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 the Legends of Runeterra meta!
The LoR meta has been shaken by a new expansion, Fate's Voyage: Beyond, that dropped last Wednesday. As you may imagine, everything is up in the air right – while some builds have clearly positioned themselves as the best decks right now, expect things to change a lot in the coming days, as the dust settles and we get close to LoR Worlds 2023.
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 for the Standard Ladder
These are the most popular Standard LoR archetypes according to the Mastering Runeterra Meta Tier List – notice that "popular" and "strong" don't quite overlap this early on, though!
Sources: MaRu's data (which samples Plat+ players)
Overall LoR Ladder Trends – Standard
Elder Dragon
Volibear
reigns supreme when you look at popularity, but in the performance department it's clearly overshadowed by several other decks… and it may not even be the best Elder Dragon deck: Garen
is gaining traction fast as the old lizard's best friend.
Morgana
has struck a profitably partnership with Riven
, and as we'll see in a bit she has several other promising decks.
Mordekaiser
, on the other hand, has yet to find his footing, with all his popular options being disappointing right now… but, when digging deep down into the data, we'll find a couple of options that may make him shine.
Juggernauts – Best Legends of Runeterra Decks for the Standard Ladder
Decks in this category have at least 2100 games played since the patch landed, and good to great win rates – as far as current numbers go, these are the best LoR decks in the Standard ladder.
Elder Dragon Volibear
With crazy levels of popularity (nearly a quarter of all decks out there!), Elder Dragon Volibear seems to have made every Timmy and Tammy in Runeterra happy as can be.
There are several different takes, though, so it would be misleading to think of this as just one deck.
The most popular Volibear Elder Dragon deck, with a crazy 7100 games played since the expansion landed, would be this one:
24 cards
16 cards
38 400
Judging by current numbers, it's not too good, though – it's win rate has dropped from 53% yesterday to about 51% right now.
There's a second version, focusing a lot more on spells and with a heavier top-end:
18 cards
22 cards
43 400
This second version has about 2600 games played since the patch landed. It's doing better that the first version (currently punching at 54%), but has also cooled off when comparing with yesterday (when it performed above 56%).
But!
There's a third version, with a near 50/50 split between followers and spells and going all-in on the "Big Butts on Board" strategy:
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46 800
This third version is less popular than the other two (around 1500 games played) but hits well above the 57% mark.
Morgana Riven
Morgana Riven was looking nice yesterday, and a looks like a friggin' powerhouse today. It has leapfrogged over every other deck other than Elder Dragon Voli when it comes to popularity (Morgana Riven's best deck had about 400 games played yesterday, and it has nearly 10x times as many today!), and has done so while punching at a crazy 60% win rate.
Morgana Riven's dominance over Elder Dragon Volibear (the ladies win about 2 games out of 3 in this confrontation) explains in large part their great performance, but they also have a good edge against Gwen Zed and Gwen Riven, two decks that as we'll see in a bit remain excellent ladder choices.
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26 100
Gwen Zed
With not a single spell swapped this expansion, Gwen
Zed
punches at a silly 60% win rate and, with 3300 games played this patch.
Whether or not it will remain as one of the best decks in Runeterra is still to be seen, though. Shadows and Seamstress steamroll dragons and angry bears, and they also crush Gwen Riven, but they lose to Morgana Riven, Elder Dragon Garen (which may emerge as the best Elder Dragon deck), and Bandle Jinx.
15 cards
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27 000
Heavyweights – Strong LoR Decks for the Standard Ladder
These decks have between 1200 and 2100 games since the patch landed – thus far, they are among Runeterra's heavy-hitters!
Gwen Riven
With a shiny new toy in Red-Barbed Razormace
(shiny enough to ditch Opulent Foyer
!) Gwen Riven finds quite a bit of success in these early days.
Most of its success seems to come from bullying Elder Dragon decks and Mordekaiser decks, though – Morgana Riven or Gwen Zed pound Gwen Riven into dust,
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17 cards
27 900
Elder Dragon Garen
Elder Dragon Garen was a tiny blip in the radar yesterday (just around 100 games played) yet pilots have picked it up and this deck is gaining traction fast: more than 1200 games played today and a crazy 60%+ win rate makes it one of the most promising Elder Dragon decks right now.
Also the most promising Elites deck, with even good ol' Battlesmith
showing up for the fight!
Elder Dragon Garen roflstomps over other Elder Dragon versions, murders Gwen Zed, and seems roughly 50/50 against Morgana Riven.
Interestingly, it looks like one of the very few strong decks that loses to some of Mordekaiser's decks – perhaps if Garen raises, Mordekaiser will have a chance to shine as his counter?
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21 300
Morgana Galio
Nowhere near as popular nor as punchy as Morgana Riven, Morgana Galio
looks quite playable, with a nice 54% win rate across about 1200 games.
And it seems excellent against Morgana Riven, a Juggernaut which has very few weak spots right now.
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28 200
Some Tweaks Required: Mordekaiser Decks
Mordekaiser looks like the runt of the Beyond litter, and has thus far failed to find a suitable partner.
And not for lack of trying, mind you: Pairings with Senna, Morgana, Sion, or Nasus are very popular, but thus far have showcased disappointing performances.
We'll find a couple of promising decks when looking at fringe options, but none of the popular Mordekaiser decks seem to work right now.
Punching Up – Standard LoR Decks Doing Great
Standard LoR decks with between 800 and 1200 games played in this expansion – we're sailing into small data samples here, so pilots beware!
Bandle Jinx
Although it never took off in popularity, 
Bandle City Jinx
did great during the last patch cycle. And, with 900 games played while tying for highest win rate with Elder Dragon Garen, it looks like Jinx hasn't lost her ka-boom.
Matchup data is scarce, but thus far Bandle Jix seems very favored against Elder Dragon Volibear and Gwen Zed, a bit disfavored versus Morgana Riven, and a clear underdog when facing Elder Dragon Garen.
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14 100
Morgana Darius
Returning to Noxus, Morgana pairs with Darius
for a punchy, low-to-the-ground mix. It has cooled off a bit since yesterday (when it performed well above 60%) but still punches at a great 57% win rate.
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13 cards
25 500
Annie Jhin
Are these two back? Annie
Jhin
has never entirely left the LoR meta, but since rotation it has remained a very fringe option and just a shadow of its former self.
They have started Beyond on the right foot, though, with quite a few games under their belts and sky-high performance.
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27 500
Your Mileage May Vary
If none of the above floats your boat, here are a handful of more fringe options that are doing well on the Standard LoR ladder – sample sizes are small, though, so tread carefully!
Darius Gnar
Picking a couple of new pets, Darius Gnar
is showing some eye-widening performance – in fact, the highest win rate from among all decks showcased today. And, while a fringe option right now, it has increased its playrate a lot since yesterday.
Worth keeping an eye on this one if punchy and overwhelm y are down your alley!
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23 600
Pyke Rek'Sai, aka Lurkers
Looks like Pyke
Rek'Sai
will close the year as the most stable deck in Runeterra: since rotation arrived at the start of Glory in Navori, Lurkers has been the only deck you could have played in any LoR meta this year and be assured you were piloting a competitive deck.
We'll see how they fare this expansion, but thus far the numbers look very, very good.
Further reading: Pyke Rek'Sai Deck Guide
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26 400
Fizz Yuumi
Drop some elusive s, buff them to hell and back – an old technique, and some would say not too chivalrous, but that has worked well many times and is working wonderfully right now.
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27 700
Champless Heisho
Now this one is a radical new take!
For starters, the most spell-heavy deck in Runeterra's history. No Champions, to boot – and just Heisho, Shell of the World
as the lone follower, to ensure Sugary Snare
always finds it when cast.
23 cards
17 cards
19 400
Mordekaiser LeBlanc
When digging throught the data, LeBlanc
Mordekaiser is the first Mordekaiser deck with a positive performance.
Quite positive in this case, actually, although the sample size is on the low end: About 250 games, which is high enough to not discard this deck as just noise, but not large enough to say anything more than "this may actually work."
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30 600
Mordekaiser Kalista
This would be the other Mordekaiser deck showing promise: Kalista
Mordekaiser. Similar observations as with the LeBlanc version (great performance, minuscule sample size), but thus far looking promising.
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27 800
Wrapping Up
Beyond is the Worlds patch: In less than a week, the 64 competitors for LoR Worlds 2023 will clash in Runeterra's biggest tournament, and we'll get to find out what brews they bring to the fray.
Expect lots of changes in the LoR meta in the coming days, but thus far the decks above are the ones looking best.
Hope you've found your weapon of choice of these early days, 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 1200 games played – other excellent choices, with large enough samples to confidently say, "Yeah, this works."
- Punching Up: LoR decks with between 1200 and 800 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.
