Best Tristana Decks in Legends of Runeterra Patch 4.1

Introduction

Hi everyone, it’s Raphterra again! In my previous article, I shared Kayle‘s best decks in the current patch. Today, I’m going to talk about Tristana, another champion who has seen massive success following the balance changes in Patch 4.1. Tristana is now one of the most-played champions in Legends of Runeterra and has several impressive decks with high winrates. In this article, I’ll cover the best Tristana decks in Legends of Runeterra Patch 4.1.

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The Tristana Gameplan

Most Tristana decks follow a similar strategy in the early game, swarming the board with Bandle City‘s multi-region units, such as Grandfather Fae, Hungry Owlcat, and Bandle City Mayor, among others. As you swarm the board, you progress Tristana‘s level up and she becomes a significant threat in the later stages of the game.

The differences among most Tristana decks lie in how they plan to secure wins in the later turns. Some rely on burn, some on buffs, and some give Tristana more keywords.

Let’s start with this list!

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Face Is The Place – Tristana Gnar Noxus

The first archetype we’ll look at is Tristana Gnar Noxus, a burn aggro deck. Tristana Gnar has an impressive overall winrate of 55% in over 4600 games, with the decklist featured in this article boasting a 57% winrate in over 600 games.

After swarming the board early, like most Tristana decks, the Noxus region gives this deck more ways to damage the enemy Nexus. Noxus‘ Decimate is particularly useful, dealing direct burn damage to the Nexus once you’ve reduced its health with your attacks. Additionally, Noxus gives access to Might and Reveler’s Feast, which work well with Tristana‘s level 2 and Bandle City‘s swarm strategy.

Here’s an alternative version of Tristana Noxus that only runs one copy of Gnar alongside one copy each of Teemo and Ziggs. This version features more multi-region champions, which could help to smooth out its early curve. With a winrate of 60.6% in about 300 games, it’s definitely worth considering.

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Popular and Effective – Tristana Teemo Shadow Isles

The most popular and effective Tristana deck currently is Tristana Teemo Shadow Isles, boasting an incredible winrate of 57.4% in over 5400 games. The decklist above is the most popular one, with a winrate of 57.7% in over 600 games. I personally used this decklist to climb from Platinum to Diamond with a 70% winrate (17 wins, 7 losses).

This Tristana archetype is a tempo control deck that complements Tristana‘s swarm strategy with cheap removal spells like Group Shot, Quietus, Hate Spike, and Buster Shot. If you can swarm the board while simultaneously removing opposing blockers, your attacks will be even more devastating. Shadow Isles gives this deck the option of using Atrocity with Tristana to deal massive Nexus damage in the later stages of the game.

If you’re interested in learning how to play this deck, check out the in-depth guide I wrote about Tristana Teemo Shadow Isles.

Here’s an alternative version of Tristana Teemo Shadow Isles that features a different distribution of spells and the inclusion of more utility spells like Wallop and Puzzling Signposts. This list currently has a winrate of 64.9% in over 350 games.

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Author’s Note

Tristana Gnar Noxus and Tristana Teemo Shadow Isles are the two most successful and competitive decks for Tristana. The following decks have relatively smaller sample sizes, so your results may vary when playing them. Nonetheless, some of these decks look very fun to play.

Let’s proceed!

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A Fun Variant – Tristana Teemo P&Z

Tristana‘s P&Z variant brings in some interesting and enjoyable utility cards. Piltovan Castaway is a solid multi-region Weaponmaster unit that serves the same function as Wandering Shepherd. The downside is that you can’t directly equip your Improvised weapons on Tristana or Teemo. However, running more Weaponmasters allows you to use Parts Made Whole as a deck cycling tool. Give It All, the P&Z region’s finisher, is what Tristana needs to grow her attack to exponential levels and allow your other units to do the same.

This Tristana Teemo P&Z decklist has an intriguing winrate of 61.5%, but be aware that its sample size is still less than 100 games.

Here’s a fun alternative variant that replaces Give It All with Sumpworks Map as the finisher spell. Elusive Tristana with multiple stacks of Impact could quickly cut down your Nexus health! This version also includes copies of Mystic Shot, which can be used for both burn and control, and two copies of Minimorph, a peculiar choice to answer large threats.

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Bbye Jinx! – Tristana Lulu P&Z

After the recent nerf to Jinx‘s Super Mega Death Rocket! in Patch 4.1, some players have started experimenting with pairing Lulu with Tristana. The Tristana Lulu Jinx list featured in this article has a winrate of 61%, but again, be aware that the sample size is still small.

The build is almost identical to Lulu Jinx‘s build, with the main difference being the inclusion of Bandle City Mayor to help Tristana level up.

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The Bandle Tree Copium – Tristana Jax Bandle Tree

Tristana Jax presents an intriguing possibility as an archetype, since all Weaponmaster units in the deck are multi-region and can easily level up Tristana. However, few players have explored this avenue as of yet.

During my search for Tristana Jax builds, I came across a unique and exciting brew that utilizes Tristana and Jax as fuel for The Bandle Tree. Please be advised that this is strictly a deck for fun and taking it to the ranked ladder is at your own risk.

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Closing Words

That’s it for now! Tristana is definitely the champion that I least expected to come out on top from all the balance changes in Patch 4.1. I anticipated her buff to have little impact, but I was mistaken. Only time will tell, but she may very well become part of the strongest decks in the meta.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on YouTube, Discord, or Twitter!