League of Legends Patch 9.6 tier list: top lane edition

Buffed champions

Urgot

As discussed above, the buffs Urgot received were certainly helpful. I’d expect to see him creep up towards the A-tier status in a future tier list.

Ornn

The buffs, they do nothing! That’s right, despite all the quality of life changes to Ornn’s Q and buff to his W, the Fire Below the Mountain remains in the D-tier for now.

Trundle

If you thought I made a mistake and didn’t include Trundle in our tier list, you are incorrect. Not enough sites that we audit listed the Troll King in their tier lists, meaning we were unable to even place him on ours. Clearly, those buffs are still not enough to make him a viable pick.

Gnar

Gnar is also still struggling despite all the buffs they have given to his Mega form. I hate to even say it, but I think giving him some power back in his mini form might be necessary at this point.

Nautilus

Like Trundle, Nautilus’s buffs weren’t enough to earn him a spot on this tier list for Patch 9.6. He’s being ranked as a support, so we’ll have to evaluate how helpful the buffs were there.

Shen

Shen is probably the best situated of all the tanks in the top lane right now. Unfortunately, that’s still not enough for him to be higher than C-tier. Just like Ornn and Nautilus, the buffs to Shen don’t seem to be enough to move him up the tier list.

Nerfed champions

Kayle

We discussed this above and in other Patch 9.6 tier lists, but once players figured out how strong Kayle can get once she scales up, these nerfs were necessary. Unfortunately, she still scales incredibly hard and her early game isn’t enough to outweigh that.

Sylas

We went over the nerfs to Sylas a bit more in-depth in our mid lane tier list. In the top lane, though, Sylas is still a very strong pick and hasn’t fallen off in Patch 9.6.

Jayce

Similarly, the Jayce nerfs were discussed in our mid tier list. Unlike Sylas, though, these nerfs have really knocked Jayce down in the top lane. Although he’s still an A-tier pick in the top, he is no longer a high A-tier pick, but is now a mid A pick.

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