League of Legends Patch 9.17 top lane tier list aggregation – why Pantheon is one of the strongest top laners
By Josh Tyler
Falling Champions
Shen (A to B+ tier)
Fiora (A to B+ tier)
Riven (B+ to B tier)
Gangplank (B+ to C tier)
Teemo (B to C tier)
Yorick (B+ to C tier)
Rumble (B to C tier)
Olaf (C to D tier)
Kayle (B+ to D tier)
Observations
The first two champions, Shen and Fiora, both stand out because they each got buffed in Patch 9.16 and subsequently rose up the tier last in the last patch. Neither got noticeable win rate boosts following the buff (though Fiora’s has increased in 9.17 slightly as well), which indicates that both of them were probably over-valued last patch after the buffs. Right now, neither is quite back to where they were before the buffs in 9.16, so we’ll have to see if their rating continues to fluctuate.
There are clear candidates for champions who are likely undervalued (meaning their drop is not likely tied to them being actually weaker and they will likely re-stabilize in a future patch), the clearest one being Gangplank. The C tier ranking is the lowest he’s been on our tier list since Patch 9.1 and his 51.5% win rate (seventh-best in the top lane) is stable from last patch. I’d bet he’ll be back to B+ or A tier in 9.18. Teemo is another undervalued candidate, getting his lowest ranking ever despite his win rate staying stable.
On the other hand, Yorick‘s lowest rating since the start of Season 9 actually does have a good explanation. Although he has consistently had a top-five win rate among top laners, in Patch 9.17 that has dropped by over 1.7%. It’s not quite clear why, since he hasn’t gotten direct or indirect nerfs recently and his direct counters haven’t gotten massively stronger, so this will be an interesting case to follow.
Rumble‘s win rate has been dropping for a while since he got nerfed in Patch 9.15. At present, his win rate is just 49.1%, which might explain his lowest ranking ever.
Similarly, Riven also got a change in 9.16, a nerf that dropped her out of S tier down to the B+ tier. Unfortunately, the effects of that nerf are still being felt, even though her win rate has stabilized around 49%.
That just leaves Olaf, who got no recent buffs or nerfs nor a significant win rate change (it dropped by about 0.3% in 9.17) yet his tier ranking dropped pretty drastically. Like Yorick, there’s not a really good explanation for this, however, Olaf’s ranking in the top lane has been quite volatile this season. He’s bounced around heavily between C, D, and F tier for a while now, so it’s unsurprising that his tier ranking is still in flux.