[Top 10] Legends of Runeterra Champions That Are Powerful

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Updated:

04 Feb 2023

With a new patch nothing stays the same, so let us see who makes it to the top ten this time!

Hi everyone! It’s me again with yet another Top 10 list. This time we are taking a look at the best ten standalone champions in the game at the time of Patch 3.10.0.

For this list I will be taking the champions in the context of the current patch primarily, however I will consider a champion’s potential in general as well.

I should also mention in advance that all you Garen and Darius enthusiasts will be sorely disappointed, since in my opinion no base-set champion really stood the test of time – they are all just a bit too vanilla or have been nerfed in the latest patch.

Be that as it may, it is now time to get into the list itself. Starting it off we have…

10. Akshan

Akshan Gameplay Trailer

This striking rogue has been a partner in crime in one of the most consistent meta staple decks that LoR has ever known: Sivir Akshan Demacia. While that deck is not so prominent in this patch, Akshan still finds his way into the meta. For example, Sivir Akshan Targon with Winding Light is a rather popular left field deck these days.

But Akshan’s real notoriety comes from his potential to enable infinite combo decks.

By copying the treasure that comes out of his second landmark (with Counterfeit Copies for example) and picking the Font of Power option every time, you can easily draw through your entire deck while discounting every card you draw to 0 mana. These decks are often perceived as problematic due to the sheer amount of time it takes to execute the combo.

Akshan can do some really spectacular things and give trick-heavy, board-focused midrange decks access resources and card draw. He can also enable Lee Sin decks or combo decks through the different options from Sentinel’s Hoard. That said, he himself has a rather modest stat line and the landmarks can be disrupted, especially since landmark removal has seen quite substantial buffs lately. And so our dashing vigilante narrowly holds onto the ledge of this list with his grappling hook attached to the tenth rank.

What makes Akshan great:

Very high potential due to Font of Power.
Gives decks that play a lot of cheap combat tricks access to card draw.
His Quick Attack works well with Shurima’s Vulnerable effects like Merciless Hunter.
He is an early game card that sets up for your late game.

Akshan details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Akshan/LoR

9. Fizz

Fizz Gameplay Trailer

Next up we have this aquatic troublemaker and every control deck’s worst nightmare: Fizz. I don’t know about you, but every time I lose to Trundle Tryndamere Shadow Isles I feel a distinct urge to take the first Fizz Riven list I can find and hit that play button with Vengeance in mind!

Fizz Riven is the deck that brings our fishy friend on this list. The ultimate meta counter, it demands completely different answers from your opponent than any other deck that is popular this patch. Once you have planted a Papercraft Dragon into your Fizz, nothing short of a freeze effect or a challenger can stop him, and even those are not guaranteed to help. The deck is a bit inconsistent, however, and outside of it Fizz doesn’t find much application.

All-in Fizz decks are always a consideration but rarely end up viable, and otherwise Fizz often ends up being a 2/1 with a small upside and a good buff target. Lots of potential but rarely realized, Fizz doesn’t quite manage to find his way on shore, emerging at #9 on our list.

What is great about Fizz:

Thanks to his ability, Fizz can be used to counter decks that rely on single target removal.
Decks that are centered around buffing Fizz are potentially very powerful and always something to keep in mind.
His Champion Spell is a rally. A very bad rally that only works on attacking turns, but it is a rally still.
Fizz is a one mana unit, and against aggressive decks there is nothing wrong with just blocking a Legion Rearguard with him.

Fizz details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Fizz/LoR

8. Jayce

Jayce Gameplay footage and Reveal

“Wow! They made Karma a 5/5 and you don’t have to wait until turn ten anymore?!” Well, not quite. But in some scenarios, Jayce does feel that powerful. He requires you to include several expensive spells into your deck in order for him to level up, and it is not that easy to have many of those that aren’t way too situational.

On the other hand Jayce has good stats, an immediate impact even in his level one form if you pick Challenger as his keyword, and once leveled usually closes out games without much effort. I have rated Jayce Heimer SI as the number 3 deck in the game in my top 10 decks list, and Jayce is absolutely integral in that deck’s ability to win the late game. Additionally, he always makes a good pair with Lux and is a consideration in any deck that finds itself playing a sufficient number of expensive spells.

Very solid albeit a bit slow and sometimes clunky, but a huge threat once leveled, Jayce makes a worthy #8 on the list.

What is great about Jayce:

His level one form is pretty useful. When it comes to holding the board, level one Jayce feels like a Demacia card. That means he is good at holding the board.
Jayce makes Deny effects almost useless, since the spell is being cast twice once he is leveled. The exception of course is Rite of Negation since it denies all enemy spells on the stack.
He can be tutored with the Albus Ferros card.
His generated card is very good for finishing the game.

Jayce details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Jayce/LoR

7. Miss Fortune

Miss Fortune Gameplay Showcase

I cannot recall a meta where Scouts has not been a good deck, and without a doubt Miss Fortune has always been the best and most integral card in it. Moreover, she is a staple of aggressive decks in general, being also a key card in the Pirate Aggro archetype. She has seen experimentation with Blade Dance, some people try her with Jhin or Ravenbloom Conservatory, she even has some history with Sejuani.

Good stats and a powerful ability, paired with an insane level 2 form that will win you the game almost on the spot, make Miss Fortune and inevitable presence at any point of LoR history after her reveal. On the other hand she is a bit limited to aggressive, tempo-driven decks, and only very specific decks stand a chance of actually leveling her. Due to this, she ranks at number seven on this list.

What is great about Miss Fortune:

Very good against 1 HP blockers due to her Love Tap ability, especially if paired with Demacia’s challenger units.
Very powerful level two form.
Despite coming down as early as turn three, she still demands removal from your opponent instantly or you will gain a tempo advantage.
Always a consideration in any tempo-driven deck that runs Bilgewater.

Miss Fortune details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Miss_Fortune/LoR?so=search

6. Trundle

Trundle Reveal Trailer

To this day I feel like the developers were trolling us when they reverted Trundle to a 4/6 after taking one HP away. The king of trolls has been at the core of Freljord control decks ever since he was released. He is a premium pick for any deck that includes the Feel the Rush card or any deck that uses Freljord’s mana acceleration. Playing him on turn 4 after ramping is a great way to stabilize the early game in order to get to your big hitters.

Apart from his amazing stats, Trundle also fits in some other niches due to the Ice Pillar that he creates in your hand upon play. This card has been used before in Trundle Lissandra to discount The Watcher using copy effects on the Ice Pillar, thus fulfilling the requirement of playing four eight-cost units. The Ice Pillar is also the trump card of the PnZ Freljord Concurrent Timelines deck, since when transformed it will effectively give you a random eight-drop for 0 mana.

Overall Trundle has amazing base stats, and once he is leveled all it usually takes is one smack and that will do it! The king of trolls sits comfortably on his throne atop the sixth rank.

What is great about Trundle:

At the time when he is played on the board no other unit can match him in base stats, making him very good at stopping attacks since his Regeneration keyword makes it pointless to try to kill him in several hits.
The Ice Pillar lets you control the board but it can also be used to drag away powerful blockers, allowing Trundle to get big Overwhelm hits in.
Great fit for decks looking to satisfy the conditions of the 8-cost archetypes.

Trundle details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Trundle/LoR

5. Aphelios

Aphelios Showcase and Reveal

From simply smacking your opponent with a big pillar to one of the most mechanically complex champions of the game. When he was released, Aphelios was phased into the top of the meta in no time. Even several attempts to nerf him left this gunslinging space man completely unphased. Only once all of his moon-weapons had their mana cost increased to three, he finally got phased out of the meta.

Recently, however, the moon-weapon cost got reverted to two, and it did not take Aphelios a long time to reclaim his rightful spot in top tier decks. In my top 10 decks I ranked Aphelios Zoe Vi as the best deck in the game at the current time, and I still stand by it. Sometimes you spend half the game playing only the moon-weapons generated by Aphelios. He is the ideal “curve-filler”, giving decks with a lot of cheap cards stuff to do without burning through their resources too quickly. He receives only the fifth rank because, despite being included in the most powerful deck in the game, the deck’s power does primarily come from The Winding Light and only to a lesser degree from Aphelios.

What is great about Aphelios:

His Nightfall condition allows you to play him for 1 spell mana and 2 unit mana if you have a Duskpetal Dust.
He rewards decks that play many cheap cards by generating Moon Weapons, thus ensuring that they don’t run out of cards to play.
The Moon Weapons themselves are all situationally very strong, and you can play ahead to phase just the Moon Weapon that you need.
Very flexible, high-impact champion that can hold your opponent with his Moon Weapons, giving you time to draw and set up your win conditions.

Aphelios details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Aphelios/LoR

4. Annie

Annie Reveal Trailer

Nothing makes me regret queuing a game of LoR more than seeing my opponent drop an Annie on turn one. Not a single one-cost card can trade against her, and even in the subsequent turns it is not easy to block her. Additionally she has a great level up ability, giving you the very powerful Tibbers card.

She is best used in decks that are looking to get early damage in. That means aggressive decks and burn decks. That is not to say that she is limited to these archetypes. Twisted Fate Annie ranked highly on the top 10 decks list, and Annie is a key component to that deck’s strategy. Decks that want to activate Ravenbloom Conservatory as early as possible are also well advised to include Annie, as her skill will bring you closer to your Tybaulk. Her aggressive efficiency and flexible application earn her a place just short of the podium.

What is great about Annie:

Basically unblockable early on, unless your opponent chooses to straight up lose a unit.
Tibbers is great in decks with aggressive early games, since those tend to take bad trades just to deal some extra damage. Well, Tibbers can clean up those trades by killing all the damaged units.
One of the best ways to get Tybaulk early on if you choose to play her with Ravenbloom Conservatory.
Her Champion Spell Disintegrate works very well with the decks that she usually is included in.

Annie details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Annie/LoR?so=search

3. Zoe

Zoe Reveal Trailer

When I first saw Zoe be revealed I thought she was nothing special. Just another 1 mana 1/1, how strong can she be? She dies to Mystic Shot after all! Well, needless to say: I was wrong. Zoe is just ridiculous. Every time you are working on a deck that includes Targon, any deck that includes Targon, you should consider putting in some amount of Zoe.

In the current meta she is most often seen in Zoe Aphelios Vi, where she provides the deck with impactful ways to spend mana until the Winding Light turn. That is her task in general: similarly to Aphelios, she supplies decks that are a bit low on proactive plays with things to do while they are setting up the real win conditions. What puts her above Aphelios is the fact that her level up will almost certainly win you the game. All it takes is a board and one elusive unit in your hand after Zoe leveled up, and chances are you will leave that game with more LP than you entered it with.

In particular Zoe ruled the metagame of LoR for a long time together with Lee Sin, carrying almost the entire early game of that deck on her own and sometimes even replacing Lee as the win condition. Without a doubt one of the best champions in the game and one that has not been nerfed in any significant way yet, Zoe teleports straight onto the third rank.

What is great about Zoe:

She almost always trades positive in mana. There just are not that many ways to do one damage for 1 mana, and even less are actually viable in real decks.
She is a great buff target, providing you with cards and elusive damage if you manage to protect her.
A crazy powerful level-up effect that easily wins the game on its own most of the times.
Equinox, one of the cards from her Supercool Starchart token, is particularly notorious for dealing with big threatening followers with extreme efficiency.

Zoe details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Zoe/LoR

2. Nami

Nami Reveal Trailer

The first and second places are pretty close, but Nami comes in just short in my opinion. This is mostly due to the fact that Nami tends to be a bit of a sleeper in LoR. She had her moment on release when Nami Zoe was a very powerful deck, and from then on Nami with PnZ has always been a neat tournament pick but never anything too special.

This time however Nami PnZ is a very good deck, and we also have our first Nami control deck in Nami Twisted Fate with Shadow Isles. That deck in particular shows just how powerful Nami is. It is not rare for your opponent to drop a Vengeance when they see her enter the board. That is a 6 mana removal spell on what is effectively a 2 mana unit – and not only that, you will also be able to play some spells before the Vengeance resolves, grabbing some +2/1 buffs along the way.

Nami provides stats and tempo at a rate and convenience that in my opinion no other champion can compete with. She is held back by certain deck building requirements, as her decks are usually heavily reliant on her and certain other engine cards, so if you don’t have them the deck consists mostly of hot air. But although that is definitely an intended shortcoming of Nami, it is just a modality and there is nothing strictly prohibiting the possibility that we get a deck where Nami fits but also where the deck consists of individually powerful cards. Due to that, I believe Nami has immense potential to just absolutely break the game, and until then she is an incredibly powerful champion in this patch already.

What is great about Nami:

Nami is the queen of stats. You can be behind on board, but once you play Nami with some cheap spells in hand you will catch up very quickly.
She is mostly used to buff elusives, but that is not her sole purpose. In the Shadow Isles version, for instance, you often just buff random tokens to trade the board down and win through card advantage and efficiency.
Very high potential due to her unparalleled mana efficiency.

Nami details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Nami/LoR?so=search

1. Twisted Fate

Twisted Fate Reveal Trailer

And finally, at the first place we have every LoR article’s title image, every LoR YouTuber’s intro screen, the undoubtedly classiest champion in the game: Twisted Fate.

I don’t recall a single meta where Twisted Fate has ever been bad. The flexibility of his three play effects – Blue Card, Gold Card and Red Card – makes him a fit in almost every Bilgewater deck. Even purely aggressive decks have had the tendency to include at least one Twisted Fate just to be equipped with a better toolkit. He has provided a side-win-condition to some of the most powerful decks we have ever known, like Aphelios TF and Fizz TF. Every deck that draws a lot profits from having Twisted Fate, not so much because he will level up (although sometimes he does, and that is usually enough to win on its own) but more so because your opponent will have to go out of their way to kill him, but you already got your money’s worth through his play effect and the actual cards that you drew.

In the current meta, Twisted Fate is included in at least three decks – Nami TF PnZ, Nami TF SI and also Annie TF – but there might be more playable decks with him. Every time Bilgewater as a region has a presence in the meta you can expect to see TF. He is an absolute staple of the region and has been an integral part to so many decks in this game’s history that I just cannot think of a better Champion to award the gold medal to.

What is great about TF:

Great play effect that can be adapted to the situation. In particular Red Card can be a huge threat if buffed with Powder Kegs or Tybaulk, for instance.
He automatically progresses his level-up as you draw cards, without you needing to invest or commit into it, making him an eventual threat to your opponent.
There is no efficient answer to TF. Even if you kill him with Mystic Shot, if he did something useful on play it still just feels like a barely even trade.
His Champion Spell progresses his level-up but is also just a nice refill for cheap.
Once TF is leveled, it is almost impossible for your opponent to win.

Twisted Fate details: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Twisted_Fate/LoR?so=search

This concludes my current top 10 Champions in LoR. I hope you enjoyed and as always: see you next time!