League of Legends Solo Queue Tier Lists for Patch 12.9:

Welcome to the longest-running League of Legends tier list in the world. This tier list is created using statistical analysis coupled with nearly a decade of experience in League of Legends. Specially curated for players that aren’t already God’s gift to the world, this list is for the humble player looking to climb without massive hours dedicated to mastering champions.

Trusted for our consistent updates and constant feedback, this list is as much yours as it is ours. If you disagree with any champion placements feel free to post in the comment section! We’ll gladly either voice our opinion or enter into a discussion on champion placement.

Read on to see the tier list that’s granted millions of players around the world massive success in their League of Legends ranked climb.

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
SOLO QUEUE LOL TIER LIST
SEASON 12 – PATCH 12.9

Welcome to the longest-running League of Legends tier list in the world. This tier list is created using statistical analysis coupled with nearly a decade of experience in League of Legends. Specially curated for players that aren’t already God’s gift to the world, this list is for the humble player looking to climb without massive hours dedicated to mastering champions.

Read on to see the tier list that’s granted millions of players around the world massive success in their League of Legends ranked climb.

Patch 12.9 Tier List Update Summary

Mid lane’s seeing some shifts this patch with reworks to Taliyah and Pyke in play, with Taliyah being the big winner and Pyke being the big loser. Meanwhile, we’re moving a potentially controversial old friend into God Tier despite his high skill ceiling while still blocking a dear pirate from reaching his Godhood some of you have demanded he ascend to.

Check out the full tier list below!

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Contents and Related Links:

Optimal Champion Bans by Division
Strongest Potential Champions – Champions with the highest potential in the game

Patch 12.9 Summary

Tier List | Solo Queue | 12.16 | League of Legends Tier List

Updates

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Toolkit and Options

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LoL Tier List For Solo Queue

The tier lists below start at the strongest champions on the tier list and is ordered from left to right in power level. The tier lists are also separated into multiple segments for ease of understanding, but champions from a higher segment of the tier list may still lose to a counter pick from a lower-tier segment of the tier list.

Full LoL Tier List For Solo Queue

The tier list below lists every viable champion in the game along with a few unorthodox picks that can still perform fairly well. This tier list is meant to organize every viable champion in the game into an order with the average experienced player in mind. Generally speaking, this is somewhere between silver and platinum. This tier list can also be used for higher divisions, but the higher you go, the more specialized at specific champions you become.

God Tier List

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

Mid Lane	Ahri, Vex, Taliyah
Jungle	Graves, Rek’Sai, Talon
Top Lane	Darius, Poppy, Sett
Bot Lane	Lucian, Samira, Ezreal
Support	Blitzcrank, Nautilus, Leona

Rising to God Tier: Ezreal (Bot), Taliyah (Mid)

Tier 1

[Strong/Preferred Choices | Good Effort to Benefit Ratio | Works Well In Solo Queue]

Mid-Lane: Qiyana, Talon, Katarina, Viktor, Zoe, Akshan, Galio, Fizz, Lucian, Zed, Leblanc, Anivia, Pantheon, Sylas, Lissandra, Kassadin, Yone, Aurelion Sol, Akali, Yasuo

Jungle: Shaco, Nidalee, Poppy, Diana, Karthus, Nocturne, Elise, Fiddlesticks, Viego, Ekko, Kha’Zix, Warwick, Rammus

Top: Wukong, Garen, Gangplank, Tahm Kench, Renekton, Akshan, Rengar, Camille, Shen, Malphite, Akali, Jayce, Fiora, Riven, Maokai, Graves, Jax, Sion, Kled, Quinn, Heimerdinger, Teemo, Viktor, Aatrox, Cassiopeia, Kennen, Irelia

Bot Lane: Kai’Sa, Jhin, Jinx, Ziggs, Vayne, Ashe, Miss Fortune, Twitch, Swain, Draven, Sivir, Tristana

Support: Senna, Renata Glasc, Yuumi, Lulu, Lux, Pyke, Soraka, Morgana, Xerath, Rell, Thresh, Janna, Alistar, Amumu, Bard, Rakan, Gragas, Swain, Galio

Rising to Tier 1: Katarina (Mid), Nocturne (Jungle), Renekton (Top), Talon (Mid), Xerath (Support)

Falling to Tier 1:

Tier 2

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

Mid-Lane: Lux, Rumble, Ekko, Irelia, Malzahar, Xerath, Veigar, Diana, Annie, Vladimir, Malphite, Morgana, Viego, Ziggs, Syndra, Cassiopeia, Seraphine, Twisted Fate, Corki, Nocturne, Brand, Heimerdinger, Vel’Koz, Kled, Zilean, Kai’Sa, Karthus, Swain, Wukong, Zeri, Orianna

Jungle: Xin Zhao, Nunu, Zac, Kindred, Evelynn, Jarvan IV, Rengar, Vi, Olaf, Sejuani, Gwen, Rumble, Dr. Mundo, Skarner, Shyvana, Volibear, Trundle, Kayn, Taliyah, Hecarim, Lee Sin, Master Yi, Jax

Top: Tryndamere, Ornn, Vayne, Dr. Mundo, Volibear, Gwen, Pantheon, Singed, Kayle, Sylas, Nasus, Gnar, Yasuo, Warwick, Lee Sin, Viego, Skarner, Olaf, Jarvan IV, Lissandra, Illaoi, Vladimir, Yorick, Yone, Gragas, Cho’gath, Urgot, Swain, Karma

Bot Lane: Xayah, Senna, Kog’Maw, Zeri, Caitlyn, Yasuo, Seraphine, Cassiopeia, Varus

Support: Maokai, Syndra, Zyra, Taric, Nami, Brand, Braum, Zilean, Sona, Karma, Shaco, Seraphine, Anivia, Tahm Kench, Vel’Koz, Vex, Pantheon,

Rising to Tier 2:

Falling to Tier 2: Corki (Mid), Malzahar (Mid), Lux (Mid), Taliyah (Jungle), Twisted Fate (Mid), Vi (Jungle), Xayah (Bot), Xerath (Mid)

Tier 3

[Needs Higher Skill or Knowledge | Counterpicks]

Mid-Lane: Azir, Neeko, Jayce, Camille, Garen, Tristana, Tryndamere, Ryze, Karma, Gwen, Aatrox, Kennen, Pyke, Gangplank, Fiddlesticks, Ezreal, Zyra, Gragas, Kog’Maw (AP), Cho’Gath, Rakan, Quinn, Lulu, Sona, Varus

Jungle: Amumu, Morgana, Ivern, Lillia, Gragas, Zed, Udyr, Sylas, Sett, Malphite, Wukong, Maokai, Cho’Gath, Pantheon

Top: Mordekaiser, Nocturne, Hecarim, Rumble, Lucian, Soraka, Nautilus, Neeko, Ryze, Malzahar, Shaco, Galio

Bot Lane: Aphelios, Kalista, Heimerdinger, Quinn, Corki, Akshan

Support: Shen, Ashe, Veigar, Twitch, Fiddlesticks, Neeko, Jarvan IV, Poppy, Annie, Malphite

Rising to Tier 3:
Falling to Tier 3: Pyke (Mid)

Tier 4

[Low Benefit Based On Effort Used]

Mid-Lane: Nasus, Sion, Teemo, Jarvan IV, Riven, Jhin

Jungle: Darius, Tryndamere, Riven, Nasus, Tahm Kench, Qiyana

Top: Rammus

Bot Lane: Twisted Fate, Veigar

Support: Ornn, Sion, Trundle, Leblanc, Miss Fortune, Teemo

Falling to Tier 4:

New Player LoL Tier List

Many users have requested a summarized tier list that just includes suggested champions to play for new players. The tier list below includes the best beginner champions. The tier list is also organized from most beginner-friendly to least beginning friendly (Top, Bot, Support, Mid, Jungle). Since jungle isn’t particularly beginner-friendly I’ve only included two champions on the list.

Top Tier List

God Tier: Malphite
Tier 1: Darius

Bot Tier List

God Tier: Miss Fortune
Tier 1: Jhin

Support Tier List

God Tier: Lux, Morgana
Tier 1: Lulu, Nautilus

Mid Tier List

God Tier: Ahri
Tier 1: Lissandra

Jungle Tier List

God Tier: Graves
Tier 1: Rammus

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 the 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

When making this tier list we initially considered using tier list descriptions similar to others with S-tier, A-tier etc. However, In the initial build of the tier list way back when we started, it was more popular to use a God Tier designation and then go down from there on the tier list. As a result, we’ve stuck by this concept through the years. However, since God Tier is supposed to be relatively exclusive on this tier list, we try and limit it to only three or four picks at most. This means that there may be champions that are close to God tier on this tier list, but don’t quite make it and are instead at the top of Tier 1.

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

In the past, some people complained that this tier list focused too much on win rates and not enough on play rates. However, this tier list takes into account both win rates and play rates before performing analysis on the champion. Just because there’s a high correlation on win rates and position on the tier list doesn’t indicate that this tier list is solely based on win rates, if anything the champion power level drives the win rates and supports the claim to validity.

League of Legends is an extremely intricate game and this tier list strives to be as accurate as possible to give you the strongest champion picks. We ordered them on the tier list based on what is most likely to give you the highest chance of winning the game. However, the tier list will over time, have a bias towards win rates since this does indicate that the ordering is accurate and not prone to fluctuations in play rate.

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 do not mean that they’re necessarily GOOD right now, especially if they have a low play rate 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 lane 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 lane may give you enough to win a game.

Check out a few of our more popular champion counter guides:

Yasuo Counters
Darius Counters
Vayne Counters
Leblanc Counters
More available here

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LoL Tier List Champion Explanations

Ahri [God Tier Mid]

Despite the nerfs this patch, Ahri continues to roll high in God Tier. She’s certainly weaker now in this patch both as a standalone champion or even compared to her peers with Taliyah getting a massive buff. However, she is still a very stable mid-lane champion that should be part of every mid-laner’s repitoire. Her waveclear is good, her roam clear is effective, and her multiple dashes give her an excellent margin of safety post-level 6.

Ezreal [God Tier Bot]

While Ezreal might be a very skill-intensive champion, the fact that he can remain at a positive win ratio with the highest marksman pick ratio in the game (by far) does say something about his ability to hold out during his relatively weak early game. Generally, marksmen picks bot lane should be selected with the assumption that you’ll be going against either him or Lucian or Kai’Sa. That being said, Ezreal’s mid to late game is the safest of the three and not reliant on snowballing early. This allows him to be a champion that you can push a little higher with as you play against “better” players.

Gangplank [Tier 1 Top]

Gangplank remains the most popular top laner for another patch in a row. He’s very fun and relatively safe in lane, but he does have certain popular hard-counters like Riven or Aatrox that make it nearly impossible for him to farm effectively and get to the late-game he so desires. Certain other lane bullies like Darius also make it very difficult for him to play the early-game, but don’t have as much mobility. That being said, he’s an excellent pick that is borderline God Tier but will require a good amount of practice.

Katarina [Tier 1 Mid]

Low-key rising in popularity as more skill shot oriented mid-lane champions hop into the fray, Katarina continues to grow stronger in the meta for her ability to snowball through team fights. Inadvertently, Yuumi’s slight rise in popularity the last few patches has also given Katarina a much greater chance of success without as many tanky hard-CC champions in the way to stop her from steamrolling enemy teams.

Pyke [Tier 1 Support/Tier 3 Mid]

The latest changes to Pyke have significantly reduced the amount of personal gold he receives, and also make it more difficult for him to recover health from assertive roaming. Other than that, he plays largely the same as support with no discernable changes. That being said, his mid-lane abilities were borderline gutted but he’s still viable as a roamer with the caveat that he’ll now be a non-traditional mid-lane.

Taliyah [God Tier Mid/Tier 2 Jungle]

The big winner of this patch, Taliyah mid! The latest changes to her kit now give her more versatility when playing on worked ground, which gives her the option of granting her crowd-control. This allows her to play close to the circle much like a Gangplank standing near a barrel. The stun available on her E also gives her more counter-play against heavy mobility champions, previously a large weakness. That being said, her kit was certainly shifted around a bit to account for this new mid-lane dominance and her jungle is weaker as a result. More details on how to play her are available here!

Wukong [Tier 1 Top]

Another product of the meta, Wukong is low-key the ultimate counter to the most popular champions in top-lane (Gangplank, Irelia, Fiora, and Darius). As a tricky melee champion that can politely walk-away from high-cooldown all-ins then reply with his own powerful burst, Wukong is the worst nightmare for champions that have low room for error and are forced to enter melee range to deal damage. He’s still easily countered by other obnoxious champions like Shen or Garen, but otherwise counterpicking him into most popular “ego” picks does generally result in a great laning phase.

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!