Quick LoR Ladder Update
Best Builds for Fourteen Meta and Off-Meta Decks
As of Tuesday early afternoon (EST), this is how the top of the charts look like according to Balco:
In this quick ladder overview, we'll provide the best lists for:
The above six best-performing decks,
Best builds for Tri-beam and Deep ('cos folks keep asking for them… =)
Best builds for Jhinnie and Zed Bard, again (Wake up, some of y'all!! You're still playing the awful list, c'mon!!)
A few off-meta brews that are making waves.
By the way: this is not a comprehensive list of every strong deck out there, and there's a lot of stuff in the 51-53% WR bracket – we're focusing here on the by-the-numbers best performers in Platinum and above.
Cream of the Crop
These are the best-performing builds (53%+ WR) for Meta archetypes.
All these builds have 600+ games (some of them 2x-5x that) in the last three days – as well-tested as you can hope this early into a new Expansion.
Katarina Elise Viego
It's nice to be right! =)
As we mentioned last Sunday, mixing the Shirtless King with spiders and pings works grand – and the triple Champion title hides the true MVP: Legion Deserter. The list has cut one Arachnoid Sentry to make room for an extra Spirit Leech, and removed one Undergrowth to make room for an extra Disintegrate.
Its matchup table looks downright scary, being even or favored into most popular decks. Expect this deck to be all over the ladder soon: It's at the top of the charts, and the Blue Bird is chirping gleefully about it
Counters? Ezreal Caitlyn, Fizz Aphelios, Scouts, and in particular Heimer Jayce Shadows (although the latter's sample is rather small).
Jarvan IV Illaoi
As Leer's fond of saying, anything with Petricite Broadwing and Brightsteel Protector is probably a good idea – add Tentacles and Rallies for good measure!
Very favored into Jhinnie, Thralls and Deep. Lurkers seem to find Tentacles most chewy, though, and Yummi Pantheon wrecks Krakens most thoroughly.
Miss Fortune Quinn, aka Scouts
Brightsteel Broadwings, with Fortune favoring them. Yes, you can never go wrong with Scouts.
Eats Annie builds, Deep and Zed Bard for breakfast. Unhappy with Thralls; weeps when seeing Demacian Kraken or Tri-beam decks.
Lissandra Taliyah, aka Thralls
Not sure if "hot" is the right word (more like 'thawing', I guess?) but 'boot in butt' befittingly illustrates the relationship between the Landmark Ladies and Ladder.
If you want a detailed know-how about this list (along with a handful of tips about the correct mindset for this archetype), you may want to check Tomc's How to Rule the World with Turbo Thralls.
This deck dislikes Jhinnie, and positively hates to stumble upon Demacian Krakens.
Yuumi Pantheon
You gotta give it to these two: a Demacian list without Broadwings! =)
(Although some Pantheon decklists do include Broadwings, this particular build doesn't – and it's the best-performing by a mile).
Annie ruins their day, both when paired with Jhin or Ezreal (and even an otherwise mediocre Annie TF build), and Ezreal Caitlyn is bad news…
… rest of the popular options, this deck is either favored, or very favored.
Fizz Aphelios
Swarm, lifegain, and a Combo-ish top-end – the right tools to face most of the current field: AFaelios can hold its own, or readily beat, everything that is not Thralls or Demacian decks.
Ezreal Caitlyn
The Piltover Pair is arguably one of the most polarizing decks right now – we're including it here since this particular decklist has 55%+ WR over more than 600 games, and is a solid counter to severa popular decks, including the new hotness (Katarina Elise Viego), Demacian Krakens, and Yuumi Pantheon.
It gets absolutely wrecked by Thralls (perhaps unintuitively, given EzCait's access to landmark removal), Deep and Fizz Aphelios – as long as you are okay with a handful really bad matchups, the rest of the field looks quite rosy.
Nautilus Maokai, aka Deep
Deep as a whole is doing just okay (around 51% WR), but the decklist provided below sits at 54% with 1,600+ games played in the last three days – can't go wrong with it, above all if you run into Jhinnie builds.
Interestingly, Nautilus turned out to be the tamest thing in the ocean: Demacian Krakens, Lurkers and Fizz builds all give him trouble, so do keep that in mind.
Off the Radar
These are either good builds hiding in the midst of poorly-performing archetypes, or great builds that are not too popular (yet)
Zed Bard
The below list, which has a 54%+ WR, is literally THE MOST PLAYED DECKLIST, PERIOD.
Yet some of y'all still insist in playing some god-awful version to drag the archetype's WR down…
…. why?
I'm beginning to think this is all part of one of Zed's schemes, trying to hide in plain sight! =)
Jhinnie
A bit like with Zed's list above (and it just can't be coincidence, given Jhin's and Zed's past, right?), here's another case of a GREAT decklist hiding in the middle of other awful versions.
Stick to this one, folks; Jhinnie is hard enough to play as it is; no need to try to impress your audience by also trying to win with a bad version!
Fizz Riven
Another off-meta brew from last Sunday that is still below-radar, but getting well-deserved traction: 55%+ WR and 1,400+ games with this specific decklist (not to mention top pilots excited about it) means Fizz Riven is hardly a secret.
And most pilots in this case are on the correct list (see below), so expect popularity to increase.
Fears Zed Bard and Demacian Krakens. Wipes the floor with Annie Jhin, and shows who's the real boss at sea: neither Nautilus nor Pyke are a match for Fizz!
Garen Jarvan IV Illaoi
This is perhaps the best version of Demacian Kraken, although a lot less played – still, nearly 700 games with this specific list and nearly 57% WR is saying something!
Heimerdinger Jayce Shadows
This right here, folks: THIS, and no other, is the scariest thing lurking at the fringes of the meta.
WR is bonkers; fears only Thralls, and has a bit of a rough time with Jhinnie, but bloody murders Ezreal Annie, Lurkers, Katarina Elise Viego, Ezreal Caitlyn, Fizz Aphelios, Demacian Krakens…
It's surely connected to a smallish play rate (meaning most likely only experienced, hardcore fans are bringing it to the ladder), but numbers for a deck cannot possibly look better without it being downright broken.
Trundle Caitlyn
Like Gnarlines, with all the It That Stares and Buried in Ice shenanigans.
But with less Gnar, and more Caitlyn.
And Revna, the Lorekeeper!
Bonkers WR across 300 games — there seems to be something here for sure.
In Closing
Legion Desertet looks like this week’s meta breaker…
… some of last week’s new contenders (like Lux Illaoi) seem to have lost steam, but Demacian Krakens are still a thing…
… Fizz has returned with a vegeance: his pairing with Lulu is currently forgotten, but both Fizz Riven and Fizz Aphelios are kicking butts most firmly…
… don’t sleep on Heimer Jayce Shadows, folks — that thing looks scary.
Good luck out there! =)
