League of Legends Patch 9.17 support tier list – did the Zyra buffs matter?

New Additions

Swain

After getting buffs that were aimed more at his top and mid lane in Patch 9.15, Swain has actually seen a rise in play as a support. His pick rate has consistently been around or above 2% and he currently sits at a 49.9% win rate. Finally joining the tier list in the C tier, I’ll be interested to see if he sticks around.

New subtractions

None

Rising Champions

Pyke (A+ to S tier)
Nautilus (A+ to S tier)
Leona (B+ to A tier)
Fiddlesticks (B to B+ tier)
Yuumi (C to B+ tier)
Vel’Koz (B to B+ tier)
Alistar (D to C tier)
Taric (D to C tier)

Observations

Both Pyke and Nautilus were fringe S tier champions in 9.16, and Pyke had actually been an S tier pick for the two patches prior, so both of these are good candidates for stabilization. Nautilus might drop back to A tier, but I’d venture that Pyke will stay S tier absent any nerfs.

Taric is another champion who looks to have gotten a bump thanks to stabilization. His increase in our tier list was small and his win rate actually dropped by 2% from 9.16 to now.

Yuumi and Alistar also saw their win rate decrease while her ranking improved, so both of them might drop back down in a future patch. Ditto for Fiddlesticks, although his win rate just stayed the same rather than dropping.

On the other hand, Vel’Koz actually did see a bump to his win rate in 9.17, by about 0.8%. However, both he and Yuumi are also likely stabilization rises as well. Vel was a B+ champion for three patches prior to 9.16 and Yuumi was as well for two previous patches.