Now that we’ve had some time to play with Celeste and adjust to the changes to stutter stepping (RIP in pepperonis) it’s time to take another look at who’s hot and who’s not.

Vainglorious Tier:

Koshka

Pinnacle of Awesome Tier:

Adagio

Petal

Simply Amazing Tier:

Ringo

SAW

Skaarf

Pretty Good Tier:

Celeste

Catherine

Glaive

Ardan

Decent-ish Tier:

Krul

Taka

Joule

1) Koshka is supreme ruler of the Fold. With changes to stutter stepping not hurting her in any way, combined with the buff to her energy costs, she went from frisky feline to pouncing princess of Halcyon. She’s one of the strongest level one heroes, and uses that strength to snowball games in her favor. While she does lack some late-game potential, she makes up for it by not allowing the other team an early- or mid-game.

2) Adagio lost some damage in the stutter step transition, but he’s still ahead of the curve. His heal does too much, his range is still erroneously overlooked, and his innate durability makes him a monster to win trades with. At the end of the game, if you’re a ranged carry and you’ve farmed as much or slightly better than an Adagio, do not try to win a 1v1. You will lose. Agent of Wrath means he wins those 1v1s.

3) Petal lost stutter step damage, and was slightly affected by the Breaking Point changes. It wasn’t the end of the world for her, though, as she still holds the longest attack range in the game, and is a valuable asset on every team. The base damage on her ultimate still lets her shine while she is able to provide sustained DPS. Petal does surprisingly well vs Koshka, which helps her retain a spot high on the tier list.

4) While the removal of stutter stepping hurt every ranged weapon carry, it was less taxing on the viability of Ringo because of Twirling Silver. Ringo is still able to maintain an extremely high attack speed, and benefits greatly from having weapon items that work well with that sustained damage. I’m not going to get into the Sorrowblade vs Tension Bow argument here, but Ringo is in a good place after the most recent patch.

5) SAW lost plenty of damage as a weapon carry, but still manages to out-perform other laners as a crystal Suppressing Fire spammer, or as a mobile knife. Due to his high early-game damage he can help dictate how an invade will fare at the start of the game. Thanks to his enormous crystal ratios and the recent changes to Broken Myth (not a self plug, I promise), he competes well enough to stay in a respectable tier.

6) If you’ve ever talked to me about caterpillars then you know that I’m not a huge fan. However, due to recent events I’ve started liking the flying variety. The changes to Broken Myth seemed poised around this flamey mage and people have been putting that to good use.

7) Celeste is still new, but a few people have played her in high elo competitive matches and found success with her. The crystal ratio on her auto attacks is unprecedented, the global presence of her ultimate is fun AHEM I mean effective, and she has amazing pressure after level eight without sacrificing crowd control. With how well her kit works with crystal items I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone figure her out and use her to reach Vainglorious.

8) Catherine is still my least favorite, but despite seeing less and less of her, it seems she’s getting better. It’s possible that only people really talented with Catherine are playing her these days. She’s still a powerful ally thanks to her lock-down, catch, and AoE silence. She’s been slowly dropping ranks ever since Fountain lost popularity.

9) Glaive can just be too much disruption with one ability. His high Effective HP allow his build to be very agile to help counter any team he is matched up against. No one can get to the back line better than Glaive. While a Reflex Block can assist to save your skin from being punted, it does mean that item is on cooldown for Koshka or a potential Ringo fireball. Pick your saving graces wisely.

10) Ardan is still strong utility and great in an organized team situation. His singular damage output is rather lacking. His crowd control isn’t entirely reliable, but his shield can be a game-changer. I don’t discount his impact with good team play, but I do doubt his solo queue viability.

11) Krul, oh my poor Krul. Do you realize how big of a nerf the stutter step change was to Krul? When stutter step champs were king, Krul had a small window to be something great. Every champion was relying on auto attacks for their damage output, and Krul countered that perfectly. With the new reign of Koshka, Krul’s weak early game and lack of defensive stats or escapes have pushed him out of favor even with the strongest of Krul players. *sniff*

12) Taka still suffers from the same weaknesses as always. Despite being unaffected by the stutter step change or the Broken Myth update, Taka didn’t find space to move up the tier list. Most of the arguments for a viable Taka in solo queue require a winning team, and then Taka can really do “win more” very well. However, his ramp-up time is took long. No one can wait around for level six to fight, and he doesn’t become mana stable until level eight. He’s probably jealous of his fellow assassin’s recent buffs.

13) Joule is the coolest designed character. If she were also the strongest then we’d have to take away her pants and call her Koshka. Joule has potential, but it just seems like her kit isn’t quite there yet. Attempting to position yourself in a way to take advantage of her perk seems difficult to master and lowers her potential all things considered.

Thanks for reading! I read and appreciate each thought that is donated in the form of a comment down below or on reddit. As always, I’m looking forward to Vox’s release and the next set of patch notes to see how the meta will shift!