Free Agent - NA
Hello everyone,
This list is designed to show how champions rate comparatively within a ranked environment of diamond/master. People playing above this field can certainly have the skill to make every champion viable. People below this level are prone to more mistakes and allow weaker champs to not be punished as aggressively. I am a tank main but I will try to keep my bias to a minimum. The letters for ranking in these lists are meaningless, please read the description for the rank in place of the actual lettering. Also, champions are not ranked within each category. Nerf/buff recommendations will only be present for champs at the ends of the spectrum. List is meant to be indicative of all players being within 2 ranks of one another (such as D2-D4). (Caut=cauterize)
Thank you,
ss
SS: Champions who will almost always be banned
Azaan*: Though not being available in ranked, everyone knows this character is the best in the game. He is oppressive and will win any matchup 1v1, even some 1v2s. Before he comes to ranked I'd recommend: reducing his life steal talent to 30% and removing the 5% dr, and lessening his Grim Deliverance Card (heal when using abilities) to 4 per level.
Fernando: Aegis was broken when it released. I has since been nerfed, but nando still is the best point tank right now. His shield being mobile enables supports and dps to shoot without taking damage more frequently. His biggest assest to me is lingering caut, since caut will stay as long as you are on fire, it extends the effective caut to 3.5 seconds as opposed to 1.5 seconds. The healing denial is the only of its kind. His ult can enable aggressive dives, deny aggressive dives, and simply turn a losing team fight into a winning one. I'd recommend lessening the strength of the shield OR decreasing his ult charge rate OR lessening the actually damage of his flamethrower. I would advise for the ult charge personally.
Lian: Chronos makes the card nerf almost not noticeable. She has great ranged poke and burst spamming abilities. I'd recommend having alacrity increase the cooldown of her dash by 1 second instead of decreasing the cooldown by 1 second.
Saati: Decoy spam talent enables a greater effective health pool as the decoys block shots or the enemy can walk into up to three (resulting in 1500 dmg) of them as they chase you down to kill you, on top of you shooting them. Saati can anti flank, provide consistent dmg output against tanks, and punish unwary supports. Grounded andro with better survivability and resulting in more damage. I'd recommend removing the cost reduction from the decoy talent. Then she can only use two decoys in a fight as opposed to three (it is three because by the time you use two you will have recovered a pip to use the third).
Grover: Despite only being able to root one person per crippling axe now, that utility can swing team fights. Being able to cancel ult early provides for quick top ups and potential to be used in multiple team fights during a single round. His is THE support for double backline comps and makes it incredibly difficult to dive effectively three dps shooting at you because of his axes scaling with range. I'd recommend removing the root from crippling throw talent but make it bounce to up to 5 objects.
s+
S+: Consistent pre-third ban picks/hotly contested champs
Barik: Since nando is commonly banned, barik is generally the best point tank option. His damage is better than inara, term, and point ash; his shield can be shot through unlike inara wall; his health and dash cards make him survivable enough to consistently contest point. Main weakness being the massive dwarven noggin. Similar to saati, his turrets can block shots and boost his effective health.
Ruckus: Being the most mobile tank in the game has its perks, one of the only tanks with any verticality makes him dynamic and able to chase just about every character in the game to confirm kills. CC can kill him momentum and punish him, but as long as he gets one or two kills each life, hes doing his job.
Khan: Khan is a complete package. Shield to block damage and get out of caut, shout to heal spontaneously in a fight or gain movement speed and rush down healers/dps if you're inclined. And after the first round, you could look at starting each round in a 4v5, giving up 30-60% of cap before you engage with the enemy team.
Atlas: the God of CC, can be aggressive with dejavu or enable aggressive backliners with big wall. The card that reduces his shield cooldown while hitting people with setback is essential. He has long and short range dmg, great shield and self-sustain. Being punished by cripples is his main cause for concern.
Kinessa: Best sniper in the game right now. Better mobility, able to relocate and re-engage quickly.
Cassie: Great burst with auto-attack/blast shot package. Megaton is about as annoying as alacrity. I would like to see it replaced, but I dont think it will be. Cassie is almost never banned despite how consistent and dominating she can be.
Sha Lin: Cripple arrow for 1300 into two 600 rapid shots will kill pretty much every squishy in the game. Sha has nothing bad about him, other than server issues.
Rei: Imagine grover, without CC, without a spammable ult, without long ranged dmg, but... with increased ult charge for the team, with dmg reduction pocketing through envelop, and just as much DR as grover. She is an outstanding healer on smaller scale maps where her bounces can hit everyone.
Damba: Most consistent healer in paladins history. Never change him. Good right click heal, good CC, good mass heal with gourd.
Corvus: Best pocket right now. Being able to heal aggressive players anywhere on the map is incredible. He has reasonable damage and ult is great for area denial. If you want to enable your dps/off tank, strongly consider corvus.
Jenos: Best dps healer right now. Binary Star is incredible, making him a self-sustain/less bursty lian with CC. He can support off tank/flank plays by adding damage and lingering healing.
Vora: Vertical mobility. Percentage dmg for tanks, lingering caut, constant trickling healing, escape with ultimate. Vora punishes mistakes like no other as she spins like a ballerina.
s
S: Common third round bans/mid draft picks
Ash: Able to point tank or off tank, great 50% lifesteal sustain, invincible for 8 second ult for stall or 2 second stun with an aggro play, susceptible to CC more so than other tanks
Inara: Nothing is wrong with inara, she has DR, HP, reasonable dmg, and a tool to deny grounded lanes with her wall. She doesnt hurt as much as barik does and he cant spam her wall like nando, but she is in no way bad at playing point.
Makoa: Hooking people into your dps is great, moving shield is great, big head isnt great, no dr or self-sustain aside from ult is not great. All of koas talents are viable which can make him dynamic and that is a positive.
Imani: stance switch ability spam imani can output a considerable amount of damage. Flame cannon on tanks, frost bombs for supports and flanks, fire balls for poking backliners, ice shots to spam out finishers. Dragon ult is the best zoning ult in the game. CC-ing her during her flight will almost always result in a kill.
Octavia: Viktor but more range, better mobility, no burst with nade, can have sustain with talent or boosted ult dmg, secondary talents are a plus
Androxus: A duelist. Can punish every character, almost every character can punish him. He has verticality and hitscan for a flank, giving him an edge against other fast flanks.
Lex: Lex shoots alot; he isn't going to nuke you, but he can constantly dive, spam so you have to move, then retreat. Similar to an off tank he can contest space and prevent pushes just with his damage, then re-aggress and chase the kill. No verticality is a downside on every flank without it though.
Vatu: Better burst and mobility than maeve, better sustain, but worse range. Needs to get in close to do meaningful damage, making him open to punishes. But, with the best mobility in the game, it generally takes a conservative effort of saving that CC ability to specifically punish one of his dives.
s-
S-: Champs that will almost never be banned
Yagorath: She has more mobility than raum, better self sustain, more easily punishable by CC but can avoid particular CC like khan ult/grab and koa hook, and an execute ult
Tiberius: Best anti tank ability in the game, nuke shields/flanks/tanks with combat trance. Once its down, hes open to punishing dives. Good self-sustain.
Bomb King: I think BK could be in the S+ tier if the servers enabled his bombs to be more consistent. As he sits now, hes pickable. Has CC, burst dmg, corner/lane clearing, and reasonable mobility.
Viktor: not oppressive, can be dove fairly comfortably, if he takes 25% off you probably retreat, if you land the first shot youll probably kill him. Can reposition during fights well, but generally weak escape if he is dove.
Tyra: Firebomb CC is great for anti-tank, nade launcher spam is great for anti-squishy. Too bad you can't have both. No mobility ability makes her very punishable.
Grohk: Another dmg healer, can bounce of deployables and shield-less targets to rack up dmg and ult charge, reasonable healing. Ult is destroyed by caut 3, cc and ruin him if he tries to totem, ghostwalk and heal out of caut.
Ying: Illusions can boost her effective health by playing behind them, she heals but no CC and no real dmg for life link
Furia: dmg healer, beam dmg is great for exterminate, dmg from autos is great, dodging beam can result in quick counter dives
Io: she can pocket heal better than seris, she can CC, can have secondary healing and increased health by body blocking with luna, has counter play just like andro.
Buck: verticality, practically and off tank, sustain, not going to burst anyone, but not going to die in 2 seconds
Maeve: ranged poke, good ult, punished by CC, verticality
Zhin: duelist, execute ult, dynamic play, no verticality
Evie: exceptional mobility, lowest health pool, crushed by CC
a+
A+: Champs with niche opportunities/who can be played with or against certain comps
Terminus: Jag and Frozen Guard, shield is not as spammable after nerfs, meaning dmg is also lower. Repositioning CC can nullify his siphon.
Raum: punishable by CC, shorter range, reasonable dmg and self-sustain until caut3 comes online
Dredge: farms point or lanes, weak to dives
Drogoz: weak to hitscan pressure, great anti-tank
Willo: dredge but with less oppressive dmg, healing denial, and consistent verticality
Strix: shot does not have to charge is the one plus over nessa, repositions well, predictable retreating makes him more punishable
Vivian: tyra, but less oppressive than burn monster; viktor but less mobility, octavia but less range, she is tankier with shield though
Seris: heals great, ult is dodgeable, escape takes her completely out of doing anything just to get punished if she doesn't go towards her team
Koga: Exponentially better with pocketing, without corv/torv/rei/jenos amping him, he is not as oppressive as other flanks in terms of dmg, ult is also very avoidable and punishable after it ends
Talus: similar to term, tight maps are best where he can set up around corners, dash in and burst people before tp-ing out and trying again, pressure is not constant
a
A: Don't pick them because there are better options
Torv: Shield CD is too long forcing people to run the elim reduces CD card, works fine if the pocket had a shield that could survive long enough for them to guarantee a kill. I would like his shield to give a 650 shield to all his allies at activation. Or reduce the CD by half and increase the shield strength to 1000.
Pip: Pip can heal, he has a great ult, but he can get punished by just about every flanking character and forced to lose LOS on his team. Increase duration of weightless by 1 second at base and/or give him two 600 hp potions instead of one 1000 hp potion.
Skye: less dmg than lex, less mobility than every flank, weak to blasters inside of healing smoke, she sucks. Give her base mobility boost while invisible of 30%. Make it so she can run away and dive without item or card investment.
Moji: similar to talus, except more punishable as she can barrier then just get battered, making her have to play more cautiously compared to other flanks. Give her mobility boost during barrier so she can actually escape OR make the stars stack faster and her burst dmg 800 so she has more consistent dmg as opposed to two longer bursts.