League of Legends Patch 9.5 tier list – bot lane edition

Patch 9.5 has given us the biggest shocker, as the long-standing best ADC is no longer in the top spot! Which League of Legends champion is the best ADC now?

Lucian has been the best AD Carry in League of Legends since we started tracking these stats in the tier lists, going back to Patch 8.24. Now, someone else has taken that top spot.

Not only was Lucian knocked off his pedestal, his replacement in that number one spot had near-unanimous agreement from all the sources that we aggregated. The question is, who has replaced him?

Bot tier list

S tier: Vayne, Lucian

A tier: Sivir, Jinx, Draven, Caitlyn, Ezreal, Twitch, Kai’Sa, Miss Fortune, Jhin

B tier: Ashe, Tristana, Yasuo, Kog’Maw, Kalista, Xayah

C tier: Varus, Neeko, Heimerdinger

D tier: Cassiopeia, Corki

Rising champions

Jhin (B tier to A tier)

Jhin got some nice buffs in Patch 9.5 to his Bouncing Grenade, and as a result, he’s seen a bit of an uptick in his effectiveness. I wouldn’t say that Jhin is a top-tier pick, but certainly, he’s a strong pick right now.

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Xayah (C tier to B tier)

Xayah didn’t get direct buffs in the last patch like Jhin did, but it was always surprising that she was struggling so much once crit items (which she favors) got reworked. However, her lover Rakan did get some buffs in Patch 9.5 and rose in the support tier list as a result. Because the pair is so much more effective together, it would make sense that a buff to him would help his partner as well.

Heimerdinger (D tier to C tier)

Since crit ADCs came back into the top of the meta following the crit item rework in Patch 9.3, Heimer has been largely crowded out of the bot lane meta. No significant changes in the latest patch can account for his improvement, so I’d just chalk it up to sort of reverting towards the mean. I wouldn’t favor picking him at the moment.

Falling champions

Cassiopeia (C tier to D tier)

Cassio hasn’t gotten any big changes recently but she’s definitely fallen out of favor in her primary position – mid. With a lot of heal and shield supports currently in the meta to negate her constant damage, she likely is going to be crowded out of the bot lane further.

Yasuo (B tier)

We’ve discussed Yasuo extensively in the top lane and mid lane tier lists, but unsurprisingly he also fell off hard in bot lane. Although he remains in the B-tier in Patch 9.5, he went from the top of the B-tier (borderline A-tier) to close to the bottom of the B-tier. I think if you can play Yasuo well, he can do well to negate and all-in a lot of what other ADCs want to do in lane.

Buffed champions

Jhin

It’s been discussed above, but the buffs Jhin got in Patch 9.5 to his Dancing Grenade have definitely given the Virtuoso the boost he needed back into the A-tier. He’s still going to be lagging behind the crit and early spiking ADCs.

A new queen

As teased constantly at the start of the article, Lucian is no longer the number one ADC, having been overtaken by Vayne. Lucian has not only been the best bot laner since we started our tier list back in Patch 8.24, when these tier lists started he was the number one bot laner by a wide margin.

At the time, he was outpacing Jhin and Draven, and Vayne was only a B-tier champion at the point. Now, thanks to some buffs and favorable itemization changes, Vayne has risen to overtake the Purifier. Make no mistake, Lucian is still an amazing bot laner and worth a pick if you need a champ to play in ADC, but his tenure as the king has finally ended.

What do you think about Lucian being overthrown and all the other ADC meta changes in Patch 9.5? We’ll be listening to your comments!