Solo Queue Tier List ( By The Rain Man )

The Rain Man's Solo Queue Tier List PART 2: THIS IS WHAT 1900-2500 PLAYERS ARE USING IN SOLO QUEUE AS OF 7/3/2011

This list is completely subject to change, and I would like to hear your comments on what you think about certain heroes being at certain tiers and why. These are my observations from the past few days to a week in solo queue. This list does include junglers!

Tier 1: OP Flavor of the month heroes who are firstpicked/firstbanned. Twisted Fate, Gangplank (Jungle and Lane), Orianna, Yorick, Fiddle (Jungle), Udyr (Lane and Jungle).

Tier 2: Heroes that are strong, somewhat flavor of the month, but are usually not first picked/first banned. If you see one of these heroes in your game, it will probably be affecting the outcome of the game heavily. These heroes include Brand, Annie, Warwick (Lane), Warwick (Jungle), Jarvan, Taric, Corki, Alistar, Rumble, Poppy, Kayle (solo, not support), Nocturne (Jungle), Soraka.

Tier 3: Heroes that are strong, but are played much less and by a much fewer variety of players than tier 2 heroes. These heroes can be made viable still with the correct builds and playstyle: Lee Sin (Jungle), Singed, Mordekaiser, Tristana, Akali, Udyr (Jungle), Nunu, Karthus, Irelia, Amumu (Jungle), Vayne.

Tier 4: Heroes that are usually picked 3rd-5th. These heroes can be swapped out for other heroes and your team really won't know the difference. Also, they will have less of an effect on the game than Tier 3 heroes: Janna, Sona, Caitlyn, Jax, Ryze, Vlad, Olaf (Jungle).

Tier 5: Heroes that usually don't benefit the team. Anything these heroes can do, support, carry, cc, etc, another hero can do it better. These heroes have seen so little play lately that people almost forgot what moves they have, or really don't even care. <Insert any hero not listed in the other tiers here>

Some heroes that you might be like "wtf? Why is that hero there?":

1. Yorick tier 1? But I thought Yorick was bad?!?!?! Well he was, until last patch. Then Riot boosted all his stats and basically made him god mode in lane. GG.

2. Gangplank tier 1? WTF? Well, lately in solo queue I have been seeing gangplank as the only hero more banned/first picked than TF. He has an insane passive slow, great farmability, and a super steriod from his E that benefits the entire team in teamfights. His W is also a free Quicksilver Sash on a pretty short cooldown, especially with blue buff. Gangplank is really strong at the moment for jungling and laning.

3. Udyr tier 2? WTF? Lane udyr can survive and cs against even the hardest matchups. His lifesteal from W is also insane, and he is probably the strongest top laner in game at the moment.

4. Vlad tier 4? I thought he was OP...WTF? Vlad now is completely manageable in lane, and his teamfighting is pretty weak. Vlad is definately off of my tiers 1-3, and I haven't seen him played in solo queue for a very, very long time.

5. Anivia tier 5? WTF? Anivia is weak, has no mobility, and can only be used for teams that actually can make use of her wall and fighting playstyle. Anivia for me is much like Ashe, and they both have their places, but its not in solo queue.

6. Kayle tier 2? WTF? Lately there has been a influx of players using Kayle in a solo lane. Using the correct runes, I do agree that Kayle can be completely devastating, although her devastation falls off late game. What she lacks in late game damage she can make up for with her ultimate being completely game-changing if used correctly, even though the duration is pretty nerfed.

7/16/2011 Edits:

1. Vayne moved to tier 3, not seeing a lot of Vayne after her nerfs.

2. Jarvan moved to tier 2. Nerfed some stats that won't really affect him much, but gold/5 + philo nerf makes him not firstban/firstpick material.

3. Nunu Added to tier 3, but he is hurting atm because of nerfs.

4. Warwick (lane and jungle) moved from tier 1 OP to tier 2. Not seeing alot of Warwick play lately, and certainly not firstban/firstpick material according to the trends I have seen.

5. Udyr moved to tier 1. I was really slow with this one, as I made the list right after the Udyr buff and was only anticipating the tier 2 Udyr based on my own experiences with him. He has not been permanently banned as the community was really slow to pick up on how strong Udyr's laning presence is. Definately tier 1 worthy now, as jungler or solo.

6. Fiddle jungle moved to tier 1, fiddle lane taken off as it hasn't seen any play recently.

7. Soraka moved to tier 2, allows inexperienced players to play at a higher elo than their own and still do well. This characteristic is very important for solo queue, and should be considered by the first pick captain.