LoR Ladder News: It's Deep All the Way Up
And Yordles. Yordles with big frikkin' guns!
Howdy folks!
As of Friday, with around 40 hours of data since the LoR patch 4.0.0 landed, this is how the most popular decks look like – do notice that, this early in a fresh Legends of Runeterra meta, sample sizes are on the smallish end of the spectrum:
Like yesterday, the Runeterra ladder shows a nice mixture of something old, something new, something buffed, and something nerfed (yet still kicking!).
Deep looks like a clear winner in the current field (it was already a strong deck, and Samira Fizz was its main predator); something similar seems to happen with Lurkers, although it's a bit of a fringe deck by play rate right now;
Teemo Tristana is the hot new trend, with amazing win and play rates,
The Desert Rose has taken several blows, but several of her brews are still in the fight;
Something similar happened to Ashe LeBlanc, which shows okay numbers (although far from its previous top-shelf performance),
Karma Sett, on the other hand, has absorbed the brunt of the nerfs and, from a middling deck yesterday, is shooting upwards.
There are plenty of other LoR decks doing well today, so let's check them out!
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Cream of the Crop
Strong Options:
News from the Fringe
Cream of the Crop: Best LoR Decks Right Now
Here you'll find the decks that look like the safest bets in this hectic new LoR meta – all of them with:
At least 800 games played (which is a bit on the small end when looking at three-day data samples, as we usually do for these reports, but which is fairly high when the patch has been out for around half that time), and
Sky-high win rates (well above 55%, which would be broken in a settled-down meta, but is not unusual in the first few days of a patch).
Frequent readers will probably guess that the "Too early to tell" caveat is what comes next, so let's not disappoint them: New patch, fresh LoR meta, hard to guess how things will look like in the next few days…
… but, having said that, the current trend is what you'd expect for a balance patch: Good decks that were left untouched are still good (and perform even better if their main predator was nerfed, like in Deep's case).
The exception here is Teemo Tristana, putting the buffed Bandle Gunners to good use.
Deep on Top: Maokai Nautilus
Providing a solid buff to silly puns, the recent balance patch left Maokai Nautilus untouched while neutering its main predator (Samira Fizz) thus giving us wordsmiths an endless stream of "It's Deep Up There!" opportunities, but regardless: Deep is quite possibly the best LoR deck right now, and surely the most played, with a 57%+ win rate across 2300 games with the best Maokai Nautilus version.
Nautilus Maokai Deck – Link to full build
Making Deep even happier is the fact that Karma Sett, which Deep destroys, is still popular (and for good reason, as we'll see in a bit) – but there's always a but: the hottest new trend in town, Teemo Tristana, looks like the new Samira Fizz as far as Deep is concerned.
Yordles, Yay! Teemo Tristana
Did you come for something new?
Well, here's new! Teemo Tristana is the scariest-looking thing out there: the most popular Teemo Trist deck, packing quite a handful of Noxian spells, is only slightly behind Deep in play rate while matching it in win rate…
… and that's not even the best Teemo Trist deck – a slightly different version, relying a bit more on Bandle City spells, punches even harder, at 58%+ across 1,500+ games.
Teemo Tristana Deck – Link to full build
And if you don't happen to think this one is scary, let me tell you who does: Deep. Turns out Fizz is not the only Yordle that can chew Deep for brunch – Teemo Tristana slices big fat fishes into sashimi, too.
The Yordles are also bad news for Lurkers, Karma Sett, and Ashe LeBlanc – the only brews reliably able to put the furry pair at bay come from Demacia: Illaoi Jarvan, and Aatrox Quinn Vayne
Zaun Goes Boom: Ekko Jinx
Ekko Jinx's story is a common one today:
Solid Deck Pre-patch + Unfettered by Nerfs = Great Deck Now
And by "great" we mean a silly 58% across nearly 1,000 games.
It's a fair bet that these past-broken performances won't last (even the best decks usually lose 3-4% in win rate in the first weekend after a new patch… unless they are Ziggs Acolytes; but we don't talk about Ziggs Acolytes), but between Ekko Jinx fitting today's formula for success, and showing really good numbers, it looks like Zaun's a cozy place to be right now.
Ekko Jinx Deck – Link to full build
The red flags here are an uphill struggle against Teemo Trist, and the Zaunites being completely out of their depth against Nautilus' school, so we'll see where things land.
Exaggerated Reports: Karma Sett
Now, this one is an interesting story (albeit also frustrating, perhaps, depending on which side of the Rubin coin you're on).
What was, until last week, Karma Sett's best deck now looks pretty dead…
… but calling Karma Sett dead would be a gross exaggeration: a different build, a bit lighter on followers, is doing great right now.
Karma Sett Deck – Link to full build
It does share the same red flags as Ekko Jinx, namely having a really bad day if Deep or Yordles are in the way, and Illaoi Jarvan is also a rough matchup. But, by current numbers, and despite Karma's nerf, the LoR Mint is still printing LPs!
The Prince's Brews: Jarvan Illaoi, and Jarvan Shen
Nothing too surprising about Illaoi Jarvan in the current context: fits today's "Great Deck Left Untouched" success story to a tee.
Priestess and Prince are, in fact, the deck with the highest winrate that you'll find in this "Cream of the Crop" section (and, in the whole article, it's only second to Aatrox Quinn Vayne, as we'll see in a bit):
Illaoi Jarvan Deck – Link to full build
But here's the interesting twist: a bit out of left field (since it was neither a strong deck pre-patch, nor received a buff), Shen Jarvan nearly matches Illaoi Jarvan's performance, punching at 58% in about 800 games.
Shen Jarvan Deck – Link to full build
Shen Jarvan has a serious problem with Deep but seems a clear winner against the remaining Samira blends, and Lurkers.
Illaoi Jarvan dies horribly to Lurkers, but beats Deep and Yordles.
The Rock: Taliyah Malphite
Add a plus one to Team “Good Before, Untouched Now” Team!
GrandpaRoji's baby had its best run ever during the previous patch cycle, and this new post-balance landscape suits it like a rock glove: a smashing 56% win rate in about 800 games, this may be another LoR meta for Papa Mountain to break!
Malphite Taliyah Deck – Link to full build
Solid Choices: Strong LoR Decks
Here we have a mixture of decks that have seen quite a bit of play (800+ games) and showcase good-but-not-great win rates (around 52-53%), and decks with a much lower play rate but much higher win rate.
The Former Queens: Ashe LeBlanc
Ashe's nerf aimed true, it seems: from a nearly oppressive performance, Ashe LeBlanc now sits at a solid 52% win rate across 1,200 games.
Ashe LeBlanc Deck – Link to full build
We'll need to wait a few days to find out if Ashe’s nerf wasn't in fact too harsh, though: Ice Queen and Black Rose are underdogs to Deep, Lurkers, Karma Sett, and Teemo Trist, which is not a good spot to be in.
The World Enders: Aatrox Bilgewater, and Aatrox Quinn Vayne
Jarvan is not the only Champion to find success in an unexpected deck!
Aatrox Quinn Vayne joins the trend of "Strong & Non-nerfed" decks that are doing grand – the sample size is smaller than decks in the "Cream of the Crop" section (just about 500 games in this case), but it's the deck with the best win rate in Runeterra right now: 60%.
Aatrox Quinn Vayne Deck – Link to full build
Like many other top blends, Aatrox Quinn Vayne dies to Deep – but in this case, Yordles are easy, and Karma Sett is peasy. The other red flag besides Maokai & Co. is Ashe LeBlanc.
But then, Aatrox shows up in Bilgewater, with a slew of one-cost followers, a ton of Equipment, and no other Champ but himself:
Bilgewater Aatrox Deck – Link to full build
Jagged Aatrox looks nowhere as powerful as Vayne's build, but is doing pretty okay: 52% in about 800 games.
The Desert Rose's Blends: Samira Decks
Alright, time to talk about the fates of the many Samira decks!
The first thing to say: the nerfs aimed at Samira herself, her followers, and other cards in her best decks, have been pretty rough – none of the former powerhouses have gotten past 52% thus far, and some of them struggle at 50%.
But!
Some of her decks are still capable of putting up a fight.
The frontrunner is Pantheon Riven Samira, with stats (53%+ win rate in nearly 800 games) that are almost good enough to classify it as "possibly great", although there's too little matchup data to check for red flags:
Pantheon Riven Samira Deck – Link to full build
Then, there's… Fizz Samira!
Even though it got nerfs aplenty, the Dashing Dandy version (which already ran just a single Inferna) also punches above 53%:
Fizz Samira Deck – Link to full build
Third, we have Riven Samira Varus, which was very good for ladder pre-patch, and still looks quite solid:
Riven Samira Varus Deck – Link to full build
There's even a Samira Tristana blend there, doing a good Teemo Trist cosplay, although with a very low play rate.
On the other hand…
… Samira Varus, which forced Riot to cram a last-minute nerf, hovers at 50% (even though it's the most popular Samira deck right now) – and Leona Samira seems like a thing of the past, at least in its pre-patch form.
News from the Fringes
To be fair, the huge majority of decks fall in this category right now, with how little data we have – only one of these brews is new, though, so there's good reason to believe most of these decks will see at least moderate success during this coming weekend:
Galio Udyr, a solid brew and a great chance to play two champs that have no home elsewhere,
Pyke Rek'Sai, aka Lurkers, which you really want to keep an eye on because, by current performance (crazy 58%+), looks about to leap forward,
Illaoi Swain, always overshadowed by Illaoi Jarvan but low-key great last patch,
Gwen Quinn, somewhat battered by the Opulent Foyer nerf, but you know them Demacians: the more you bash them, the harder they fight,
Gnar Norra, another low-key excellent deck last patch, even if it never managed to get too much traction,
Annie Jhin, really fond of pigeons and science nowadays,
Bard LeBlanc, our fringest brew today, in case you ardently require some hot, hard-to-find spice.
Wrapping Up
Save for Samira Leona, most nerfed decks are still putting up a fight – this patch's clear winners thus far, though, are Top Dogs that were left alone, and Yordles with big frikkin' guns.
And Shen Jarvan, for some weird reason.
Hope you have enjoyed today's findings, and good luck out there! =)
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We’re passion-fueled — but an extra cup of coffee always helps!
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i may be a lil late on that but what about trist/gnar?
Curious about a deck?
Feel free to ask - we ain't got answers 'round here, but we do have numbers. Lots! =)