4 Synergies and Day 1 Competitive Decks to Try With Worldwalker Patch 3.10.0

Hi everyone, den here with some brews inspired by the latest patch! In this article, I’d like to share a few of my creations and ideas I found online, which I think are worth keeping an eye on or trying to build around early in the patch.

With buffs to several synergies totally abandoned in the recent months, patch 3.10 is giving us a chance to experiment and see if the bit of help they received could be enough to make them viable.

The Winners and Losers of Patch 3.10.0

To be completely transparent, I don’t think there is enough in this patch to produce a new metagame staple deck. I believe some well established archetypes like Bard decks, Annie decks, Deep or even Heimerdinger Jayce being left untouched in this patch should allow them to steal the spotlight for the weeks to come.

Yet, even if the next Tier 1 deck isn’t in this article, I had some fun looking at ideas around the community and theorycrafting the brews we will talk about today.

In addition to these 4 decks, previously non-existent, I listed at the end of the article a few archetypes I believe could do very well in the early metagame. So if you are looking to climb the ladder before the environment crystallizes, check out the “Early Competitive Decks” at the end of this page!

Without further ado, let’s get to the decks!

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Plunder Impact

I can’t explain why, but I always loved the Powder Monkey synergy in Legends of Runeterra, and I keep trying to make it viable whenever I get the chance.

This time, the deck receives some help in the form of the Bitsy Lizard – Lava Lizard buff, which should bolster the early curve and guarantee we keep on damaging the opposing nexus turn after turn.

Another card I looked to include in the build was Chief Nakotak, another buffed card from the patch. Unfortunately, the plunder package takes up a lot of space, so I would rather completely focus the slots I have left from the impact keyword rather than add another synergy on top.

Another take on the deck could be to remove the Powder Monkey package (Monkey Business, Powder Pandemonium and Jagged Taskmaster) in order to work around the transform synergy a bit and add another form of support to the deck. The Dreadway, Riptide Rex (also received a nice buff) or cheap transform enablers like Make it Rain or Warning Shot could be another way to look at this deck.

In the presented form, this list should be played with the intent to chip away at the opponent’s nexus every single turn. Almost every card in the deck contributes to dealing damage or supports other cards doing so. Our goal is to constantly pressure the opponent until they crumble under the constant flow of damage.

Ideally, we manage to get a big hit with a leveled Gnar or Gangplank to make it easier to finish off the match. We can otherwise simply summon Powder Monkey continuously and use them both as disposable attackers or blockers.

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Ephemeral Army

Another synergy looking to pressure the opponent immensely, the Ephemeral archetype saw its leader Hecarim receive a nice buff. The fact that he grants our nexus the power of buffing our ephemeral units means that even when removed, Hecarim will impact the rest of the match.

With this in mind, there probably are different ways to play the ephemeral deck, and maybe a grindier approach, looking to abuse Hecarim’s leveled up passive ability could be the norm down the line.

In this first iteration of the build, I put the emphasis on being proactive and constantly making sure we can create a difficult board state during our attack turns. Also, thanks to utility cards like Haunted Relic or Onslaught of Shadows, we can always summon a couple of ephemeral units to block with.

Although she was buffed too, Kalista doesn’t feel right in this build, not because she would be a bad card, but because Zed feels like such a natural fit to bring more pressure in the mid-game.

If the metagame slows down with the patch, and we see a rise of the Shadows Isles region now that Demacia lost a bit of power, these kinds of board oriented, constantly pressuring decks could do some damage.

Typically, in early days after a patch features a much more aggressive metagame, so this kind of archetype could need some time before being able to find a spot in the environment.

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Shen Sivir Combo

Shen‘s buff felt like a long awaited promotion that would come too late, as the card has been completely out of the equation for more than a year when it comes to competitive play in Legends of Runeterra. Still, the addition of a Barrier to the champion might be the biggest buff in the entire patch and doing research for this article, I have seen a lot of players inspired by this specific change.

Mostly, Shen was paired with Demacia, reviving the old-time alliance he once had with the region. Shen and Fiora were a feared duo back in the days, or more recently, when he teamed up with a Jarvan IV in a midrange, grindy kind of deck. This time, I saw Shen joining forces with Lux, in a deck reminiscent of Jayce Lux, which I think will keep on being a better deck.

Overall, Shen’s pairing with Demacia was a long time ago, and the game changed a lot while Shen waited for a buff. If we look at the Brightsteel Protector nerf alongside Shen’s buff, I don’t think the Ionia and Demacia alliance has what it takes to become a powerhouse once again. Let alone dethrone current Demacia staple archetypes like Bard or Illaoi decks.

Because of this, I looked for other possibilities to use Shen and though that maybe, he could be a good combo enabler alongside Sivir and Ruin Runner. The concept is to use Shen’s level up to further boost our damage dealers, and once Sivir level’s up, grant barrier to our whole board.

Then, using Flurry of Fists or the passive ability of Sacred Protector, we should be able to threaten for a lot of damage.

Through granting Vulnerable to opponents, Shurima can help compensate the loss of not playing Challenger units and give opportunities to abuse Shen’s barrier for trading purposes nonetheless.

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Ashe LeBlanc Yeti

Every patch, it has become customary to feel the need to give the old Noxus + Frejlord pair another try, and with buffs to the archetype once again, I couldn’t write this article without including it.

With multiple ways to build around the Ashe + LeBlanc duo (Marauders build, Avarosan build or Yetis build), I decided to pick the archetype most impacted by the change to Trifarian Assessor. Indeed, with the flurry of 5/5 units the Yeti build is looking to develop, the draw power of the deck could off the charts when playing the now 4 mana onto a big board.

Considering how important it is to draw cards in this very snowbally archetype, the change to the Trifarian Assessor. Now, the deck could be looking to go all in very early in the game and get a nice refill of 2 to 4 cards in the midgame. This newfound sustain would help the deck be more careless about how it develops its pressure, leading to more blowout wins potentially. Also, the deck would be able to grind out more games, as cards like The Ruination were ending the game on the spot a lot of the time until now.

Just like Shen previously, the Ashe LeBlanc archetype faces an uphill battle to regain the status of a metagame contender. It has been months since the deck stopped being relevant, and previous buffs to Ashe have had very little to no impact on the deck’s success. Let’s hope this change is to one to make an impact.

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Day 1 Competitive Decks

I wanted to add this section for players who aren’t looking to test some new synergies early on, but who might look to get to a threshold before doing so. If you are in this situation, here is a list of decks I think should perform quite well this coming days, before the metagame finds its balance.

Scouts Swarm

With Pantheon suffering a big nerf and very aggressive decks being more popular early on in a new metagame. Scouts should see plenty of good matchups on its way to climbing the ladder.

Deep

Deep is a versatile archetype, capable of beating aggro thanks to its solid healing capacities and pressure control in the lategame. It also has a very straightforward gameplay which should also help the pilot finding good lines of play against most opponents.

Zed Bard

With Demacia suffering 2 nerfs in this patch, Ionia should see much more Bard synergies coming its way. I personally prefer Zed Bard, especially early on in a patch, but Ahri Bard could be a solid pick too.

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Closing Words

To be honest, when I first looked at the patch, I saw a lot of non-impactful changes. I was afraid that the cards and archetypes impacted by those changes were so far behind in terms of power level that they would never make it back in the metagame with just what they were given.

As time passes though I feel like the changes to Thralls and Pantheon could be impactful enough to open the door for some real shake-up in the metagame. So even though I don’t think Shen or the transform synergy got enough to rise to the level of the current top decks, I think the consequences of the other changes might help those deck a bit as well.

Only time will tell if those archetypes will manage to find a spot in the metagame, until then, I hope you at least have some fun testing them out and refining them to the best of their potential.

If you’d like to share your own creations, feel free to join our Discord and discuss the new patch with the community. As for myself, you can find me on Twitter for direct messaging or talk about anything card game related.

Good Game Everyone,