What is riot thinking with these teemo buffs?
And is lux actually a top tier mid laner now?
This and so much more as we bring you guys the 11.21 tier list update thanks to the help
of our challenger players and analysis of the most recent data.
So lets jump right in!
Ingenious hunter has been a rather niche rune throughout season 11 but riot's looking to
change that for 11.21.
Base item haste is going from 10 to 20 while the item haste per stack is up from 5 to 6.
With ravenous hunter also nerfed, which we'll cover after this change, ingenious looks like
a really interesting option now.
On ADC's who build galeforce like jhin being able to chop the cooldown of the active will
feel really nice.
If our math is correct, max stacks of ingenious hunter will reduce galeforce CD From 90 to
60 seconds.
Jhin's best build right now is actually ghostblade into galeforce so with two actives, ingenious
will be even more valuable.
This is a great indirect buff to predator users and especially galio.
Galio's first core item is always one of everfrost or rocket belt and combined with the predator
active, you get lots of benefit out of the ingenious buffs.
Overall, dont sleep on ingenious for 11.21 as we expect the rune to be an optimal pickup
on many champions.
As for the ravenous hunter nerfs, omnivamp per stack drops from 1.5 to 1.2 percent.
So in total if we do the math you're losing 0.3 percent per 5 stacks which equates to
a 1.5 percent loss at max stacks.
On many champion who have the ability to run resolve secondary we expect them to shy away
from domination now.
For example about 30 percent of yone players run domination secondary with ravenous and
taste of blood but resolve will take over as the clear winner for 11.21.
For someone like vayne who almost exclusively runs domination secondary in 11.20 she'll
begin performing much better with inspiration.
Like we mentioned, any champs who can find good use out of ingenious hunter, will ditch
ravenous now.
Next up we have the health rune stat shard which will be buffed going from 15 scaling
to 90 up to 15 scaling to 140 health.
For champions who have multiple health scaling ratios in there kits like dr.mundo or tahm
kench, the health rune will become more valuable than magic resist or armor.
For example, stat wise in 11.20 the health shard already has a better winrate on mundo
than armor or magic resist so the buff solidifies it as a great option.
Sion is another pick you should be looking to run the health shard on as his W scales
with health and its even buffed for 11.21 which we will have a look at in a bit.
On champions who don't have any sort of health scaling's, we expect the armor and magic resist
runes to remain the more optimal choices.
Although guardian remains very underrated in solo queue on many champions, its strength
is very high so riot is nerfing the rune for 11.21.
Shield is dropping from 70 scaling to 150 down to 50 scaling to 130.
For thresh and blitz who can perform just as well with aftershock, look to swap things
around depending on the matchup now.
If you're laning against a melee support where you'll be able to proc aftershock more reliably
early on its a great option.
In double ranged matchups or against an agro duo, running guardian to provide your carry
with more durability will remain a good choice despite the nerf.
20 shielding is a big hit so guardian wont be the number 1 option for all games.
This is a good thing though as it rewards players who can adapt and pick which rune
fits best for the situation.
These next set of changes are targeted towards bruiser tops and conqueror is first up.
Adaptive damage per stack will be lowered from 2 scaling to 5 down to 2 scaling to 4.
The buff duration is taking a big hit going from 6 to 4 seconds.
This nerf will hit spell casting bruisers alot harder than auto reliant picks.
For example, aatrox often wants to play around Q cooldown to maximize trading potential and
at max rank Q is on a 6 second cooldown.
With the buff duration on conqueror being 6 seconds this has enabled perfect synergy
in previous patches.
Of course with some CDR aatrox Q will drop lower than 6 seconds but now that buff duration
on conqueror is only 4 seconds its a fine line as to whether you'll be able to keep
up the stacks as you're waiting on Q CD.
We don't expect conqueror to be phased out on many bruiser picks but they'll all take
a substantial indirect hit for 11.21.
The second bruiser nerf is to goredrinker as the active damage is changed from 100 percent
total AD to 175 percent base AD.
Health per 5 and spite passive are being completely removed.
To compensate you'll now receive 8 percent omnivamp.
Aatrox mains really cant catch a break as conqueror and gore changes are indirect nerfs.
Another champ who will feel the affects of these nerfs the most is fiora.
For champs like sett and darius who dont heavily rely on goredrinker, they'll be hit slightly
less but still become indirectly weaker.
For assassins like talon, zed and qiyana who have been abusing bruiser setups, they can
go back to more offensive builds which is how it should be.
Final item change we have for 11.21 goes the way of stridebreaker as active damage will
be changed from 100 percent total AD to 175 percent base AD.
Stride AD will be increased from 45 to 50.
This will end up a buff in the earlier stages where you dont have a ton of total AD but
later on with a couple damage items it turns into a nerf.
Net outcome of the change is a buff for most situations as the extra damage early on will
help you secure more kills and hit your core items faster to where less late game damage
on stride isn't a huge issue.
Alterations of stride wont lead to a major shift in the champions who build the item.
The change's that has the majority of the player base up in arms for 11.21 are the teemo
buffs.
Q cooldown is lowered from 8 to 7 seconds.
Q blind duration is increased by 0.5 seconds at all ranks.
And to top it all off, Q missile speed is going from 1500 up to 2500.
This means at max rank teemo blind will last 3 seconds and be on a 6 second cooldown if
you've got some haste.
Enemy who relies on auto damage will have less than a 3 second window to punish you
and if you're kiting around shrooms and using W movespeed at the correct time, the window
is nearly non existent.
Into picks like tryndamere, camille, fiora and darius, teemo will be a godlike counter
for 11.21.
All those champs are picked at very high rates in the meta so it makes teemo even more valuable.
As a result, the swift scout makes his way into S tier for the first time this season.
Sion is one of the biggest winners of 11.21 thanks to a W buff along with the health rune
buff we touched on earlier.
W shield ratio is being increased from 8 scaling to 12 percent max health up to 11 scaling
to 15 percent max health.
The standard sion build is a sunfire rush into hullbreaker second and titanic hydra
third which synergizes insanely well with the buff.
If we rundown a couple calculations here to get an idea of how impactful the buff will
be, lets say sion is level 14 with those 3 items.
You'll have a total of 2677 HP, W will be fully maxed giving you the 15 percent scaling
which equates to a 400 health shield.
The 11.20 W with only 12 percent max health scaling gives you a 320 HP shield.
So around 80 extra shielding.
Thats pretty massive especially for a spell that takes no skill to use.
With other bruiser tops being hit in 11.21 combined with these direct buffs sion will
be eating really nice and make his way back up into A tier.
So it turns out a rioter lost to quinn in solo queue which means a nerf is now warranted
for 11.21.
We're not even kidding about the rioter either as quinnAD whos a quinn one trick posted a
screenshot on twitter of a rioter losing to quinn in solo queue.
Although we'd hope this is not the reason for the nerf, why else would quinn be targeted.
Champion holds a 1 percent play rate so the only ones playing quinn are one tricks.
Quinn does have a high winrate at around 52 percent but its nothing out of this world
for a champ with such a low play rate.
Nevertheless, W bonus attack speed will be lowered from 20 scaling to 80 percent down
to 20 scaling to 60 percent.
Pretty big hit to the W max we see so frequently on quinn which means a Q max may become more
viable now for 11.21.
Although the nerf is rather odd, we don't see it altering quinn's strength too much
so she will retain her spot in S for this patch.
With all the top lane changes covered, lets rundown the tier list.
Bruisers are the biggest losers of the patch with aatrox and fiora dropping out of S tier.
Champions who dont rely on goredrinker, ravenous hunter and conqueror will see a nice indirect
boost.
For this reason camille now joins tahm kench in OP tier.
Camille is one of the few bruisers who doesn't need gore or conqueror so she'll be moving
back up.
Tahm only becomes more oppressive as none of his items or runes were nerfed for 11.21
so champ will be super nuts as if he wasn't already.
Watch out for poppy to rise drastically in priority.
She was already directly buffed and with so many bruisers falling in power its the perfect
recipe for poppy to thrive.
After months of dominating the top lane meta, Sett is going to fall out of OP tier and drop
into S. Top 3 low elo recommendations are urgot, yorick
and lillia.
Teemo, darius and TK are very high value bans for the current meta.
For our question of the day, we have to ask you guys what your thoughts are on the teemo
buffs?
Are we overestimating the changes or are they as crazy as they seem?
Let us know what you guys think down in the comments below!
A few buffs to further incentivize a more offensive build for viego are set to drop
this patch.
Q total AD ratio is going from 60 to 70 percent.
W self slow will be lowered from 15 to 10 percent.
Ultimate crit ratio is increased from 75 to 100 percent.
For those of you who continue to build divine sunderer every game on viego, its time to
stop.
Shieldbow already outperforms divine in most situations for 11.20 and with these buffs
it only becomes stronger.
As long as players build viego correctly we see him back in a good spot as an A tier option.
Graves E armor is nerfed this patch dropping from 6 scaling to 18 down to 4 scaling to
16.
Keep in mind this is the armor per stack which caps off at 8 stacks.
If you're able to reach these max 8 stacks then you're losing a total of 16 armor.
Definitely nothing to scoff at as you're slashed about 300 gold worth of stats considering
cloth armor provides you with 15 armor and is worth 300 gold.
Will this nerf drop graves out of meta though?
not likely.
Graves will move from S into A tier but remain a good carry option if you can pilot him well.
So just two direct changes to jungle which means the meta looks very similar to 11.20.
Kha'zix will reign supreme as xin zhao shifts down to S tier as a result of the goredrinker
and conqueror nerfs.
If you're a jarvan main I would be pretty frustrated with riot right now.
Not only was J4 directly nerfed but now his core item and keystone rune is hit which is
just the classic aint it.
Watch out for AP junglers in 11.21 as they'll see an indirect boost in strength with many
bruiser picks becoming weaker.
We'll keep a close eye and monitor how the item and rune nerfs affect the jungle meta
and make adjustments accordingly but for now xin and J4 will be the only champions moved
down the list.
Certain junglers like kayn who have abused gore and conqueror but have other options
to lean on means the affect of the nerfs wont be as harsh.
J4 and Xin don't have as strong alternatives so there power will be chopped the most.
To climb low elo the fastest we would advise you spam one of amumu, trundle or fiddle.
High on the ban list this patch should be xin zhao, ekko and kha'zix.
Some of the biggest buffs we've seen to a single champion in a while are penciled in
for lux.
Attack speed per level is doubled from 1 to 2 percent.
Passive mark duration will now extend if a basic attack is in flight or R is being cast.
E base damage will be increased by 10 at all ranks while the AP ratio goes from 65 to 70
percent.
Lastly ultimate cooldown is being lowered from 80 to 60 seconds at rank 1.
The attack speed buff may not seem like a big deal but it will make a considerable impact
when you're going for passive procs.
Ultimate buff is amazing as the cooldown is already quite low so 20 seconds off at rank
1 will really enhance lux's snowball power and ability to perma shove waves.
All changes in mind, lux will be moving up one tier from A into S for 11.21.
Akshan E max will take a big hit this patch as the damage at rank 5 is lowered from 110
down to 90.
Keep in mind this is damage per shot and not total damage.
This means you'll be losing way more than 20 damage.
Just take a look at the background gameplay to get a comparison.
1596 damage in 11.20 compared to 1411 in 11.21 which is a massive difference.
We definitely think this seals the deal in regards to Q max being more optimal moving
foward.
The winrate between Q and E max have been identical in previous patches so with such
a big nerf to E, Q will become the better option.
Akshan will no longer lock down an OP tier slot as we'll be shifting the rogue sential
down to S. Our complete mid lane tier list will feature
Vex as the stand alone best carry pick for solo queue.
Below her in S tier are lots of great options but really watch out for galio as the ingenious
hunter buff will offer added strength.
Singed mid is another who runs predator and rushes an active item so he'll be liking the
rune changes too.
Bruiser talon will become weaker for 11.21 but that doesnt mean his overall power level
will drop off much.
You can still run ghostblade into prowlers on talon to a ton of success so his tier list
placement wont be altered due to gore and conqueror nerfs.
Darius is popping off as a mid lane pick after his recent W buff so if you're in need of
answer to picks like kassadin, yone and yasuo look no further.
Our top 3 low elo picks for mid lane are malzhahar, annie and darius.
A couple ban worthy champs for 11.21 are vex, zed and akshan.
Riot has buffed xayah multiple times this season to no avail so another couple changes
are planned for 11.21.
Base movement speed is going from 325 up to 330.
Q cooldown will be lowered at the later ranks going from 10 scaling to 6 seconds down to
10 scaling to 4 seconds.
Pretty underwhelming changes to be honest as the Q buff doesn't even come into affect
until level 14 as you max Q out last.
Sure, level 18 it shaves 2 seconds off Q but how often do you even reach that point?
very very little.
Movement speed buff will be the more impactful change but even then not enough to turn xayah
into a meta pick.
Xayah will be moving into A tier for 11.21 as a good option but nothing special as there
are still better champs above her.
So in a definitively stronger state than xayah right now, jinx will receive the more impactful
buffs.
Passive total attack speed is increased from 15 to 25 percent.
E cast range is going from 900 to 925.
Ultimate cooldown will be lowered from 90 scaling to 60 seconds down to 75 scaling to
55 seconds.
We're eyeing down the ultimate buff as the big one here.
15 seconds off at rank 1 is really big as jinx ultimate is an ability you can spam off
cooldown when paired with an aggressive support.
Another free 10 percent attack speed on passive will enable jinx to cleanup fights even better
than before.
Jinx climbs back into S tier as one of the best solo carry options moving forward.
Without a doubt one of the most broken champs in general over the past few patches has been
miss fortune so she's rightfully nerfed for 11.21.
Base mana drops from 325 down to 300 while W mana cost is going from 30 to 45.
If anything all these changes do is incentive the manamune build but wont alter MF's power
level very much.
Manamune builds are performing just as well as anything else for 11.20 so if you do find
yourself running into mana issues swapping over to the setup is completely viable.
MF will hold onto her OP tier slot and continue to dominate as one of the best carry marksmen.
We already saw quinn nerfed earlier which was a bit of an oddball decision and now karthus
bot lane is being focused.
Dont get us wrong our analysts have had karthus rated as an S tier pick for bot lane but his
play rate sits below 1 percent so why nerf a champ that nobody plays.
E mana refund is going from 20 scaling to 48 down to 15 scaling to 55.
A nerf to karthus's laning power and a negligable buff for later on.
Overall our analysts don't see this change being impactful at all so karthus will continue
to hold down an S tier spot.
Alright, the bot lane tier list will consist of miss fortune, vayne and jhin as the highest
priority picks to climb.
Dont sleep on jinx after the buffs as she moves into S tier as a really great pickup.
Pair jinx with blitz, whos one of the strongest supports in meta and you have a really nutty
2v2 kill lane.
Like we touched on earlier, experiment with ingenious hunter instead of ravenous on picks
like jhin, tristana and twitch.
All do very well with galeforce and the ingenious buffs lowering the active cooldown will do
wonders for your survivability and pick power.
Ravenous hunter nerfs also opens things up for inspiration to take over on certain picks
like vayne and xayah.
Our top 3 low elo picks of the patch are ziggs, miss fortune and ashe.
Highest value bans for the bot lane meta are vayne, MF and draven.
Why does it feel like every other patch support mains are left cut out to dry without a single
change.
Well thats the case for 11.21 as we have no changes to report unless you count the lux
buffs.
To be honest lux support will benefit just as much as mid lane from these changes so
if you are a lux support main things are looking up.
Lux finds a spot in A tier for 11.21 as a good reliable pickup.
Other than that, Nami, soraka, blitz and amumu lead the way as the most broken picks to climb
with.
Look towards one of soraka, blitz or zyra if you want to make your way out of low elo
the fastest.
Amumu, blitzcrank or soraka are high priority bans this patch.
So that concludes the skillcapped 11.21 tier list update.
We hope this helps to give you guys a solid grasp of where the meta is headed moving forward.
Thanks so much for watching and we'll see you back soon!