Christian Gallos
Update 4.4c has arrived in League of Legends: Wild Rift. Although it doesn’t bring significant shifts in gameplay and mechanics, a few champion tweaks have impacted their performance – which have made some champions more or less viable than before.
If you’re interested in finding out the best and worst champions to use for each role in Patch 4.4c, I’m here to show you my thoughts as a multi-season Challenger player in the SEA Server.
Best Patch 4.4c Tier List
While I look forward to making my input 100% accurate, I’d like to let you know that these are mostly based on my gameplay and experience in Master+ elo.
It’s worth mentioning that many of these considerations may not carry the same weight in lower elo – where many champions from the lower tiers, such as Master Yi, can prove to be much more impactful.
Baron Lane
For Baron Lane, the strongest champions are those who’re able to do the best job of dominating the lane and from there, take over the sidelanes or teamfights in the later stages of the game.
Here’s a breakdown for the S – Tier champions as of this patch:
- Renekton – He is the strongest early game & laning champion in the game imo; capable of destroying both melee & ranged matchups, as well as dominate all of other S-Tier champions.
- Moreover, Kraken Slayer has been buffed recently, as well as build path for Blade of the Ruined King which is his core item – this has helped him tremendously.
- Yone – His survivability (huge buffs) and trading power has been increased this patch.
- Alongside that, Blade of the Ruined King has a strong build path, Shieldbow has been buffed.
- He also has the option to build Hullbreaker to dominate the sidelanes, as well as more survivability when diving at teamfights.
- Riven – She has received a couple buffs for lane the recent patches and it has helped her rise to the S-Tier.
- In terms of early game, she has power spike for each level (1,2,3 & 5).
- While not as strong in the sidelanes, her power in trading and teamfights compensate.
- She handles all matchups well and has lots of flexible build path for tanks, bruisers & squishies.
- Fiora – She’s also a very powerful laner, and on top of that a dominant sidelaner.
- However, she’s weaker on teamfights due to her single-target damage, and she’ll mostly shine by sweeping/coming in late – she’s like the opposite of Riven outside laning.
- Jax – While he doesn’t have the best early game, he’s hands down the strongest scaling Baron Laner in the game, which spikes with each item purchase.
- For his early game, survivability options can help compensate – Grasp of the Undying, other Resolve runes, Defensive boots, etc.
- He also has one of the most flexible buildpaths in the game, and can work amazingly both in 1 v 1s, sidelanes, as well as teamfights.
- Lastly, he can be behind in lane, and still be impactful by sidelaning and taking down turrets in a matter of seconds.
- Sion – He’s the only S-Tier tank in the game imo; having a decent early game, while scaling like a beast with his infinite-health stacking passive, alongside the broken Overgrowth rune.
- Other than that, he is also able to handle sidelanes well because of his ultimate and waveclear, especially when built with Hullbreaker.
- He also shines in teamfights with the amount of damage he can soak, as well as contribute through impactful crowd control & good damage output.
Jungle
As for the Jungle role, champions who can both clear camps/take objectives fast, as well as deliver solid ganks are on the S-Tier. They’re capable of hopping between power farming (except Pantheon) and map control when necessary.
More importantly, in a meta where ADCs and Mages are getting more popular, assassins are able to take down important carry’s/squishies.
Here’s a breakdown for the S – Tier champions as of this patch:
- Evelyn – She has one of the fastest clears in the game, as well as the most unique ganking pattern due to her passive – she can come from basically anywhere as long as there’s no control ward in the area.
- On top of that, she has very powerful scaling, damage output and has access to survivability with the Crown of the Shattered Queen.
- Kha’Zix – With most Lethality items getting buffed, Kha’Zix is having a field day in the Rift. He has decent jungle clear but has one of the highest damage outputs when target is isolated.
- He can 1 v 1 any jungler with the right play and take objecetives within a couple seconds.
- Scales like a monster, especially with 3 evolves; and can choose them accordingly to what he needs (depending on state of the game).
- Rengar – Similar to Kha’Zix, Rengar also benefited from the recent buffs on Lethality. Combined with First Strike, he can oneshot enemy carry’s and still be able to get out with his 2nd ability.
- He also benefits from the recent buffs from Trinity Force, which Rengar players have been liking so far – building something like Duskblade -> TriForce -> Bloodthirster -> other crit items.
- Not only that, but he also has a flexible build where players go for a more tanky-unkillable setup which goes like – Divine Sunderer -> Visage/Omen (depending on which is more needed between Armor/MR) -> What’s left of the other two options.
- Only disadvantage is outside of skirmishes, he’ll only rely on his ultimate or bushes for lane gank to make plays.
- Gragas – He has a very powerful clear with 3 AOE basic abilities, as well as decent base AD. While not the most popular option, I believe he has one of the best AOE damage in the game and capable of taking out targets both from afar and up-close.
- Can easily one-tap carry’s, even without his ultimate in the later stages of the game.
- Aatrox – Works amazingly with the buffed lethality items namely – Duskblade & Youmuu’s, players have been choosing between the two as first core item, while following up with the buffed Trinity Force.
- His 1st Ability is much more effective when taking camps compared to lane and can also make impactful plays in ganks/teamfights.
- Jarvan IV – In the popularity of ADCs and mages, Jarvan IV shines with his utility to not only synergize with most of them (attack speed bonus, peel, ultimate to set up) but also counters them as most of them are dash-less (with his ult).
- He has decent clear and has one of the strongest ganks and map maneuverability in the game.
- Moreover, he has a flexible build path – can go assassin, bruiser, or tank.
- Pantheon – Has one of the strongest, thus annoying early power in the game. His playstyle usually revolves around spam ganking & skirmishing, where he shines the most.
- From there, he controls the game by running around with Youmuu’s and his ultimate being everywhere at once.
- Also, he benefited from the recent buffs on Lethality items.
- Zed – While he doesn’t have the best early clear in the game, he mostly shines once he gets his ultimate & Youmuu’s – from there, he’s capable of clearing camps faster, rotating for plays and ramping up his kills.
- Many players have been building the buffed Trinity Force on him, which also helps him on his clear.
- Scales like a beast, especially once he gets enough Ability Haste to cast his 1st Ability twice within one shadow – from there, his AOE and damage output becomes the strongest.
- Can take down multiple carry’s at once with proper skill & rotation of abilities.
Mid Lane
For the Mid Lane, strong waveclear & range is still one of the most deciding factors (with exception to Ezreal – he has been popular recently; can clear waves with AA just fine and punishes mages similar to Lucian).
Although there are assassins that also stand out and able to go toe-to-toe with the S-Tier mages, like Akali and Kassa-win. While they’ll be more laid back in the early stages of the game, mages can’t really bully them because of runes like Fleet Footwork.
Here’s a breakdown for the S – Tier champions as of this patch:
- Orianna – The safest mage in the game right now who can both play for waves or bully depending on the playstyle. She’s mostly for control in the early game, but she has the most annoying damage & poke mid-late game once she gets her upgraded Archangel and Luden’s.
- Add Crown and Cosmic Drive in there and she’ll be very difficult to catch even for assassins, while dealing absurd amount of DPS.
- Corki – He has lowkey been reaping these recent buffs with the addition of First Strike, Manamune rework, as well as buff for TriForce. Once he gets his 2-item power spike, he can deal huge amount of burst damage, poke and DPS.
- While he doesn’t have the best early game, he can go toe-to-toe with other mid laners using Conqueror.
- He also has an interesting build which benefits from the easy-access and stackable % magic penetration from the reworked AP items, which goes like: Manamune -> Luden’s Echo -> Magic Pen Boots -> Riftmaker -> Crown.
- Lucian – With the popularity of mages, he is able to punish and bully them securing lane prio and lead.
- He has also benefited from the recent buffs to Kraken Slayer, which helps him go for early-kills much easier with Brutal, while having good scaling as well.
- His build path is very flexible; can go crit, manamune path, anti–tank, Bloodthirster -> TriForce, and even build Magnetic Blaster as well when needed (to go on par with the range from meta-ADCs and mages).
- Jayce – He benefited from the recent Lethality item buffs, as well as the addition of the First Strike rune. He has the strongest poke in the game imo; in terms of damage and range.
- Aside that, he can also wave clears well, and bully most of the S-tier midlaners, including Lucian.
- Akali – Despite being melee, she can go toe-to-toe with all midlaners (because of Fleet Footwork), and eventually get an opportunity for a kill on Level 5. Meanwhile, good Akali players are able to find them even earlier on.
- She has flexible itemization – vs squishy (Infinity Orb & Lichbane path) or vs tanky units (Riftmaker Path).
- Also, she shines the most during the teamfights, where she’s able to easily position herself onto the enemy carry’s.
- Only issue is most champions that give vision like Lee Sin, Lulu and Karma are meta; otherwise, she’d be absolutely broken.
- Kassadin – He works similar to Akali in terms of playstyle, but he scales way way harder – as Akali relies on snowballing. Meanwhile, Kassadin only needs proper farming to scale. He doesn’t get bullied as well because of Fleet Footwork.
- Most players have been skipping Rod of Ages on him recently and opting for a burst-type build consisting of First Strike – Archangel – Crown – Rabadon, which is designed to easily burst down carry’s.
- Ezreal – He works similar to Lucian, but with less waveclear. Also, he has been dominating the rift due to the recent Manamune rework, as well as Kraken Slayer & TriForce buffs.
- In fact, he’s so strong that players are picking him up on midlane to secure the 2-item power spike more safely and dodging bad matchups like Lucian.
- Twisted Fate – Imo, he doesn’t really get out of S-tier, he’s the epitome of solo-play. Good players are able to abuse his ultimate and snowball out of control.
- He has exceptional waveclear, roaming potential and can handle sidelanes while being a midlaner with no issues.
- Also, he can easily reach carry’s once he gets his Magnetic Blaster, and one-shot them late game.
Dragon Lane
As for Dragon Lane, there’s only a couple mentions for S-Tier, which is based on their capability to deal damage by themselves – no support in the equation (I’m talking about you Tristana), as well as their range.
Here’s a breakdown for the S – Tier champions as of this patch:
- Ezreal – He works amazingly with most enchanters except for Lulu, as well as with all tanks. Perfect solo-queue ADC. Moreover, he has the strongest 2-item powerspike in the game, once his Manamune upgrades.
- Even if he has bad matchups, he can opt to farm from afar though his 1st Ability.
- He has benefited a lot from the recent buffs with Kraken Slayer & TriForce.
- Similar to Orianna, he’s the safest dragon laner in the game right now – both in terms of blind picking & gameplay.
- Varus – He has received huge buffs to his 1st & 2nd Ability this patch, which will make his burst damage and poke much stronger where he specializes in.
- His build path is flexible which can go Manamune – full lethality, or crit-lethality with Essence Reaver, Collector & Mortal Reminder, as well as AP builds which melts tanks and HP stackers.
- He can also work with pretty much any support due to his flexible itemization.
- Kai’Sa – She has one of the strongest DPS in the game, and she scales crazy with the recent changes on her evolve mechanics. Her damage is mixed, which makes itemization against her difficult when she’s ahead.
- As for itemization, she can go Full AD, Hybrid (Manamune + Nashors + Riftmaker + Crown), Hybrid w/o Manamune.
- Although keep in mind that the AD build spikes faster, meanwhile the Hybrid Build will melt talks late game with her passive’s % damage and true damage from Riftmaker.
- She works amazingly with Lulu, but she also works well with other supports & playstyle.
- Lucian – Not only an S-Tier midlaner, but he is also a very strong pick in the Dragon Lane. With the right support like Nami/Karma or a good engage support/playmaker, he can easily take over the lane vs any Dragon laner.
- His build his very flexible – can be full crit, Manamune path, anti–tank, Bloodthirster -> TriForce.
- Also, even though all Dragon laners have longer range than him, he can build Magnetic Blaster so he can go toe-to-toe, and still be comfortable in teamfights.
Support
As for supports, you can never go wrong with enchanters when paired with at least decent ADC’s. Although in a generalized sense, there are some often overlooked tank support champions as well that are lowkey dominating the rift.
Here’s a breakdown for the S – Tier champions as of this patch:
- Karma – She has received 2 massive buffs in a row now, for some reason, which is weird considering she’s always been an annoying champion to face. Nonetheless, she’s a strong support who can even solo carry games using a First Strike + Luden’s setup.
- As for the actual support build, she usually goes Aery + Mandate, and she goes amazingly well with the strongest ADC in the moment, which is Ezreal.
- She’s very strong in teamfights, laning, and can be a decent roamer with proper macro.
- Lulu – She’s a babysit type of support, which sticks with her carry alongside her trusty Veil enchant. One of the most annoying supports in this game, who makes hypercarry’s much stronger.
- Basically, she’s a built-in Ardent Censer who synergizes well with auto-attacking champions like Kai’Sa, Tristana & Twitch.
- She also has a revealing ability and polymorph which effectively counters assassins.
- Blitzcrank (Landing hooks)– You may be surpised what this robot is doing in S-Tier, but with the popularity of enchanters in this meta, he can easily dominate lanes even without having to land his hooks.
- He can easily run to them with 2nd Ability + 3rd Ability to setup for a hook from his Glacial Augment keystone.
- But of course, outside laning, a Blitzcrank has to land his hooks or else he’s pretty much useless.
- He can also roam very well with his 2nd ability often catching other players out of guard.
- Leona – She’s been unpopular recently but she’s easily one of the strongest tanks in the game – endless amount of CC & can tank 5 people at once without her health bar reaching below half HP.
- Also, she’s somehow received like 3 buffs in a row simply because she’s not popular – that said, use her while you still can as she’s about to get nerfed pretty soon.
- She synergizes with any ADC, but you’ll have to land your 3rd Ability & Ult to perma CC people.
- She shines the most on an aggressive lane, as well as teamfights.
- Gragas – He’s not that popular in ranked games as much as he’s abused in Pro play. Nonethless, I believe that he’s a very strong support with a strong and adaptable laning phase (can go ranged & melee depending on matchup).
- His ultimate is a gamechanger, which is usually setup by his 3rd Ability (target is stunned, so you can 100% hit your ult in an angle to throw the target back to your team).
- Not only that, it’s also pretty flexible, and can be used to disrupt enemy engage (e.g. Ult the enemy Ornn who’s setting up for his ultiamte angle).
- He’s also pretty strong in lane, but he shines the most in teamfights where he can easily impreggo multiple people back-to-back.
- His ultimate is a gamechanger, which is usually setup by his 3rd Ability (target is stunned, so you can 100% hit your ult in an angle to throw the target back to your team).
ALSO READ: Wild Rift: Patch 4.4c Breakdown, Meta Guide & Analysis
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