Solo Queue Tier List Archive: Patch 7.16 (August 14, 2017)

Hi everyone and welcome to the newest version of the Patch 7.16 tier list! This time around it looks like the top two most played junglers (Lee Sin and Kayn) are both showing their difficulty level. With new junglers spamming the rift with these two moderately difficult champions, 26 out of 41 (63%) of junglers are showing win rates above 50%! Unless you've been practicing quite a bit with these two, it's probably best not to take them into ranked for the first time...

SEASON 7 - PATCH 7.16
FASTEST RANKED LP GAIN TIER LIST

"What Are the Best Champions to Climb With"

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

Preface Chatter

Hi everyone and welcome to the newest version of the Patch 7.16 tier list! This time around it looks like the top two most played junglers (Lee Sin and Kayn) are both showing their difficulty level. With new junglers spamming the rift with these two moderately difficult champions, 26 out of 41 (63%) of junglers are showing win rates above 50%! Unless you've been practicing quite a bit with these two, it's probably best not to take them into ranked for the first time...

Anyway, check out the full list below!

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

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. This list contains more off-meta and counter-meta placements that do well against popular picks.

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!

Be sure to check out our new Optimal Champion Bans by Division Listing!

Patch 7.16 Summary

Buffs: Fiora, Sion, Vi, Fizz

Nerfs: Caitlyn, Maokai, Corki, Galio, Leblanc, Orianna, Taliyah

Tweaks: Cassiopeia, Syndra

Updates

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Toolkit and Options

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The Tier List

God Tier List

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

Mid Lane	Malzahar, Ahri, Anivia, Annie
Jungle	Cho'Gath, Sejuani, Maokai
Top Lane	Darius, Jarvan IV, Maokai
Marksman	Twitch, Draven, Tristana
Support	Janna, Blitzcrank, Soraka

God Tier Rising:
God Tier Falling: Maokai (Top/Jungle)

Tier 1

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

Mid-Lane: Kassadin, Katarina, Twisted Fate, Aurelion Sol, Vel'Koz, Xerath, Talon, Zed, Ziggs, Zilean, Fizz, Orianna

Jungle: Nunu, Jax, Warwick, Gragas, Rammus, Dr. Mundo, Kha'Zix, Elise, Rek'Sai, Ivern, Jarvan IV, Shyvana, Master Yi, Nocturne, Vi, Lee Sin, Kindred, Nidalee, Kayn

Top: Kled, Jax, Irelia, Riven, Pantheon, Yasuo, Talon, Jayce, Wukong, Singed, Tryndamere, Cho'gath, Akali, Swain, Garen, Quinn, Sion, Renekton, Kayle, Nasus, Yorick, Camille

Marksman: Jinx, Jhin, Kog'Maw, Vayne, Miss Fortune, Lucian

Support: Sona, Taric, Alistar, Lulu, Nami, Karma, Rakan, Bard, Zyra, Zilean

Tier 1 Rising: Kassadin (Mid), Nasus (Top), Jayce (Top), Quinn (Top), Shyvana (Jungle), Singed (Top), Sion (Top), Sona (Support), Vi (Jungle), Wukong (Top), Zed (Mid)
Tier 1 Falling: Jhin (Marksman), Lucian (Marksman), Miss Fortune (Marksman), Orianna (Mid)

Tier 2

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

Mid-Lane: Taliyah, Syndra, Karthus, Ekko, Lux, Yasuo, Corki, Leblanc, Morgana, Kayle, Brand, Jayce, Viktor, Karma, Cassiopeia, Gangplank, Swain, Veigar, Diana, Lissandra, Vladimir, Akali, Gragas, Lucian, Galio, Azir, Heimerdinger

Jungle: Evelynn, Shaco, Zac, Graves, Xin Zhao, Hecarim, Amumu, Skarner, Rengar, Rumble, Wukong, Olaf, Poppy, Volibear, Trundle, Pantheon, Udyr, Twitch, Quinn, Aatrox, Sion, Fizz, Nautilus, Ekko

Top: Aatrox, Fiora, Galio, Rumble, Gangplank, Trundle, Gragas, Malphite, Teemo, Nautilus, Mordekaiser, Illaoi, Shen, Kennen, Poppy, Olaf, Fizz, Ekko, Kayn, Graves, Gnar, Rammus, Rengar, Warwick, Lissandra, Vladimir, Cassiopeia, Karma, Urgot, Tahm Kench, Diana, Kassadin

Marksman: Caitlyn, Ashe, Kalista, Sivir, Ziggs, Varus, Xayah, Ezreal

Support: Thresh, Braum, Leona, Sion, Brand, Morgana, Tahm Kench, Vel'Koz, Nautilus, Maokai

Tier 2 Rising:
Tier 2 Falling: Aatrox (Top), Karthus (Mid), Syndra (Mid), Taliyah (Mid), Sion (Support), Thresh (Support), Xin Zhao (Jungle)

Tier 3

[Needs Higher Skill or Knowledge Than Usual | Counterpicks]

Mid-Lane: Kennen, Ryze, Cho'Gath, Pantheon, Quinn, Wukong, Nasus, Lulu, Mordekaiser, Zyra, Sona, Kog'Maw (AP), Varus, Urgot, Ezreal (AP), Teemo, Jarvan IV, Ezreal (AD), Jhin, Riven, Fiddlesticks, Malphite

Jungle: Galio, Kayle, Malphite, Diana, Camille, Riven, Talon, Tryndamere, Kled, Mordekaiser, Irelia, Fiddlesticks, Tahm Kench, Kog'Maw

Top: Sejuani, Shaco, Dr. Mundo, Zed, Volibear, Ryze, Vayne, Lulu, Heimerdinger, Xin Zhao, Nunu, Malzahar, Nidalee, Rek'Sai, Karthus, Lee Sin, Kha'Zix, Vi, Shyvana, Taric

Marksman: Kennen, Quinn, Corki, Graves, Urgot, Kindred

Support: Malzahar, Galio, Cho'Gath, Camille, Fiddlesticks, Trundle, Annie, Poppy, Volibear, Malphite, Shaco, Shen, Xerath, Veigar, Lux, Gragas, Nunu, Kayle, Kennen, Taliyah, Syndra

Tier 3 Rising:
Tier 3 Falling: 

Tier 4

[Low Benefits for Effort Used]

Mid-Lane: Kha'Zix, Nidalee, Master Yi, Tristana (AP), Evelynn, Tahm Kench

Jungle: Nasus, Gangplank, Fiora, Karthus, Shen, Darius, Zed, Malzahar, Aurelion Sol, Taric, Garen, Alistar, Yorick

Top: Blitzcrank, Udyr, Taliyah, Alistar, Leblanc, Elise, Braum

Marksman: Twisted Fate, Mordekaiser, Thresh

Support: Miss Fortune, Elise, Pantheon, Teemo, Ashe, Anivia, Lee Sin, Gangplank, Orianna, Yorick, Lissandra, 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 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.

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

• Caitlyn [Tier 2 Marksman] - Post-nerf Caitlyn performs poorly on the charts, sporting one of the two lowest win rates of any marksman on the rift. Not only did Riot nerf her early lane phase power, but with the influx of tanks and assassin buffs on the rift, marksmen are weaker in general if they're not late game hypercarries like Twitch or Draven.
• Kassadin [Tier 1 Mid] - Kassadin's one of those champions that can snowball a game by himself. However, if he doesn't have good roaming pressure his team can quickly be baited into a 5v5 ARAM mid against high waveclear, long-range champions. As long as this doesn't happen though, Kassadin is an extremely powerful laner that can dominate the rift once he hits level six.
• Kayn [Tier 1 Jungle] - The Kayn effect is starting to show. One of the top two most played junglers directly under Lee Sin, Kayn and Lee sport a bottom four win rate in solo queue. This results in over 60% of the junglers in the game having an above 50% win rate. This doesn't deter players from picking him though! Despite the fact that most people don't do well with him, he's certainly still a power pick if you can snowball and feels great once you get going. Gotta warn you though, even players with over 200 games on him are still at a sub 50%.
• Lee Sin [Tier 1 Jungle] - Similar to the Kayn effect, the Lee effect is also extremely strong in the current meta. As the most played jungler in the game, Lee always has a major impact on other junglers across the board. However, unlike Kayn, players with over 50 games as Lee start seeing some serious fruits to their labors. In the current meta, Lee still continues his usual damage + tank build, but if you get bored or really ahead, his full lethality build is also remincent of the old Bloodthirster builds.
• Maokai [God Tier Top] - Even after his nerfs, Maokai continues to be very powerful as a top laner. He doesn't get quite as much percentage damage as before on his sapling toss, but sapling bush cheeses are overrated anyway. The downside is that he does get a little bit of a reduced objective control around Baron, since with tanks leading the way through unwarded territory his saplings get a lot of percentage health damage in.
• Orianna [Tier 1 Mid] - The constant staple of mid-lane, Orianna received quite a substantial nerf this time around. Although the damage nerf doesn't look particularly big and she also got a slight quality of life buff, the damage nerf makes it more difficult for players to reliably waveclear early on without tossing in a few more auto-attacks for a clean clear. The shield reduction also makes it more difficult for her to punish trades, resulting in a much more balanced Orianna.
• Quinn [Tier 1 Top] - In this world of lethality, it's a surprise that Quinn hasn't meandered back to the top yet. Part of this is likely due to the tank meta setting in, but she still does extremely well if she cheeses hard during the early levels of laning phase. With her massive roam potential, Edge of Night + Youmuu's  + Duskblade is absolutely bonkers on her.
• Taliyah [Tier 2 Mid] - Taliyah may not have needed much of a nerf, but the slight increase in her Threaded Volley [Q] mana cost does reduce her ability to punish opponents early on in the game for her early cheese.

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, check out the list of strongest potential champions in each position!

Be sure to check out our new Optimal Champion Bans by Division Listing!