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 – Age of Shadows
With the Runeterra Open Worlds Qualifier just around the corner, these are the 8 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
The current LoR meta seems fairly solved – and, to be honest, it was never too generous when it comes to the abundance of new toys – yet will end as one of the most open and well-balanced: there's no single dominant deck, and every Top Dog has at least one strong counter. It's also one of the most favorable metas for 
Shadow Isles in quite a while.
And there's even room for some innovation: "Pink" Seraphine, which made a lot of waves in the Runeterra Open, is very playable on the LoR ladder, and Teemo (arguably the most flexible champ in this patch) shows up with a twist for his 
Targon deck: Teemo Yuumi.
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
In what's the best LoR Meta for Shadow Isles in quite some time, Nasus
Veigar
will end this patch cycle at the top of every popularity chart: it's currently both the most-played archetype, and also the most-played specific decklist (which has remained constant for two weeks now) – what's more, its win rate has improved from 55% last week to above 57%, in around 5000 games in the last three days according to Legna's data.
25 cards
15 cards
32 500
The reigning Juggernaut does have a couple of weak spots (Fizz Samira is a disastrous matchup, and Seraphine Sett is even worse), but its overall performance, when factoring in how popular it is, makes Nasus Veigar the clear candidate for the "Best LoR Deck" title.
Heimer Jayce Shadows
The only archetype that can match Nasus Veigar's popularity is another Shadow Isles representative, Heimer Jayce, but its most popular version only accrues 2800 games in the last three days – Heimer Jayce has a long story of having lots of slightly different versions, and this time is not the exception.
9 cards
31 cards
28 000
Heimer Jayce continues to be one of the most "fair" decks in the current Runeterra meta: against most popular decks, its odds are in the 45-55% range, with the exceptions being Illaoi Swain and Scouts (which Heimer Jayce has a big edge against), and Seraphine Sett, which is a bit of an uphill struggle.
Further reading: Heimerdinger Jayce 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.
Jinx Kennen
Jinx Kennen shows, like in past weeks, one of the highest winrates in the Standard LoR ladder – and, in fact, today Jinx Kennen is the deck that's hitting the hardest from among all brews we'll see in this article, punching above 58%. It's also one of Sorry's top picks for climbing.
Its playrate has decreased quite a bit, though, falling to 1100 games played in a three-day window this week (down from 1700 games last week), which is a dynamic that we've often seen: pilots that stick with a deck tend to push its winrate higher.
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15 cards
25 200
Jinx Kennen absolutely demolishes Fizz Samira, has an edge against the current LoR Juggernauts (namely Heimer Jayce and Nasus Veigar), blows Lurkers (which is on the rise) out of the water, and can go toe-to-toe with most other popular decks, with a glaring exception: Illaio Swain, which is an utterly miserable experience for the Discard Duo.
Further reading: Jinx Bandle City Discard Aggro Deck Guide
Pyke Rek'Sai, aka Lurkers
Lurkers have leapfrogged in popularity, and current numbers say it's for good reason: while last week they showed a modest 51% win rate, this week they are punching at nearly 55%!
Part of the reason could be the rise of Sett Seraphine, which is a great matchup for Lurkers – but "Pink" Sera doesn't seem popular enough to explain this spike in performance, above all when Pyke's crew has tough matchups against Jinx Kennen, Illaoi Swain, and Fizz Samira
Still, at any rate, and for a deck that always sees play Online Casino Österreich, this is indeed a great time to Lurk along!
25 cards
15 cards
26 400
Not Quite There: Nidalee Shurima, Frozen Sett, and Bandle Sion
There have been three very popular experiments this week, with Champions going solo – but, thus far, results don't seem to be there: Shurima Nidalee, 
Freljord Sett, and Bandle City Sion all struggle below the 50% winrate mark, so we won't recommend them today.
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.
Fizz Samira
Fizz
Samira
remains, like last week, one of the punchiest decks in the Runeterra meta, hitting a bit above 57% – and it seems to have found its optimal build, showing up today with the exact same card list, including Jagged Butcher
, Coral Creatures
, and Eye of Nagakabouros
.
28 cards
12 cards
34 300
Samira Fizz is what you bring to the LoR ladder if you want to ruin Nasus Veigar's day; it's also very solid against Heimer Jayce, and has an edge against Pyke Rek'Sai…
… but, again proving that this may be one of the most balanced LoR metas in quite some time (even if it's probably not gonna get any golden star for originality), it also has a couple of strong counters: Jinx Kennen steamrolls Sam Fish, with Aatrox Quinn Vayne and Illaoi Swain also being very tough confrontations.
Illaoi Swain
Showing the kind of grit and resilience that would make Nagakabouros proud, Priestess and Grand General have dug their heels in and maintain their playrate while improving their performance a bit, to 54%.
They weep every time they face Nasus Veigar or Heimer Jayce, but Illaoi Swain is the bane of aggressive decks like Jinx Kennen (in fact being the Discard Duo's only weak spot), Fizz Samira or Pyke Rek'Sai.
Further reading: Swain Illaoi Deck Guide
27 cards
13 cards
28 800
⭐Rising Star: Sett Seraphine
Even though the current meta is fairly settled (and has never been overly abundant in novel decks), we do have a new kid in the block: "Pink" Seraphine!
As Yangzera notes in his Sett Seraphine Deck Guide, "The deck was discovered only in the last few days before the open but still had 4 copies in the finals across all shards, with 2 first places and 2 second places."
17 cards
23 cards
31 100
Seraphine Sett's current performance on the LoR ladder is just okay (win rate about 51% in around 800 games), but has excellent odds against Nasus Veigar, good odds against Heimer Jayce, and is roughly even against Jinx Kennen and Fizz Samira – a fairly good place to be against the current field!
Further reading: Sett Seraphine Deck Guide
Miss Fortune Quinn, aka Scouts
Quinn and Miss Fortune keep booting butts and taking names – their play rate has decreased sharply (to about 800 games in a three-day window, down from close to 1500 last week) but without a dent to their excellent 56% win rate.
They are badly place against the reigning Juggernauts, with both Nasus Veigar and Heimer Jayce being poor matchups, but are even against Illaoi Swain and Lurkers, and consistently beat Fizz Samira, Jinx Kennen, and Seraphine Sett.
Further reading: Miss Fortune Quinn Scouts Deck Guide
28 cards
12 cards
32 400
🔥Hot! Jax Ornn
Well, this one is a surprise!
Until last week, Weapon Master and Forge God were kinda hanging in there (an okay 52% winrate, about 700 games played) – yet, out of the blue, they are hammering at 57%+ this week!
Sample sizes are on the low end here, so it's hard to guess what's going on here – the best Jax Ornn deck is the exact same list as last week, it still has problems with several of the other Top Dogs (with an uphill struggle against Nasus Veigar, and slightly disadvantaged against Hemier Jayce, Illaoi Swain, and Fizz Samira)...
… yet, for some reason, the rest of the field seems to be quite accommodating for these two.
21 cards
19 cards
24 800
A Tale of Many Teemos
Everybody's favorite Poison Puffcap
-planting scout will end this patch cycle being the most versatile LoR Champ – Teemo
is the only one who can claim to have two very different decks among the Top Dogs.
Returning to previous trends, the most popular, and also the punchiest (smashing at over 57%), is the Targon version, which shows an interesting twist: Yuumi
has joined the Sump party!
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26 500
In the meantime, the Piltover & Zaun version strikes a bit softer, but still at a very good 53% win rate with the same list as last week:
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13 cards
26 000
Further reading: Targon Teemo Deck Guide
Gnar Neeko
Gnar Neeko has kept its 54% performance this week, so let's make it official: Heart of the Huntress does have a very playable Champion!
It's bad against Nasus Veigar and disastrous against Fizz Samira, so, you know, far from a meta-breaker – but has shown good performance for long enough to earn its "Real Deck" stripes.
Further reading: Gnar Neeko Deck Guide
26 cards
14 cards
30 600
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!
Aatrox Quinn Vayne
Aatrox Quinn Vayne is not having the best week, but it remains playable and can handily handle foes such as Fizz Samira.
28 cards
12 cards
34 400
Jarvan IV Shen
Pushed to the fringes of current Runeterra meta, Jarvan Shen is nevertheless packing one hell of a hard punch – it's awful against today's Juggernauts, namely Heimer Jayce and Nasus Veigar, but has game against Illaoi Swain, Teemo, and Lurkers, and utterly demolishes Aatrox Quinn Vayne.
Further reading: Shen Jarvan IV Deck Guide
19 cards
21 cards
25 600
Teemo Tristana
Turns out Teemo has yet another deck doing well – Teemo Tristana is a fairly old concept, that has been relevant in a handful of LoR metas, and is looking quite good right now. So good, in fact, that Sorry ranked it as his #1 choice for climbing the ladder!
9 cards
31 cards
29 800
Maokai Nautilus, aka Deep
Having enjoyed quite a bit of popularity a few metas ago, Deep is enjoying quite a bit of quiet success – if you happen to have joined LoR recently, here's a very old deck with a distinct play pattern that you may want to take for a spin.
15 cards
25 cards
28 600
Darius Gnar Samira
The ideal deck for those who want something off the beaten path, and overwhelm their foes without too much subtlety!
18 cards
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26 700
Piltovan Annie Samira
For our fringest deck today, a brew that's looking quite promising: Annie
and Samira go to Piltover & Zaun, to pair Lord Broadmane
with plenty of pings.
22 cards
18 cards
27 300
Wrapping Up
The current patch cycle hasn't brought many new toys to the forefront, but will end as one of the most balanced LoR metas in quite a while: there's no deck without at least one strong counter, and several of the Top Dogs have more than one Achilles' Heel.
Novelty, it must be said, was not a large part of the equation – but, with a Variety patch next week, along with the change of focus to Eternal, it's not too much of a stretch to expect plenty of novelty when the next patch lands.
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.
