Patch 14.9 has been one of the strangest patches we’ve seen in a while. It turns out that the hitbox adjustments have been some of the most impactful changes of the patch. We’ll be covering which champions have been positively influenced the most by this, along with a complete update on the solo queue tier list for every single role.

Top Lane Updates

In the Top Lane, Darius was one champion who has benefited a ton from his hitbox being reduced, as it was lowered from 80 to 65. This change has resulted in Darius seeing a 1% spike to his overall win rate, which is actually quite significant considering Darius has been a very solid solo queue champion in previous patches. This kind of change is enough to push him over the top and make him one of the best top laners for solo queue, so we’ll be moving Darius up the Top Lane tier list for mid-patch, going from S into OP tier.

Mid Lane Developments

We noted in the pre-patch tier list that we were unsure exactly how much the quality of life changes would affect Kennan’s solo queue strength, but now that the changes have been on live servers for a few days, we can confidently say they’ve been absolutely massive. The changes have led to Kennan’s win rate spiking around 3%, and have brought him back into a very strong spot for solo queue for the first time all season.

Kennan’s Improved Mechanics in Patch 14.9

The burst combo is now much smoother to use, and executing engage plays has become way more consistent since using R no longer locks you in place. Kennan has returned as the best ranged top laner in Patch 14.9 and is being pushed into the Top Lane S tier.

If we look at how the Top Lane tier list is shaping up, we’ve got Darius and Trundle locking down the OP tier spots. The fighter item nerfs have influenced the strength of certain top laners; it’s really only champions who have been building Eclipse in combination with Suned Sky that were hurt significantly. This is what we had predicted going into the patch, so it’s really only champions like Riven and Renekton who have been feeling the effects of the item nerfs.

Someone like Jax, however, who only builds Suned Sky and not Eclipse, has seen a very minor drop-off in win rate. As a whole, the fighter item nerfs have really only influenced a select few champions. Unfortunately, Cante, who is in a terrible spot for solo Q, opposite of Darius, actually had his hitbox increased from 65 to 80 and has lost about 2% win rate as a result. Definitely stay away from Cante right now as he’s one of the weakest C-tier picks.

Top Lane Changes and Tips

A really simple but super impactful thing to remember is that minion wave spawns are mirrored for both sides. So if you see your own wave here, then you know that the enemy wave is over here at the same time. Whenever you’re interacting with a minion wave, you almost always want to keep this in mind, as it might screw you over if you don’t.

For example, let’s say you’re trying to crash a slow push and you decide to begin pushing now. This would be a mistake because we can predict that the reinforcing enemy wave is already very close. If you try to crash now, then the slow push will not end up crashing at the tower but instead awkwardly crash right outside their tower. This could leave you with the wave frozen against you, potentially getting punished for your mistake.

This is also useful for when you’re crossing areas like this where you’d only be spotted if an enemy wave was incoming. Right now is safe to pass through here since we know for certain no wave is in the area, and by knowing that waves are mirrored, we could also know that right now would be a terrible time to cross this point since you’d get spotted by the passing wave.

Jungle Tier Adjustments

It wasn’t just Sani who has seen a drastic rise in strength this patch, but Amumu as well. Base stat buffs are always super weird to predict as to how much strength they’ll add to a champ, but for Amumu, the added base AD and armor have been huge. You wouldn’t think that giving more base AD to an AP Bruiser would be overly impactful, but Amumu’s win rate has spiked over 2%. Two tanks are back in great solo queue spots for 14.9 as Amumu will be moving up the tier list going from B into S tier.

If we have a look at the jungle tier list now, we’ve got a couple of adjustments for mid-patch with Viego now moving up into the OP tier. To be honest though, there isn’t really a true OP jungler for 14.9; Viego is the closest thing to it, but in general, there’s just a lot of really good S tier picks who are in and around the same power level. As we mentioned when covering Top Lane champs who don’t rush Eclipse and go into Sunned Sky second really were not influenced at all by the fighter item nerfs, as even though Viego builds Sunned Sky, his win rate has actually gone up this patch.

Recent Adjustments Shake Up Jungle Meta in Patch 14.9

Lein all of a sudden shot up to having one of the highest win rates for any jungler at the start of the patch, but it was all due to a bug which was causing his Q to deal more damage than intended. Riot has already issued a bug fix to combat this, and Lee’s win rate has already dropped a few percentage points as a result. The champ is definitely much weaker than in 14.8 as the Eclipse and Sundered Sky nerfs have hit a decent amount and we’ll be leaving him in the B tier.

As for the likes of Brier, she was actually one champ who received a hidden nerf this patch with her hitbox being increased. Brier’s hitbox was actually increased from 55 to 65, so that’s more of an under-the-radar change that has negatively impacted her.

Mid Lane Meta Shifts in Patch 14.9

We noted in the pre-patch tier list that we were expecting around a 3% drop in win rate for Skarner due to his nerfs, but they’ve actually landed more around the 4% mark. As a result, the champ has lost a bit more power than anticipated, so we’re adjusting him out of OP and into S for mid-patch.

Master Yi has been one of the biggest losers of 14.8 as his nerf has led to his win rate plummeting by 3%. Taking off guaranteed damage from auto attacks is always going to hurt more than most other changes in the game, and losing 10 damage on E is quite a big hit overall. We definitely didn’t think the nerf would kill Yi this badly, but he’s fallen to the pits of the jungle tier list for 14.9 as we’re moving him into the C tier.

Hitbox Adjustments and Their Impact

We noted early on how Darius ended up gaining a good chunk of power due to his hitbox change, and there’s one champ for mid Lane who received the same change that has drastically shot up in strength. This champ is Vex, as her hitbox was lowered from 65 to 55. At first, we were kind of confused as to why Vex gained a few percent to her win rate for 14.9, but it all makes sense when you dig into the details of the patch.

As a result of this change, Vex is now one of the premier mid Lane champs for solo queue and is being moved up into the OP tier. It wasn’t just Vex who saw her hitbox lower for this patch, as Zoe was a lucky winner as well. Zoe had the exact same collision radius as Vex at 65 heading into the patch, but it was lowered to 55 for 14.9. Zoe had been a pretty average mid Lane champion prior to this buff, sitting in the B tier for the entirety of Season 14, but as a result of the change, we’re pushing her up into A tier.

Brand’s Performance and Role in Meta

A lot of meta melee champions find consistent poke from Brand’s E very difficult to dodge. If they end up trying to jump straight onto Brand, it’s actually quite easy to hit Q and stun them. An interesting stat line for Brand in 14.9 consists of the champ winning over 55% of the time against Yasuo, Yone, and Sylas. The beauty of Brand as well is that you don’t even need to hard smash lane to be impactful with him. The AoE damage output from Liandry’s during midgame team fights is huge, and you don’t even need to be super fed to deal loads of damage.

ADC Meta in Patch 14.9

In the grand scheme of things, nothing really changed for the ADC meta in 14.9. We expected the Jinx nerf to hit a little more than it did, but her win rate has literally gone up this patch, so we’re moving her back into OP tier. Nea nerfs were really the only changes that moved the needle in any significant way as she ended up losing a few percent to her overall win rate.

With the new anti-cheat system being added to League for this patch, called Vanguard, we have seen it impact a few champions. Interestingly enough, champs that people would script on a ton, like Ezreal and Zer, have both seen a decline in win rate for 14.9.

With Seraphine’s Q AP ratio buffed for this patch, she’s back to being a really strong AP carry pickup. The play rate of the champ will never end up being very high, but if you want a strong pocket pick to pull out when your team has drafted heavy AD, Seraphine is definitely the best option now, moving forward, and will be bumped into the S tier.

So all in all, Jinx is still the queen of the ADC meta, Kog’Maw is right behind, while Jhin sits below them as one of the best S tier picks.

Support Adjustments and Their Effects

There were a couple of supports who saw their hitboxes reduced for this patch and have seen an increase in strength as a result.

Support Meta Evolution in Patch 14.9

Milo is one of those champions who has benefited as Riot lowered his collision radius from 65 to 55. A whole 1% has been added to his win rate, and with Milo being a very good S tier pick prior to this change, we’re bumping him into OP for mid-patch. Lulu was the other support whose hitbox was lowered, as Riot reduced it from 65 to 55 as well.

Lulu had been slightly weaker than Milo for solo queue prior to this change, so even with this buff, we won’t be moving Lulu into the OP tier as she’ll remain a very good S tier pick. Overall, enchanters as a whole are back on top for 14.9, with Lulu, Milo, Sona, and Janna all being super strong options.

Support Tier List Adjustments

The support tier list is looking pretty similar to where we had it for pre-patch, with the OP tier consisting of Sona and Braum. However, Nami is dropping down into S tier to make room for Milo. Honestly, all the nerfs to support for 14.9 were more placebo than anything else, as the relative strength of Janna, Blitz, and Pyke have not gone down much at all.

All of those champions lost a little bit of win rate, but not a significant amount to where they aren’t still strong solo queue options. We’ve definitely seen a big priority shift as of recent in the support role, though, as enchanters are the more dominant class at the moment. Melee supports who were high priority at the beginning of the season, like Maai and Blitz, have taken a back seat while enchanters like Nami, Sona, Soraka, Lulu, Milo, and Janna are all super good for 14.9.

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