Welcome to Patch 14.3, where overperformers like Ezreal got overnerfed and many weak picks got their deserved buffs.
Still, things remain the same at the beginning of the season, the best champions are the ones that abuse the new items (and reworked ones) the most. The champions named on this list do this to a tee so if you want to gain free LP, these picks are the best for it in Patch 14.3.
Disclaimer: The information on this list is based on data found on Platinum+ games across different stat sites (LeagueofGraphs is one of them). However, many of these picks are dominating higher elos too apart from a few exceptions.
Without further ado, let's jump into the list.
Top Lane
Aatrox
This darkin is ruling the top lane
Aatrox has become even more immortal with the new items in Season 14. Right now, he holds a 50.9% win rate with a 13.5% pick rate in Platinum+, which doesn’t sound as much, but, ramps up significantly the higher elo you go.
The secret of Aatrox's power is in the new bruiser item: Sundered Sky.
The addition to Sundered Sky in Season 2024 has been a blessing to Aatrox. The legendary item gives 55 attack damage, 15 ability haste, and 300+ health, but the single biggest thing is the Item’s passive, Lightshield Strike.
Each time you hit a champion for the first time, you trigger Lightshield Strike, which makes your auto attack deal critical damage and heal for an amount (that gets enhanced the lower HP you have). The most broken aspect is that you can actually use this to heal from all five enemies in a team fight, as long as you hit them with an auto for the first time (really important).
As you can guess, this alone makes the item a perfect fit for Aatrox which has already a great in-built sustain with his passive, Deathbringer Stance. So now imagine, if Aatrox was already a monster with his World Ender (Ultimate) on, now with this new item he becomes this unstoppable machine that everyone needs to deal with or succumb to.
On a side note, there’s a lethality build getting traction lately. This build may be harder to play, but its strength is undeniable, one example of this is the T1 vs KT second match, where Zeus (Top laner) rocked it out in a match and destroyed the team fights with Aatrox's insane damage.
At the end, pick the build that suits you the best, but one thing for sure is that Aatrox is broken in Patch 14.3 and you should try it out at least once before it gets utterly nerfed.
Teemo
Shrooms are hitting harder than ever
This Yordle is one of the big winners of Season 14, and is currently among the best picks to play in Solo Queue.
Season 14 buffed all of Teemo’s preferred items for the best, but, what really took him to the top is the newly-added item Malignance. The legendary item is built out of Lost Chapter and Fiendish Codex, grants 20 ultimate haste and has an unique passive called Hatefog.
Malignance works like this: whenever someone steps on Teemo's shrooms, they trigger Hatefog, causing the item to create large zones of scorched ground that curse and damage champions that remain in the zones. Not only does this do a lot of burst damage, but Teemo's shrooms slow enemies, making it that much harder to escape Malignance.
Adding to the fact that popular champions like Trundle get countered hard by Teemo’s Blind Dart, and that Teemo’s late game is one of the best in the game with all of your map power with Shrooms which allow him to control key objective zones, and stall games by melting waves.
While Teemo may not be the most complex champion, he does require more macro knowledge than your average top laner. Most Teemos need to understand how to read the map to place effective shrooms, or when to prioritize going for split push pressure instead of team fights to have more chances at winning the game.
Darius
Back at it
Patch 14.2 did wonders for the Noxus Juggernaut, buffs to Darius’ Q (less mana and more healing) and E (more armor penetration) were enough to bring him back to the upper echelons. Currently, he is boasting a 51.0 win rate in Platinum+ with a whooping ban rate of 19.2%.
Why is Darius so strong right now? Well he has a great matchup against popular meta picks like Aatrox, especially with the way his kit works, which revolves around punishing enemies' mistakes, one miss-step is enough for a good Darius to run you down in lane and take over the game.
On top of that Darius has great 1v9 potential, especially in team fights, his Hemorrhage passive once fully stacked deals a ton of bleed damage and boosts his attack damage significantly, and the best part? You can pass it up to enemies with one auto or ability spell.
Apart from all of the goods, Darius does not have the greatest mobility so he kind of relies on using Ghost (Summoner Spell), and building items such as Trinity Force to circumvent this weakness.
Anyway, numbers are still too good for Darius so if you want a simpler champion to 1v9 games, he’s your pick.
Mordekaiser
Become an unkillable AP god with the new items on Mordekaiser
The reworked Liandry's Torment (manaless) and Riftmaker brought back Mordekaiser into the equation of best picks to play in the top lane, he is currently boasting a 52.3% win rate in Platinum+.
The necromantic warlord loves the new omnivamp healing in Season 14, but what if you get more AP by building health? Well… that is only possible by the single most OP thing in the build, the reworked Riftmaker in Season 2024.
Now being a legendary item, it is built of different components, Fiendish Codex and Haunting Guise (returning to League since its removal in Season 11).
The reason why Riftmaker is so good on Mordekaiser is the new passive called Void Infusion. This new passive grants ability power equal to 2% bonus health, this is great for Mordekaiser that mainly builds AP items with health such as Rylai's Scepter or Liandry's Torment.
All in all, Mordekaiser was already a great pick for low elo thanks to his survivability and his unique ability to single out an enemy with R and make them a non-factor in the game. In this Season though, he’s stronger than ever.
Jungle
Nocturne
Nocturne’s Ultimate is way more deadly in S14
The absurd sheer power of Nocturne in Season 14 is thanks to one new item, which turned him into one of the best picks for early Season 14.
The item mentioned recently is Experimental Hexplate, the newly added legendary item. Built out of Tunneler and Hearthbound Axe, it has two unique passives that are great for Nocturne in every way possible.
The first one is Hexcharged, which grants 30 ultimate haste, and this is particularly perfect for Nocturne as most of his gameplay revolves around using Paranoia (Ultimate) off cooldown.
The second passive Overdrive is where most of the fun stuff is. Usually, when Nocturne uses his ultimate he has a small lapse of time to kill his locked-down target before everyone gains vision again and can deal with Noxturne. What makes Overdrive so great is that it boosts the champion that is casting an ultimate ability by giving 30% bonus attack speed and 15% bonus movement speed, which makes Nocturne’s game plan of singling out a target way easier.
Despite the item being nerfed in Patch 14.2, Nocturne remains a really good option to play in the jungle, and one of the simpler picks to learn the role too.
Briar
Ready to feast
Buffs on Patch 14.2 just marked Brian return as one of the best early-game skirmishers in the game. Unlike Nocturne, who wants to take things slowly to get to level six, Briar is the total opposite.
Briar focuses on using her powerful Q stun and mobility with W to snowball the early game. The real reason for Briar's rise to the top is the popularization of her bruiser build.
Thanks to the buffs in Patch 14.2, Briar is way stronger with bruiser items. Why so? Both her passive Crimson Curse and Blood Frenzy (W) got changed, and the AD scaling is nerfed but there's a new health scaling added into the mix, not only does this new scaling boost her sustain greatly but also increases her damage in fights.
One thing, you want to keep still building Hail of Blades as your main keystone. Although this rune setup was the most popular one with her Lethality build, it is still outshining Conqueror with her bruiser build so you want the same runes as always.
The vampire jungler is rampaging through Solo Queue in Patch 14.3. Currently, she has a 52.2% win rate with a shocking 18.1% ban rate. With Briar Bruiser back into the game and newly added items like Sundered Sky, this Noxus vampire is going to be one of the premiere picks to climb solo.
Lillia
Be ready to rundown people with Lillia in Season 14
Same as Teemo or Mordekaiser, Lilia is having a blast with the reworked AP items. Liandry’s Torment return as a manaless AP item that grants health is the single going up for Lilia. Along with the new reworked Riftmaker.
Lillia currently has a 53.5% win rate and it does not seem to slow down in the upcoming patches.
If you want to play a high-mobility jungler with great engages, burning damage and 1v9 potential, Lillia is your pick.
Brand
Brand is blazing through the rankings in Patch 14.3, even despite being hotfixed
Talking about burning damage, last year ended up on a high note for Brand in the Jungle. Saying that the Burning Vengeance would continue with his rampage at the start of the Season was expected, but, this was not the case until changes in Patch 14.2.
Brand's Passive now damages every 0.25 seconds instead of every 1.05 seconds.
This change seemed small, but it instantly rocketed up Brand to a 57% win rate which ended up with Riot issuing a hotfix change to bring down his power. A few days have passed since the nerfs and Brand still keeps dominating Platinum+ with a 53.2% win rate.
Now, talking about Brand strengths. He’s one of the best junglers at clearing camps, one example is this video of a Brand doing a full clear in under 3 mins. The second strong point of Brand is her synergy with the reworked AP items, mainly Liandry’s and Rylai’s, both of these give him tankiness, slows, and absurd damage. Lastly, he’s really easy to play despite relying on skill shots, with Brand you can get away by missing most of your stuff to just landing an E+R combo to wipe the entire enemy team.
Brand is by far the most OP champion so we may end up seeing even more nerfs directed to him in the upcoming patches. Until then, make sure to blast enemies with your flames for free LP.
Mid Lane
Vladimir
Vladimir is back as one of the best picks in the game, but way more tanky
As previously mentioned, the reworked AP bruiser items are overpowered and one of the best users is Vladimir.
Tank Vladimir is now the most optimal build. Riftmaker and Liandry’s Torment, not only gives health for the hemomancer but it also boosts his insane sustain with the AOE omnivamp numbers while also providing ability haste.
This new build does require a different playstyle. Previously, you played Vladimir waiting for your moment to pop ghost followed by a full combo to one-shot the enemy backline. Now you will need to be way more active and patient, take things slower, and look out for long-drawn fights to out sustain your enemies and kill them all.
The good thing is that once ahead, Vladimir becomes even more unstoppable. Counters as always come more in the form of anti-healing itemization.
Katarina
Katarina is destroying Solo Queue
Katarina couldn't care less in regards to Stormsurge nerfs. You can even argue that she’s having way better results with the buffed/reworked Lich Bane.
In Season 14, Lich Bane stops giving mana and now builds out of Hextech Alternator, which is perfect for Katarina in the early laning phase due to the added burst and providing her more health. What really makes this item broken with Katarina is the way it interacts with her Shunpo (E).
Every time you use Shunpo, the Spellblade passive (that boosts your next auto) gets activated, improving her burst by a ton. Considering now that Shadow Flame has a new execute passive, Katarina is way more powerful in Season 14.
On a side note, although Katarina is not the most complex of champions, learning how to play around her different dagger reset combos, strategies for roaming/skirmish, and, especially, how to survive (or even win) your weak laning phase does take a ton of time to master.
Twisted Fate
Dominate with TF's Global Pressure
Chaos is where Twisted Fate thrives, and with all the amount of burst inserted into the game at the start of the Season, setting up kills with Destiny (Ultimate) and a simple Golden card (W) stun does a ton in the current meta-game.
As of right now, the Card Master is dominating ranked games across all regions and is even regarded as the most OP mid lane champion in the game by most stat sites.
There are two builds with Twisted Fate that are doing quite well. One that relies on Rod of Age for more health and scaling, or the full one-shot build with Luden’s Companion. Either way, Twisted Fate is one of the best champions to start your ranked journey this Season.
Sylas
Hijack the OP ultimates, and everything will fine
After nerfs to the Storm Surge users, Sylas is back as one of the best picks in Patch 14.3
The secret is in Lichbane. Similar to Katarina, Sylas is taking advantage fully of the reworked Lichbane, however, he builds differently in the sense that Rod of Age is part of his main core build.
One strong argument for Sylas being OP is that the meta is currently dictated by champions such as Maokai or Brand, which both of them have broken ultimates for Sylas to steal.
The unshackled is in one of his best spots from quite some time. The good thing, Patch 14.3 brought buffs to Rod of Age so expect Sylas to be even better in the upcoming patches.
Marksman
Miss Fortune
Want the most OP adc in the game? Well… go Miss Fortune
If you didn’t get the memo already, Lethality users are dominating the start of Season 14, and despite nerfs in Patch 14.2 this continues to be the case.
The beloved Bounty Hunter boasts a respectable 53.3% win rate while having an absurd pick rate of 21.5%, according to LeagueofGraphs in Platinum+. This means that despite being that popular, players of all skill levels are having success with the pick.
However, once we got into the higher tiers of play, Miss Fortune numbers drop a lot. Mainly because players in this bracket tend to punish immobile ADCs way harder but, don’t worry Emerald+ players, the following pick has much more success the higher you go while being still easy to pick up.
Jhin
The Virtuoso is loving the Lethality items
Much like Miss Fortune, Jhin loves the changes to Lethality items. What differs from MF is that Jhin requires more knowledge and ability to hit skill shots to do work.
Apart from that, Jhin's strong points are his ability to engage with Deadly Flourish (W) roots, control the map with traps, and execute enemies safely using his Curtain Call (Ultimate).
Current numbers showcase that Jhin has a 51.6% win rate and 20.3% pick rate in Platinum+, according to LeagueofGraphs. What's more interesting is that Jhin's win rate does not decrease the higher you go.
If you want a marksman pick with tons of agency to win games and that's good for a steady climb on many tiers, the Virtuoso is your pick.
Samira
1V9 like no other champ with Samira in Season 14
Despite the item The Collector got nerfs in Patch 14.1b, Samira is still rocking the bot lane.
Duos such as Blitzcrank or Maokai being really popular allow Samira to pop off in the bot lane and team fights. The sheer amount of damage of the reworked The Collector makes her resets deadlier than ever, and once you get your core items, she becomes unstoppable.
One thing though, Samira requires a lot of mastery to learn her optimal combos, W projectile cancels, and the strategy to know when to go in and pop off in fights (she struggles against heavy CC).
Lucian
The most OP adc in Masters+
If the last picks were great to climb in lower or medium Elo, Lucian is the king of high elo.
As of right now, Lucian has a 50.4% win rate with a pick rate of 22.4%, what's more alarming is his Ban Rate of 28.2%. Players don't like to play against him, there are a few reasons for that.
First, Lucian and Milio's duo bot is giga broken. The pair synergizes perfectly and is the single most unbearable duo to deal with in high elo.
Second, Lucian deals tons of damage when you play him optimally. Players in this bracket pilot him properly.
Lastly, Lucian itemization is great in Season 14. He has a DPS setup with Kraken's Slayer + Navori that excels at dealing with tanks and a one-shot build with Voltaic Cyclo sword + Stormrazor that deletes squishies and snowballs friggin hard.
It takes a bit to get the hang of Lucian, but once you master his ways he's one of the best marksman to play in Season 14.
Supports
Bard
Bard is terrorizing the bot lane
Changes to Support Items made it so that the picks that abused either Trailblazer or Bloodsong became the premier supports to play in Season 14.
The first abuser of both of these items is Bard. The value of items like Bloodsong (for more DPS) or Trailblazer (stronger roamings) harmonizes perfectly with the Wandering Caretaker playstyle.
Also, the changes to Tank items make Bard, in a tanky setup, way more annoying to deal with.
As always, Bard can be tough to grasp for a beginner player. That's why you want to first learn the ins and outs: roaming timers, when to collect chimes, and key tips to use well both his Magical Journey (E) and his Tempered Fate (Ultimate).
Maokai
The tree continues his reign
The best Support champion in the game overall. Maokai with Trail Blazer has been dominating not only Solo Queue but Pro play as well due to his reliability as a main engage champion.
Is all about simplicity with Maokai. Most of your kit allows you to play safe as a support (Saplings give vision) while being stellar at creating opportunities for your team with your W and Ultimate engages.
He got nerfed this patch, but, Maokai should remain a reliable pick to learn the support role and still be impactful on most of your games.
Blitzcrank
RUN!- or Blitz will get you
Blitzcrank is among the most OP support champions while being one of the easier ones in Season 14, for now, at least according to stats.
As of right now, he is boasting a 52.6% win rate with a pick rate of 9.2%, but what's crazier is his ban rate which is over 30% across all elos.
The reason for this is simple: Lethality ADCs are meta, therefore Blitz is always valuable to help them snowball, and Trailblazer is too good of an item for the hook machine.
There's not much into it, Blitzcrank is just that good in this patch, and the great thing is that he's also one of the easier champions to play as a support. Your harder matchups are only ADCs that can avoid your hook such as Lucian, or being bad at hitting your Qs.
Zyra
The best AP solo carry support to climb in Season 14
Usually, Zyra is really squishy in the earlier stages of the game, but now building Haunting Guise helps you with that besides still amping your damage over time.
What makes things even better for Zyra is that the new support item Zaz'Zak's Realmspike synergizes perfectly with Zyra's kit, especially the one-shot combos.
If you want to take matters into your own hands, Zyra is the definition of it.
Final Words
All of these picks are doing pretty well in the stats side across every Region, besides that, these champions are the best at abusing the new items. So... your best bet right now to climb is using one of these four picks for each role.
