Note: This is an older article.
For the most recent data, check the latest LoR Best Decks article, or our Meta Tier List!
Best LoR Decks for the Standard and Eternal Ladders
As June starts, three Eternal Opens loom close: the largest LoR grassroots, our very own MaRu $1K Eternal Open this coming Saturday 3rd…
… followed by not one, but two Runeterra Opens in the following weekends.
Pilots have certainly taken notice: checking our today's data, the Eternal ladder has more than twice as many games than the Standard ladder.
We'll therefore go through the Eternal decks first (lots of changes since last week), and in the second half of this article dive into what Standard has to offer.
Best LoR Decks for the Eternal Ladder
These are the 7 most popular Eternal 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 Trends of the LoR Eternal Ladder
Once the Kings and Queens of their respective metas, Thresh
Nasus
and Poppy
Ziggs
have shot to the top of the Eternal ladder: they are overall the archetypes that see the most play, have the most-played specific decklists, and their win rates are through the roof.
Annie Jhin, on its part, gets the remarkable achievement of being the first (and thus far only) deck with simultaneous excellent performance in both ladders – the Standard and the Eternal builds are not the exact same, but close enough to let Annie Jhin brag about having achieved a feat no other LoR deck ever has.
And, yes: that's Ryze, on the seventh spot by popularity!
LoR Eternal Juggernauts – Best Legends of Runeterra Decks for the Eternal Ladder
Here we showcase Eternal LoR 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 Eternal Meta Tier List!
Thresh Nasus
Once upon a time, right before the Dark Age of Azirelia, one of the rulers of the LoR meta.
And during the Dark Ages that befell afterward, one of Azirelia's predators, that could reliably keep the Blade storm at bay.
Lo and behold! Thresh Nasus is back, in full force and top shape, and by a wide margin is today the most-played specific decklist (nearly 10,000 games in the last three days), and crushing foes like in its prime: 58% win rate.
Among its many victims: Poppy Ziggs, Annie Jhin, and Draven Sion all crumble in Thresh Nasus' wake.
Its weak spot? Annie Katarina: the red-haired pair have 70% odds when facing the Big Dog and his lamp-holding sidekick.
30 cards
10 cards
28 900
Poppy Ziggs
Another very old archetype that once was the undisputed ruler of the LoR meta, even retaining such a title through a round of nerfs: Poppy Ziggs.
These two Yordles are currently the Eternal heavy-hitters, striking above 61% across 6,700 games – and that's in spite of having awful odds when facing Thresh Nasus, and also suffering a great deal against Draven Sion.
On the backswing, their edge against Annie Jhin, Ryze, Annie Katarina, and above all Sett Trundle is huge. As Jason wrote in his no-nonsense Poppy Ziggs Deck Guide: "Ziggs Poppy is the classic definition of the fun police. If you are trying to get cute and have fun, Ziggs Poppy is gonna come rain on your parade."
22 cards
18 cards
29 000
Ravembloom Annie Katarina
One of last week's forerunners, Annie Katarina shows it was not early-days fluke: close to 4,500 games played in the last three days, winrate north of 55%, and the deck to play if you want to stop Thresh Nasus in its tracks.
Also excellent against Sett Trundle, but quite the lousy matchups against Ziggs Poppy and Annie Jhin.
17 cards
23 cards
25 800
Lonesome Ryze
A recent development that is certainly not going to make everybody happy, the Rune Mage has returned to the Runeterra meta. He doesn't seem about to break it, though, currently showcasing a 53% win rate: very good, but nowhere near as well-performing as the majority of the Top Dogs we'll see today.
Fairly decent against Thresh Nasus and Sett Trundle – utterly horrible against Poppy Ziggs and Annie Jhin.
19 cards
21 cards
20 200
Bandle Bar: Seraphine Ezreal Viktor
Turning Eternal into a Singleton queue, Seraphine invites Ezreal and Viktor to the Back Alley Bar
– if you're looking for variety in your games this is probably it, although it's the weakest of the decks we'll showcase in this section (still a solid 52%, but like Ryze, not as heavy-hitting as other Juggernauts).
22 cards
18 cards
30 400
Draven Sion Samira
The Discard Boys have made room for one copy of Samira
(eat your heart out, Vi
!]], while both Blowback
and Pirouette
are three-ofs mainstays.
The results? An amazing 57% win rate in about 2100 games, and a deck that axes Poppy Ziggs and Annie Katarina while having a small edge on Annie Jhin.
The red flag here is the disastrous Nasus Thresh matchup, though.
20 cards
20 cards
26 700
LoR Eternal Heavyweights – Strong Eternal Decks
These Eternal decks have between 1000 and 2100 games in the last three days – solid picks for climbing the Legends of Runeterra ladder!
The Eternal Annie Jhin
Putting the eternal in Eternal, brazing brat and bullet buff scoff and smirk at other elderly Top Dogs, like Nasus Thresh or Poppy Ziggs, that have returned by adding a couple of new tricks to their builds.
Not Annie Jhin: this is pretty much the same build that shone pre-rotation (and there's also the fancy list, swapping one Legion Grenadier
for Sigil of Malice
), and is tearing the house down right now with a 57% win rate.
It does have terrible problems with Thresh Nasus and Poppy Ziggs, so we'll see who comes out on top.
27 cards
13 cards
22 000
Sett Trundle
After so many familiar pairings, it's refreshing to find a novel friendship forming: Boss and Troll King are still alive and punching, with a very nice 53% winrate across 1700 games.
Their problem, like many other Eternal decks, is Poppy Ziggs… but the real problem is how utterly disastrous that matchup is: less than 20% odds for King & Boss, which is "auto-lose" territory for card games.
They also lose quite badly to Annie decks (Annie Jhin, and Annie Kat), so it's quite the bumpy beginning for this beautiful friendship.
19 cards
21 cards
36 100
Jack Twisted Fate
Broken-hearted for being rotated before Graves ever made it to Standard, Twisted Fate has found Eternal solace in Jack's fishy company – and it's looking quite the partnership thus far, grazing a 55% win rate: nothing new for the card-slinger (Twisted Fate has found his way in his fair share of top-meta decks), but it's truly novel territory for Jack
.
This duo is great at punishing both Annie Jhin and Poppy Ziggs, while having even odds against Nasus Thresh – great spot to be in right now.
28 cards
12 cards
26 600
Katarina Norra
The Portaling Yordle has known some success pairing with Noxus, but it's Katarina
rather than Swain
this time.
And they've brought Lord Broadmane
and Ravenbloom Conservatory
for the ride, for a whopping 56% win rate in about 1,200 games!
17 cards
23 cards
25 600
Gwen Sejuani
RickoRex must be getting soft as of late – I mean, c'mon, really: only two Battle Fury
s!?
On the other hand, maybe it's to give foes a fighting chance, because Blue Sej has been punching above 58%, and spawning Eternal Masters like it's nothing!
25 cards
15 cards
25 500
Punching Up – Eternal Decks Doing Great
Runeterra decks with between 600 and 1000 games in the last three days in the Eternal ladder – we're sailing into small data samples, yet all decks here have quite a few games under their belts.
Elise Kindred Norra
Kindred Nasus, the usual shell for The Undying
, hasn't found much Eternal success.
Yet a threesome with Norra and Elise is proving quite successful, and currently the only deck where Kindred
seems to shine (Kindred Viego is also showing some promise, but with too small a sample size).
31 cards
9 cards
30 400
The Mountain Bar: Aphelios Ezreal Seraphine Viktor
If the Bandle version is too Main Street for you, here's the real Back Alley version: from Bandle City to 
Targon, and four different champs for that Singleton feel.
27 cards
13 cards
32 200
Glorious Lonesome Norra
Turns out the Portaling Yordle needs no other Champ riding shotgun for her to knock foes down! While we're moving into smallish sample sizes (around 800 games in this case), this is actually Norra's hardest-hitting deck: 58% right now.
12 cards
28 cards
21 100
Pirates, aka Miss Fortune Twisted Fate
Yeah, well, it was bound to happen: one of Runeterra's longest-running archetypes is back at it – and with smashing success. It may be due to the abundance of unrefined brews out there, but Pirates has the highest winrate of all decks showcased today… in both ladders!
20 cards
20 cards
29 200
Other Strong Eternal Considerations
If none of the above float your boat on the Eternal LoR ladder, here are a handful of options that are doing very well.
- Timelines Gone Bananas pulls off a feat we haven't seen in a while: a deck that performs great with zero Champs in it!
- Jax Vi: Enforcer and Weaponmaster join forces again, with a little help from Innovative Blacksmith
– amazing performance thus far, and this is a shell that has worked very well in the past, - Ornn Trundle: Ornn has yet to find a deck where he can truly shine – will the Troll King become his ideal partner? Although not amazing, thus far numbers look fairly good,
- Lulu Poppy: Another Poppy brew that shined quite brightly in its heyday, now with a high enough winrate to suggest it may be about to return.
- Draven Jinx: The original Discard pair, with a couple of new tricks up their sleeves.
– amazing performance thus far, and this is a shell that has worked very well in the past, 
Best LoR Decks for the Standard Ladder
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 Trends of the LoR Standard Ladder
Things look pretty much like last week, probably due to a combination of Eternal being a fresh new meta, all high-stakes tournaments being in the Eternal format, and the Variety Patch not having impacting Standard too much.
In particular, the two strongest Samira decks (those being Samira Jinx, and Samira Fizz) remain as potent as before Samira's nerfs.
LoR Standard Juggernauts – Best Legends of Runeterra Decks for the Standard Ladder
Here we showcase Standard LoR decks with more than 2100 games in the last three days, and good-to-great win rate – the best tried-and-true tools the LoR meta has to offer!
Garen Jarvan Kai'Sa
Elites has overtaken every other LoR deck in the Standard ladder, and is the single most-played deck in the last three days, with about 3,400 games under their Demacian belt and a 56% win rate.
Kai'Sa's return to the top is fueled by its huge edge against Karma Sett (which is still the most popular archetype overall) and Caitlyn Teemo, also have a small edge against both of Samira's decks (Jinx Samira, and Fizz Samira).
Garen Jarvan Kai'Sa's main predator seems to be Azir Nasus, and Lurkers are also solid against the reigning Juggernaut.
22 cards
18 cards
27 100
Jinx Samira
Breathing down Elites' neck, Jinx Samira has by now demonstrated that Samira's nerfs didn't slow it down a bit: winrate of nearly 57% in about 2,300 games played.
The pew-pew-BOOM pair absolutely demolishes Annie Jhin, has great odds against Samira Fizz and Lurkers, and has the upper hand against Vault Nasus variants – and itself seems to have no weak spot among the other Top Dods, losing only to less popular (albeing still very strong) decks like Illaoi Swain or Aatrox Quinn Vayne.
Further reading: Samira Jinx Deck Guide.
15 cards
25 cards
28 600
LoR Standard Heavyweights – Strong Standard Decks
These Standard decks have between 1000 and 2100 games in the last three days – solid picks for climbing the Legends of Runeterra ladder!
Caitlyn Teemo 
Freljord
Puffcaps season seems nearly over, but Caitlyn Teemo still manages a 51% win rate across 1800 games in the last three days, and with very good odds against Karma Sett while being roughly even versus Samira's brews.
The problems here are Garen Jarvan Kai'Sa (which is nearly insurmountable for the Traps pair), Lurkers and Azir Nasus (which are also extremely rough). Still a playable deck, but being pushed to mediocre results by the current field.
10 cards
30 cards
26 900
Nasus Vaults of Helia
Nasus' Lonesome version has regained some ground this week, with its performance growing to 53% (up from 52% last week)...
23 cards
17 cards
22 900
… but its best version, as it's been the case even before the Variety Patch, is with Azir:
23 cards
17 cards
25 300
Bird and Puppy punch well over 57%, making them one of the heaviest-hitting decks to be found on the Standard ladder.
Both the Lonesome and the Azir versions have good odds against the reigning Elites Juggernaut, while having a rough time against Samira decks and Karma Sett.
Jarvan Shen
Don't sleep on Jarvan Shen, folks! =)
This should not be a secret by now, but for some reason it's still not getting the traction it deserves: another deck that punches above 57% (across 1,700+ games in this case), and with a very "fair" matchup spread in which the majority of confrontations are in the 45/55 range one way or the other.
The exception, and the red flag, is the (yet again…) ascending Annie Jhin, which is an extremely bad matchup for Shen Jarvan.
22 cards
18 cards
27 000
Fizz Samira
Unlike Samira Jinx, which was completely impervious to Samira's nerfs, Fizz Samira has slowed down a tad – but that's only because it went from nearly broken to "just" very good, smacking at nearly 55% today with 1,400 games in the last three days.
And its best version has changed, leaning even more on Spells and keeping only an extremely lean, low-to-the-ground curve.
Further reading: Samira Fizz Deck Guide
25 cards
15 cards
31 500
Annie Jhin
Aand here we have it: arguably the best deck in LoR right now.
While top pilots never quite agree about which is the strongest deck in LoR's whole history, Annie Jhin has now become the first, and thus far only, deck that does (extremely!) well in both ladders.
The Standard version is a bit different from the variant we've seen in the Eternal Decks section, but results are similarly impressive: Annie Jhin showcases the highest winrate among popular Standard decks right now, smacking at nearly 59% in nearly 1,300 games.
Annie Jhin brutally murders Nasus decks, crushes Puffcaps into a bloody pulp, eats Lurkers raw, and demolishes Shen Jarvan, while also being slightly advantaged versus Garen Jarvan Kai'Sa – Jinx stands as the sole thing that Annie Jhin fears, with both Jinx Samira and Ekko Jinx having a huge upper hand against blazing bratt and bullet buff.
25 cards
15 cards
27 500
Other Strong Standard Considerations
If neither today's Juggernauts nor Heavyweights float your boat on the Standard LoR ladder, here are a handful of options that are doing very well – all with winrate above 53% and at least 500 games played.
- Karma Sett, which is the most played archetype overall, but has fragmented into lots of different variants,
- Bard Gnar Sejuani, when you are feeling all Battle Fury and overwhelmy,
- Aatrox Quinn Vayne, which seems to be undergoing a process of brewing and refinement – there are lots of different list, most of them not doing to well, but the best and most popular is looking very, very good right now,
- Illaoi Swain, which for some reason keeps losing traction even when its winrate is amazing, and was a very popular deck last patch,
- Pyke Rek'Sai, doing their Lurker thing,
- Ekko Jinx, pushed to the fringes but with one of the highest win rates to be found in Standard.
Wrapping Up
The Standard meta hasn't changed that much in the last couple of weeks…
… but, well, with an entirely new Eternal meta, it's probably not too big of a problem! =)
Hope you've found a deck to your liking for any of the ladders or upcoming tournaments, 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.
