Quick LoR Ladder Update, July 3rd
Best Builds for Nineteen Meta and Off-Meta Decks
Howdy, folks,
As of early Sunday 3rd, this is how the top of the Meta (archetypes with play rates above 1%, and WR above 53%, in Platinum and above) looks like according to Balco:
The Top Dogs are familiar faces – they all were strong decks pre-patch.
The biggest changes to last week's Meta right now have to do with what's gone:
Viego Noxus, Ezreal Caitylin, Annie Ezreal and Yuumi Pantheon all seem to have been pushed to the fringes, with play rates below 0.1%,
Thralls still packs some punch, but with about only a small fraction of its former popularity,
Galio Bard is still popular, but WR and popularity have decreased a lot (even if it is still an above-50% WR deck, but only slightly so).
Personal opinion: With the Top Dogs remaining roughly the same, I would guess new concepts & decks may take a while to show up – it will be hard for novel, unpolished ideas to compete against well-refined decks that pilots have been playing for weeks or months.
About How Decklists are Curated & Presented
In this quick ladder overview, we'll provide the best decklists for specific archetypes (archetype being a specific champion pair).
In each archetype, some lists fare better than others (and sometimes the difference is quite noticeable) – we'll broadly group decklists in three groups, by amount of games played in the last few days:
Heavyweights: more than 900 games,
Welterweights: between 300 and 900 games,
Featherweights: between 90 and 300 games
These cut-offs are of course arbitrary – since most data samples I check are 24hs or three days, the above roughly translates to lists that have 30-100/100-300/300+ games per day.
Sources: Balco, Legna, Seth. All three provide 3-days data – Legna & Legna provides 24-hs data for free; Seth provides 24-hs data for Premium access.
If you have any feedback on how these decklists could be showcased differently, do let me know! =)
Heavyweights
For this quick overview, we'll group in Heavyweights those decklists (not archetypes, but the specific, exact decklist) with:
More than 900 games in the last three days, and
WR above 53%
The lists below are ordered by play rate. If an archetype is not shown here, it means that it has no decklists in the specific range.
For example, TF Nami does have decklists with more than 900 games, but none of those lists make the 53% WR cut (we'll find such lists among Welterweights, though).
Annie Jhin
The Virtuoso and the blazing brat are among the biggest winners this patch – it's hard to tell how much it's due to shifts in the meta, and how much due to the refinement process this archetype overwent, but when both play rate and WR and taken into account, the decklist recommended below is arguably the best in the game right now: WR over 54% and nearly 3,000 games played in the last three days, seeing play in all three shards.
Brat and Virtuose prey on Ahri Bard, Azirelia, and Hecarim blends – it does suffer in the hands of several other strong archetypes, namely Heimer Jayce, Nami TF, Vi Zoe Aphelios and Jarvan Poppy Bard, which may spell trouble once the meta settles down.
(Miss Fortune) Annie TF
Biggest success story of this patch: it's the archetype with the largest play rate, and the recommended decklist below (featuring Miss Fortune) has, across 1,500 games, the highest WR (above 55%) among the Heavyweights showcased today.
And, in fact, the archetype overall seems so good that Annie TF has a second decklist [HERE] (without Miss Fortune in this case) among the Heavyweights: similar play rate (around 1,500 games), and punches above 54%.
This is one archetype that is very happy to see Thralls gone. It currently has no big predators among the Meta decks (being weak only to Trundle Tryndamere, Caitlyn Trundle and Annie Ziggs), while being favored against many of the currently popular decks: Azirelia, Annie Jhin, Ahri Bard, and Heimer Jayce.
Vi Zoe Aphelios
The Chomper menace keeps chewing foes left and right, and Thralls exiting the meta was really good news for Winding Light and friends.
Its current Achilles' heel would be Thresh Nasus, and other lousy matchups include Heimer Jayce and TF Nami. Other than that, Vi Zoe Aphelios is favored against most of the field, and against Ahri Bard and Annie Jhin in particular.
The list below goes well above 54% in more than 1,400 games.
Jarvan IV Poppy Bard
Jarvan would be proud: nerfs are nothing to Demacia's fighting spirit!
While decaying in popularity a bit, this Champ trio has lost none of its power: the decklist below reaches 54% across 1,200 games.
It's weak to Heimer Jayce, Vi Zoe Aphelios, and Ashe LeBlanc – the latter not doing too well overall is probably good news for the Prince and the Caretaker.
Ahri Bard
The only other Bard decklist we'll list today, which I mention since I've chatted with folks that think Bard is overtaking the Meta: by current numbers, he clearly isn't.
He's certainly strong, popular and flexible (he's one of the champions most often paired with), but is quite less played than Annie, and roughly as played as Twisted Fate, to put two examples.
In particular, Ahri Bard's current success is in large part explained by how it wrecks weaker archetypes, but is itself weak to TF Annie, Azirelia (if only slightly), Annie Jhin, Vi Zoe Aphelios and Jarvan Bard Poppy.
The recommended list below is the second most popular, punching above 54%.
(NOTE: just like last patch, the lower-to-the-ground version recommended above fares better than the most popular version, which features a heavier top end with Sai'nen Thousand-tailed; I'll include the Sai'nen list here, for reference, but this one performs a bit below 53%)
Welterweights
For this quick overview, we'll group in Welterweights those decklists (not archetypes, but the specific decklist) with:
Between 300 and 900 games in the last three days, and
WR above 53%
The lists below are ordered by play rate.
Twisted Fate Nami (SI)
TF Nami's most popular list (with more than 1,200 games) only reaches 51%, so we'll recommend its second most popular, that goes well above 54% in more than 700 games.
This archetype is not happy with Azir, suffering when facing both Azirelia and Sun Disc (although the latter seems to have fallen on harsh times, and one would guess will see diminished play in the future).
Jarvan Poppy Bard is fairly bad news, too, and so are Fizz Riven and Jayce Lux.
Katarina Ziggs Annie (SH)
Nearly 600 games in the last three days, and the highest WR from among all the Heavyweight and Welterweight decklists…
… who said aggro is not a thing in this meta? =)
A good option for roller-coaster lovers, by the way, with good matchups being a steamroll, and bad matchups being a pitfall: this deck absolutely wrecks TF Nami, Azirelia, Annie Jhin and Ahri Bard, while in turn gets roflstomped by Vi Zoe Aphelios and Jarvan Poppy Bard (and Deep, but you shouldn't run into them too much).
Azirelia
This is one of the most popular archetypes…
… but its most popular list (included for reference [HERE]) is not doing well, performing below 50% – something seems to have shifted in the meta, since it was doing fairly well two days ago.
The currently best Azirelia decklist, reaching 53% in nearly 600 games, is the one found below.
Thresh Nasus
This old classic heard Azirelia was a thing, and said, "Hey, why not?"
Thresh Nasus' most played decklist has more than 400 games and makes the 54% WR cut. It dies (horribly) to TF decks, preys on Azirelia, and seems to have a fairly mild matchup spread otherwise.
Aphelios Viktor
A few weeks ago, Aphelios Viktor seemed like a very solid alternative to the other Winding Chomper menace, namely Vi Zoe Aphelios. While it never lived up to such promise, it did remain a very solid, if fringe, option.
The recommended decklists performs above 55% in around 330 games.
Bandle Fizz Riven
One of the archetypes to keep an eye on: one of the best matchup spreads, being weak only to Ahri Bard, Jarvan Poppy Bard and Vi Zoe Aphelios – otherwise, it's even or favored against everything else.
Featherweights
For this quick overview, we'll group in Featherweights those decklists (not archetypes, but the specific decklist) with:
Between 90 and 300 games in the last three days, and
WR above 53%
Notice we're in the land of small/tiny data samples – proceed with caution, but this is usually where you find the spice!! =)
Kalista Elise Shurima
Pairing Kalista with Hecarim has not panned out, but her joining forces with Elise and Mistwraiths shows quite a bit of promise: 54% WR in nearly 300 games.
The twist? Shurima is there only to provide access to Sands of Time, even if the deck has no landmarks.
Pyke Rek'sai, aka Lurkers
Lurkers are an Off-Meta deck now…
… and are doing grand in the fringes! =)
Tryndamere Trundle (SI)
For newer players (and above all those that enjoy Control playstyles), this may be an interesting option: another former Meta Staple pushed to the fringes, TryTrund has one of the highest WR among Lightweight decklists.
It's very weak to Azirelia, but wrecks TF Annie (and Vi Zoe Aphelios). And, interestingly, it's also weak to Hecarim decks, so it may fare better once the meta settles down.
Lux Jayce
This is a tale of many ups and downs when it comes to popularity!
Lux Jayce enjoyed the spotlight by the second week of Worldwaker, was later pushed into obscurity, and resurfaces now – although it bears noting that, regardless of popularity, it always performed well…
… and keeps doing so: the archetypes' most popular goes well above 55%, and its matchup table is superb, fearing only Heimer Jayce, Fizz Riven, Sun Disc and Deep (with the latter two predators being on the downswing).
Heimerdinger Jayce (SI)
The Professor and Student's most popular decklist didn't make the Middleweight cut by very little (52% across more than 800 games; included here for reference).
Its third most popular list, shared below, makes the 53% cut with 200 games played.
The 2-1 Twisted Fate Sejuani Weirdness
Ah, the weird brew – goes for one-mana units (it even plays Jagged Taskmaster) and a two-health champ like TF...
… but also plays Blighted Ravine!?
A deck that puzzles me to no end, and that we've seen on the previous patch pulling great results – nearly 55% in 180 games in this case, to be precise.
Miss Fortune Quinn, aka Scouts
Are Scouts back?
Small sample, but amazing WR!
In Closing
Nerfs and buffs don't seem to have changed the Meta that much…
… yet, as we've seen above, things are far from stable: one the meta settles (that's to say, once folks stop playing bad Hecarim decks) and pilots get a clear picture of what beats what, the field may change quite a bit.
Any questions or comments, or more data you may need, feel free to:
Poke me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HerkoKerghans,
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And good luck in your climb!
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