FOTM Report: Seraphine Bot

Seraphine tops the bot lane tier list right now, and almost nobody is actually playing her there.

Patch 26.13 pushed Seraphine into God Tier as a bot lane carry, sitting right next to Jinx and Senna at the top of the current solo queue tier list. She's still played far more often as a support, but the numbers say the bigger story is happening in the other bot lane role.

Check out the details on runes and builds below!

FOTM Report

Seraphine Bot Lane

God Tier · Patch 26.13

Seraphine tops the bot lane tier list right now, and almost nobody is actually playing her there.

Patch 26.13 pushed Seraphine into God Tier as a bot lane carry, sitting right next to Jinx and Senna at the top of the current solo queue tier list. She's still played far more often as a support, but the numbers say the bigger story is happening in the other bot lane role.

How to Play Seraphine Bot Lane

Abilities

Q, E, W then prioritize R > Q > E > W

Summoner Spells

Starting Items

Strategy

Poke from max range behind your support, stack your passive off nearby allies, and look for E roots you can immediately follow up with Q and your ultimate

Core Items

Seraphine Bot Lane Rune Setup

Primary: Arcane Comet, Manaflow Band, Transcendence, Scorch

Secondary: Magical Footwear, Biscuit Delivery

Support Synergies

Seraphine's kit doesn't care much which style of support she's paired with (her poke and shield hold up in a long trade, and her root turns a single landed engage into a full combo). The three supports below split between sustain and all-in.

Sona

Sona keeps a bot lane in an extended poke war that Seraphine is built to win. Her aura heals and shields stack right on top of Seraphine's own shield. The lane sustains through trades most bot lanes can't survive, and neither champion ever has to commit to an all-in.

Nautilus

Nautilus turns Seraphine into a guaranteed combo instead of a poke tool. His hook and knockup hold a target long enough for Seraphine to land her own root and ultimate on top. One good hook becomes a kill.

Thresh

Thresh gives you the Nautilus all-in with more room to change your mind. His hook opens the same window for Seraphine's root, and if the all-in doesn't land clean, his lantern and box get the lane out safely.

When to Pick Seraphine Bot

Pick Seraphine bot when you want a scaling poke mage in the carry role instead of a traditional marksman, and your support can commit to either an extended poke war or a coordinated engage. She has almost no mobility of her own. Whichever style of lane you commit to, your support has to cover it.

Part of why she's strong is that hardly anyone has practiced the matchup. Most bot lane opponents default to standard marksman fundamentals against her (they don't play around her range and shield timing), and that unfamiliarity alone accounts for a meaningful share of her current win rate.

How It Works

Stacks Off Her Own Team

Seraphine's passive grows in power the more allies are nearby when she uses abilities. So it rewards a bot lane that groups and trades together (a normal marksman plays in isolation).

Poke and Shield in One Kit

Her Q pokes from max range and her W shields whoever needs it most. She covers poke and peel in the same lane and never has to reposition to do it.

Team-Wide Engage From Range

Her ultimate roots and knocks up everything it passes through along a long line. Her lane partner gets a real engage tool without having to initiate.

Potential Pitfalls

Positioning Dependent and Squishy

Seraphine has almost no way to escape a bad fight on her own, and her entire kit falls apart if she gets caught out of position. A single flanking dive can remove her from a fight before she gets to do anything.

Lobbies Haven't Learned the Matchup Yet

Part of her current win rate comes from opponents who default to standard marksman lane fundamentals against a champion that doesn't play like one. As more bot lane opponents learn to punish her lack of mobility directly, expect her numbers to come back down toward the pack.

Conclusions

Seraphine bot is a real God Tier threat right now. A small sample isn't what's propping her up. She still asks a lot of her support pairing and her own positioning, but with the right partner she outperforms her far more popular support role by a wide margin.

Suggested Tier: God Tier (Bot)