14.17 Mid Lane Tier List

hello i'm shochi i've been challenger since s8 and playing league since s1. i've been playing in NA tier 2 for a bit over two years now and i think i'm pretty good at the game (relatively). i'll be using this site a bit more frequently to practice writing + to get a feel for the more educational side of league as i may begin coaching soon. anyways here's my first impressions on what the 14.17 mid lane meta will shape up to be as well as my thoughts on the patch notes.

if you like what u see u can find more at twitter & twitch and maybe eventually youtube as well.

Aurora

The champion is really good, especially if u can flex her w/ ur team. Excels into short range champions. Some KR pros popularized taking Arcane Comet + putting points in E for longer range matchups like orianna/syndra (which I think there will be more of now). Losing 25 base damage on her ultimate (-75 since release) shouldn't move her down tiers on its own, but we'll have to see how the mid lane meta shapes up in case some of her more difficult matchups become more prevalent. shes op in skirmishes and nobody picks tanks in soloq ((op combo for aurora))

Ezreal

Ezreal mid was already falling off in popularity, and he's a champion I'd only recommend if you're Masters+ lol. Unless he's your favorite champion then you can play him whenever you want ^^ but if you're playing to climb/improve I'd leave Ezreal mid off ur list for now. There's just better AD mids relative to the time investment you have to put in to learning Ezreal. [varus just got gigabuffed]

Graves

LS popularized Graves mid with the "Negan" build where u used to go full lifesteal and be an immovable sustain demon, but I think that version of Graves has largely died off at this point due to item/rune changes. However, I think lethality Graves has always remained in a...playable state and I do believe these Q changes help his waveclear especially at lvls 7/9 so if you wanna give it a try it could be good just plz dont pick it into syndra ori hwei type beat champions. Also make sure you learn how to do the advanced EQ it's really helpful for laning + oneshot combos.

Katarina

KatEvolved telling Riot how to balance his champion will never not be funny. I think she was sleeper op on 14.16 with aery + q poke spam but these nerfs hit that playstyle pretty hard. Shes really fun so if you're looking for a main I'd recommend Katarina rn, even more if ur not playing in the higher tiers.

Kennen

LPL's IG neny played Kennen mid for the first time in Season 14, but I didn't really see any discussion around it. Most of the time I see Kennen mid it's an OTP but the champion is so strong in my opinion. I don't think it's a meta pick by any means but if you like the champ I wouldn't call it trolling to play it mid sometimes :) Think the nerfs impact toplane more than midlane where it's harder to land random Q's.

Kindred

The Kindred buffs don't really impact mid lane per se, but with her rising popularity, it becomes more difficult to pick strong AD mid champions. You'll probably end up with a pretty n00b draft. Some of her best pairings (Ryze, Lissandra, TF) got buffed this patch as well so yea just keep that in mind. This is one of the champions I used to permaban (currently udyr/nunu rn) so I might have to go back to that...

LeBlanc

They nerfed her AP Ratios while keeping her early game strong, so she will just scale a bit worse while still being a big laning threat. Stay out of her W range and keep track of the enemy jg and you should be chilling. This champ is a menace though tbh no shame in banning it.

Lissandra

I think this change actually makes you able to one shot casters @lvl9 with 5pts Q and decent AP so that's really nice. If u pick Lissandra exclusively into good matchups like LeBlanc, Yasuo & Yone she's pretty much an LP printer in soloq. Also you can get 2 Qs' when going for a one-shot rotation most of the time so thats an extra 40 dmg which is pretty niceeee :d

Rumble

I don't think this champion will ever return to mid lane...I mean look at Timal (best Rumble NA) he's just playing it jungle XD i think his best roles are top/jg/sup and then drop down like 4 more tiers and u can play rumble mid if you really want. it's pretty mediocre though.

Ryze

VeigarV2 is really excited about these Ryze changes, personally I think he will still get mogged by most control mages. Cassiopeia also got some decent changes a few patches ago and she eats ryze for breakfast. Merc treads nerf helped him out a good amount though, idk i think he scales well & ADCs like jinx/aphelios aren't really popular rn so maybe he's better than im giving him credit for.

Sylas

I thought this champ was trash after they took away like 30% ap scaling across his kit, but once he got compensation buffs he was actually kinda strong. As long as Roamer is picking this champion then he's playable.

Twisted Fate

Similarly to graves & lissandra this buff helps mainly with one-shotting casters @ lvl9. TF will always be-at the very least-playable in SoloQ. The ult is too op and nobody respects it. In mid game, push out a side lane, base, and then ult on ur top laner while he fights on his side. works every time.

Varus

I just played a game of Lethality Varus mid as I was writing these notes and wow. felt pretty good. I think the changes from total AD to bonus AD on his Q really hurt the tank varus build but i'm not 100% sure. I think nashors+malignance is still for sure viable on him though. This champion is really versatile with being able to go either AP or Lethality, and if tank build is still viable, you will for sure be seeing a lot more of this champ.

Absorb Life

PLEASE NEVER TAKE THIS RUNE UNTIL THEY CHANGE IT. I was watching Phreak patch notes preview and he said that they were LITERALLY making this rune weak on purpose bc it's just too hard to balance rn. levels 1-5 kill a minion wave and get 10 hp nice rune guys.

Cut Down

Ok this rune was for sure overstatted but I still think it's superior to Coup de Grace in most cases. On a champion like Yone, I'd probably still choose either Cut Down or Last Stand.

Fleet Footwork

Pretty big nerfs tbh, i expect champs like yasuo yone to try conqueror more, but sometimes the movespeed is just too good. and for some champions like smolder i think it's still his best keystone, maybe explore grasp sometimes? not sure yet

Ashe, Brand, Caitlyn, Lillia, Pyke, Senna, Seraphine, Warmogs & Celestial Opposition

Not super big changes outside of senna/seraphine, but they don't really pertain to mid lane.