your team. On the other hand, if they're actually good at the champion...that's when it's time to throw in the towel.

Tier 1: These champions generally do very well regardless, and have some sort of advantage over most other champions. When they do well, their team does well. Even when they don't do well, their team still has a good chance of a comeback victory by utilizing one or more aspects of their late game utility.

Tier 2: This is the Tier of balanced champions where Riot shoots to place their designs. These champions generally do well in their own right, and are very strong picks with a good chance of winning. However, they're not overpowered by any means and do have their weaknesses.

Tier 3: These champions can still do very well, but tend to need a little more snowballing to get rolling. Even if they get an early lead, it's still very possible to turn the tides on them with just a mistake or two. They may also have some weaknesses that can be capitalized on.

Tier 4: These champions are either underpowered or offer less reward than other champions for the same amount of effort. These champions basically start winning from the get-go or get made fun of for the rest of the game. They need gold to do their job correctly, and if they don't get enough of it, they become sandbags for the enemy team to punch. Chances of a comeback with one of these champions feeding on your team is almost none.

Thoughts on Win Rates

With enough playtime, a high win rate on a champion indicates *something* generally goes right, and a low win rate indicates that whatever is happening in games with this champion isn't in their favor.

A low win rate may mean a champion is being played incorrectly and is stronger than his win rate indicates, but a top 25 win rate (with 120 champions) almost always indicates that a champion is at least a good candidate for Tier 1 or high Tier 2 if the sample size is large enough.

This means that champions with high win rates doesn't mean that they're necessarily GOOD right now, especially if they have a low playrate or tend to get into favorable match-ups. If we feel this is the case, these champions will place differently on this tier list than you'd think.

Similarly, champions with low win rates that are still within the acceptable deviations may end up slightly higher than you'd expect from a champion with mediocre win rates.

If there are champions on this tier list with low overall play rates but good win rates after relatively few games of practice, it may mean that players that pick those champions up just to try them are bringing down the average. If this is the case, we will place them higher on the list.

More thoughts on win rates here.

Counter Picking Champions

In Tier 3 of this tier list, we've placed certain champions that are good as a second pick, but can get spanked hard if they end up first picking by a variety of meta champions. If you're good at a large variety of champions, picking a champion that counters your laner is a good place to start. If you can get a slight advantage and don't have a clear experience advantage, picking a champion that both places high on this tier list and also counters your enemy laner may give you enough to win a game.

Check out a few of our more popular champion counter guides:

LoL Tier List Champion Explanations

Aatrox [Tier 1 Top]

In his present form Aatrox looks fairly simplistic on the outside, but ends up being difficult when in team fights when you're engaging. New/bad Aatrox players tend to approach from the same angle and result in him being unable to do much in a team fight. However, once you get the hang of his engagement patterns and what works appropriately, he's very strong as a top laner. Now that players are used to his kit, there's enough knowledge to consider him stronger than he was even with the same statistical values to his kit.

Karthus [Tier 1 Jungle]

As a whole, Karthus jungle is generally viewed as a jungler that has a rough early but stronger late game. Once he gets going he absolutely massacres camps and is difficult to stop from absolutely demolishing enemy teams with superior farm. He can also gank after level six without actually stopping his farm, which is very good, but not necessarily anything unusual since his release. However, at this point most players elect not to invade as a result of champion selection, which does give Karthus a lot of freedom to power farm.

Kled [God Tier Top]

Kled continues to be an insane powerhouse top lane. His built-in Grievous Wounds is exceedingly good, and most players have a lot of trouble dealing with his continuous all-in trades. If he's adept with his Bear Trap on a Rope [Q], getting away from him early game is nearly impossible.

Malzahar [Tier 1 Mid]

I'm moving Malzahar up ever so slightly this patch. He's also been a staple when it comes to consistent champions, and overall I think that he deserves a higher place on this list simply because he's so versatile and easy to execute. His ultimate is also the same game-changing ultimate as it always is and most players avoid building QSS at most divisions.

Morgana [God Tier Support]

Morgana's slowly losing traction compared to hook supports as the meta shifts away from other crowd-control heavy champions. This reduces the accuracy of Morgana's snares as follow-up and also reduces her allies' ability to follow-up on her snares to execution. Additionally, the new shield breaker support skills make her black shield less valuable in an all-in, removing some of her powerful utility.

Sivir [Tier 1 Bot]

Sivir as a whole is still very strong in the current meta, but she's starting to show a bit of age compared to her high burst counterpart Xayah. With Yuumi and Lux nerfed, her strongest synergies are less viable and players that opt for hook supports tend to do a little less well with Sivir, who thrives on sustained damage fights.

Xayah [God Tier Bot]

With the meta shifting almost entirely to hook supports, Xayah's burst damage is exceedingly valuable to any team and players are learning to really appreciate her in a new way. Her defensive ability is also top-tier amongst marksmen, and perfect for a burst-heavy meta. Against long-range sustained damage dealer (ahem Lux), she's not as good, but against heavy burst assassins she's the optimal pick.

Disclaimer:

The purpose of this list is for discussion and to provide a starting point for champion selection.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below!

If you're looking for a more meta based tier list based on popularity, be sure to check out the FOTM list as well!

For a list of champions with the highest *potential* in the game without regard to difficulty or team synergies, jump to the strongest potential champions in each position!

Be sure to visit Optimal Champion Bans by Division too!