Huge changes across the board targeting some of your favorite (and least favorite) assassins. This awkward tri-weekly update you’ve all been waiting for! Ady’s Tier List!

I’m not going to tempt fate, but my last tier list just so happened to point out some stronger and weaker heroes that got some attention in the last patch, with changes coming to Koshka, Adagio, Petal, Krul, and Taka. That’s both ends of the spectrum!

Speaking of spectrum, Vox is here. Nice transition, Ady! Thanks, Ady! As a Crystal Power ranged carry we’ll see how he lines up with other heroes.

Vainglorious Tier:

Koshka

Pinnacle of Awesome Tier:

Ringo

Adagio

Simply Amazing Tier:

Vox

Skaarf

Petal

The Hotness Tier:

Celeste

Ardan

Krul

Pretty Good Tier:

SAW

Catherine

Taka

Decent-ish Tier:

Glaive

Joule

1 (+0) Koshka: Don’t fix what’s still broken. Koshka was the best hero on 1.2.0 because her defensive stats scaled so ridiculously that no one could deal with her. Well, the nerf bat swung its mighty self, but Koshka was too fast. She retained all of her movement speed “lost” defensive stats on her heroic perk, but gained 24 base armor and shield at level one. What? I hate to call the balance team out on this one, but ball=dropped. Even TheFooJee said she’s just as broken as last patch. I hate to say that he’s wrong, so I won’t. With her current pick/win rates expect to see her get taken down a notch, or see other melees buffed to try to keep up.

2 (+2) Ringo: You know, Ringo is like my pal. He’s a solid carry and has one of the best kits for pumping out real damage in the game. The only reason I can see Ringo moving up the tier list are the changes to Adagio and Petal, and the introduction of Vox. Ringo can beat Vox early game and cripple him enough to make him irrelevant. He last-hits well, he rotates to help his team well, and his DPS is nigh unmatched. Ringo is just solid. He’s not over-powered, he’s just excellent in the right hands.

3 (-1) Adagio: Dropped a spot, but still does the same stuff really well. He can still rush two early Blazing Salvos and crush most opponents, or he can be a body to tank jungle hits to feed his carry. While his heal/burn was touched on lightly, it wasn’t enough to take him out of the “OP attack range” class. His biggest problem is his lack of role. He’s not the best jungler or the best laner, but he does both at such a competent level that he can’t be ignored. Also, his ult. Will someone review those numbers? Thanks.

4 (NEW) Vox: I’ve seen this guy get STOMPED in the laning phase, and then he gets a few Crystal Power items and can fight 1v3. I think the numbers on his shield are undisclosed, and consequently, way too high. His kit is very powerful, allowing him to re-position in team fights, while also pumping out some impressive damage to every target. His ability to melt the enemy carry behind a front line earns him a top spot, but we’ll see how he stands the test of time.

5 (+1) Skaarf: Managed to move up a spot thanks to the changes to his ultimate that allow him to activate items while channeling his ultimate. He was already trouble, as despite his ability to farm the lane worth beans, if he’s able to get to any form of late game teams are unable to properly team fight because none of them can survive the damage his ult produces. I’ve started to see more Skaarf in competitive team play, but with the introduction of Vox he has had a bit of a decline thanks to insta-lockers* (*Note: we’re not really thanking you. We actually hate you. Stop it).

6 (-3) Petal: I didn’t feel the nerf was that detrimental to Petal, but she was in a decent place before, and now she’s hurting. Her Crystal Power builds have always been tempting, but the health scaling on her munions just don’t stand up to the farming capabilities of higher-ranked players and teams: aka they farm well and deal more damage than her pets can survive. I really thought they would take the longest attack range in the game away from a character they wanted to work like a mage, but, alas, here we are. The numbers focusing on how attack speed are still under review by Gadianton. Once I can wrap my brain around the change of how different 136% is vs 111% I will let you guys know.

7 (+0) Celeste: Despite a significant buff to Celeste’s numbers her abilities are not yet mastered. I think Celeste is sleeper OP, but the boost from the overdrive on her Heliogenesis is so significant that she’s too clunky before that point. Vision is one thing that teams will always fight for in every MOBA, and Celeste brings that to the table on an amazingly short cooldown. Now she just needs a way to not move so slowly and I think she’ll really emerge as the next supposed-to-be-crystal-but-is-built-weapon carry in the game!

8 (+2) Ardan: This guy is a Swiss Army knife of junglers. He tanks amazingly well, provides a ton of utility with his Vanguard ability, and then has a full team CC that comes with a gap closer! Panzerkampfwagen IV eat your heart out! This guy gets in the fray, can’t be focused because he’s just working to protect threats, and then can continuously shield and buff his allies until you are dead and he’s topping off from the ace bonus. Ace bonus? I thought we said snowballing was bad.

9 (+2) Krul: The recipient of a lovely buff, Krul is a step in the right direction. I think teams were learning how to deal with old Krul, and it will only be a matter of time for them to adjust to new Krul. I still hate to see Tornado Trigger on this guy. Is that in the recommended items somewhere? He’s doing better with the changes to DMR and the early damage from Spectral Smite. People have felt obligated to try him, but they quickly move away. That’s fine, I’ll take my zombie warrior the way he is. At least he’s out of Tier List hell.

10 (-5) SAW: In a game dominated by early jungle pressure, we have a laner who slowly ramps up his damage at the expense of his movement speed. So either he tries to push his opponent in (and still loses to Vox/Skaarf/Adagio) or he slowly last-hits and watches his teammates question mark ping him while they watch their respawn timers. SAW can dominate a game, but the stars have to align in a blind-pick meta.

11 (-3) Catherine: Oh, how I love seeing Catherine drop on this list. For far too long has she mocked me for not knowing something about some silly shield. Well Catherine! The tables have turned! In a world dominated by high mobility and bursty tanks (wow, it just sounds like I’m talking about Koshka!), Catherine can only land her stun if she does it from a bush. She can’t do enough against the Reflex Blocks dominating the ranked meta. Her shield was most effective versus SAW, because he lacked mobility and the stun almost guaranteed his death. Yeah, he’s not exactly meta.

12 (+0) Taka: This really isn’t fair to Taka. I think Taka is better than Catherine, but he just fits into fewer comps. Now that his perk is fixed expect to see him climb the ranks. People will figure out how to Shaco the crap out of your team and everyone will be upset. He’s a powerful jungler now that his perk works, so be sure to keep an eye on Taka. In my opinion he’s the most hopeful of the residents of Decent-ish Tier to make his way up.

13 (-4) Glaive: Do you know who plays a good Glaive? ShinKaigan. However, Shin is pretty consistent on most champs. Do you know who else plays a good Glaive? Yeah, me neither. A one-trick pony in a meta consisting of Reflex Blocks makes Glaive’s job quite difficult. He can’t determine the distance he jumps with his Afterburn, and his other two abilities are just triggered, damaging enemies nearby, which greatly limits him as power creep introduces more and more mobile heroes. Low skill ceiling means Glaive will have a hard time finding room at the top.

14(-1) Joule: Joule literally went down one spot from last place on my last tier list! She went from worst to worsterest! I was trying to write about how bad Joule’s kit is, but it’s so apparent by how slowly she jumps, fires lasers, or shoots lightning. Even her lightning is slow! Have you ever been clipped by Ringo’s A skill for 300 damage? Yeah, it does that when he’s level 8 with 0 Weapon or Crystal. Ever get clipped by Joule’s Thunder Strike for 300 damage? Yeah, it does that when you have 375 Weapon or 750 Crystal. Watch out. Don’t even get started with me about the stacks! It just makes me depressed!

Whew! We made it! I thought we might die of boredom thinking about the wind-up on Joule’s Rocket Leap. Let me know if you guys think Vox should be higher, Krul is in the right spot, or if Joule needs to be lower.