League of Legends Solo Queue Tier lists for Patch 9.17:

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 9.17

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS TIER LISTS

"Best Champions to Climb With"

Patch 9.17 Tier List Update Summary

This time around we're seeing some interesting and unexpected builds pop up that are surprisingly strong. The first of which is Dr. Mundo, and he's really slipped under the radar from a sheer lack of interest. Meanwhile, Swain support is somehow a thing now believe it or not...more on that tomorrow.

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

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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 9.17 Summary

Buffs: Galio, Kalista, Leona, Lucian, Neeko, Pantheon, Ryze, Zyra
Nerfs: Qiyana
Tweaks: Aurelion Sol, Kayle

Updates

9/5: Added article on Swain support
9/7: Added Dr. Mundo jungle article

Toolkit and Options

Search for a Champion:

LoL Tier List

God Tier List

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

Mid Lane	Fizz, Ahri, Vladimir
Jungle	Dr. Mundo, Nunu, Elise
Top Lane	Kled, Pantheon, Illaoi
Bot Lane	Jinx, Xayah, Kai'Sa
Support	Nautilus, Pyke, Thresh

God Tier Rising: Dr. Mundo (Jungle), Nautilus (Support), Nunu (Jungle), Pantheon (Top), Xayah (Marksman)
God Tier Falling:

Tier 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tier 1 Rising: Ekko (Jungle), Janna (Support), Leona (Support), Nocturne (Mid), Poppy (Top), Zac (Jungle)
Tier 1 Falling: Darius (Top), Ekko (Mid), Jarvan IV (Jungle), Morgana (Support), Rek'Sai (Jungle), Riven (Top), 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, Skarner, Nasus, Cho'Gath, Gragas, Quinn, Twitch, Wukong

Top: Urgot, 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, Swain, Shen, Jarvan IV, Sion, Zilean, Ornn, Tahm Kench, Zoe, Maokai

Tier 2 Rising:
Tier 2 Falling: Urgot (Top)

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 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.

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

Dr. Mundo [God Tier Jungle]

Dr. Mundo has never been a "bad" jungler per se, but highly underplayed due to his simple and largely immobile kit. However, after nerf after nerf on other junglers it seems like his time has finally come to shine. He's extremely durable in the jungle, and capable of highly effective ganks later on. However, his greatest strength is clearly his insane durability, and almost every champion in the game will have difficulty killing him with Vayne out of the meta.

Janna [Tier 1 Support]

In the current meta full of all-in supports, Janna holds a special role as the premier disengage support. She's got all the tools necessary to prevent her team from dying while simultaneously ruining their plans for assassinating your allied hypercarry. Most players dislike her in lane for her lack of easy kill potential, but if she can get out of laning phase she's an incredible asset to any team.

Leona [Tier 1 Support]

The latest buffs on her kit were vital to her climb, but Leona's rise to fame is largely a result of her being similar, yet uniquely different from all the popular hook-based supports. Her ability to almost fully counter them is immense via her faster initiation and more reliable stuns. She's also much tankier than most all-in supports, allowing her to trade beneficially.

Nautilus [God Tier Support]

Nautilus is kind of like Leona in many ways, but also provides a knock-up in a world where Yasuo players are everywhere. Out of all the hook supports his hook runs the biggest, and with nerfs on other supports he's quickly come back into the meta.

Nocturne [Tier 1 Mid]

Nocturne mid is largely overlooked an underplayed. His ability to bully lanes is still extremely high, and many people underestimate his dueling power since they're more used to his burst damage. His powerful roaming ability remains one of the best in the game, and messing up with him is difficult as a result of his straight-forward kit.

Pantheon [God Tier Top]

Popping Pantheon into God Tier may raise some eyebrows, but honestly he's the strongest early game champion out there and capable of completely controlling the pace of the game by himself. His damage in lane is incredibly good, and he's one of the few champions that can dive effectively by making good use of his execute damage and his E damage reduction.

Poppy [Tier 1 Top]

Poppy's rise is largely a result of the change in meta. Her damage has always been good for a tank, but with all the various dash supports out there, Poppy is extremely valuable in negating the majority of their skillset (Irelia, Pantheon, Riven, etc.)

Swain [Tier 2 Support]

As a bot laner, Swain is nothing new. However, players have discovered that he's just as effective as a support as a result of his high utility and powerful scaling. Surprisingly, while most Swain builds are fairly expensive, he operates well with his long-range poke and far reaching claw. While he still doesn't feel like an AMAZING support, he's definitely viable enough to work. More on this later.

Xayah [God Tier Bot]

We're pushing Xayah up a level this patch simply because she's a more consistent carry than Kai'Sa. While Kai'Sa's Q is obviously more reliable, Xayah is more of a reactive champion than a decision-making one like Kai'Sa. As a result, she's better able to capitalize on enemy mistakes and less prone to make her own.

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!