NOTE: for the newest version of this article, check this link!
LoR Best Decks
As of early Sunday 24, these are the best decks in LoR according to Balco:
The above chart groups decks by archetype ("archetype" being the aggregate decklists of a specific champion combination).
Below we'll provide the best decklists for these archetypes – since in each archetype some decklists fare better than others (and sometimes the difference is quite noticeable), we'll broadly group decklists in four arbitrary categories, by amount of games played in the last few days in the data samples we check:
- Juggernauts: decklists with more than 2100 games – best tried-and-true tools for the job. It's still VERY early in the patch, so jury's still out about what will happen a week from now, but currently these are as safe a bet as you can have.
- Heavyweights: between 2100 and 900 games – other excellent choices with large enough samples to confidently say, "Yeah, this works".
- Punching Up: between 900 and 300 games – we're entering the Land of Small Sample Sizes here, on top of the meta being up in the air, but as far as numbers go, it looks like these decklists can put up one hell of a fight.
- YMMV: between 300 and 150 games – risky stuff, but here's where you usually find the spice.
For this article, in all cases we'll look at decklists in Platinum and above.
If you have any feedback on how these decklists could be showcased differently, do let me know! =)
Juggernauts -- Best Decks in LoR
Decklists with more than 2100 games – best tried-and-true tools for the job.
It's still VERY early in the patch, so jury's still out about what will happen a week from now, but currently these are as safe a bet as you can have.
Irelia Azir
Azir has arisen again, and with him, the Domination
Fun Police – you have to give it to the Devs, they really printed a flavorful card to say, "Around here you do as I say."
And what Azirelia says right now is, "Bow down to the returned King and Queen of the Meta": it has not just one, but two lists that would qualify as Juggernauts.
The recommended list below has more than 4,500 games, making it the most played list by a wide margin, and having more games than, say, Bard Illaoi's entire archetype. It also punches well above 55%.
And if for some weird reason you happen to want options, the second most popular Azirelia list, which also happens to be the second most popular list, period, would be this one, but performs 'only' at 54% – so, really, don't try to be cute and just use the best list instead.
(As a side comment about the Meta in general: notice how Defiant Dance
is superior to Homecoming
)
Is this the start of the Second Dark Age of Azirelia?
It may be a tad too hasty to tell the people so.
Annie TF, Jhinnie, Spider-Gwen, Illaoi Bard and Lonesome Lulu (all of them very strong decks, as we'll see below) brutally murder Azirelia, and Sivir Kai'sa can put up an even fight.
At least by these early numbers, Azir & friends really seem to be about bullying weaker decks, yet crumbling when facing strong opposition.
16 cards
24 cards
26 500
Jhinnie
If Azirelia is the big bully, Annie Jhin is turning into the real scary one: with a bit more than 2,500 games in that last three days, this list has the highest WR from among the Juggernauts.
Part of their success is how they brutally crush Azirelia, but burning brat and bullet buff also have game against most of the field. Their Achilles' Heels are Gwennie, Spider-Gwen, Heimer Jayce and Lonesome Lulu.
28 cards
12 cards
22 000
Gwennie
This very good Annie Gwen list hides in an archetype polluted by really, really bad builds, dragging its average WR through the mud – yet the list below is the real deal: 2,800 games, solid WR.
Suffers when facing Kai'sa in all her Demacia versions and dislikes Annie TF, but has a slight edge against Azirelia, and good odds against Jhinnie and Spider-Gwen
18 cards
22 cards
29 800
Twisted Fate Annie
This is perhaps the archetype with the most potential, if one were to guess by their current matchup table, popularity, WR, and slightly different builds all doing great, which hints at brew that on the one hand still has room for improvement, and on the other seems to have – thanks to the different spells it has access to – quite the varied toolkit.
The list shared below is the most popular, with around 2,500 games and WR above 54%; this other slightly different option has a much better performance (with WR a good bit above 55%) across 900 games.
14 cards
26 cards
28 100
Spider-Gwen
Who would have thought that big bullies were afraid of lil' spiders?
Elise Gwen sure looks like the real deal, with a very solid matchup spread – beats all Kai'sa Demacia versions, and does a number to Jhinnie – but seamstress and many-legged mistress prey above all on Azirelia.
They are themselves somewhat weak to Thralls and Gwennie, and get wrecked by Lone Lulu and Illaoi Bard.
All in all, a very solid decklist (north of 2,400 games and 54% WR), and arguably the cheapest to build for LoR newcomers.
14 cards
26 cards
23 600
Sneezin' Lone Lulu
The last of our Juggernauts today.
According to our resident Chomper Connoisseur and Boom Baboon buff, Card Gamer, beneath a seemingly simple deck lies a complex archetype with at least three different gameplans, and is another of Azirelia's main predators.
Sneezy Lulu hates Annie TF, Thralls and Illaoi Bard, and besides Pix and Azirelia she loves Annie Jhin and Spider-Gwen
22 cards
18 cards
17 200
Heavyweights
These decklists have between 900 and 2100 games in the last three days (for those that don't like math, that's between 300 and 700 games per day) – in other words, solid choices with large enough samples to confidently say, "Yeah, this works".
On grounds of novelty and popularity, today we'll look at decklists with WRs over 51% (rather than putting the threshold at around 53-54%, as it's often the case in these articles).
Illaoi Bard
Comparing WRs between decklist with vastly different play rate should be always done with caution. As we noted above, Azirelia's most popular decklist has more games than all Illaoi Bard decks combined, making it a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison…
… but having said that, this list has the highest WR from all lists we'll see today, and by a whooping margin at that: it goes well above 60%, which is between 'bonkers' and 'bananas'.
As in, this surely will drop in performance, but it's high enough to warrant the attention of anybody interested in Ladder metrics.
And in this case, the sample size is large enough (more than 1400 games) to assume it's very much not a fluke – above all when the matchup spread is amazing: priest and caretaker lose only to Ashe LeBlanc (itself not too strong a deck overall), and are slightly disfavored against Annie TF.
If you'd like a recommendation about a fairly new deck worth putting your time on, this would be it.
31 cards
9 cards
27 000
Yasuo Katarina
Included in today's selection more on grounds of novelty than performance (around 51%), but you have to respect the joy of die-hard fans of these two blade lovers: Windswept Hillock
has done the trick and made Yasuo Katarina playable.
As we noted last Friday, though, their matchup table is not too encouraging: Azirelia is far superior when it comes to dancing with blades, Jhinnie proves yet again that it's foolish to bring swords and daggers to a gunfight, and Annie TF wrecks YasKat so thoroughly so as to be the most lopsided matchup between any two Meta decks.
And YasKat is also a slight underdog to Sivir Kai'sa and Gwinnie, too, so…
… we'll see, but the winds don't blow too kindly here.
22 cards
18 cards
28 900
Akshan Kai'Sa Demacia
We'll briefly note that AkKai is indeed a deck, but other Kai'Sa Demacia versions seem superior when looking at their matchup spread (with Spider-Gwen being AkKai's only good matchup when facing other strong decks, and being even or underdogs in the rest).
With the above being said, the below list – which is the third most popular with nearly 800 games – reaches 55%, so it's surely a strong option. Sticking to a lower curve seems to be the way to go, when comparing different versions.
18 cards
22 cards
28 400
Kai'Sa Sivir Demacia
Sivir looks like the best Kai'Sa pairing if you're going to visit Demacia. It's a bit less popular than the AkKai version, but performance is better and, above all, the matchup spread is far superior.
In particular, where AkKai is even or underdog in most popular matchups, KaiSiv is even (in the 47-53% range) or slightly favored in most cases, with Spider-Gwen looking like the only truly bad matchup.
19 cards
21 cards
26 600
And about Lone Kai'Sa Demacia…
… similar to AkKai, we'll just note it does look like a deck, but KaiSiv seems to be the superior choice, and Lone Kai'Sa's play rates are far lower than any of them so we won't recommend a decklist in this case.
Punching Up
Decklists with between 300 and 900 games played in the last three days – we're entering the Land of Small Sample Sizes here, on top of the meta being up in the air, but as far as numbers go, it looks like these decks can put up one hell of a fight.
Akshan Udyr
And now, for a bit of left-field spice!
It's hard to guess what made Akshan Udyr stand out in this meta, but it's pulling decent results (slightly above 51%) in nearly 800 games.
Dies horribly to most strong decks save Thralls, mind you, so spice-seekers beware!
20 cards
20 cards
24 900
Heimerdinger Jayce Shadows
Professor and Student have left the lab, and are having a field day.
And, boy oh boy, are they wrecking folks left and right, and racking the LPs!
Interestingly, though, their matchup spread seems to have gone milder – last patch it was one of the decks with the more polarized matchups (good matchups being great, but bad matchups being awful), whereas they now are on more even grounds (if usually favored) against most decks.
This is probably another deck worth putting the time to get experienced with, as long as you don't hate its play pattern – it has proven to be one of the most resilient archetypes for several patches in a row now.
31 cards
9 cards
26 900
Bandle Fizz Riven
Flying a bit below the radar, but not too far from being a menace again.
16 cards
24 cards
27 100
Thralls
Hard to say whether they are playing dead and biding their time (as they did last balance patch), or they've found this meta a tad distasteful – they sure have a couple of horrible matchups against Azirelia and Jhinnie, which perhaps is keeping the Frozen Menace at bay.
24 cards
16 cards
31 500
Ahri Bard
Pushed to the fringes of the Meta, MajiinBae's favorite deck is doing scarily well, punching well above 55%.
31 cards
9 cards
25 200
Sivir Ziggs Noxus
The latest iteration of Noxurimaggro, and doing quite well – it's a bit puzzling not to find last patch's foremost version (running Annie and Kat along with Ziggs), and to be sure this mutation is a bit heavier on the top end.
20 cards
20 cards
24 800
Your Mileage May Vary
Decklists with less than 300 games played in the last few days – promising, but too little data to say for sure.
Only one deck in this category today, namely…
Bandle Zilean Xerath
Quite the fringe archetype, going heavy on Landmarks and experimenting with Rite of Passage
.
11 cards
29 cards
26 800
Closing Words
By play rate and WR, it would appear that the Second Dark Age of Azirelia looms near…
… yet looking at its "Bully the weak, crumble against strong" matchup spread, one would think Shurima's future is not so clear-cut.
As noted last Friday, Gwen seems to be the most flexible of the new champs, having already found two different shells (even if both pair her with Noxus), with Kai'Sa's different Demacia version apparently converging into KaiSiv.
Evelynn, sadly, and as hard as brewers are trying, seems to not have found a strong home yet.
Still, by this time during Worldwalker we all thought Bard was meh…
… and by this time last balance patch most of us thought Thralls were sort of dead, so…
… still too early to tell, so we'll see.
Any questions or comments, or more data you may need, feel free to:
Poke me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HerkoKerghans,
Stop for a chat on the Poetry Discord (we talk a fair bit about the LoR best decks and data, too! =): https://discord.gg/VNN5NmGhXY,
Or find more writings on substack: https://riwan.substack.com/
And good luck in your climb!
