League of Legends Patch 9.12 tier list – top lane edition

Buffed champions

Karma

Karma is in our top lane rankings for only the fifth time. She has a 53.2% win rate and over a 5% pick rate. This is also the highest we’ve ever had her rated in this position. So yeah, I think the buffs may have been a bit overkill.

Nerfed champions

Sylas

Unquestionably, the nerfs to Sylas’s Q – Chain Lash and E – Abscond/Abduct killed him. Yeah, he may also like Corrupting Potion for extended trades in the top lane, but given how hard he fell both in top and mid, Riot is probably going to need to give him some power back.

Aatrox

Nerfs to his Passive – Deathbringer Stance and R – World Ender hit him a bit harder here than they did in mid lane. He fell out of his perch in the S tier to bing a still-very-good top laner.

Irelia

She got nerfs to her E – Flawless Duet which bopped her down a fair bit both in the ratings and her win rate. Unlike in mid lane, we see in top that Irelia is probably closer to being a balanced champion than previously.

Tahm Kench

Riot said in the patch they were trying to make Tahm’s laning a bit less oppressive by nerfing the base damage to his W – Devour. Sure enough, that reduced damage knocked his win rate down and took him a little closer to being balanced in top lane.

Corrupting Pot users

The change to Corrupting Pot where it only gives a flat amount of damage amp across the lane seemed like it would hurt those who wanted to use it more for the trading than the sustain. We’ve seen that those early-game, lane-bully users (like Yorick, Irelia, and Jax) got hurt particularly hard. Here are all the champions in mid who primarily take Corrupting Pot as a starting item and how their rating has changed in our tier list from last patch:

• Gangplank: -0.013
• Hecarim: New entry
• Illaoi: -0.293
• Irelia: -0.418
• Jax: -0.248
• Karma: New entry
• Kayle: +0.171
• Malphite: +0.137
• Olaf: +0.041
• Pantheon: -0.057
• Poppy: +0.077
• Sion: +0.598
• Sylas: -1.041
• Tahm Kench: -0.344
• Yorick: -0.132

So the changes are generally what we expect. Lane bully champions that loved Corrupting Pot for early trading like Yorick faltered, while those who want the item for the sustain more than damage (Kayle and Malphite) did okay.

What are your thoughts on our Patch 9.12 top tier list? Let us know who you’re going to be playing in the comments below!