Solo Queue Tier List Archive: Patch 5.8 (May 3, 2015)

All tier lists are archived for historical tier list purposes. The full always-up-to-date League of Legends Tier List has moved to a permanent bookmarkable page: League of Legends Tier List.

Hi everyone and welcome to the latest and greatest edition of the Solo Queue Tier List "Division Climbers". This latest update incorporates the new Ryze changes as well as some new movements as a direct result of the new Black Cleaver rework. Check out the full scoop below!

SEASON 5 - PATCH 5.8 SOLO QUEUE TIER LIST

"Division Climbers"

This List has been updated, and new versions are available via this link

Preface Chatter

Hi everyone and welcome to the latest and greatest edition of the Solo Queue Tier List "Division Climbers". This latest update incorporates the new Ryze changes as well as some new movements as a direct result of the new Black Cleaver rework. Check out the full scoop below!

The purpose of this list is to pick out the champions that when played, will allow you to climb divisions the fastest by winning more games.

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, check out the list of strongest potential champions in each position! - Updated 5/4

Patch 5.8  Summary

BUFFS: Bard, Blitzcrank, Dr. Mundo, Kha'Zix, Mordekaiser, Pantheon (Clarity Buff);
NERFS: Ahri, Caitlyn, Graves, Jinx, Nunu, Sion;
TWEAKS: Ryze, Shen, Yasuo;

Toolkit and Options

Click to toggle champion movement history

Search for a champion:

Updates:

• Added Varus Mid

The Tier List

God Tier [Highest Influence]:
Mid-Lane Gods: Ahri, Annie, Cho'Gath
Jungle Gods: Amumu, Nunu, Sejuani
AD Gods: Jinx, Sivir
Top Lane Gods: Hecarim, Wukong, Riven
Support Gods: Janna, Sona, Leona

God Tier Rising: Ahri (Mid), Nunu (Jungle), Riven (Top)
God Tier Falling: 

Tier 1 [Strong/Preferred Choices]:
Mid-Lane: Anivia, Malzahar, Talon, Katarina, Morgana, Swain, Diana, Vladimir, Brand, Twisted Fate, Cassiopeia, Vel'Koz, Karthus, Wukong, Kennen, Zyra, Heimerdinger
Jungle: Nautilus, Gragas, Volibear, Skarner, Rek'Sai, Fiddlesticks, Malphite, Xin Zhao, Maokai, Sion, Udyr, Cho'Gath, Dr. Mundo
AD Carry: Ashe, Draven, Vayne, Kog'Maw, Kalista
Top Lane: Fiora, Irelia, Vladimir, Heimerdinger, Tryndamere, Malphite, Xin Zhao, Aatrox, Nasus, Cho'gath, Sion, Renekton, Swain, Rumble, Shen, Rengar, Rek'Sai, Pantheon
Support: Morgana, Brand, Taric, Nami, Nautilus, Zyra, Vel'Koz

Tier 1 Rising: Aatrox (Top), Anivia (Mid), Cassiopeia (Mid), Gragas (Jungle), Kog'maw (ADC), Malphite (Jungle), Twisted Fate (Mid), Vayne (ADC), Xin Zhao (Top/Jungle)
Tier 1 Falling: Irelia (Top), Morgana (Mid), Renekton (Top), Sion (Jungle), Volibear (Jungle)

Tier 2 [Viable/Balanced Choices]:
Mid-Lane: Lissandra, Orianna, Zed, Xerath, Fizz, Lulu (AP), Kayle, Kog'maw (AP), Nidalee, Ziggs, Galio, Leblanc, Pantheon, Lux, Viktor, Karma, Mordekaiser, Ezreal (AD), Teemo
Jungle: Pantheon, Warwick, Nidalee, Wukong, Hecarim, Fizz, Evelynn, Shaco, Vi, Zac, Rammus, Diana, Kha'Zix, Kayle, Shyvana, Jarvan IV, Poppy, Irelia, Shen, Nasus, Master Yi, Trundle
AD Carry: Corki, Miss Fortune, Graves, Caitlyn, Varus, Quinn, Ezreal, Lucian
Top Lane: Kennen, Lissandra, Singed, Cassiopeia, Darius, Diana, Gnar, Morgana, Maokai, Malzahar, Nidalee, Jarvan IV, Gangplank, Teemo, Jax, Volibear, Urgot, Warwick, Poppy, Dr. Mundo, Zed, Trundle, Udyr, Karma, Garen, Lee Sin, Jayce, Lulu, Shyvana, Galio, Kayle, Olaf, Yorick, Akali, Viktor, Kha'Zix, Quinn, Ryze, Vi
Support: Thresh, Blitzcrank, Braum, Soraka, Annie, Karma, Alistar, Lulu, Xerath,

Tier 2 Rising: Corki (ADC), Evelynn (Jungle), Fizz (Mid/Jungle), Kayle (Mid), Lulu (Mid), Ryze (Top)
Tier 2 Falling: Graves (ADC), Hecarim (Jungle), Kog'Maw (Mid), Quinn (ADC), Rammus (Jungle), Vi (Jungle), Xerath (Mid), Zac (Jungle)

Tier 3 [Needs Higher Skill/Knowledge Than Usual]:
Mid-Lane: Akali, Jayce, Syndra, Varus, Zilean, Master Yi, Gragas, Jarvan IV, Fiora, Yasuo, Ryze, Urgot, Ezreal (AP), Sona, Riven, Fiddlesticks, Kha'Zix, Sejuani, Malphite, Tristana, Azir, Kassadin, Veigar, Elise
Jungle: Nocturne, Rengar, Lee Sin, Olaf, Karthus, Gangplank, Jax, Fiora, Zed, Malzahar, Leona, Elise, Riven, Darius, Yorick, Garen, Tryndamere, Aatrox, Alistar
AD Carry: Urgot, Twitch, Tristana, Twisted Fate, Kennen
Top Lane: Master Yi, Talon, Fizz, Taric,  Rammus, Mordekaiser, Gragas, Zac, Alistar, Yasuo, Leblanc, Vayne, Nunu, Elise
Support: Fiddlesticks,  Lux, Gragas, Bard, Maokai, Volibear, Kennen, Zilean, Nunu, Kayle, Malphite, Nidalee, Pantheon, Anivia, Teemo, Lee Sin, Gangplank, Veigar

Tier 3 Rising: Garen (Jungle)
Tier 3 Falling: Aatrox (Jungle), Kathus (Jungle), Lee Sin (Jungle), Olaf (Jungle), Rengar (Jungle)

Tier 4 [Low Benefits for Effort Used]:
Mid-Lane: Soraka, Janna
Jungle: Yasuo
AD Carry: 
Top Lane: Kassadin, Azir, Soraka
Support: Orianna, Poppy, Elise, Galio, Syndra, Shen, Yorick, Lissandra, Ashe, Leblanc

Tier 4 Rising:
Tier 4 Falling: 

Instructions and Caveats:

• Champions in BOLD I will talk about shortly
• Champions UNDERLINED may be over/undervalued, but aren't/haven't played enough for me to make a better judgement.
• 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.
• This tier list takes data from ALL players; however, since the majority of players fall in the first three tiers, the majority of data points will come from there.
• Win Rates are important in analyzing each champion's strength, but are not the end-all criteria for any champion's position.
• The creator of this list is diamond, so there may be some personal bias towards higher tier play on certain champions.

Click Here for a description of the tiers

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.

Champion Explanations

• Ahri [God Tier Mid] - Strong as always, Ahri seems to be back on top with nerfs all around the rift. Despite receiving a minor nerf herself, it was a very niche change that most players likely won't notice. That being said, the mobility she provides is extremely powerful against the popular junglers these days, especially Gragas.
• Anivia [Tier 1 Mid] - A dark horse rising, Anivia is one of those champions that's slowly been climbing the ranks of solo queue ever since she dropped out of popularity a long time ago. With her strong synergy with Liandries combined with the excellent front line that the League of Tanks currently provides, she's become a great pick for carrying in solo queue through raw damage.
• Ashe [Tier 1 ADC] - With her rework coming up soon, it's interesting to note that she's actually doing very well in solo queue. With nerfs on both Jinx and Graves (mostly Graves), the danger of her getting instantly burst down is lower than ever, allowing her strong poke damage to be fully realized in lane.
• Fizz [Tier 2 Mid/Jungle] - As players get used to his new/old changes, Fizz is finding more success mid lane again. Despite what originally appeared to be a huge jungle nerf with changes on his W, he's surprisingly still fairly viable and still does well in that role too.
• Garen [Tier 2 Top/Tier 3 Jungle] - With the black cleaver rework in action, it seems that Garen has a few more options open to him than before. Although it's not translating to a direct success boost just yet, it seems a matter of time before he starts flowing back into the mix again. As a strong Riven counter top and being the new highlight of Saintvicious' stream, it seems likely that you'll be seeing more of him soon.
• Gragas [Tier 1 Jungle] - Definitely a very strong jungler in competitive play right now, much of it also translates over to solo queue as well. See this article for more information.
• Jinx [God Tier ADC] - The nerfs on Jinx's ultimate impact her at a very selective level. Most players likely didn't even notice the change.
• Kog'Maw [Tier 2 Mid/Tier 1 ADC] - As mid-laners go, Kog'maw is still very powerful against similar poke champs. However, with Ahri jumping back into popularity he faces strong difficulties against her mobility and burst considering he has no way of running. Meanwhile, as an ADC he's definitely feeling some boosts from the Graves nerfs.
• Lee Sin [Tier 3 Jungle] - In a pure tank role, Lee has few engagement options open to him compared to other "support" type junglers. However, with the strength of Cinderhulk at the moment, it's relatively difficult for him to use his damage build and stay relevant into late game.
• Lucian [Tier 2 ADC] - As an ADC Lucian is definitely still viable. However, he simply doesn't have as much "surprise" factor in solo queue with the amount he's played. As a result, he's mostly balanced and doesn't get many free cheese kills like other ADCs can.
• Malphite [Tier 1 Jungle] - Despite a weak early game, he's something like a slightly stronger Warwick jungle now. If he really wants to gank pre-6 he can, but with his late game scaling he ends up being a very big factor even if he doesn't.
• Nunu [God Tier Jungle] - As his popularity rises with little to no impact on his win rate, it's hard to attribute his success to mastery anymore. With his impressive 10% HP scaling on consuming elementals combined with his 1% bonus damage based on his maximum health, Nunu gets a ton of free stats for simply building to be an unkillable beast. In solo queue, this means that if he can run around the enemy jungle wrecking havoc for long enough, his team can gain a strong lead through CS. His biggest weakness is still his relatively weak ganks, but in a 2v2 situation he can easily deny jungle kills.
• Riven [God Tier Top] - Like Nunu, once the data reaches a large enough quantity, it's hard to ignore. Riven is a champion that generally requires high skill and decent mechanics to play. However, if she out-trades the majority of the time without needing to worry about specific spell timings and cooldowns, then she does very well in solo queue. At the moment, this is the case. Starting from level 1, any triple Q trade almost always comes out in her advantage, meaning that she can assert her lane dominance from the start. Additionally, since most junglers go Cinderhulk now, her team no longer lacks front lining/crowd control power like they did when Kha'Zix/Lee Sin were popular.
• Ryze [Tier 2 Top/Tier 3 Mid] - Despite seeming like a buff, Ryze experienced a sharp drop in win rate this patch. I think that similar to Gnar and his passive, players just need to gain some knowledge of when and how to best utilize Ryze's burst passive. However, as this is the case, I will leave him where he is and watch carefully for now.
• Twisted Fate [Tier 1 Mid] - With CC and support type junglers coming back into the fray, Twisted Fate does excellently in solo queue. With nerfs on Graves, it also helps him snowball bot lane as he's no longer in as much danger of instantly getting exploded on landing. This allows him to pick his team up early dragons and earn victory.
• Varus [Tier 3 Mid] - Although I still think that Varus may deserve higher with his excellent poke power, it seems that like Kog'Maw, it's very unfortunate timing that Ahri is coming back into the fray. Again, with little to no method of escaping, many Varus players have fallen prey to the 9-tailed kitty.
• Vayne [Tier 1 ADC] - Nerfs on Graves and "nerfs" on Jinx have allowed Vayne to start showing her stuff as a tank killer. Indisputably, her late game power in this meta is extremely powerful with good front lines and her ability to take them out. Prior to this patch, she was under constant pressure by Graves in the early to mid-game. However, now the match-up is a bit more even and allows her to farm and scale up safely.
• Xin Zhao [Tier 1 Jungle/Top] - The advent of black cleaver changes is great for Xin, as he synergizes very well with the item. Additionally, the fact that it gives him some tankiness means that it's easier for Xin players to avoid the pitfall of going pure damage.

Disclaimer:

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

Agree? Disagree? Comment below!