2015 Champion Tier List - Solo Queue - Patch 5.2 Update

Buffs: Annie, Nidalee, Syndra,
Nerfs: Akali, Cassiopeia, Fizz, Rek'Sai, Zed
Tweaks: Ahri, Tristana

• Added Nidalee Jungle

• Ahri [God Tier Mid] - This patch's buffs to Ahri are absolutely insane. As I noted in the DFG removal analysis, the fact that DFG tended to be a somewhat higher skill item for most players meant that most people couldn't use it to its fullest potential to begin with. As part of Riot's compensation for Ahri, they made a champion that was somewhat above balanced extremely powerful.
• Akali [Tier 3 Top/Mid] - Akali can still do very well and snowball to victory. That being said, she requires considerably more finesse now that her E no longer procs her Q.
• Annie [Tier 1 Mid] - Annie's buff on Tibbers is helpful, but by no means game-breaking. The reason for this is that the movement speed bonus decays relatively quickly, and Annie will never maximize molten shield early as it's not efficient.
• Cassiopeia [Tier 1 Mid] - Cassiopeia's nerfs hurt her early game considerably, but her scaling AP passive still keeps her very relevant throughout the game. Also, by means of generous junglers giving her blue, her mid-game is still exceedingly powerful, even without a successful early game cheese.
• Cassiopeia [Tier 2 Top] - Cassiopeia top is a different story. Because she almost never gets access to blue as a top laner, this means she has increased difficulty bullying out sustain champions early and mid game.
• Fiora [Tier 1 Top] - Due to a shifting meta back towards tanky top laners like Renekton with high sustain and good base damage, Fiora's starting to suffer. Additionally, the same champions that she has trouble with now have the ability to start with a cloth armor and rush it into a sunfire cape. They can also pick up an earlier ruby crystal to make into giant's belt now as well. I'd expect her to still be a good solo queue champion, but to continue drifting downwards if this is the way the meta shifts.
• Fizz [Tier 3 Mid] - Fizz's changes made it so that the majority of his damage relies in landing his ultimate, a somewhat fickle skillshot. Compared to before, he is much less reliable. Good Fizz players can still do well, but he's not as faceroll by any means.
• Hecarim [Tier 1 Jungle] - Surprisingly to me, Hecarim is relatively stagnant at the moment. While strong, he doesn't seem overwhelmingly so. We'll see how last patch's changes continue affecting him, but as of now, he may actually move down slightly in the future.
• Irelia [God Tier Top] - Irelia's mechanics are relatively simple, but the knowledge required for her to deal with certain match-ups definitely differentiates the average ones from the great ones. Her ability to snowball off most champions is extremely high, and even from a losing position she can still turn around and carry games once she picks up her Trinity Force and a defensive item.
• Jarvan IV [God Tier Top] - Jarvan currently gets a ton of free stats from his abilities that scale extremely well. With his double gap closer, he's extremely effective as an initiator from either top or jungle. The cloth armor to chain vest changes from a few patches ago combined with the ruby crystal to giant's belt change from this patch allows him to get stronger much faster and snowball harder than before in top lane, especially using a tank build into a mid-game hydra for damage.
• Kalista [Tier 2 ADC] - With the advent of the bloodthirster/hurricane build, Kalista is seeing tons of success on the field. Additionally, with Taric starting to gain popularity again, Kalista also has a slightly higher likelihood of getting someone that synergizes well with her ultimate. That being said, she's extremely powerful with the right support, but I think she's still somewhat of a situational pick that may backfire depending on your teammates.
• Katarina [God Tier Mid] - Nerfs to DFG did relatively little to keep her down. In fact, they made champions that needed the burst weaker and simply made her more effective in comparison. When the buffs Riot promised to Katarina hit, it's going to be absolutely absurd.
• Malzahar [Tier 1 Mid] - With continued nerfs to his rival champions and their items, Malzahar continues growing in strength. It's really only a matter of time before people realize how insanely strong he is for how little they need to learn to play him effectively.
• Nidalee [Tier 2 Jungle] - Nidalee jungle is surprisingly strong, especially in Patch 5.2. While her ganks are a bit subpar without landing her spear, she is similar to Lee Sin in that regard but with more damage and nearly as much mobility.
• Nidalee [Tier 2 Mid] - Nerfs to other AP mids have made Nidalee stronger in comparison, and she's making a slow comeback.
• Sejuani [God Tier Jungle] - Sejuani is likely one of the most, if not the most underrated jungler at the moment. Her damage is fairly high for a tanky jungler, and her mobility and amazing CC can be game-changing.
• Sivir [God Tier ADC] - Despite having a glitchy spellshield, I can't imagine that it makes THAT much of a difference unless you're highly skilled in using it. For the majority of people I suspect that not to be the case. Meanwhile, Sivir is extremely good with both high engage and kiting compositions via her ultimate, and also has the highest waveclear of any AD carry in the game. This makes her very difficult to pin down at turret, and also very difficult to seige on. She synergizes well with popular low clear mids such as Kassadin, which makes her amazing in solo queue regardless of whether her spellshield is glitched or not. I may eat my words when they fix it, but we'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, she's very strong at the moment.
• Zed [Tier 2 Mid] - Zed's nerfs did not hit him quite as hard as many people are crying about, but it has reduced his split push ability and subsequently I'm taking this opportunity to put him back where I think he belongs, in the balanced tier.