Note: This is an older article.
For the most recent data, check the latest LoR Best Decks article, or our Meta Tier List!
Howdy, and welcome to our weekly selection of the best decks in Legends of Runeterra meta!
As explained in the Technical Note at the end of this article, we'll first take a glance at a snapshot of our LoR Meta Decks Tier List, which sorts archetypes (that's to say, the aggregate of all decks with the exact same Champions) by popularity, and then we'll dive into the data to check how individual decks perform, to showcase the best LoR decks.
Best LoR Decks – Rise of the Big Dog
These are the 7 most popular Standard LoR decks according to Legna the Mastering Runeterra Meta Tier List:
Sources: MaRu's data (which samples Plat+ players) and Legna's data (which samples High Diamond & Masters players) – both sources in turn get their data directly from Riot (via Riot's API).
Overall LoR Ladder Trends
Much has changed since last week! Now with the early patch days behind us, Teemo
decks (and in particular Teemo 
Piltover & Zaun) have lost a lot of steam, while Nasus
Veigar
and Heimerdinger
Jayce
have spiked in popularity and performance.
And Fizz
is certainly not dead – with Siren Song nerfed to the ground, the aquatic Yordle has returned to Samira
, and they are also doing quite well in the current LoR meta.
Overall, although Heart of the Huntress may have been a bit of a low-powered expansion (above all when its Champions are concerned), it's clear that some of its support cards, like Sump Monument
or Return-o Wrench
, have indeed spawned new decks, and other new cards like Epic Scraptraption
have found their way into rejuvenated archetypes.
LoR Juggernauts – Best Legends of Runeterra Decks
Here we showcase Runeterra meta decks with more than 2100 games in the last three days, and good-to-great win rate – the best tried-and-true tools to be found in our LoR Meta Decks Tier List!
Nasus Veigar
Who let the Big Dog out? A darkness-loving Yordle, as it turns out!
Nasus Vaults of Helia
decks have been a major factor in the Legends of Runeterra ladder for quite some time now, but pairing Nasus with Veigar (rather than Azir
, or just Nasus by himself) is a recent development.
Recent, and as Leer noted last Monday, extremely successful: the most popular specific deck in LoR by a huge margin (close to 6,000 games in the last three days according to Legna's data), popular in all three shards and punching close to the 57% win-rate mark, Nasus Veigar has a solid claim to the Best LoR Deck title right now.
25 cards
15 cards
32 500
In particular, this big dark dog has an edge against Illaoi Swain and Heimer Jayce, and stomps over Jax Ornn, Aatrox Quinn Vayne and the ascending Scouts.
Nasus Veigar is not without strong counters, though: Teemo decks are a problem, Jinx Kennen is quite rough, and Fizz Samira is horrible – which in part explains the latter's resurgence this week.
Heimer Jayce Shadows
Professor and Student are back, and in top shape!
Heimer Jayce is a deck that, whenever is good, tends to have a ton of slightly different builds, a testament to how adaptable the shell is. The most popular version, seen below, has accrued about 2500 games in the last three days and punches at close to 54%, but there are several other lists with minor tweaks all exhibiting similar performance.
In particular, a couple of copies of Epic Scraptraption seem like a good idea.
9 cards
31 cards
28 000
Heimer Jayce shows a fairly "fair" matchup spreads, with the majority of confrontations having 45/55 odds – Illaoi Swain, Aatrox Quinn Vayne, Jax Ornn, and Targon Teemo are decks against which Professor and Student have a bit of an edge, while Jinx Kennen and Lurkers are the most troublesome for Piltover's scientists.
And both Nasus Veigar and Fizz Samira are very close to 50/50.
Further reading: Heimerdinger Jayce Deck Guide
Miss Fortune Quinn, aka Scouts
Here's another classic pair that is back in full force!
Already making waves by the end of the previous patch, Quinn and Miss Fortune are now rocking the boat quite hard, their popularity skyrocketing and their win rate above 55%.
Interestingly, the best Miss Fortune Quinn deck seems to have dropped Blocking Badgerbear
(probably due to Teemo being on the downswing) to reinforce its top end a bit more.
28 cards
12 cards
32 400
Scouts are very favored against Teemo decks and Fizz Samira but are terrible against Heimer Jayce and Nasus Veigar – not exactly a good spot to be right now, so we'll see how they fare in the next few days.
Further reading: Miss Fortune Quinn Scouts Deck Guide
LoR Heavyweights – Strong LoR Decks
These LoR decks have between 1000 and 2100 games in the last three days – solid choices for climbing the Runeterra ladder.
Samira Fizz
Fizz not dead – although it's a bit of a surprise to see a deck so ruthlessly nerfed making such a comeback!
Truth be told, though, it has changed a lot, and gone full circle: after terrorizing the ladder with a very aggressive, low-to-the-ground list, Fizz Samira has returned to its original concept from many metas ago: Inferna
, Wiggly Burblefish
and Fleet Admiral Shelly
.
Results? A very solid brew (although not quite what they were before its first round of nerfs), with the most popular Fizz Samira deck punching at 53% in about 1800 games.
Further reading: Fizz Samira Deck Guide
25 cards
15 cards
34 500
One huge selling point for Samira Fizz right now is its excellent odds against Nasus Veigar (being in fact one of the best counters to the Big Dog that you can bring to the LoR ladder right now), with also an edge against Jax Ornn and Lurkers, and evenly matched against Heimer Jayce.
Bad matchups include Illaoi Swain (slightly), Aatrox Quinn Vayne (very), and Bandle Jinx decks (horrible!).
Targon Teemo
Targon Teemo deck has dropped quite a bit in popularity, but remains a great deck, punching at close to 54% right now and good odds against Nasus Veigar.
The rise of Heimer Jayce is not great news, though, and Illaoi Swain remains an insurmountable battle.
Further reading: Targon Teemo Deck Guide
22 cards
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25 800
Illaoi Swain
Priestess and Grand General are among those decks that have lost some steam this week, while still remaining a strong choice (53% win rate) for the LoR ladder.
27 cards
13 cards
28 800
Illaoi Swain is excellent against Teemo decks, and brutally demolishes Bandle Jinx decks – but it's not very well-positioned against the current two biggest dogs: Nasus Veigar, and Heimer Jayce.
Further reading: Swain Illaoi Deck Guide
Jax Ornn
Weapon Master and Forge God are cooling down quite a bit, now sitting at a solid 52% winrate across 1200 games in the last three days. And, reverting last week's trend, the best Jax Ornn deck has switched from Buried in Ice
to Harsh Winds
for its top-end spell.
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24 800
Jax Ornn's matchup spread was already marred by poor odds against Teemo decks, and a bit of a disadvantage against Illaoi Swain – and now it adds Fizz Samira and Nasus Veigar in its list of predators, with both matchups looking very rough by current numbers.
Gnar Neeko
Quite befittingly to her shifting nature, Gnar Neeko keeps showing different results between MaRu's data, and Legna's data: in MaRu's sample (which looks at data from Platinum and above), Gnar Neeko is a mediocre deck that we wouldn't recommend – but looking at Legna's (which checks High Diamond and upwards), we find it sitting at a 51% win rate, which for a Champion from one of the lowest-powered expansions in LoR's history, is not that bad.
Winrate drops sharply when looking at Masters-only data, though, so pilots beware!
Further reading: Gnar Neeko Deck Guide
26 cards
14 cards
30 600
Jinx Kennen
As said (many times; it's in my nature) during the previous patch: don't sleep on Jinx Kennen, folks!!
One of the new decks from the Heart of the Huntress expansions, Jinx
has found in Kennen
and Bandle's Return-o Wrench two eager partners for her Discard synergies, and this merry threesome is punching up hard: win rate above 57% in close to 1100 games, with performance shooting up to 59% when you look at Masters-only data – making Jinx Kennen the best LoR deck in the upper echelons of the Runeterra ladder.
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Jinx Kennen absolutely demolishes Fizz Samira, consistently beats Heimer Jayce, takes the big dark dog for a walk and a poop, a thrashes Teemo decks – it does have a huge problem against Illaoi Swain, but that's the only popular deck that Jinx Kennen has trouble with.
Further reading: Jinx Bandle City Discard Aggro Deck Guide
Puffcaps Galore: Bandle Teemo
Bandle City Teemo has dropped like a stone in both popularity and performance – it remains playable, but has several bad matchups among the Top Dogs: Heimer Jayce, Targon Teemo, Illaoi Swain, Aatrox Quinn Vayne and the ascending Bandle Jinx.
It's quite good against Nasus Veigar, though, and its win rate remains a bit above 50%, so it's still an interesting choice for climbing the LoR ladder.
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Punching Up – LoR Decks Doing Great
Runeterra decks with between 500 and 1000 games in the last three days – we're sailing into small data samples, yet all decks here have quite a few games under their belts.
Aatrox Quinn Vayne
Aatrox Quinn Vayne has demonstrated this week that it was not just an early post-patch fluke (despite its lukewarm performance right before said patch) – amazing odds against Teemo decks, and great odds against Fizz Samira have made Aatrox Quinn Vayne a very solid choice, and in the last three days it shows a 53% win rate across 900 games.
The deck also has even odds against Heimer Jayce and Illaoi Swain – its Achilles' heel seems to be Nasus Veigar, which looks really bad.
28 cards
12 cards
34 400
Pyke Rek'Sai, aka Lurkers
Lurkers are another case of disagreement between MaRu's data and Legna's data, so tread with care: just an average deck according to MaRu, but with a very nice 54% performance according to Legna.
Performance drops sharply at Masters, though, which is a bit of a red flag.
25 cards
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26 400
Yuumi Norra
A new deck showing up last week, and still showing fairly good numbers (both in Legna and MaRu) – nothing spectacular, just a 52% win rate, but solid enough for long enough to suspect this may be a real deal!
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29 500
Your Mileage May Vary
If none of the above floats your boat, here are a handful of fringe options that are doing well – sample sizes are small, though, so tread carefully!
Gnar Jhin
Gnar Jhin made some waves a few weeks ago, being the first popular, playable deck that saw Jhin with a champ other than Annie.
While a fringe deck now, Gnar Jhin is actually the best Jhin deck (Annie Jhin, for the first time in ages, has been pushed to irrelevancy), with a very good 54% win rate in around 250 games.
11 cards
29 cards
28 700
Jarvan IV Shen
Another deck that was both popular and potent some weeks ago, pushed to the fringes in the current Runeterra meta – it's awful against the two Top Dogs, namely Heimer Jayce and Nasus Veigar, but with seemingly good odds against Illaoi Swain, Teemo, and Fizz Samira.
19 cards
21 cards
25 600
Jinx Samira
The nerf to Crimson Pigeon
seems to have hit Jinx Samira quite hard, but the deck is still alive. You do have better options for each champ (either Fizz Samira, or Bandle Jinx), but if Noxus Piltover Discard is your cup of tea, Jinx Samira may be a good option.
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28 600
Frozen Gnar Norra
For our fringest option, a champion pair that as of late we've often seen in a threesome with Jhin – in this case, though, the Yordles turn to Freljord for some quite expensive top end, both for Followers and Spells.
17 cards
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35 000
Not Enough Off-Meta Spice?
If you'd like more options, Sorry gathered half a dozen Off-Meta Decks for the Standard LoR Ladder – a highly recommended read!
Wrapping Up
Heart of the Huntress may have been a bit of a low-powered expansion (above all when its Champions are concerned), but now a week after the 4.7 Balance Patch it's clear that some of its support cards, like Sump Monument or Return-o Wrench, have indeed spawned new decks, and other new cards like Epic Scraptraption have found their way into rejuvenated archetypes.
And, as far as the number of decks and matchup spreads go, the current LoR meta looks pretty varied and balanced. We'll see in the coming days what the high-stakes tournaments, like MaRu's $2000 Open next Saturday, or Riot's Worlds Qualifier Open the following week, bring to the table to shake things up.
Hope you've enjoyed today's best LoR decks selection, and good luck out there!
If you have any questions or comments, or more data you may need, feel free to:
Poke me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HerkoKerghans,
Or find more writings on substack: https://riwan.substack.com/
Technical Note – About overall archetypes and specific decks, and what we mean by "LoR best decks"
Most data sites (including our LoR Meta Tier List, and our meta stats page) and articles like Leer's Legends of Runeterra Meta Decks Report sort LoR meta decks by archetype ("Archetype" being the aggregate of all decks in LoR with a specific champion combination) – that's also how matchup tables are shown in pretty much all data sites.
In this article, we'll sort these decks by the best specific decklist for each archetype. And, whenever we talk about LoR decks in general, or best Legends of Runeterra decks in particular, we'll always be referring to specific lists (while reserving "archetype" to denominate the aggregate of all decks with a particular champion pair).
And, since in each archetype some decks fare better than others (and sometimes the difference is quite noticeable), we'll broadly group the best LoR decks in arbitrary categories by the number of games played in the data samples we check:
- Juggernauts: LoR decks with more than 2100 games – these are the best tried-and-true, top meta decks in Legends of Runeterra at the time of writing.
- Heavyweights: LoR decks with between 2100 and 900 games played – other excellent choices, with large enough samples to confidently say, "Yeah, this works."
- Punching Up: LoR decks with between 900 and 400 games played – we're entering the Land of Small Sample Sizes here, but as far as numbers go, these decks can put up one hell of a fight into the current LoR meta.
As a rule of thumb, LoR decks with a win rate (WR) above 52% catch our eye; above 53% are eye-widening, and anything with a WR over 55% is exceptional.
Sources: Legna's LoR data website, Mastering Runeterra Meta Tier List, and our LoR meta stats page.
Where does this data come from?
Directly from Riot (via Riot's API) – in other words, all the numbers in this article are "from the horse's mouth," so to speak.
Liver, our wonderful coder and unsung MaRu 🐐 (also in charge of designing the website) makes Riot's data automagically appear in our meta tier list and meta stats page, and all-around LoR 🐐 Legna shares his data (from the same source, although following a different set of players) with us too.
