League of Legends Patch 9.12 tier list – top lane edition
By Josh Tyler
Falling Champions
Darius (S to A+ tier)
Win rate didn’t move, no direct or indirect nerfs (maybe Corrupting Pot but I don’t think it impacted him as bad as others) yet here he is taking a bit of a drop. More sources put him in their B tier than S tier in Patch 9.12.
Jax (S to A+ tier)
I’m guessing this is because most people thought the Corrupting Pot nerf would hurt Jax a lot. His win rate dropped slightly, but not that noticeably. Still, this is the lowest he’s been rated since Patch 9.3.
Aatrox (S to A tier)
His win rate dropped – though by less than 1% – in this patch. I’m not sure why this was, considering he should love a meta with Corrupting Pot users being a bit weaker. Still, I think the two sites that put him in their D/F tier are undervaluing him.
Garen (A to B+ tier)
Garen was just over the A/B+ border in 9.11, so any drop was going to knock him back down to B+ tier. That is exactly what happened here, with his rating and win rate both dropping barely.
Yorick (A to B+ tier)
Moreso than Jax, Yorick is hurt by the Corrupting Pot change considering how much he loves to be aggressive early. As a result, he got a few C grades from sites, whereas last patch he got all As and Bs.
Tahm Kench (A+ to B+ tier)
He got some direct nerfs in this patch but he didn’t drop in tier lists across the board. Despite his win rate dropping by almost 1%, what really hurt Tahm was having more sites leave him off their top lane rankings.
Irelia (A to B+ tier)
Another Corrupting Pot user who also got hit with some slight, direct nerfs, Irelia is more towards Jax than Yasuo in terms of being a lane bully. That said, losing that damage is preventing him from winning games quite as hard now as he used to. Her 46.6% win rate – down 1.9% from Patch 9.11 – is third-worst among top laners.
Rumble (B+ to B tier)
Unclear why, but Rumble’s win rate dropped by 0.8% in Patch 9.12. He does struggle heavily into Mordekaiser, but that’s not reason enough for him to drop a tier.
Nasus (B+ to B tier)
Nasus does like to use Corrupting Pot, but I think his drop in our tier list is more due to one thing. He gets absolutely wrecked by the reworked Mordekaiser, aka the most-picked top laner in Patch 9.12.
Kennen (B+ to B tier)
His win rate did fall below 50% for the first time in several patches but similar to Rumble I’m not really sure why. It wasn’t a significant drop and no counter of his is doing particularly well in Patch 9.12.
Illaoi (B to C tier)
Corrupting Pot nerfs hurt her because Illaoi loves using that extra damage to bully like Yorick. Her win rate thus dropped from 49.3% to 48.4% in a single patch.
Jayce (C to D tier)
Yep, another champ who loves starting Corrupting Pot to bully his lane sorely missing the damage Riot took away. Jayce’s win rate currently sits at 46.7%.
Quinn (C to D tier)
Now this one I disagree with. Quinn didn’t get negatively impacted by the changes to Corrupting Potion and her win rate rose in Patch 9.12. In fact, her 52.3% win rate is currently third among all top laners. She is currently undervalued by the sites we audited and I’d expect her to bounce back.
Sylas (B to D tier)
The nerfs that hit Sylas in Patch 9.12 were brutal. Not only did almost every list we looked at rate him D or F tier (except one that inexplicably still has him graded as an A), he now has the worst win rate of all top laners at an astounding 41.8%.