FOTM Ranked Solo Queue Tier List (High Elo) ~ Patch 7.17 - September

 Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posts lately, it's been a rough month for ol' SSJSuntastic with work obligations. This post has actually been kinda sitting around in my draft folder for a while, but I figured it's about time to toss it out there before it starts getting stale. Meanwhile, the standard tier list should come out sometime tomorrow (maybe in the morning if I wake up early enough...but probably not :x)

SEASON 7 - September- PATCH 7.17
FOTM RANKED META TIER LIST

"PLAY LIKE A PROFESSIONAL"

Preface Chatter

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posts lately, it's been a rough month for ol' SSJSuntastic with work obligations. This post has actually been kinda sitting around in my draft folder for a while, but I figured it's about time to toss it out there before it starts getting stale. Meanwhile, the standard tier list should come out sometime tomorrow (maybe in the morning if I wake up early enough...but probably not :x)

Anyway, this time around Ardent Censer champions continue to dominate the rift and most players are still rushing it before building their first level of sightstone. The new champion Ornn is seeing a decent amount of play, although not much success in his current state...

Check out the full list below! 

The purpose of the "Flavor of the Month" ("FOTM") list is to show which champions are popular in today's metagame in terms of pro picks and high Elo choices.

If you're looking for the division climber solo queue tier list, be sure to check it out via this link!

For a list of champions with the highest *potential* in the game without regard to difficulty or team synergies, check out the list of strongest potential champions in each position!

Be sure to check out our the Optimal Champion Bans by Division Listing!

Patch 7.17 Summary

Buffs: Ezreal, Urgot, Zed
Nerfs: Draven, Maokai, Ardent Censer, Gargoyle Stoneplate
Tweaks: Hecarim, Leona

Toolkit and Options

Search for a champion:

Updates:

• Added Ornn

The Tier List

God Tier [High Priority Picks]:
Mid-Lane Gods: Zed, Kassadin, Yasuo, Orianna
Jungle Gods: Cho'Gath, Kayn, Lee Sin
Marksman Gods: Tristana, Twitch, Draven
Top Lane Gods: Cho'Gath, Maokai, Yasuo
Support Gods:  Janna, Lulu, Thresh

Tier 1 [Meta Picks]:
Mid-Lane: Katarina, Ahri, Fizz, Twisted Fate, Vladimir, Syndra, Malzahar, LeBlanc, Lucian, Corki, Cassiopeia, Ekko, Jayce, Taliyah, Anivia
Jungle: Sejuani, Maokai, Gragas, Jarvan IV, Elise, Zac, Kha'Zix, Warwick, Rammus, Rek'Sai, Master Yi
Marksman: Xayah, Vayne, Kog'Maw, Kalista, Lucian, Jhin
Top Lane:  Riven, Darius, Fiora, Renekton, Gnar, Jax, Jarvan IV, Jayce, Vladimir, Shen, Gangplank, Nasus, Irelia, Camille, Pantheon, Rumble
Support: Blitzcrank, Rakan, Soraka, Nami, Alistar, Sona, Morgana

Tier 2 [Crowd Favorites]:
Mid-Lane:  Talon, Lux, Viktor, Galio, Vel'Koz, Akali, Xerath, Diana, Annie, Ziggs, Veigar, Morgana, Gangplank
Jungle: Evelynn, Jax, Nidalee, Vi, Hecarim, Shaco, Rengar, Ornn, Shyvana, Graves, Amumu, Nocturne
Marksman:  Caitlyn, Jinx, Ezreal, Sivir, Ashe
Top Lane: Gragas, Kled, Malphite, Ornn, Urgot, Teemo, Tryndamere, Akali, Galio, Kennen, Singed, Trundle, Kayle, Garen, Talon, Sion
Support: Braum, Leona, Bard, Karma, Taric, Brand, Zyra

Tier 3 [Playable]:
Mid-Lane: Azir, Brand, Aurelion Sol, Karthus, Karma, Lissandra
Jungle:  Nunu, Xin Zhao, Fiddlesticks, Ivern, Dr. Mundo
Marksman:  Varus, Miss Fortune
Top Lane: Poppy, Wukong, Swain, Illaoi, Ekko, Dr. Mundo, Heimerdinger
Support: Zilean, Lux, Tahm Kench, Vel'Koz, Ornn

Tier 4 [Rarely Seen]:
Mid-Lane: Zilean, Swain
Jungle: Olaf, Skarner
Marksman: Ziggs
Top Lane: Mordekaiser, Olaf, Yorick
Support: Nautilus

Instructions and Caveats:

• This tier list details which champions are most popular in today's current metagame, for better or for worse. Selecting a high popularity champion and doing mediocre is always favorable to selecting a low tier champion and doing mediocre for team morale.

Click Here for a description of the tiers

God Tier: These champions are common bans and are likely perceived as being "overall extremely strong/broken". They have very obvious and/or flashy skills that make them appear stronger than other champions. You'll likely see these champions picked early on if they're not banned.

Tier 1: These champions are the ones you'll see in the majority of your games and are good to familiarize yourself with as you'l be battling against them a lot.

Tier 2: These champions are relatively strong and have historically been picked more often than other champions. They may have been nerfed at one point at another, but are still perceived as strong in their current states.

Tier 3: These champions aren't quite as popular as the rest of the champions in the first 3 tiers, but picking them one at a time isn't going to cause much of a concern on your team. However, if you have a team of 5 of them your teammates are likely to feel a bit uneasy about your chances of winning in solo queue.

Tier 4: Selecting these champions will likely cause a rift between you and your teammates, who will proceed to flame you if you fail your lane. Exercise caution when selecting these champions, as team morale often plays a big part in victory or defeat.

Champion Explanations

• Janna [God Tier Support] - Janna's synergy with Ardent Censer is unmistakable, and ever since the revamp to the yellow gold item, her mana costs in lane are absolutely oppressive against enemy laners. The cooldown on her shield is low enough that harass has nearly no chance of getting through, and results in powerful trades for relatively low effort.
• Kayn [God Tier Jungle] - Kayn in his current state is freaking annoying. His ability to one shot enemy squishies with Duskblade proc is just a bit too much to handle if he snowballs, and his wall jumps make it extremely difficult to escape, even with summoner spells. The counter of course, is kiting and heavy crowd-control, but that's the counter to everything.
• Lucian [Tier 1 Mid] - Lucian mid just keeps gaining popularity lately as a strong counter to assassins via his early game all-in potential before the enemy laners can get to level six and start deleting champions on the map. It does require a good amount of game knowledge to use effectively and force the game to a conclusion, but in the right hands it can be quite overwhelming to deal with.
• Orianna [God Tier Mid] - Ever since her nerf, Orianna's been slightly weaker in terms of winning statistics. However, she continues to be a highly respected play-making champion, and many solo queue players still enjoy picking her up with frequency.
• Ornn [Tier 2 Top] - Ornn is doing quite poorly on the win rate field, but his kit is interesting enough to make people still try and make him work. 
• Sejuani [Tier 1 Jungle] - Many players are starting to wake up to Sejuani's raw power that she sports, and her passive combined with Gargoyle Stoneplate gives her quite a bit of damage mitigation that can absolutely deny burst damage if used correctly. 
• Tristana [God Tier Marksman] - Tristana's quite popular lately as one of the more aggressive marksmen on the rift. Her ability to sustain through laning phase via Warlord's Bloodlust combined with her excellent 1v1 potential results in a great solo queue marksman that is not only safe, but can be suitably aggressive as well.
• Ziggs [Tier 4 Marksman] - Ziggs has quietly fallen off the face of the earth as a marksman ever since the crit buffs and lethality changes, and there's really not too much reason to play him as a marksman anymore. Maybe if marksmen start losing some of their power or if your team is AD heavy you could toss him in the fray, but otherwise he's almost never seen anymore.

Disclaimer:

• The purpose of this list is for discussion and to provide a starting point for hero selection.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below!

Looking for older versions of the FOTM Tier List?

Check out prior versions via this link!