League of Legends Patch 9.6 tier list: mid lane

Buffed champions

Neeko
Neeko got a little love added back after the mid-patch 9.5 nerfs, but she still fell in our tier list in the mid lane in Patch 9.6. Where this buff to her attack speed did help, though, was her standing in our ADC tier list.

Nerfed champions

Jayce
As noted above, the nerfs to Jayce were certainly effective at bringing him down from the A tier. I personally think the nerfs were a bit overkill for soloQ at least, and I’d expect to see him drop further next patch. If you’re a casual Jayce player, don’t devote more time to this sinking ship.

Leblanc
Leblanc lost some damage on her Q in Patch 9.6 and I thought it would likely sting, though not cripple, the Deceiver. Turns out I was right.

Leblanc fell in our tier list, to be sure, but remains an A-tier pick. She’s certainly much weaker than other AP assassins you could be playing mid (Fizz, Katarina, Ahri), now ranked in our low A-tier.

Sylas
Hitting Sylas’s heal was necessary but, the Unshackled is still wreaking havoc across the mid lane (and all others to be honest). He’s an S-tier pick and actually rose on our tier lists from the last patch when he was only a high A-tier pick in the mid lane. In all likelihood, another round of nerfs will be given and justifiably so.

Zoe
Zoe’s been an A-tier mid laner all of Season 9, but Patch 9.6 might very well be the one that knocks her out of the meta. She’s now a B-tier champion after the nerfs to her Sleepy Trouble Bubble.

Be warned, however, that about half of the tier lists we aggregate do still consider Zoe to be a strong pick (A-tier or their equivalent), while the other half consider her C-tier or below.

What do you think about the state of the mid lane in Patch 9.6? Let us know in the comments!