Since our last installment we have seen changes to Petal, Skaarf, Joule, Fortress, Adagio, Taka, Vox, Catherine, and SAW, not to mention a new hero! It seems that most of the changes made to heroes were subtle, but the changes in the tier list were quite impactful.

getting there

16 (-3) Petal was once my favorite hero in Vainglory, but was too punishing as a weapon carry. Now, despite getting some quality-of-life changes this patch, she’s a weak laner, can’t carry with weapon power, and doesn’t contribute enough as a crystal carry. Sadly, this once flowering bud is now withered in last place.

15 (-1) Skaarf isn’t technically dropping a spot, but a new hero joined the Fold, and Skaarf is still fairly weak. People used to select SAW in champ select to scare their allies into dodging, and now they pick Skaarf. The flappy-winged, red Bulbasaur had one recent highlight video, but in all reality he is missing having skipper around to give him a bit of worth.

not bad

14 (-3) Ardan doesn’t punish people like other supports do. If you step out of position a Catherine or Adagio will have you signed up for the next Olympic games in the “iPad Toss” competition. Ardan has no meaningful crowd control until after level six, when most games are already decided. His cooldowns are long, his damage is low, and lately his impact has been negligible.

13 (+0) Rona hasn’t really impressed me, but I saw ShinKaigan do some pretty heinous stuff to some other people who play this game on a regular basis. Outside of that, every Rona I’ve seen has been sub-par. Maybe I’m biased because I play a faster, stronger, older warrior type, but Rona just isn’t impacting games with her lack of catch potential and her inability to burst a hero down.

decent-ish

12 (+3) What would Dz say if I told him SAW is making a comeback? I don’t have any insider knowledge about worlds, but I saw SAW in Pinnacle of Awesome ranked queue, and he was dominant. After witnessing SAW win a game I attempted it myself and saw true potential. Don’t turn a blind eye to SAW, and don’t insta-lock him, but keep an eye out so SAW doesn’t knife you in the back.

11 (+1) Ringo is starting to look like an old pair of shoes; you don’t wear them because you have nicer, newer shoes. While there’s been a resurgence of blue Ringo, that build lacks strength at certain key points in the game. If Fountain of Renewal and Adagio are prevalent in the meta there’s almost no room for a damage-over-time ultimate.

pretty good

10 (-2) Evening out Joule’s damage over the actual duration greatly reduced her viability. More people have been resorting to weapon power builds, which are efficient and effective, but not as dominant in solo queue at decimating full teams.

9 (+0) While potentially the strongest support, Catherine falls right behind two other main-stream supports due to her lower damage output. Her ability to capitalize on a hero out of position is still paramount, which makes her a good fit for some jungle and lane carries.

the hotness

8 (+2) Adagio received some improvements to his numbers that allow him to better enhance the carry to win games. Getting an 85% crystal power ratio on his B skill may have been the enabler, but having a support that builds items other than Fountain is such a sigh of relief that he had to move up in this tier list.

7 (-4) With how much other supports have been making impact in games, Fortress has had fewer opportunities to shine. Nerfs to Taka and Vox also lowered this puppy’s impact in the old “OP Comp”. His ultimate is still global, and he still gets a Warhorn activation on a very short cooldown, so he’s still king of the supports… for now.

simply amazing

6 (+0) Koshka’s ultimate gets too punished by a well-timed Reflex Block or Crucible, but aside from that she’s very dominant against some of the top-tier heroes. She’s earned a spot in the top seven, but hopefully she doesn’t get any stronger.

5 (+0) Glaive has also retained his spot from the last iteration of the list, but mostly because he is a strong hero that doesn’t get utilized as much in the ranks of solo queue. When I do see Glaive he is usually extremely punishing. However, he needs to get ahead and then continue to wreak havoc in order to be successful. Otherwise, he’s just waiting for a chance to punt an unsuspecting hero.

pinnacle of awesome

4 (-2) The reduction of lifesteal on Taka’s heroic perk has managed to move him down a few spots on the tier list. Taka had a nice run, but he’s no longer the clear favorite over Koshka and Glaive anymore, as they’ve crept back into the meta. Taka is still tricky to deal with in some situations, but as more people gain experience playing with and against him, easier methods of defeating him are discovered.

3 (+4) Speaking of ways to defeat a Taka: say hello to Krul. Taka lives on the critical strike granted by his perk, and Krul shreds through Taka’s attack speed until Taka can no longer afford to stay in a battle. Thanks to changes in 1.6 and Adagio being back in the meta, expect to see Krul’s success rate spike. People thought Krul was bad, but people were bad with Krul.

vainglorious

2 (+2) Celeste does a lot of things right: she can scout bushes, she can siege turrets, she can contribute massive damage in team fights. As Adagio has become a more popular support it’s gotten very hard to engage onto Celeste. Adagio and Celeste are able to siege turrets and win games. It’s pretty buff, emphasis on the pretty part.

1 (+0) Still king of the pack, head honcho, DJ extraordinaire. Vox is so fun and so easy, he’s your best shot at freelo in solo queue. It’s so ridiculous how much free damage he gets with his jump being on such a short cooldown. Lowering his attack speed wasn’t enough, he needs his energy costs adjusted, or the cooldown on Sonic Zoom increased. I’d say “it’s not fair” but both teams can (and should) pick Vox.