MetaTFT Tierlist - 13.13 Set 9

The recent b patch hot-fixed Draven and other economy focussed legends, which has brought the meta back to a more stable state. The meta is largely centralized around two comps: Ionia and strategists after comps like Zeri and Aphelios took big nerfs. In this article, I’m going to show you my tier list for the current meta, take a look into each of the comps mentioned, and explain the best strategies to climb on this patch.

Tier List

S Tier

Strategist Azir and Lux is the top comp in the current meta. It’s incredibly easy to play off both win-streaks and loss-streaks, and if you can manage to get fully itemized 2-star 4-cost units, you are often headed for a top 2

Ionia Yasuo is the other S tier comp. Because this comp uses both AD and AP items very well, it’s very easy to pivot into off of almost any early game, and it caps out very high if you can get good combat augments. However, hitting Yasuo and Kaisa 2 is often hard, as there’s normally three to four players contesting this comp per game.

A+ Tier

Void Kaisa is a top comp in the meta that has an incredibly strong early and midgame with 6 Void that usually allows you to reach baron, but you can only play it with +1 Void or stable evolution.

Noxus Katarina and Darius is the strongest reroll comp in the current meta. If you can 3-star both with 3 good items on each, you are usually going to top 4 and have chances to win the game.

Sorcerers are a strong comp under the right conditions, but you really need to either go for Velkoz 3, hit an early Ahri, or get a Sorc Spat for Sona, or else you should just play the strategists board.

A- Tier

Tristana Reroll is still good on the current patch, but it’s even more important now that you hit on time and can push level 8 for 4 Gunners. If you don’t manage to hit on time, you are almost guaranteed to bleed out into a bot 2.

Freljord Deadeyes took a big nerf in the last patch, as Aphelios isn’t a great carry anymore. To do better than just a top 4 with this comp, you need augments like social distancing or long distance pals or an itemized Akshan 3 as a secondary carry.

Gwen is now playable in the meta, but you always need to pair her with an itemized Kaisa, Yasuo, or Kalista. This comp is overly reliant on hitting legendaries like Senna and Aatrox, and can really only win with Kalista 3.

Slayer Zed Reroll is a good reroll option with good combat augments or +1 Slayer, but it usually struggles to win out against the top comps in the meta, and you can easily go 8th if you are behind and don’t hit your 3-stars.

B Tier

Gunner Zeri received huge nerfs this patch and drops all the way to B tier. She simply doesn’t do enough damage, and the usual conditions to play her also got nerfed, like having early Piltover or a strong secondary carry in Urgot. I would only ever play this with Piltover now, but even then, it’s still hard to top 2 unless you get a really good cashout.

Other playable comps on this patch are bruiser Rek'Sai reroll, multicaster Taliyah reroll, and Invoker Karma, but you need very specific spots to play these.

Now, let’s get into my strategy for climbing on this patch:

The best legend on this patch is Ezreal, simply because his 2-1 augments, buried treasures, especially the silver and gold ones, give way too much early combat power and gold.

Additionally, the two top comps, Ionia and Strategists, greatly benefit from itemizing 3 or 4 units, so Ezreal fits very well into the meta. His 3-2 augments are very good as well, but don’t pick his 4-2 augments except for the Prismatic. Other playable legends include Vladimir, Aurelion Sol, Ornn, and Urf.

In the early game, you should always try to build your strongest board and slam any items that work well on the Ionia or Strategist boards. These are the two comps you should always default to if you have no clear direction toward another comp. Here are the strongest early and midgame boards for Azir and Yasuo that allow for easy pivots on your level 7 rolldown:

For Yasuo

For Azir

Make sure to remember that the meta is not very balanced, and you should only be looking to play other comps if there is a clear reason to play them, whether it be your items, early game direction, or most importantly, your augments. Since these two are by far the best comps in the meta, usually 3 to 4 players will be playing them per game. Make sure to note if you are contested, and be sure to roll aggressively either on 3-5 or 4-1 at level 7 to hit your board.

Lastly, before you start playing, make sure to familiarize yourself with the most broken augments on this patch and how to play around them with the help of our Augments Page

These are the twelve augments with the highest average placement in the game, and ones you should usually take when offered if you have the appropriate spot. Void Crown, Stable Evolution, and Void Crest all point you towards 8 Void Kaisa, which we will talk about later. Noxus, Shadow Isles, and Sorcerer Crowns all should lead you towards their respective comps, while sentinel’s spirit should force you towards Ionia. And tactical superiority points you towards strategists. Long Distance Pals and Mana Burn are generally two of the best combat augments in the game, especially Long Distance Pals if you have duo carries like Yasuo and Kaisa, or Azir and Lux.

The last two augments shown require you to play different boards if you take them. Shurima’s Legacy is only playable in vertical Shurima; do not play the strategist board. Here is an example of what you should play:

Shurima Board

Ravenous Hunter is Warwick’s Hero augment, so you should build him as the main carry with these three specific items: Rageblade, Bloodthirster, and Quicksilver, and play reroll a board like this on level 6, and push levels for more juggernauts:

Warwick Board

Now, let’s take a deeper look into each comp.

Strategist Azir/Lux

Our first comp is Strategist Azir/Lux duo carry. This is a 4-cost carry comp that almost always prefers to roll at level 7 on 3-5 if you have a lot of money or 4-1 otherwise. Drop Teemo until level 8. This board is completely static, and the only thing you can reasonably change is dropping Taliyah for K’sante 2 or Teemo for legendaries like Sion 2, Senna 2, or Heimer 2.

Itemize whoever you 2* first, but Azir is usually the priority, and you want to end up with 3 items on both carries as well as have 3 items on a tank. The main priority for this comp is to have Magic Shred, which can either be Spark on Nasus or Jarvan, or have Shiv on Azir. Azir’s other best items are Rageblade, Rfc, Gunblade, Guardbreaker, Deathcap, and Archangel’s.

Lux’s best items are Shojin, Gunblade, Jg, and Deathcap.

Put the Radiant Demacia item on either Jarvan or Lux, depending on whether you need more damage or more frontline, that is if you are able to manipulate it. Itemizing Nasus is also a good option in this comp instead of Jarvan as your main tank if you hit him first.

Ionia Yasuo

Next up is Ionia Yasuo. This is another 4-cost carry comp that really wants to roll at level 7 to hit your 4-costs, as hitting Shen, Yasuo, and Kaisa 2 means everything for your board. If you are rolling at level 7 without +1 Ionia, drop Warwick and play 3 challengers, and play Jhin until you hit Ahri. If you do hit +1 Ionia, put the spat on Kaisa, Kalista, or Belveth, but usually you put it on Kaisa.

Prioiritize making AP items first for this comp, as Kaisa is a more consistent threat than Yasuo. Kaisa’s best items are Statikk Shiv, Guardbreaker, Deathcap, Gunblade, Archangel’s, and Hoj. Morello is also a great option unless you already have Sunfire Slammed.

Yasuo’s only core item is edge of night, which prevents him from getting bursted down by Azir and Lux. His other items should just be healing, like Hoj or Bt, or damage, like Deathblade, ie, and Titan’s. RFC is also a good option, as it allows him to target backline on his first ult.

Make sure to also itemize Shen with tank items. Any extra items should go on Karma, and if you are in a position to randomly 3* her, consider itemizing her first if you don’t yet have Kaisa 2.

8 Void Kai'Sa

Next, we have Void. This is only playable with stable evolution or +1 Void to get 8 Void. If you do manage to hit +1 Void, you should always play this board with the emblem on Yasuo. If you have stable evolution, play 6 Void and reroll Vel'Koz and Rek'Sai 3, or push levels aggressively and play legendaries. Usually, you should roll down on level 6 on stage 3-2 for 6 Void to start or continue win-streaking, and use that tempo to push for a fast level 8 to start rolling for Belveth, as hitting 8 Void is the main priority.

Kaisa’s best items are Deathcap, Morello, Shojin, Guardbreaker, and Archangel’s. Statikk Shiv is unnecessary late game since Baron provides shred, but it’s fine as an early game slam.

You should usually itemize Rek'Sai with AD items if you have them, especially if you are in a spot to 3-star him, which is one of the other win conditions for this comp once you reach Baron. If you can’t 3-star Rek'Sai, just put the items on Belveth instead, especially attack speed items.

Noxus

Next up is Noxus reroll. This is a 3-cost reroll comp, so you want to slow roll on level 7 for Darius and Katarina 3star. However, Noxus stacks are very important, you want to make sure to level to 6 on 3-2 and stabilize your board to start winning. At a minimum, you need to hit 6 Noxus, but you can also roll for Kat 2 and Darius 2 if you have pairs or are weak. You want to play a Juggernaut like Warwick, Nasus, or Aatrox on level 7, and drop Cassio for Sion once you hit him. Play Jarvan or a Rogue at level 8. If you have a Noxus spat, put it on Ekko and roll for Ekko 3 as well. Darius’s best items are Titan’s, IE and a healing item like Hoj or Bt.

Katarina wants AP items like Jg, Deathcap, and Guardbreaker, and a healing item like Hoj or Gunblade.

Sorcerer Lux

The next comp is Sorcerer Lux. This is another 4-cost carry comp, so you want to roll down on level 7 to stabilize. Drop Ahri and Orianna for Shen, or drop Ahri and Sona for Malzahar. This comp is not worth playing with only 4 Sorcs, as the Azir strategists board is just better in that case. If you get +1 Sorc this comp becomes really good, as you can put the spat on Sona and use her as the 3rd carry.

The main win condition for this comp is Velkoz 3 and Sona 3 if you have the Sorc spat, but you should make sure to itemize Lux first in order to top 4. Lux’s best item is Shojin, as it gives her an insta-cast and 3 autos for later casts. Otherwise, itemize her with Gunblade or Hoj for healing and damage like Deathcap, Jg, and Guardbreaker.

Spark is incredibly important in this comp, so make sure to prioritize it early. Tank items should go on Swain or Jarvan.

Yordle Tristana

The next comp is Tristana reroll. This is a one-cost reroll comp, so you should never level on stage 2, and you hoard as much gold as possible until stage 3-1, where you should roll down to about 30 gold to hit as many 1-cost units as possible, then slow-roll on level 5 until stage 4-1, where you roll the rest of your gold to hit if you haven’t already.

If your legend is Lee Sin and you take on a roll though, you play very differently: instead of hoarding your gold, you hold all 1-cost pairs on your bench at the cost of gold, sell any extra units you 2-star, and try to get as many shop refreshes as possible until you hit your 3-stars.

Once you hit, level to 6 for Yordle and try to go 8 for 4 Gunner and Heimerdinger. On level 9, drop Viego and play K’sante and Shen for 4 Bastion. The third Yordle can be either Kled or Teemo.

Itemize Maokai with your tank items, ideally Gargoyle and Redemption, don’t itemize Poppy since she’s a really bad unit and you want to 4-star your Tristana. There are two core items on Tristana: Last Whisper and Gunblade, though Hoj is a suitable replacement. The third item can be anything, but the best is Giant Slayer followed by Runaan’s and Guardbreaker. Any extra frontline items should go on Viego, and any extra carry items can go on Zeri or Viego.

Freljord Aphelios

Next is Freljord Aphelios. This is a 4-cost carry comp, meaning you want to usually roll down on 4-1 at level 7 for some variation of this board, usually you can just drop Shen for other frontline units like Jarvan or Sion. Ideally, you want to either go for Akshan 3star or have 3 really good Urgot items as well, as this comp cannot do much better than a top 4 otherwise.

Aphelios’s best item is Guinsoo’s Rageblade. He is not a good carry without it, so you should always make sure to save one bow for it. His next best item is Deathblade, as it gives him the most raw damage. The last item can be anything, but Giant Slayer and Guardbreaker are the best. Akshan can use pretty much any AD and attack speed items.

Urgot’s best items are Bloodthirster, Hoj, Edge of Night, and Titan’s. Once you itemize Aphelios, itemize Sejuani or Shen as your main tank depending on who you hit first.

Gwen Flex

Next up is Gwen Flex. Playing around Gwen is quite tough, as this comp is pretty flexible and uses multiple different secondary carries. This is the most standard board, where you drop Aatrox if you are rolling on 7.

Generally, you want to itemize Kaisa after Gwen, but if you have the ability to hit Kalista 3star, you should itemize her instead, as that is the highest cap for this board. Usually, you don’t want to itemize Yasuo. If you hit shadow isles +1, put it on Kaisa or Shen, and play 6 shadow isles by dropping Irelia and Yasuo. Gwen’s best item is Spark; other than that she wants a healing item and damage items like Deathcap, Archangel’s, and Titan’s. You can get away without healing if you have Slayer and 4 Shadow Isles, and if you have Shiv on Kalista or Kaisa, then don’t build Spark.

Kaisa’s best items are Shojin, Deathcap and Guardbreaker, but any AP will do.

Kalista’s only core item is Rageblade, but healing and damage items like Giant Slayer and Guardbreaker are also good.

Thanks for reading, and best of luck with your climb!