Legends of Runeterra Metagame Tier List – Monuments of Power Season

We’re happy to present RuneterraCCG.com’s Metagame Tier List! This is the page that will help you find a footing in Legends of Runeterra’s ever-changing ladder meta. The rankings and decks presented here are curated by EU Master player since Beta and winner of several tournaments Agigas (check out his articles and guides on RuneterraCCG).

Most recently updated on: November 22. (See Change Log)

A few tips on how to read and use Metagame Tier List:

• Tiers represent the relative power of the decks and their suitability towards consistent ladder climb.
• In addition to its Tier placement, each particular deck can have either one of these three labels:
  • ‘Staple’ – this deck is well-known and has a significant play rate;
  • ‘Dark Horse’ – it is an underplayed or emerging deck, but the power level is there;
  • ‘Pick of the Patch’ – a perfect choice if you’re all about countering the meta with a fringe deck.
• The order of decks within Tiers doesn’t matter – they are sorted by labels and regions, not power level.
• Click on ‘Details’ to read more about the deck and inspect a sample decklist. From there, you can return by clicking the ‘Tier List’ button.

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Tahm Kench/Soraka – Tier 1 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Midrange. This new deck uses the high synergy between Soraka and Tahm Kench. You have a lot of units that can sustain damage and a lot of healing (+healing payoffs) to go along with that. The deck can snowball very hard – if Tahm Kench starts growing and their opponent can’t deal with it, it will lock the game pretty fast. Soraka assists in this snowball a lot, and the heavy number of healing effects and high-health units make the deck great against aggro. It often wins the game through its alternative win condition in form of Star Spring Landmark. Some versions of the deck feature Zenith Blade to have the extra win condition of giving a Star Shepherd Overwhelm.

Strong against	Weak against
Spooky Karma	Fearsome
Twisted Fate Go Hard	Ashe Noxus
	Landmark removal

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Fiora/Shen – Tier 1 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Midrange. Fiora/Shen is a proactive Ionia deck, looking to create a solid board of Demacia Challenger units and protect them with Barriers. Rivershaper also prevents them from ever running out of resources, and Shen with Challenger units can also add a lot of value and tempo. The deck can win the game through sheer aggression and value, but it is also capable of achieving the Fiora’s win condition protecting her with Barriers and collecting kills with Single Combat or Concerted Strike. This deck has a pretty good matchup spread thanks to Make it Rain being nerfed to 3 mana, though it can struggle against Freeze decks like Ashe Noxus.

Strong against	Weak against
Scouts	Ashe Noxus

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Ashe/Noxus – Tier 1 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Midrange. Ashe/Sejuani has dominated a good chunk of the Season of Fortune and has always been a strong deck. After some nerfs and the rise of Bilgewater Burn, this deck lost almost all of its former popularity, but it is still a very strong archetype (especially against Demacia). In 1.13 we placed it in Tier 2 but also dubbed it a “pick of the patch” – and it is only logical that this time it’s coming around as a Tier 1 ‘Staple’! The gameplan is to play strong units to take control of the board, and use Frostbites to win combat and gain a tempo advantage. The deck packs good removals (Culling Strike and Reckoning are especially strong with Frostbite effects) and can also draw a lot of cards with Trifarian Assessor. If its strong midrange plan isn’t enough to finish the game by itself, this deck can easily level up Ashe to close things out.

Strong against	Weak against
Demacia (ex: Scouts, Fiora/Shen, Demacia Invoke)	Aggro (ex: Pirate Aggro, Discard Aggro)
Soraka/Kench

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Freljord/Shadow Isles Control – Tier 1 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Control. Freljord/Shadow Isles Control has always been a strong archetype and will probably always remain as such, leveraging a combination of strong removals, lifegain, and ramp. This deck is especially strong when Deny is at a low play-rate, acting as a great answer for most decks in the meta. This archetype sub-divides into many decks, each with their own ways to finish the game. The version above uses powerful champions, Feel the Rush, and The Howling Abyss, but you can also find versions with Warmother’s Call or with Commander Ledros. After dominating the meta for quite some time, the deck received multiple nerfs in Patch 1.14, making its key units less resilient. However, this archetype is still a very solid choice.

Strong against	Weak against
Aggro with fragile units (ex: Discard Aggro, Fearsome Aggro, Pirate Aggro)	Lee Sin/Zed
Twisted Fate Go Hard	Scouts
	Spooky Karma

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Twisted Fate Go Hard – Tier 1 ‘Dark Horse’

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Archetype: Midrange. This archetype has gained a lot of popularity recently in Master, a lot of players used it with great results and I personally used it to hit Master on my NA smurf. The idea is pretty straightforward: have a deck that cycles itself and gets to cast Pack Your Bags very early. Twisted Fate is the perfect champion to go into this archetype, providing card draw and control tools, and his level up is an additional win condition. Don’t underestimate this deck’s midrange nature either: with lots of cycling and small units, it’s capable of flooding the board rapidly. It can defend efficiently all the while lowering the opponent’s health gradually to prep a devastating Pack Your Bags.

Strong against	Weak against
Outside of bad matchups, does well against anything	Control with lifegain (ex: Frejlord/SI Control)
	Soraka/Kench

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Veimer Targon – Tier 1 ‘Dark Horse’

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Archetype: Midrange/Control. After reaching Rank 1 in the hand of 2 different players early in the season (the list above is Alanzq’s), this deck gained a lot of popularity. This deck’s biggest strength is its matchup table, as it can win against pretty much anything in the hand of a great player. It plays a lot of very good cards and is able to keep up with the opponent in the early turns, remove the threats, and win on the back of huge tempo gains in the mid/late game thanks to its champions, Vi and Heimerdinger. Starshaping is also a very strong finisher if the game is going long, and the big Elusive Celestials it can produce are very hard to deal with.

Strong against	Weak against
–	–

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Scouts – Tier 2 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Aggro/Midrange. Scout has been a popular and strong archetype since its introduction at the game’s launch. After several nerfs, its play rate dropped down very low in the last patch. However, it looks like this deck can’t be stopped by a couple of nerfs – it still performs to the highest levels, and it got back its popularity of old days once again! The gameplan of this deck is very straightforward: curve out to build up a very strong board with your powerful units. You also have cards to make your board even more threatening – like Relentless Pursuit for a Rally effect, or Genevieve Elmheart to buff your entire board. The Scout keyword is very valuable in this deck as leveling up Miss Fortune or Quinn will quickly close out the game.

Scouts is still one of the best decks and has been in Tier 1 several times in the past. However, the current meta is very hostile towards it, which is why in Patch 1.14 it is demoted to Tier 2. Keep in mind though, if you play in a meta with a lot of greedy decks – like Deep, Spooky Karma, Lee Sin, – and fewer midrange counters like Ashe, Scout is still an excellent choice!

Strong against	Weak against
Slow and greedy decks (ex: Spooky Karma, Deep)	Midrange decks (ex: Ashe Noxus, Fiora/Shen)

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Pirate Aggro – Tier 2 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Aggro/Burn. This archetype is the premier aggro deck and has been one of the most feared decks for quite some time. It has the ability to punish any draw that can’t keep up with Pirates’ speed or doesn’t have enough heals. You have a lot of strong early units to deal as much damage as possible before the opponent can take control of the game. After they stabilize on the board, you can still finish them from a high amount of Nexus health thanks to your direct damage. Even if you don’t manage to get too much out of your early aggression, Gangplank can very easily level-up and is a very scary mid-game threat. Unlike the Piltover/Noxus burn of old days, you can still win the game if the opponent heals a lot, as you have good board pressure in the mid-game and have a steadier but larger amount of burn.

Strong against	Weak against
Ashe Noxus	Scouts
	Freljord/SI Control

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Deep – Tier 2 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Control/Midrange. Deep has always been around since its introduction in Rising Tides, but the new Bilgewater Landmark brings a bit of freshness to the archetype. The deck looks to stabilize in the early game while Tossing cards to accelerate toward Deep and reaches it around turn 6-8 most of the time. Once Deep is activated, the deck plays huge Sea Monsters and leverages big tempo advantages of Nautilus’ discounts to Sea Monsters. From that point, the deck snowballs really quickly and becomes very hard to deal with. Maokai is a very good alternative win condition in the end game to beat slow decks that can also accelerate you toward Deep and help stabilize in the mid-game.

Strong against	Weak against
Slow decks (ex: Spooky Karma)	Aggressive decks (ex: Scouts, Discard Aggro, Fearsome Aggro, Nightfall)
	Lee Sin/Zed

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Lee Sin/Zed – Tier 2 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Combo. The recent nerf to Bastion hits the card very hard, but Lee Sin decks are happy to add Nopify instead of it. There are a lot of different lists – some with Diana, Karma or even Lee alone… The deck spends the early turns stabilizing and playing spells, then drops Lee Sin and levels him up. Lee Sin is very hard to deal with because of its innate Barrier, and additionally, this deck runs a lot of buffs and protection spells. Lee Sin wins the game by kicking opponent’s units into their Nexus very reliably, and he is even able to OTK opponents if you give him Overwhelm with Zenith Blade. The recent change that raised Lee Sin’s cost from 4 mana to 5 mana is making the deck less oppressive and not as popular as it once was, but it is still a strong archetype.

Strong against	Weak against
Deep	Aggro (ex: Pirate Aggro, Discard Aggro, Scouts)
Freljord/SI Control

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Spooky Karma – Tier 2 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Control. Spooky Karma is a very old favorite of mine, and I’ve kept playing it for the last 7 months. After a long period of silence, it is once again making noise in the meta, with both Alanzq and myself taking it to the top 10 EU ladder. This deck is the ultimate control deck. Its gameplay is entirely focused on answering and punishing every possible proactive play from the opponent. In the late game, it out-values any deck thanks to Karma, resurrecting her with The Rekindler. Be aware that this deck has a lot of build options, and you can play a greedier version with Lee Sin.

Strong against	Weak against
Freljord/SI Control	Scouts
Discard Aggro	Soraka/Kench

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Fearsome Aggro – Tier 2 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Aggro. This one is a very aggressive deck, containing a lot of units with Fearsome keyword that reliably hit the Nexus. The list presented above is one of the best-performing ones, but the archetype sub-divides into MANY different versions. Some versions splash Ionia instead of Targon or Noxus. This archetype as a whole is very strong against decks with low-attack units, like Soraka/Kench, but can struggle against damage-based removal-heavy lists because of the fragility of its threats.

Strong against	Weak against
Soraka/Kench	Freljord/SI Control
Lee Sin/Zed

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Nightfall Aggro – Tier 2 ‘Staple’

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Archetype: Aggro. Nightfall has proven over time to be a strong archetype, despite being hard to master. This deck looks to capitalize on the tempo gained with Nightfall effects, and the value gained thanks to cards like Stalking Shadows, Unspeakable Horror, and Pale Cascade. It often wins the game through its champions, Diana and Nocturne, very powerful, though fragile. This deck has a surprising amount of reach, thanks to being able of generating additional Doombeast’s with Stalking Shadows and Fading Memories.

Strong against	Weak against
Deep	Fiora/Shen

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Discard Aggro – Tier 2 ‘Staple’

Strong against	Weak against
Lee Sin/Zed	Freljord/SI Control

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Archetype: Aggro. Jinx/Draven got a huge popularity boost in the last week of the Season of Fortune, and there is no real reason to stop playing it yet. Playing this deck, try to outpace the opponent with your powerful early aggression and deal as much damage as possible using Discard synergies. The deck looks to flood the board with cheap – or better, free! – units, and take pay-offs in board-wide buffs and Crowd Favorites. This early aggression is a win condition by itself against unprepared lists, but in case the opponent manages to deal with it, Jinx comes in and gives you everything you need to finish the game.

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Swain/TF – Tier 2 ‘Dark Horse’ + ‘Pick of the Patch’

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Archetype: Midrange. A very strong midrange deck. The Leviathan + Swain combo is one of the strongest midrange finishers in LoR, as it will lock down the game if the opponent can’t kill these very high-health threats. With its early units and removals (sometimes combined with Keg’s), this deck is capable of both going aggro and controlling the game, making it one of the best choices in the current meta. Twisted Fate won’t be leveled-up very often, but offers a lot of very good options when you play him. This deck is a jack-of-all-trades, and good players will very rarely feel like they are out of options to find the win. The recent nerf to Make it Rain has huge consequences for Swain/TF. The deck has fallen down to Tier 2 after holding a Tier 1 spot for a very long time. However, the archetype is still competitive and we can already see some players going back to this deck and getting great results with it.

Why Swain/TF is the ‘Pick of the Patch’: In the very next patch after Make it Rain nerf, Swain/TF got hit once again through the Riptide Rex change and so has seen its play rate drop even further. However, I suspect it to still be a solid choice. The nerf to Riptide Rex is a rather small one, and most importantly, Swain/TF’s worst matchup, Freljord/SI control, has a lower play rate than before. Swain/TF is currently a great answer to a lot of the popular decks – it is a good counter to Discard Aggro, Soraka/Kench, and can also put up a fight against Scouts, Fiora/Shen, and Ashe Noxus.

Strong against	Weak against
Soraka/Kench	Freljord/SI Control
Discard Aggro

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Demacia Invoke – Tier 2 ‘Dark Horse’

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Archetype: Midrange/Control. Demacia + Targon has been a strong region combination since Invoke was introduced. It was a bit unpopular for a while but now it is making a discreet comeback as a way to attack Scouts and got even stronger with the Eclipse Dragon buff. There are a lot of different versions of this archetype – some cut most Demacia cards to go for Allegiance, or you can see variations in champions, like this one with this Lux/Asol version. This archetype’s gameplan is to hold the board with strong early/mid-game units and to scale up into the end game Invoke threats. This archetype is also famous for being “the Judgment deck”.

Strong against	Weak against
Scouts	Ashe Noxus

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Anivia Control – Tier 2 ‘Dark Horse’

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Archetype: Control. Anivia Control is a deck that has always been there and had its ups and downs. It is yet another Frejlord/Shadow Isles deck, but I couldn’t group it with the others because of its distinct differences – no ramp, no Trundle, and very different win condition. This archetype looks to control the opponent in the early part of the game with its very strong removals, and then use an onslaught of Anivias to win the game. Anivia is a hard champion to deal with and can finish games rapidly. The Rekindler, The Harrowing, and Chronicler of Ruins will ensure you don’t run out of Anivias and will allow you to have multiples of her on the board, making each attack into a one-sided board clear.

Strong against	Weak against
Swarm (ex: Discard aggro)	Ionia (ex: Spooky Karma)

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Darius Targon Aggro – Tier 2 ‘Dark Horse’

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Archetype: Aggro. This deck has emerged on the ladder lately, and it has a very low play rate despite a very high win rate. The archetype is very straightforward and looks to win through sheer power by curving out with strong units. After the first few turns, it also transitions into playing a lot of Overwhelm units and can finish games with their Decisive Maneuver synergy. The version of the archetype above is quite popular and has the biggest win rate stat, but be aware that a lot of versions feature Whirling Death and sometimes Decimate.

Strong against	Weak against
Greedy decks (ex: Spooky Karma)	Discard Aggro

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Ezreal Noxus – Tier 2 ‘Dark Horse’

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Archetype: Control. After recent changes in Patch 1.14, Ezreal is now seeing tons of play in a lot of new decks. So far, Ezreal looks best when combined with Noxus – usually with Swain in particular, but you can also see versions that are in a bit more of a midrange style with Draven and Captain Farron, and they also perform well. The archetype in general looks to defend with the strong removals from Piltover & Zaun and Noxus, while stacking Ezreal’s level-up quest. Later in the game, it wins through The Leviathan/Swain combo. It is worth noticing that Ezreal synergizes very nicely with Swain – if you have both on the board and leveled-up, each spell you cast will stun an opponent’s unit.

Strong against	Weak against
Aggro (ex: Scout, Discard Aggro)	SI control (ex: Spooky Karma, Frejlord/SI Control)
Lee Sin/Zed

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Change Log

Patch 1.12 (Monuments of Power release)

• October 16: Aurelion Sol/Trundle decklist updated, Tahm Kench/Soraka decklist updated.
• October 17: Shyvana Dragons decklist updated.
• October 21: Warmother Control archetype added, Veimer Targon archetype added.
• October 22: Tahm Kench/Soraka decklist updated.
• October 27: Scouts archetype added.

Patch 1.13 (K/DA cards release)

• November 3: Added: Shen/Fiora, Nightfall, Spooky Karma. Updated: Freljord/Shadow Isles Control, Veimer Targon, Swain/TF, Lee Sin/Zed, Pirate Aggro, Aurelion Sol/Trunde, Ashe Noxus, Deep. Removed: Gangplank/TF, ARAM, Shyvana Dragons.
• November 4: Added: Fearsome Aggro. ‘Pick of the Patch’ changed from Deep to Ashe Noxus.
• November 9: Decklists & placements updated: Spooky Karma, Lee Sin/Zed, Scouts, Shen/Fiora, Fearsome Aggro; only placements updated: Ashe Noxus, Tahm Kench/Soraka.

Patch 1.14 (Mid-season balance patch: Ezreal, Trundle & other changes)

• November 17: New ‘matchups’ section added for every deck. New archetypes added: Anivia Control, Ezreal Noxus, Twisted Fate Go Hard, Demacia Invoke, Darius Targon Aggro. Archetypes removed: Aurelion Sol/Trundle. Placements updated: Freljord/SI Control, Fiora/Shen, Ashe Noxus, Veimer Targon. Swain/TF is the new ‘Pick of the Patch’.
• November 18: Spooky Karma decklist updated.
• November 21: Pirate Aggro decklist updated.
• November 22: Placement updated: Scouts, Pirate Aggro, Freljord/Shadow Isles Control. Decklist updated: Freljord/Shadow Isles Control.