Let us venture forth through the land of Runeterra and explore what it's regions have to offer!

Riot just released a set of new cards, among them Evelynn, a very powerful, probably soon-to-be nerfed champion. What is notable about Evelynn: just like Jhin and Bard she belongs to the “Runeterra Region”, which so far seems to comprise of Champions that belong to none of the classic ten regions but rather bring with them a condition on what cards can be played in decks that include them. For example in Jhin decks you may choose one region, but also Jhin allows you to run any card that has an ability that goes on the stack – on the other hand, Jhin himself takes up an entire region slot.

It appears that in the future we will see more cards of this type that defy the traditional ten-region system. On this occasion, I believe we should take a step back before we embark into the unknown lands and revisit our familiar good old ten regions. And so I bring you my top 10 Legends of Runeterra Regions list, where we will look at all of them and rank them by theme, by their prominence in competitive play and by fun factor. Let’s get started!

10. Bilgewater

The Land of Pirates

Do you like Pirates of the Caribbean? Well, welcome to Bilgewater! This sodden Island ain’t no place for lily-livered landlubbers, an’ if ye hang ye jib round ‘ere ya get the black spot an’ be drinkin’ bilge in Davy Jones’ locker!

This region features primarily the Vulnerable mechanic, the Plunder mechanic, some Elusives and some Rally/Scout support. It also has some fairly high quality card draw and of course one of the main card draw synergy carries: Twisted Fate. Bilgewater has brought the Meta decks like Scouts, an infinite number of Twisted Fate decks of all archetypes and varieties, Pirate Aggro, Lurk and Nami decks.

This putrid pirate grove ranks at #10 because it always – and I mean always – needs a strong support region. It provides a strong baseline but can never carry its own weight: as good as Make it Rain is, you still want to have Ravenous Flock in your deck with it.

What is great about Bilgewater:

• Powerful small-time removal such as Make it Rain and TF’s Red Card.
• Some decent Rally effects, most notably with the new Blood In The Water card.
• Decent tempo support with all the Vulnerable and Plunder cards.
• Twisted Fate.

9. Freljord

A lot to see

Do you feel this? It’s getting kind of cold here. Must be the chill of a somewhat underwhelming Region. But don’t say that to Anivia or you will be left out in the icy wastes of the Freljord.

Freljord has freezes. That is its most consistent use in decks. Apart from that, it also provides board clears like Blighted Ravine and Avalanche to several control and combo archetypes. It has units with good stats, some Plunder synergy, mana acceleration and some very powerful finishers in Feel the Rush, It that Stares and She who Wanders.

Freljord has always had big hitters and strong combat tricks but it also always desperately lacked interaction, particularly at fast speed. This seemingly very specific flaw is unfortunately an essential weakness that has always set Freljord behind the other regions, and may continue to do so. On the other hand, especially in recent metas, Freljord contributed some exceedingly powerful archetypes (primarily Thralls) and thus ranks higher than its liquid state predecessor.

What is great about Freljord:

• Great Finishers: Feel the Rush, She who Wanders etc.
• AoE removal, most notably Blighted Ravine.
• Excellent healing with Kindly Tavernkeeper.
• Mana acceleration and good payoff for it.

8. Noxus

doesn't it just look cozy?

One day maybe Noxus will control all of Runeterra. On this day, however, its domain extends no further than rank 8.

Noxus typically contributes two things to Runeterra: aggressive decks and Ravenous Flock. Recently Noxus received a big buff to its slower archetypes in Ravenbloom Conservatory. In general, Noxus control has become a much more viable archetype than when it was first jokingly considered.

Noxus has very powerful tools but always seems to struggle with value, as it lacks in the card-draw department and is generally somewhat rigid.

What is great about Noxus:

• Amazing aggressive potential and the burn-finishers in the game with Decimate and Noxian Fervor.
• Good control tools, especially the Arachnoid Sentry + Ravenous Flock combination that is also great in tempo decks.
• A lot of potential with recently added Rally mechanics and the Overwhelm keyword combinations.

7. Piltover and Zaun

Yaaay! Disneyland!

Arguably the most fun region, Piltover and Zaun takes the seventh spot. No other region has to answer for such an amount of crazy unique decks as PnZ, however its competitive viability has seen some fluctuations throughout LoR’s lifespan.

This is the region of card generation, card draw, crazy combo turns where you play anywhere between three and an infinite amount of cards, discounts, copy effects... ahhh, I love PnZ. Apart from that, it has damage-based removal, wherein also lies PnZ’s weakness as sometimes the damage cards like Mystic Shot just don’t keep up with the stat-efficiency of the units in the meta.

What is great about PnZ:

• Good burn, in Mystic Shot and Get Excited! primarily.
•  Lots of card draw and cycle for combo decks and decks that want to draw really fast.
• Very flexible tools that can support almost any archetype: PnZ is definitely one of the most diverse regions.

6. Shurima

So vast, much cars, amaze.

It is an undisputed fact that the Shuriman deserts are vast, and so is the large amount of decks and archetypes that have spawned out of the sand kingdom.

The most thematic Shuriman archetype is of course the Sun Disk deck, aiming to achieve the unique Level 3 of the Ascended champions and win the game with these desert titans. Apart from that, Shurima is one of the two regions with access to a proper counterspell (the other being Ionia) with Rite of Negation. Additionally, it has access to great combat tricks, the Predict mechanic giving great consistency to decks, and several Vulnerable mechanics. Last but not least, Shurima’s pantheon of champions is extremely powerful and almost all of them have been represented in top tier decks, the latest addition Kai’Sa posing no exception.

Shurima is one of the best regions to execute consistent and very explosive tempo strategies, requiring almost no help from outside, however it lacks fast speed removal. Due to this, it ranks at #6.

What is great about Shurima:

• High consistency due to the Predict mechanic.
• Extremely strong champions.
• Lots of ways to protect your strategy with spells like Ancient Hourglass and Rite of Negation, or with the various ways to get Spellshield onto key units.
• Great cars!

5. Bandle City

I always wanted a treehouse.

To me, Bandle City has always felt like Targon lite. Which is why it places just one rank short of Targon. That, and the fact that it doesn’t quite have Targon’s notoriety. However there was a time when Bandle City was, dramatically put, the only region in the game. It’s just Targon did that for a much longer time.

If you play a deck that consists of Bandle cards, chances are you will never run out of cards. This region has a stunning amount of cards that replace themselves or generate some token in your hand. This is very helpful, as Bandle’s main identity is Swarm. Most Bandle decks go wide with small Yordles and Faes and then reap the benefits with board buffs or tribal synergy payoffs. Bandle also has the unique Attach mechanic, that brings with it the great benefit of being “unhushable”, resisting Silence effects such as Hush or Quicksand. Due to this, there have been several Bandle combo decks such as Akshan Gnarr or Riven Fizz. Overall this region just has exceptional card quality and a unique merge of value and tempo to offer.

What is great about Bandle City:

• Lots of cheap early game cards that replace themselves with generated cards once played.
• Multi Region champions that allow you to uniquely mix Bandle City cards and styles with other regions.
• Bandle units make the early game of many decks of all archetypes.

4. Targon

hows the air up there?

I don’t think any other region invokes as much terror in the hearts of seasoned LoR players as Targon. Visions of decks that never run out of cards, have about 200 HP and infinite mana to play their infinite number of cards haunt this playerbase still.

If I was making this list a year ago, Targon would be undisputed number one, and probably would also take ranks ten through two because why would you play anything other than Targon? Fortunately the meta has changed since then. Targon still features very powerful champions with amazing card generation, but these days decks are a bit too fast for Targon’s defensive tools. Still, the flexibility of Targon’s card generation through Invokes is much sought after by many deck ideas. In addition, with Kai’Sa, Gwen and Evelynn, Targon’s most notorious card, Hush, found great new targets.

What is great about Targon:

• Unparalleled flexibility. Invoke allows you to choose answers specifically for the matchup you are in, and while the answers are slightly inefficient, Targon can “facetank” a tempo loss and heal it back later.
• Invokes provide strong Finishers like The Eternal Flame, The Destroyer and I am a Dragon! (also known as The Great Beyond)
• Hush! Hush is going to be really good, I think.

3. Shadow Isles

i wanna go back to disneyland

In the early days of Legends of Runeterra, this region was the most terrifying presence in the game. The sheer tempo that the fearsome units presented, paired with powerful finishers around turn 6-8, made Shadow Isles decks the best in the game.

These days most of those tools have been nerfed or power-crept, however the Shadow Isles remain looming in the dark corners of every meta, and it does not look like they are going away any time soon. Nowadays SI is most known for its control tools and removal. It has a wide array of Drain spells and effects that will help you stay alive in the early game. Vengeance is of particular note, as it is probably the best removal card in the game ever since it had its mana cost reduced from 7 to 6. The Ruination seems to make its way back into the meta as more uncontestable boards emerge that can only be dealt with by means of a hard reset button.

This region might not have as many good cards as Bandle City for example, however the cards that are good have been so for almost two years now, and are absolute staples of the game. For this reason the Shadow Isles extend their corruption all the way to rank three.

What is great about SI:

• Heal + Removal cards that are particularly good against burn-aggro strategies.
• The best control tools, such as Vengeance.
• High potential effects, like the resurrection and copy effects such as Rekindler and Fading Memories.
• Maybe the best finisher in the game: Atrocity.

2. Ionia

I guess Animeland is fine too.

The silver medal goes to Ionia. But it doesn’t really go to Ionia as much as it goes to the few Ionia cards that have been at the center of Legends of Runeterra ever since its release.

I think it is beyond debate that Deny is an absolute staple of the game as a whole. With its spell interactions, Ionia offers the perfect support region. It further provides Lifesteal and Elusives, as well as a plethora of Stuns and Recalls.

Overall the best support region, Ionia has that intangible property where your opponent feels like they just can’t play the game.

What is great about Ionia:

• Deny. No card has had such an impact on the game as Deny – it always finds a target.
• Powerful stall tools like Stuns and Recalls, and one of the best lategame champions in Karma.
• Some great healing through Lifesteal.
• Recently the Shen Barrier archetype received some powerful new tools, giving Ionia strong tempo/midrange shell in itself.

1. Demacia

do not mess with Demacia

I think nobody is too surprised to see Demacia at the top of the podium. Demacia cards are simply too good. No other region can provide as much tempo and such stat efficiency as Demacia does. The removal is great too: cards like Single Combat and Concerted Strike have been dubbed by some players “two-mana Vengeance” and “five-mana Vengeance” respectively, because of how effortlessly Demacia decks set up strong units to use those spells with.

The crowning piece in Demacia’s collection of overpowered cards, however, is surely Golden Aegis, and its little sibling Relentless Pursuit. The Rallies of Demacia are incredibly strong finishers, and innumerable decks have splashed Demacia just to have access to their power.

Demacia may be limited to a board-centric strategy of tempo and midrange, but it is incredibly good at it, to the point where most other midrange or tempo decks will automatically lean into Demacia because no one does it better. In almost every meta there is some dominating Demacia deck, and in every meta there is a strong deck that runs a Demacia Rally.

What is great about Demacia:

• Best tempo tools in the game. If you want efficient units and great removal with a potential to snowball your tempo lead, head towards Demacia.
• Rallies are very strong finishers, and many decks will have Demacia as their second region just to be able to include them.
• Demacia has all the tools needed for a strong midrange/tempo gameplan, allowing you to splash any other region to cover remaining weaknesses.

This concludes my list of the regions in Legends of Runeterra. I hope you enjoyed the read and wish you lots of fun playing your favourite LoR regions. Until next time!

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