2015 Champion Tier List - Solo Queue - Patch 5.17 Update

Preface Chatter

The Tier List

• Darius [God Tier Top] - Darius is currently at a nearly must-ban status in solo queue and rightfully so. The latest hotfix + buff combo made him exceedingly powerful with the new tank items, Dead Man's Plate and Sterak's Gage. A champion who can easily come back from the brink of death via his 15~30% heal off his decimate coupled with his Sterak shield + damage boost, he is very difficult to duel at all points in a fight. Even if it looks like you have the numbers and HP advantage, the tides can quickly turn, especially with too many melee piling onto him.
• Gangplank [Tier 1 Top] - Despite extreme popularity in LCS, Gangplank is seeing limited success in solo queue. The main reason for this is that while his barrels do a decent amount of damage, the mini-game is actually balanced in the hands of an average user. There's a lot of mind-game calculation that's needed in order to successfully bully enemies with barrel setups, which tend to be out of reach of the majority of players.
• Garen [God Tier Top] - The "easier" version of Darius, Garen tends to be picked up often when Darius is banned as a secondary top lane monster. He has much more straight-forward kit, but is nearly as overwhelming. Extremely tanky and dealing true damage, Garen is extremely powerful even if by some strange twist of fate he loses lane.
• Gragas [Tier 3 Jungle] - After the percentage nerf on his free stats late game, Gragas definitely dropped off as one of the few remnants of Cinderhulk junglers still popular on the rift today. Good thing Skarner took up the mantle.
• Kayle [Tier 1 Jungle] - Despite still being very strong in the jungle, Kayle is losing ground. With the league of juggernauts in play, players are moving towards more ranged based champions to prevent getting cheesed. Unfortunately, this means that with Kayle in jungle, the front lines are looking slim.
• Lissandra [Tier 1 Top] - The latest heal buff to her ultimate is extremely beneficial to her outplaying ability, and definitely makes her a lot stronger as a laner now. Expect to see a lot more of her top than mid from what history shows.
• Lux [God Tier Mid] - Lux was already strong, if undervalued prior to this patch. I think that a lot of good Lux players tend to put her down after getting outplayed once or twice by mobility. However, the fact of the matter is, she has an extremely strong pick skill (think double Morgana binding) and also bursts AOE damage comparable to a lot of single target assassin output.
• Mordekaiser [God Tier AD] - I've always said that Mordekaiser is counterable and I stand by that. A lot of the statistics that Riot generates regarding his role as an AD carry are inflated, and if you always try to pick up Caitlyn/Jinx + Lulu/Janna, you'll have a very easy lane. However, that being said, if Mordekaiser isn't banned your team is forced to play around him or face a 20 minute snowball defeat. I'd say this places him pretty high in the book.
• Nidalee [Tier 3 Jungle] - With tankier early game junglers with short cooldowns back in play, Nidalee has more trouble trying to cheese her way in the early jungle to victory. This, combined with the fact that a lot of junglers offer just as much burst without the long range skillshot means that she has limited use. In a poke comp, Nidalee still does well. However, in a burst comp she finds herself standing around a little too often.
• Poppy [Tier 2 Jungle] - Poppy jungle is likely a hidden op right now. She needs practice to play well, but isn't mechanically difficult. However, her late game sustained/burst damage is through the roof, and plays somewhat familiar to a more difficult to utilize pre-rework Fiora. With the usual Blade of the Ruined King build, Poppy can quickly take out a single target and lifesteal back up to during her ult duration.
• Skarner [God Tier Jungle] - Even after the hotfix and regular patch nerfs, Skarner still appears to be king of the jungle. We'll see if the numbers start evening out with more QSS in play or if Riot applies more tweaks.
• Sona [God Tier Support] - With the number of juggernauts on the field at the moment, even tanky supports are finding a bit more trouble staying alive in melee range at the moment. This, plus her insanely strong early game poke means that she's a safe early pick that can fit into pretty much every team composition.
• Tahm Kench [Tier 2 Jungle] - After initial hesitation regarding Tahm Kench jungle, it seems like his late game power does warrant his placement. Although his ganks are still sub-par, his ability to soak damage and teamfight late game makes him a very good threat.
• Tahm Kench [Tier 2 Support] - As a support champion, Tahm Kench brings to the table all the things that his jungle parallel does. However, in both cases it takes a good understanding of his passive to be successful. Additionally, his ultimate should generally only be used with full ward coverage. More than one game has been lost from ulting into a bad position and bringing a friend along for the death march.
• Tristana [Tier 2 ADC] - An extremely strong tower pusher, Tristana tends to see much more success in organized competitive play than the beast known as solo queue.