League of Legends Patch 9.13 tier list aggregation – mid lane edition
By Josh Tyler
Falling Champions
Malzahar (A+ to A tier)
Malzahar’s win rate has been on a steady decline for a few patches now. There has never been any big dip to indicate that a sudden meta shift has done him in, just a gradual chipping away at his win rate. He’s still doing great, at 51.7%, and I’d expect him to stabilize right here.
Fizz (A to B+ tier)
His win rate hasn’t really moved either from last patch or as a trend over the past few patches, and he doesn’t have a bunch of sites changing their tune on him. I think Fizz’s drop is more due to getting crowded out by other champions climbing above him.
Morgana (A to B+ tier)
This one is strange because she not only has a win rate in the top 10 of all mids, but it actually spiked up to 52.3% from 50.5% in Patch 9.12. I’m not sure what caused the win rate increase or the inexplicable drop in her rating, but I think this aberration will correct itself next patch.
Vel’Koz (A to B+ tier)
Here we see the first champion whose tier dropped in conjunction with an actual decline to their win rate. Vel’Koz saw his win rate drop by 1.0% in Patch 9.13.
Aatrox (B+ to B tier)
Similar to Malzahar, Aatrox’s win rate didn’t drop precipitously in Patch 9.13, but it had been dropping little by little for several patches now. The timing for this drop, just a couple patches after another round of nerfs, indicates that his power level is actually on the decline right now.
Xerath (B+ to B tier)
Another champion with his win rate declining without an obvious reason. My conjecture is that Xerath, while great into ranged mages, is seeing more trouble as assassins like Talon and Zed climb. Particularly Talon, one of his hardest counters, who is now the most-picked mid laner in League of Legends.
Zoe (B+ to B tier)
This is more of a reshuffling/crowding out drop than an actual power differential change. She got no direct or indirect nerfs recently and her win rate has remained stable above 50%. She’ll bounce back soon.
Anivia (B+ to C tier)
Similarly, Anivia just barely dropped out into the C tier despite her win rate improving. I don’t anticipate she’ll remain here for too long.
Leblanc (B to C tier)
With one of the worst win rates among all mids, it’s honestly a surprise that she remained above the average ranking for so long. At 47.9%, she’s not really worth picking at the moment.
Syndra (C to D tier)
Syndra actually got some buffs in Patch 9.13, yet she actually dropped in our tier list. Her win rate did improve, significantly, after the buffs by over 1.4%. Expect to see her rise up in our next tier list.
Irelia (C to D tier)
She got another round of nerfs in 9.12 and saw her win rate drop from 47.6% in Patch 9.11 to its current 45.4%. I would say that, for most players, she is not worth playing mid right now.
Sylas (C to D tier)
Sylas also got some power added back into his kit in Patch 9.13. Although unlike Syndra, his win rate actually rose in this patch, that should come with the caveat that last patch his mid lane win rate was 42.9%, so there was really only one direction it could go. Still, with a win rate now at 48.1%, I think this drop in our rankings is only temporary and caused by sites still holding his abysmal performance last patch against him.
Ziggs (C to D tier)
He also saw a win rate improvement in 9.13, but Ziggs is in the same boat as Xerath. When assassins start to take over the mid lane, he starts to struggle.
Aurelion Sol (D to F tier)
Perpetually a niche pick in solo queue, ASol has fallen into the F tier on several occassions in the past. Will this one stick? Given that he has the best win rate of all mid laners at over 56.6%, I would say F tier is not where he belongs – tiny pick rate or not.
Lissandra (D to F tier)
Lissandra, on the other hand, has perpetually struggled to get her win rate out of the bottom five for the last few patches. She did get a buff to compensate for the loss of her Q damage back in 9.9, but that’s clearly not proven to be enough. I think Riot needs to give her some of that wave clear back if she wants any shot at being close to the meta again.
Karthus (D to F tier)
He may still be there in the jungle, but mid lane Karthus has been on a steady decline for a while. Those nerfs back in Patch 9.11, targeted at his jungle clear, still hit him hard in the eyes of a lot of the sites we audited.
Swain (D to F tier)
You would think that, with the Rod of Ages buffs in Patch 9.13 that Swain might come back into the meta in the solo lanes. Unfortunately, despite his win rate shooting up to over 51%, most sites are still not even ranking him among their pickable mids.