League of Legends: Patch 9.20 top lane tier list aggregation – the ascent of Kayle

Falling Champions

Kled (S to A+ tier)
Mordekaiser (S to A+ tier)
Jax (S to A+ tier)
Pantheon (S to A tier)
Teemo (A to B+ tier)
Renekton (A to B+ tier)
Riven (B+ to B tier)
Gangplank (B+ to C tier)
Irelia (B to C tier)
Rengar (C to D tier)
Sion (C to D tier)
Volibear (C to D tier)
Olaf (C to D tier)

Observations

Setting aside Pantheon for later, quite a few of these champions fell out of the tier they temporarily rose to in the last few patches. Among the champions falling into this class would be Kled, Mordekaiser, Teemo, Renekton, Riven, Irelia, Sion, Volibear, and Olaf. None of these champions saw massively significant changes to their win or pick rates to indicate that their drop as an actual decrease of power, so instead it’s likely just a slight shift within the meta.

One curious champion to look at in Patch 9.20 is Gangplank. He has been falling in our tier list over the last three patches (mid-B+ to low-B+ to C tier), but the precipitous drop in his ranking this time is strangely accompanied by a 0.8% win rate increase. I’d guess that GP will rebound in the next patch or two to the B or B+ tier, as that is where his power level actually is.

Rengar is actually in the exact same position. His win rate in 9.20 rose from 50.3% to 51%, yet his rating on our tier list went from consistently B or C tier now to D tier without explanation. Don’t fret if you’re a Rengar top main, I don’t think anything actually made him weaker in this patch.

Now, Jax did actually have a decently significant win rate drop, from 51.8% to 51%. While he was pretty solidly in the S tier for the last couple of patches, with this win rate dip he’s closer to A tier than getting back to the S tier.

Buffed champions

Garen

After a whole host of buffs to his Passive – Perserverance (no longer interrumpted by jungle monsters and is higher late game), W – Courage (grants a shield on cast), E – Judgment (now stacks Conqueror and spin speed is based on attack speed), and R – Demacian Justice (now does true damage to all targets, not just the villain) Garen shot up to the A+ tier. The stats too indicate that the changes gave a lot of power to Garen, as his win rate went from 50.2% in 9.19 to a jaw-dropping 53% in Patch 9.20. At the moment, Garen has the highest win rate of any top laner in League of Legends.

Nerfed champions

Pantheon

Riot took some damage off Pantheon’s Q – Comet Spear in an attempt to make him not be the most oppressive top laner in League of Legends. The changes seem to have been effective, as his win rate dipped from 52.8% to 51.3%. As a result, he fell out of the S tier down all the way to the A tier.