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 best LoR decks!
As explained in detail in the Technical Note at the end of this article, we'll first take a glance at a snapshot of our Tier Lists for Eternal and Standard, that list LoR 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.
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:
Overall Trends of the LoR Eternal Ladder
Champless Timelines took the ladder by storm since last week…
… so much so that Riot had to swing the nerf hammer to contain it!
Our data is from the last three days, and therefore the hotfix's ripples are still being felt – all bets are off about what the LoR meta will look like in the Runeterra Open this coming weekend.
And speaking of the Runeterra Open: Riot's RubinZoo has confirmed to The Runeterra Report that all 9 games must be completed BEFORE 8 PM, since the gauntlet closes at exactly 8 pm shard time.
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!
Champless Timelines
They grow up so fast!
Last week, the Champless Timelines deck was just a fringe brew, but overnight it became such a powerhouse that Riot had to hotfix it last Tuesday.
Two days after the hotfix, we still find it at the top of every chart – bear in mind that we look at a three-day window (that's to say, the data includes pre-patch data), but thus far Champless Timeliness is still a thing: it's the most played specific deck in the Eternal Runeterra ladder, and its win rate is also among the highest:
18 cards
22 cards
15 800
Thresh Nasus
Thresh Nasus remains, like last week, one of the strongest Eternal Juggernauts, in part thanks to it being slightly favored versus the Champless menace.
Today, the best Thresh Nasus deck punches at nearly 55% in about 3,600 games, and counts Annie Jhin, Poppy Ziggs and Pirates among the many decks it handily handles.
On the other hand, Thresh Nasus seems to have a weak spot for red hair: Seraphine decks, Jax Vi and Annie Katarina are all very rough matchups.
30 cards
10 cards
28 900
Ravembloom Annie Katarina
Annie Katarina's play rate slowed down a tad (falling to 3,300 games, down from close to 4,500 last week) but without a dent in its excellent 55% win rate.
And, given that Annie Katarina is one of the many decks punished by Champless Timelines, the recent hotfix should improve its performance.
Annie Katarina is also one of the best deck for punching Thresh Nasus in the nose, which is a premium skill in this field!
17 cards
23 cards
25 800
Lonesome Ryze
Ryze keeps singing "Rise!" – just a solid 52% winrate, but a good chunk of pilots favor the Rune Mage above other brews, and Ryze's playrate has grown accordingly.
Fairly good against Nasus Thresh, but weak against the ascending Jax Vi, and brutally murdered by Samira Seraphine.
19 cards
21 cards
20 200
Poppy Ziggs
Poppy Ziggs has dropped sharply in play rate compared to last week (from more than 6,700 to less than a third of that number), probably due to the rise of Champless Timelines (a really rough matchup for our two Yordles).
But Poppy Ziggs' win rate is, like last week, among the highest in Eternal, suggesting play rate will spike again, now that Timeliness has been nerfed.
Further Reading: Poppy Ziggs Deck Guide.
22 cards
18 cards
29 000
Seraphine Samira Ezreal
In case you were wondering: nope, this is not a Back Alley Bar
deck!
Despite Seraphine being the start of this show too, and in spite of Ezreal Seraphine indeed having a Bar version (which is not doing too hot today), Seraphine Samira Ezreal is a very different sort of deck: one of the most Spell-focused decks we've ever seen, and by the amount of different versions (including some that leave Ezreal out) this brew is still far from refined.
The most popular Seraphine Samira version, seen below, punches at nearly 55% across 2,200 games. It's amazing against Nasus Thresh and Ryze, and fairly strong against Annie Katarina.
30 cards
10 cards
27 800
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!
Norra Swain
Grand General and Portal Yordle have returned to business, with a scary 58% winrate in about 1,700 games – this is the most popular Norra brew that does well, although not the only one (as we'll see with Norra Fizz!).
Norra Swain gets a huge edge against Thresh Nasus and reliably beats Ryze, while losing to Annie Katarina and Ez Samira Seraphine. Interestingly, it's roughly 50/50 against Champless Timelines, so it's hard to say how the hotfix will affect its performance.
15 cards
25 cards
27 700
Jax Vi
Wrecking Girl, punching up!
Last week, Enforcer and Weaponmaster had already rejoined forces and invited Innovative Blacksmith
to the fray, but were thus far a fringe deck – this week, we find them smacking at a whopping 58% win rate across 1,600 games, and it's not the only Weaponmaster deck we'll see!
Needless to say, the hotfix to Champless Timelines is bad news here – thus far good matchups include Nasus Thresh, Ryze and Annie Katarina, but we'll need a few days to find out if this is still the case.
19 cards
21 cards
33 700
Weapon Club: Jax Ornn
Another Weaponmaster deck showing amazing performance – and in this particular case we can trace it to Master Brewer Scathus, who also wrote an amazing guide for it on reddit.
Jax Ornn is thus far the second strongest contender to the "Best LoR Deck Overall" title, since its Standard version is also looking solid in the fringes of the meta – Weaponmaster and Forge God will have to wrestle said title from Annie Jhin, though, which is a bona fide powerhouse on both ladders.
21 cards
19 cards
24 000
The Eternal Annie Jhin
Speaking of the school-burning, bullet-spewing Devil…
… here is perhaps the best LoR deck: may not be the absolute strongest in each of Runeterra's format, but it's thus far the only strong and popular deck that we'll find on both ladders (Jax Ornn is currently amazing in Eternal, but just a fringe deck in Standard).
Annie Jhin's Eternal version is truly eternal, too: it's pretty much the same build that has been a thing on the ladder since Annie and Jhin made their way to Runeterra during the Worldwalkder expansion, more than a year ago.
27 cards
13 cards
22 000
Aphelios Viktor
Last week, we found Aphelios and Viktor teaming up with Ezreal and Seraphine in Targon's version of Back Alley Bar. That venture seems to have gone nowhere pretty fast, but like many other Champs in Eternal, Vik and Aphel said, "Hey, remember that thing we were doing like a year ago, that worked very well back then? We should totally do it again now!"
And they did, and that old thing is working again, and at an excellent 55% win rate no less – miracles of the Eternal format!
By the way: this is one of the decks Annie Jhin most loathes to face.
20 cards
20 cards
27 100
Opulent Overwhelm: Gwen Sejuani
The first rule of Bone Club
is: Big things good.
The second rule of Bone Club is: Bigger things gooder!
And since Battle Fury
does a great job of making things very gooder, while Gwen's crew is particularly good at making lot of things, this looks like a match made in Overwhelm heaven.
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.
Sett Trundle
Boss and Troll King see their best deck's play rate deflating from 1,700 games last week, to around 900 games this week.
Their performance is still excellent, though, and Sett Trundle even has a slight edge on the Champless Timeline menace, so it's not clear why pilots have abandoned the deck.
19 cards
21 cards
36 100
Taliyah Ziggs
Joining the trend of "Let's do that thing we used to do some time ago… but in Eternal!", Taliyah Ziggs showcases an explosive 60% win rate in about 800 games. Too little matchup data to say anything conclusive, but with such a high performance, hey, who's asking?
24 cards
16 cards
26 000
Pirates, aka Miss Fortune Twisted Fate
Yet another old friendship (and, in this case, one of Runeterra's longest-running archetypes) rekindled with smashing success. It may be due to the abundance of unrefined brews out there, but Pirates has, just like last week, the highest win rate of all decks showcased today.
20 cards
20 cards
29 200
Norra Fizz
Another couple of Yordles let loose and causing much mayhem, Fizz and Norra bring Riptide Rex
along for some extra punch.
There's a different take, adding Nami to the mix but with a very different Follower and Spell composition, that is also doing very, very well.
20 cards
20 cards
31 300
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.
20 cards
20 cards
28 700
On the Eternal Fringe
If none of the above float your boat on the Eternal LoR ladder, here are a handful of options that are doing very well.
- Lulu Poppy, another deck from Team "Let's Do That Old Thing" – hey, if it works, don't fix it!
- Azir Irelia, arguably Captain of Team Old Thing, currently punching at 59%,
- Ornn Trundle, which is unclear if they belong to Team Old Thing or not because, well, the did try to be a thing, but never quite got there – but Eternal seems to have given them a new chance to make a go at it,
- Akshan Nasus, going for less Thresh and more Palaces,
- Draven Rumble, living the Skrappy's Partsapalooza
's dream, - Katarina Norra, which we showcased last week – not as popular as back then, but packing a huge punch.
's dream, 
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:
Overall Trends of the LoR Standard Ladder
Garen Jarvan Kai'Sa has overtaken Karma Sett as the most popular archetype, while Deep and Lurkers have also surged in popularity.
Still, as we'll see when we check the data for specific decks, not much seems to have changed in Standard – probably because we have two back-to-back Runeterra Opens coming up in the next two weekends, and both of them are Eternal.
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
As we saw in the snapshot above, Elites is the most played archetype in the LoR Standard ladder in the last three days – it's also the most popular specific decklist, and our only Standard Juggernaut today: it has grown from 3,400 games played last week to 5,400 while keeping an excellent 55% win rate.
Unless some unexpected left-field development shakes the Standard LoR meta (coughAnnieJhincough), it looks like Garen Jarvan Kai'Sa will remain the best LoR deck in the format.
22 cards
18 cards
27 100
Garen Jarvan Kai'Sa's is only weak against Vault Nasus decks, but even those matchups are not unwinnable (odds for Garen's team is around 40% in this case) – in other unfavored matchups, like Lurkers, Annie Jhin, or Shen Jarvan, Elites' odds are 45% or better.
On the other hand, Kai'Sa's crew demolishes Karma Sett and Caitlyn Teemo, and has a slight edge on Jinx Samira.
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!
Jinx Samira
While not too popular an archetype overall, Jinx Samira remains, like last week, the second most-played specific deck.
Its winrate has cooled off noticeably, though, dropping from 57% to 54% – still an excellent deck, but as well see in a bit, no longer the best Samira deck in the LoR Standard format.
The pew-pew-BOOM pair bloody murders Annie Jhin (itself a deck with numbers good enough suspect it may be the best LoR deck right now), is also great against Samira Fizz and Lurkers, and gives Vault Nasus a bloody nose, while itself has no weak spot among the other Top Dogs.
Further reading: Samira Jinx Deck Guide.
15 cards
25 cards
28 600
Nasus Vaults of Helia
The Lone Nasus version of the Vaults of Helia
deck keeps inching upward, its win rate growing again and currently at 54% (up from 53% last week, and 52% two weeks ago) across nearly 2,000 games:
23 cards
17 cards
22 900
Conversely, the Azir Nasus version has cooled off a bit, showing a similar win rate to the Lone Nasus version, and in this case with around 1,100 games played:
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17 cards
25 300
Both the Big Lone Dog and the Bird 'n' Dog versions have good odds against the reigning Elites, but tend to lose against other Top Dogs – above all, Karma Sett and Samira Fizz are disastrous matchups.
Fizz Samira
Fizz: Hey, Samira! Have you heard the one about the nerfs?
Samira: Yeah! Cracks me up every time!
We have no insights as to how funny the Riot devs find this joke, but it's clear that Fizz and Samira just laugh their asses off – not only are they, once again, among the most played archetypes, the best Fizz Samira deck is, yet again, one of Runeterra's heavy hitters: win rate above 55% (and, in fact, second-higest winrate behind Annie Jhin) with 1,300 games played.
It's not without counters (Karma Sett, Jinx Samira, and Ekko Jinx all have fairly good odds against Samira's crew), but Fizz Samira turns Nasus into a yawping puppy, blow Lurkers out of the water, beats Annie Jhin, and murders anything that is not a top-tier brew.
Yeah: nerf this!
Further reading: Samira Fizz Deck Guide
25 cards
15 cards
31 500
Annie Jhin
As last week, it's not too much of a stretch to call Annie Jhin the best deck in Runeterra, period. As in: the only deck that can claim to be a powerhouse in both formats, Standard and Eternal.
The Standard version is a bit different from the variant we've seen in the Eternal Decks section, but results are similarly impressive: again like last week, Annie Jhin showcases the highest win rate among popular Standard decks right now, smacking at nearly 60% in about 1,100 games.
In the Standard LoR ladder, Annie Jhin beats 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 and Karma Sett.
Jinx Samira, along with a couple of fringe brews (Heimer Jayce and Illaoi Swain) are the only things that Annie Jhin truly fears, while Fizz Samira has a tiny edge on bullet buff and blazing brat.
25 cards
15 cards
27 500
Jarvan Shen
Prince and Protector keep delivering, the best Shen Jarvan deck performing a bit above 55% and with 1,100 games played.
They have good to great odds against the majority of the current Top Dogs in Runeterra, with only Annie Jhin and Vault Nasus decks being a problem.
22 cards
18 cards
27 000
Punching Up – Standard Decks Doing Great
Runeterra decks with between 600 and 1000 games in the last three days in the Standard ladder – smallish data samples, yet all decks here have quite a few games under their belts.
Karma Sett
The LoR Mint remains one of the most popular archetypes, but it's a very "scattered" one, with a multitude of slightly different decks. Here's the most popular, with around 700 games played in the last three days, and a decent 52% win rate:
24 cards
16 cards
26 900
Pyke Rek'Sai, aka Lurkers
Lurkers are on the rise – like Karma Sett, they are both very popular as an archetype, and quite "scattered" (for example, the two most popular Lurker decks just differ in one extra copy of Ruthless Predator
, and one less copy of Blood in the Water
).
Unlike the LoR Mint, though, their performance is through the roof, with the current best Pyke Rek'Sai deck punching above 57%:
15 cards
25 cards
26 400
The Fringe Stuff
With Standard being less played than Eternal (we have roughly 2x Eternal games on record when compared to Standard), a lot of tried-and-true Standard decks currently show a playrate that we'd normally consider "fringe" – any of these decks should work very well, though, given that they currently show excellent win rates, and we know them to be solid brews.
- Maokai Nautilus, aka Deep – another case, like Karma Sett or Lurkers, of a very popular but very "scattered" archetype.
- Illaoi Swain, with a playrate that truly does not make its performance justice – don't sleep on this one, folks, it's a great deck!
- Ekko Jinx, deflating quite a bit this week, but still very playable,
- Ashe LeBlanc, just a shadow of its former self after the nerfs, but also quite playable,
- Heimerdinger Jayce, looking like it may be an interesting trend in the coming days: it's an excellent deck against Annie Jhin, although both Lurkers and Deep give it nightmares,
- Jax Ornn, for those that like to put weapons on their weapons,
- Gnar Norra, packing pings, pirouettes and pies!
Wrapping Up
With a hotfix to the strongest Eternal deck just two days ago, all bets are off about what will be the deck to beat this coming Saturday, in the very first Eternal Runeterra Open.
But if you miss that bet, worry none: you'll get another shot on the 17th, as another Eternal LoR Open takes place.
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.
