Top 6 Worst Legends of Runeterra Champions after Rotation

After rotation was released, Runeterra went through an experimental period, in which it wasn't possibly to tell what the meta would be like both in ranked queues or tournaments.

But, now that a lot of time has passed, it is possible to draw a line regarding what is really good and bad in the game. And as I always tend to give advice and write articles about the best meta lists and strategies, today I come with the opposite goal and I bring you the 6 worst champions in the game after rotation.

Disclaimer: this ranking is based on my opinion as a professional player, commentator and analyst for Legends of Runeterra. No number studies based on win rates were made, and the choice criteria was based purely on my own experience playing the champions in this list.

6 - Yuumi

The meta is too unfavorable for this magical kitty.

We start our list with the most hated cat in all of Runeterra, Yuumi. It has been a while since this champion last saw competitive play, the last time being paired with Pantheon, but we soon realized that the best pair for this War Aspect will always be Varus.

Yuumi has a game style which is quite simple, in which the main idea is to keep buffing and protecting one single strong unit on your board, and that unit in the end will be your main win condition. These types of decks exist and are quite strong, but it seems Yuumi just isn't necessary in that type of strategy. To sum up, this champion serves as a slow and proactive development, and only gives you stats, in a deck that would rather be more reactive.

Don't get me wrong, Yuumi can even be good, yes, if you're playing against a list that doesn't interact with your board and is slow enough to let your stat hoarding be relevant to the game. But, it is quite hard nowadays a deck of that sort to exist - all lists which aren't very interaction-focused are, in counterpart, too fast, and as the greatest weakness of the type of strategy that buffs a single unit alone is a board with countless followers, Yuumi becomes an option which is just too slow.

Let's take a look at the best Yuumi list of all time:

This champion is frozen in time, completely forgotten. She doesn't even match her own owner's archetype, Norra and her portals. Throughout time, even Aphelios became a more consistent and relevant option for Pantheon lists instead of Yuumi.

This champion can even be an interesting idea in slower metas without board interaction, but that is quite impossible in technical terms regarding Runeterra, because the game was literally built to be interactive the whole time. Targon's transition to a healing region also didn't help Yuumi at all, considering this champion prefers a more aggressive play style, and considering we have to attack with her to fulfill her level up progress.

I separated the most popular Yuumi list from the ranked ladder, so you can take a look:

5 - Sion

He is just really bad...

In 5th place, we have Sion, and you, avid Runeterra player, must be asking yourself: Wait, but what about Samira Sion which I saw being played on ranked ladder just today? How can this champion be the 5th worst in the game when he's seeing play?

And the answer is quite simple: Sion is terrible, and his archetype no longer works. The rotation took away Draven, which has always been Sion's best friend, and that, added to the overwhelming number of nerfs this champion got throughout the years, made him just become the saddest card in the game. What makes him appear in lists currently is the fact that Noxus is still a strong region and Samira goes with everything.

Here goes my warning: if you want to have fun, or win games, don't play Sion, because as you play with him, each defeat destroys a piece of your happiness after each match. It's so tragic that currently the discard archetype has already gone through a new reinterpretation, and now Samira Jinx is a relatively popular list, and everyone has already forgotten Sion.

The reason Sion is the saddest card in the game is that this champion once had the best deck in the game, and this champion alone has dominated metas of Seasonal Tournaments I personally cast. That is why I am very attached to this card: seeing my dear Sion forgotten with time really breaks my heart.

Here is a sample of the Sion Samira list that has recently gotten popular, but remember: you will be disappointed with this deck.

4 - Zed

Ionia is no longer an aggressive region.

In 4th place, we have Zed. This shadow ninja has been relevant to Runeterra's meta just a few times, and we can only cite very old versions of Freljord decks with Ionia that brought this champion.

These beta lists soon became what we know today as the Shen Jarvan IV archetype. Yeah, a gigantic shift even when it comes to game style!

After beta, Zed never returned to the peak of the meta, and today he has been dormant for three years. The fact that this champion has remained in lists which weren't rotated is even a bit surprising, because everyone thought he would be one of the first to get the rotation hammer and be sent to the deep corners of the Eternal format.

The problem with Zed currently is that this champion doesn't fit the control and value nature Ionia has been bringing into the game. The arrival of Sett with his Coin followers has made Zed even more outdated and lost to time.

Currently, no popular competitive strategy with this champion is strong enough to justify including him in any deck. Zed only takes this lower spot in the list because he is still a very viable option in lists for new players, and he might be responsible for bringing a very simple and fun experience for everyone who is just starting out in Runeterra.

Other than that, we just need more new support cards coming to the game so that he can start seeing play again, but until then, I believe he will keep gathering dust in everyone's collection.

This is the Zed list with more games currently:

3 - Tryndamere

Freljord and its identity crisis. In 3rd place, we have Tryndamere. But let's be honest, it's not his fault.

Freljord has lost much of its strength and region identity after rotation, and it was already facing problems in the patch before it even happened.

It seems Riot has some fear regarding making or balancing Freljord cards more to the strong side, and each one of them ends up too weak. The only decks that this region managed to spit out that are viable is when you force a synergy with Ornn and his followers. This Ornn package, even though it is quite mid currently, is modern enough to play relatively well with Jax, for instance.

Other than that, the rest of the whole region is going through an endless identity crisis, because its best cards were left in the Eternal format.

Tryndamere lost many elements that made this champion viable. Old Ramp lists were strong, and that type of deck was the only one that made sense with that champion. You even have cards that help you gain mana gems, but many cards that support that strategy were lost in rotation - as is the case of the most feared finishing spell in Runeterra, Atrocity, which pairs perfectly with Tryndamere.

Let's take a look at the best Tryndamere deck of all time to remember how relevant this champion was for rotation.

Tryndamere is in the club of champions which will gather dust in many player's collections, and probably for a very long time. I don't see even a hint of a promising future for him, considering the aggressive and fast meta Runeterra has been pushing forward.

It seems Tryndamere has been frozen in time, and this champion focuses on a gameplay idea which is a bit too simple and outdated. Nowadays, Runeterra demands something more dynamic and thematic - with each new champion released, there are a bunch of followers which, when played together, form a new archetype, as is the case with Samira and Sett. I doubt you can leave in the comments at least 3 thematic followers from Tryndamere's archetype.

I couldn't find any popular Tryndamere lists from today, in no Runeterra sites.

2 - Nocturne

Shadow Isles is no longer a region that goes with Noc.

In 2nd place, I will put Nocturne, which is another unjustly treated champion in Runeterra, completely forgotten in Standard format. The issue with Nocturne is that he is an aggressive champion that works very well in combo decks, and he is in a region that has just transitioned into a Control focused strategy.

There are no more aggressive Shadow Isles decks, and the whole spiders and fearsome units package no longer exists in Standard, but Nocturne remained. And current cards with Nightfall and Fearsome are not enough to make this champion see competitive play. Check out how strong Nocturne was with this list:

This champion has always played in difficult archetypes, pairing with Diana, and when he was finally settled in the meta with a super simple, easy to play and powerful list, rotation came along and took everything from him. Noc is probably the most unfairly treated champion in the whole game because of that.

Now, the only way to play him is to play a very inconsistent and difficult archetype with Nightfall followers. As much as there are ways to make him work, it seems as if the mental effort you need to do to play Nocturne just isn't worth it.

Another very important factor is that it doesn't make sense statistically to put this champion's archetype in a competitive lineup, and playing him in the ranked ladder is also not recommended. Nocturne ends up forgotten for a while until there are new and simpler ways to make him work again.

This is currently the most popular Nocturne list:

1 - Kalista

She is practically Nocturne, only she has always been bad.

The honor of being the worst Runeterra champion is given to Kalista. And that prize is no surprise at all, even more so because, even before rotation, this champion was already the worst champion in the game. Rotation only made Kalista even worse, and for the same reasons as Nocturne: she is an aggressive champion in an exclusive control region.

Kalista's past doesn't save her either, as she needed a full rework to become even remotely viable with any sort of strategy in the game, and not even that was enough to make her relevant. Kalista had just one moment in which she was relevant competitively, but even then, she, herself, has never, in the game's whole 3 years of existence, been the star of any deck or archetype.

The strongest list with Kalista is the same deck with Nocturne which was already quoted here.

This champion, unlike Katarina, which got a rework and became the best card in the whole game, until today, is possibly the least popular champion in the game. I don't see a promising future for Kalista and I believe leaving this champion in Standard and rotating out Thresh was a very contradictory decision.

As the Shadow Isles region adopted an exclusive control strategy, why not leave the more versatile control champion of this region in Standard? Another factor that doesn't help Kalista at all is the fact that currently Shadow Isles is also battling for the title of worst region in the game, only losing to Freljord. And that, like it or not, only diminishes the chances of Kalista touching the battlefield with her ghost fingers.

Here is a challenge for you, readers: without looking it up, I want you to tell me the effect of levelled Kalista. Any of you who gets it right can consider yourself a true gamer.

This is the most popular Kalista list currently:

If you've read this far, now you know what not to play in the ranked ladder. If you liked the content of this article, don't forget to share and comment on social media!

See you.