Actual Aram (HA) Tier List

PaffWasTaken··7 votes·5,219 views

I've wanted to do a full in-depth ARAM guide since a long time ago, but I never actually did it because I feared noboddy would care or even respect Something like that that would require some considerable time to write. I'm now making this tier list to help people get into ARAM without some complex descriptions of the gamemode because I am both too lazy to do Something this complex and uncertain about it's utility in the eyes of the common player. Why I'm doing this now is because of the increasing interest to the Howling abyss, coming (mainly) from the fact that the current gameplay experience in summoner's Rift is slowly getting more and more unsatisfying and slowly dying with it, along the interest that brought the AR rotating game modes lately. Please be aware that this list is highly situation-dependant and slightly opinion-based from me ( I've been playing for a little more than 3 years, even tho it's not impressive at all, in that delay I've played a little more than 1000 games in aram, with about 54% winrate, which tells quite more since I've almost exclusively played ARAM over these years and I have a positive winrate thatis similar to the one of a regular player even thought I only play a gamemode that is supposedly based on luck)

PLEASE NOTE: Even if a lot of people consider ARAM as a troll gamemode or Something to blow off some steam like customs or Co-oPs, please consider it in all it's seriousness. If you are not convinced, think about the fact that there's a lot of people out there (like me) who bugs Riot to get a ranked ARAM mode on Howling Abyss, so if those people are that serious about it, you can do it too... remember that there's a working report system there too...

TIERS

S-Varus Brand Lux Shaco <----(AP SHACO)Karma DrMundo Orianna Syndra Vladimir Ziggs

A-Teemo Fiddlesticks Gangplank Azir Caitlyn Xerath Jhin Velkoz Draven Amumu Anivia Chogath Ezreal Fizz Graves Janna Jayce Kennen KogMaw Lulu Malzahar Mordekaiser Morgana Nidalee Pantheon Renekton Sejuani ShenSinged Skarner Sona Swain Taric Trundle Urgot Warwick Zac Zilean Zyra

B-Galio Taric Katarina Alistar Annie AurelionSol Blitzcrank Camille Cassiopeia Darius Ekko Garen Hecarim Heimerdinger Ivern Jinx Karthus Kassadin Leona Malphite Maokai MissFortune Nasus Nautilus Olaf Poppy Rengar Sion Soraka TahmKench TwistedFate Viktor MonkeyKing

C-Ahri Ashe Bard Braum Corki Illaoi Irelia JarvanIV Khazix Kindred Leblanc Lissandra <---(Not sure with new passive thought)Lucian Rumble Ryze Taliyah Thresh Tristana Twitch Vayne Volibear Zed

D-AatroxEvelynn Fiora Gnar Gragas Jax Kalista Kayle Kled LeeSin MasterYi Nami Quinn RekSai Sivir Talon Tryndamere XinZhao Yorick

E-Akali Diana Elise Nocturne Nunu Rammus Riven Shyvana Udyr Vi Yasuo

SUB-TIERS: if you want more info on a particular champ, just ask, I could make every tier separated in example A+ and A-, but it needs a lot of explaining and I prefer to do it singularly rather than triggering everyone with why I put who where

Categories: some champs maybe are very low in the tiers, but those categories will tell you, in a general way, why they are there or why they could be higher

50/50: those champs are either 100 or 0, they are either fed and awesome or litterally Tier F-:Yasuo Nunu Khazix Akali Riven Talon XinZhao Kindred MasterYi

Adaptable:Those champs either have hybrid scaling, multiple variants, gameplay style or various decent build paths, they are really usefull since their exact team comps is not decided only from the champion draw, since they can still change their playstyle and utility type:
Malphite Nasus JarvanIV Shen Corki Chogath Ezreal Gragas Ekko KogMaw Mordekaiser Shaco Thresh Teemo TwistedFate

Surprising:Don't let yourself get fooled by the past expériences you had with those champs, they are surprisingly strong compared to their SR counterparts: Skarner Trundle Malphite Fiddlesticks Urgot Taliyah Zyra Zilean

Fear the login screen:those champs are generally already pretty strong, but remember that all those picks are random, so if that champ is in the login screen, pray that the player either don't know how to play it or that he isn't a casual ARAM player: Varus Vayne Cassiopeia Illaoi Gangplank Azir Katarina Mordekaiser Pantheon Renekton TahmKench Thresh Viktor Zac

Sub-Categories: same than with the sub-tiers, ask for more detail on the champ and you'll see where he excels

So this is all, If I either awoke your curiosity on this awesome gamemode or if you are already a casual looking for some new tips, I hope you'll ask for more information, and not only on the champs: stratégies, Cs priorities, general game-types,etc etc... Just ask!

40 Comments

1374343 votes

Some quick general comments.

Varus - Iffy if still S tier. Those recent Q nerfs hit him hard on this map. That said at worse he is still A tier. Shaco - Probably A tier. Very player skill and team compositions dependent. Sona - As others have mentioned should be S tier. Darius -Probably more A tier than B tier material. Nasus - Iffy B. AP strong but falls off hard unless really ahead. Sivir -Not sure why you have her so low. Rammus -He is better than E tier Evelynn -Should be E. How useful you are is basically totally dependent on what the enemy team comp is (aka how much their comp sucks). Even then it never really feels like you are accomplishing much.

PaffWasTaken1 votes

Varus is still, for me, the strongest champ in Aram, with those nerf Brand just keeps tie to him. Ult transforms the whole map into a shooting range, pick off kills from afar like Nothing, gets fed easily, negate Healing wards effect with e. The common error made with varus is building him classic adc with crits and atk speed: fatal error. Go full artillery with lethality and core item 3812 and that's it. full damage

Shaco I agree, but even if he falls behind, he'll just get more and more annoying, there's no solid drawback with him, his ult is twice as effective, his traps are easily countered (but if you consider him skill demandant, so is the fact that enemy team probably don't know item 2047 's existence) but almost Deadly. Insane burst to pick off kills, very hard to not end fed or feeding your team and collecting assistances

Sona - already explained to most people

Darius - If you consider shaco as comp demandant, then Darius is almost the king of his league

Nasus - Keep it as a secret but...ap nasus is dead... or atleast in ARAM. Bruiser/tank is extremely effective since, if you didn't know, his Q stacks twice, so it means 12 stacks for a champ or siege minion. People are getting used to Ap nasus, so it is surprinsingly effective to comeback with the good ol'builds for bruisers: item 3748 item 3025 , and you should farm like crazy

Sivir : she is there because she is seriously defavorised compared to other adcs (only quinn is similar). Every ADCs has good synergy with the map and those massive teamfights, while she dosen't as much

Rammus : against a full melee comp, he is good. In the other 85% of the situation, he is a literral deadpick. Could be higher tho if we consider his synergy with other champs

Evelynn : you could be surprised. The lately popular Tank-eve is pretty effective I would say

1374341 votes

For Varus yes build is important and there are many who build him like a standard adc then not playing him like one. As I said its iffy, he'd I think be S-/A+

For Shaco I think the effects of Oracles are somewhat overstated on him. It hurts his Q, but less so his traps considering many champions (all melee for example) struggle to clear them without procing them even with Oracles.

Sivir has great teamfights with her W bouncing around critting everyone and her Q (early before it starts to fall off). I'm not sure why you think she is bad in that department. Also fantastic waveclear which is always nice to have in HA. Her biggest weaknesses is her shorter range and having a strong utility ult versus strong offensive or defensive one(still a powerful ult, although better on SR than HA).

For Rammus you seem to forget snowball exists. He is not the most powerful tank but he is still great. I don't for example see how Singed, who shares many of Rammus's weaknesses in ARAM, is A tier but Rammus is E tier.

hhaavviikk2 votes

sona is definitey S, has like a 68-70% win rate.

I'm not sure about mundo being an S, he's only ever really a problem if you've got a team with 4/5 AP otherwise I never have a problem dealing with him

PaffWasTaken1 votes

Maybe an S-... but more of an A+, I'm afraid. A lot of people have been complaining about her but the single fact that to put off some real plays she has to risk herself for it is a massive drawback. As a team helper? S+. As a singular champ? Giving her a treat with that A. Very dependant of others, and easily outplayed. Get poked twice and she has to retaliate. Also the fact that she is one of the rare champ in ARAM who dosen't snowball from just siting around. She needs those kills, or else she is Nothing. Focus her, and it's done for her damage, but we can't say the same about the utility (explaining the S+ as a team helper)

DrMundo , in Aram he can literally go where he pleases. Annoying poke, insane regen and tankiness, decent damage, safe and good initiate... all this while building full tank. There's not much to say about him beside the fact that his massive weakness is kiting...But only a fool would let himself get minced to death like that in Howling Abyss. He can just poke all day, regen his life, engage, either kill the backline or make them flee, and lets everyone peel the front one. He has no clear strenghts nor massive weakness beside the one I mentioned, so he gets S- from the sole fact that you can't really counter him with any comp, the only solution is whole team building item 3033 and item 3165

RenownedWheat422 votes

Alistar is a friggin ARAM god, dude.

PaffWasTaken1 votes

Dépends of the comp, while things like Trundle and Sejuani can just do what they want whatever the game, it's a lot more situational for Cow-man. He can go from that sweet tank CC-god or that magnificient AP-headbut machine to someone who just sits in the enemy team trying to be usefull. To sum it up: He needs help, if his team comp dosen't provide it, he is nearly a dead pick

Lauchmelder2 votes

You know that the list is flawed when Alistar and Sona aren't S tier and Azir is A tier....

Ali and Sona are pretty much gods in ARAM if played AP, and Azir's garbage unless he gets ahead early. The only thing he's usefull with if behind is the shurima shuffle.

RenownedWheat421 votes

Full tank Ali shreds so much face and is literally unkillable.

PaffWasTaken1 votes

Actually, Azir should be a solid S-. Massive poke? Yes. engage/disengage? Yes. Zoning? Yes.Mass CC? Yes... he has it all when it comes to fighting in a small environment. I believe he is considered that useless for you is because he sits on the throne of the hardest champ to play and that he gets shuffled from the champ pool of people who never played him. Being fed or not dosen't mean a change to him, his utility is universal

Alistar and Sona, as I already said to others, are very very situational. Sona needs to be in a Dangerous position to get off the combos, and just one or two pokes makes her flee in delight. She gets outplayed once and she is dead and to land her full combo the enemy team needs to be brain dead. Compared to Azir tho, she is far far more kill dependant, that's why I would give her A- as a singular champ, and a S+ as a team helper. Those I put in S are there because when you see them in the login screen, you don't need to check the other enemy champs, because they'll just score the same in good hands. Sona needs that protection, that melee, that helper etc etc etc. God in Aram? yes. God in every comps? Oh hell no

Moo-man could be a 50/50, even if he is far stranger than those who are there. Ap just pokes a little and get peeled often. Tanks is either god-like or sits in the enemy team while the backline is getting minced to death. CC-tank god or good poker, in about 60% of the situations. He is as much comp dependant as sona

Lauchmelder1 votes

I got level 7 mastery on Azir, him being hard to play isn't the problem.

The problem is that he's either a god or a trashbag. If he gets ahead early he will dominate, if he falls behind he'll be useless. He lacks consistency in ARAM, which would in turn make him a sub-par pick.

DragonManSquid1 votes

Make it all random all mid, and I'd read.

PaffWasTaken1 votes

1-Go in an ARAM game 2-Yell "mid or feed" 3-???? 4-Profit

DragonManSquid2 votes

lol, my favorite is when someone goes into tt and calls mid.

ModWuks1 votes

Nunu is lower than Aatrox? :/

PaffWasTaken1 votes

As I already said, that list is very situational. Aatrox is very very surprising in ARAM (I didn't put him in that category since his situation is unstable in other gamemodes). He can get his passive up very quickly and keep it almost indefinitely, with the sustain he can easily mince the front line as well as surviving Killing the backline. Waiting for his revive to go off isn't even an option in ARAm, if Aatrox is on you, kill him as fast as you can. And he has it all actually: poke, hard-cc, zoning, sustain, buffs, decent damage overcoming tankiness, etc. In a similar fashion to Mordekaiser , building on him an hybrid of damage/sustain and tankiness items pay off very well, to get even more survivability and surprising damage. Keep also in mind that his new passive is balanced to be used in laning phase, while he can have that sweet buff 8/10 of the time in Howling Abyss

Nunu is very,very,very,very complicated to explain, it was almost a certitute that someone would ask about him. To be honest, he has 2 main builds: full tank and AP. While Ap is good for poke, his utility in teamfights dépends highly of the comp of both teams. When teamed with a Ryze though, he can make his way up to an S- tier, easily. His ult is all about those fancy combos with the comp... but you are really dependant to it. The tank just turns you into a wandering wall, without real utility beside the fact of being really upsetting when playing against and having a lot of survivability around the minions. Good sustain, nice buff to take out turrets... Can often be stronger than Aatrox but it's too much situational to really put him higher on the list

Spoofghoul1 votes

Sion is S+ tier bro

item 3800 kill me you filthy mage just try it

ima barrel down the only lane there is with my ultimate good luck getting out of the way

then ill fuck you up with 4 seconds of knockup/stun and W

but not before i poke you to death with my 1500 range E

Oh im also a tank who is building a warmogs so you filthy pokers are now useless

PaffWasTaken1 votes

Would definitely be higher on the list, the only reason why he is that low is because of the idiots playing him and that he needs some other melees with him in the comp to be in that sweet god-tier. If everyone would know how to play him and everybody else in the team would know to let him scale his W passive, you are right, S tier

Spoofghoul1 votes

W passive isn't so important it hardly gives hp anyway

you will want to get assists and kills to gain hp and cannon minions too

those give 10 health

Elkington VI1 votes

Not to mention, after the enemy inhib is down, Sion can just barrel straight to their nexus and it can be extremely difficult to stop. I've won games by running through the enemy team, straight to their nexus. They have to stop you immediately or they lose the game. It's a lame way to win, but just goes to show how strong he can be on this map.

Asayake 5150glow1 votes

Galio should be higher, his Q is really good for poke (although I guess he could go oom) and zoning, and he has really good counterengage with his E and Taunt.

PaffWasTaken2 votes

Galio is in weird state right now. He is there mainly because absolutely NO ONE knows how to play him. he is good at poking, yes, but not as much as before. The utility from the rest of his kit comes from going HAM at the other team. While he is good at it, he lacks the sustain and massive survivability in those kind of situations to make the difference compared to those champs that are specialised in it. His concept is about saving people and picking some kills, while in ARAM his purpose is to engage and mince. He does so quite good, but only time will tell if he'll be higher on the list (old Galio was, in my opinion, a solid A+)

Alex h87211 votes

How in the world did you leave out Veigar ??? He is easily A tier if not S with how easily he can build stacks and hit his stun on the narrow map.

PaffWasTaken1 votes

Error in the making of the list sorry. I consider him A, but not A+ due to his very unsafe early game

Elkington VI1 votes

I'm surprised Sion isn't that high. I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I've lost with him on HA (and I'm not even that good with him). On the other hand, I just could not make Quinn work there, felt like I would make games a 4v5 when picking her, so her low placement makes sense.

PaffWasTaken1 votes

Sion is there because most people don't let him stack his W. Most people don't know the tips and tricks about him either. The final reason is because he needs assistance as a melee. If he is in a 1melee/4ranged comp, it's gonna be though for him, both for the W farm and engage that he is supposed to excel

Elkington VI1 votes

Trundle's placement intrigues me. I play him a lot, but I've never tried him before on HA. Generally, he has a hard time dealing with AP champs like Ahri, Syndra, Vel'koz, Brand, Sona, Orianna, and Lux outside of HA, so why is he so high on this list?

PaffWasTaken1 votes

The main reason? His passive. It triggers so often and your W covers such a large area, you are basically immortal. Insane sustain, decent damage, good CC. His pillar, in a one-lane environment like this, is almost Deadly. The ult just let's you peel front-line tanks like Nothing... to sum it up, your regen and sustain makes you among the tankiest of all tanks, you counter tanks with R, counter ADs with Q, counter mages with E... build like what you want, full tank, full ad or bruiser, you can't go wrong with him

Elkington VI1 votes

Not sure about going full AD on him, but I'll have to give him a spin on HA some time.

Elkington VI1 votes

After playing some Trundle on HA this weekend, I still feel like Sion is the overall stronger pick, at least right now. I mean, I play Trundle all the time and still find Sion easier to win with. Veigar is a very common pick on HA and Sion does not care about his stun. If it weren't for Trundle's most recent nerfs, I'd be more inclined to agree with you. Since Rabid Bite no longer affects structures, Sion's simply better for fighting the push, since he can force fights with his ult and passive, while the rest of the team takes the towers.

ME UNGA ME SMASH1 votes

I don't know man. I'm a mastery 7 Sion, and I have to agree with him. Going full tank Sion in ARAM makes you an unstoppable juggernaut of CC. His base scalings are massive, and I can't even tell you how many time's I've done the most damage to champs on my team with no damage built. It's your tier list though I guess.

PaffWasTaken1 votes

INFORMATION HERE!

I rated those champs individualy, so for people complaining about things like Sona or Alistar who are almost litteral win-picks. keep in mind that they do well with their team, while they are questionable as singular champs

Consider that list as "the tier list for those who can do well in most situations" if that keeps you all from getting triggered by your main being low!

1374342 votes

The problem is you have to look at how good team players they are when making tier lists, not just well they are on their own. In other words how flexible they are in regards to varying team comps (both your own and the enemy's) There are champs in the game that due to the nature of their kits will always suck when just viewed as a singular champ (i.e. Soraka), and at the end of the day you will always have teammates unless you have 4 DCs (in which case you are losing no matter who you are playing).

"The tier list for those who can do well in most situations" is just a fancy way of saying how flexible they are. High tier champs are almost universally good despite who your teammates are, or who you are playing against. They work in all situations. Lower tier champs are much more dependent on having the optimal teammates to play with and/or the optimal team to play against in order to really perform well.

I disagree with your assessments on Sona/Alistar. They are almost always useful to have on your team, even if on their own they may suck. That is why for example Sona has a high winrate in ARAM. The game is 5v5 not 1v5. Sona brings a lot to the team no matter what your team comp is (utility, defense, and offense she has it covered).

Gear Kitty2 votes

And that's why, sadly... this isn't a good list.

You've measured each champion as going up against 5 random champions out of the full list, but NOT having 4 alllies (random or otherwise) to back them up. It's not a 1v5.

Sona is S, full stop. No ifs, ands, or buts. All of her abilities do not have a cap on the number of champions they can hit (Q can hit two enemy champions, but her and all her allies can get the AA boost). As long as she has mana to burn, she is the strongest force multiplier in the game.

Soraka is an A. Getting to the nitty gritty, I can definitely see her placed as A-/super-freaking-high-B+. Again, making the tiers based on a 1v5 heavily skews out Enchanters, champions that are strongest in team fight situations. Same argument with Nami.

I think I'm just going to be harping on that for the whole post, because it's also disturbing how low most Marksmen rank. The passive GP10 boost (compared to SR) means their weak early game where they don't have gold for items is mostly moot, just like how Supports are super strong on ARAM because they're not -starved- for gold here. I would argue that Kindred should be lower, though. She is liiiikely worst in class, especially with how easily she can botch her Ult for her team.

Off of that, hyper-carries in general can easily get out of control. Jax, Kayle, Vayne, Jinx, Kog'maw, Irelia, Xin Zhao... a match can go long enough (or in many cases, short enough) that a generally randomized* team comp just can't handle them. And even if the enemy team can, there's still 4 allies right there with the hyper-carry. If a team blows most of their stuff to take down that 14/3/10 Vayne, they won't have much up to take on her 4 friends for a bit.

Also, and I'm only pointing this out because it confused me until it clicked, but the sub-tier should be "Fear the Loading Screen", not Login.


*: At high ARAM MMR, team comps are not -entirely- random. I think we've all accepted that at this point.

TheSnacken1 votes

Decent list is decent. For a fairly quick overview, this ism't bad at all. Nice work. With that in mind, other comments mentioned considering their value within a team. That seems like a good suggestion, but possibly one for a later post. For more direct feedback...

I think Sion may have been treated too harshly. His very early isn't S-tier, that's for sure. Beyond that, the areas on his Q, W, and R are all fairly large, with a nod to needing a good pilot to make them land properly. His wave management is exceptional, and he has a lot of built-in peel. I think these make up for the issues with his W's infinite stacking.

Do you think the three new reworks-- Sejuani, Maokai, and Zac-- will change their positions? In which direction, and by how much?

Warlord Scrap

Sonya is a tier shes the number 1 winrate beating ziggs(no 2) by 4%

PaffWasTaken1 votes

She is really high in the Aram winrates, but I really doubt she is higher than ziggs, you are probably confusing the winrates with those of Summoner's rift

Sona has the perfect hybrid build between damage and utility, but the fact that she has either to risk herself or her allies to get those done is a massive drawback since she can simply get smacked down without any further problem as long she dosen't land full combo.

In a sub-tier, Sona is definitely a A+, missing the S- because of that lack of defensive option

PaffWasTaken1 votes

Nice information to have here! Thx

Warlord Scrap1 votes

no problem anytime

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