The Path of Champions Mode in Riot Game's Legends of Runeterra underwent a massive overhaul in late May 2022 as part of the Worldwaker Update. This PvE mode's core foundation is mostly the same, but the way people play and unlock different Champions is completely different.
Now, each Champion has different "Star Levels" (similar to a mechanic in Riot's Teamfight Tactics game), that unlock or upgrade new "Star Powers" for that Champion. All of the playable Champs in this Legends of Runeterra Lab Mode has the potential to be absurdly overpowered, but it's still possible to rank these Champs based on how easy it is to get them to this "overpowered" state. So, since this game, as well as a few others, are now a part of the Xbox Game Pass, it seems like an apt time to take a deeper look at them.
Updated November 4th, 2022 by Jacob Buchalter: Since this list was first published, Legends of Runeterra has added 17 new playable Champions into the Path of Champions Lab Mode along with a variety of other fixes, updates, and optimizations that make the game run even better. These were added through multiple content updates such as the Forces from Beyond, Awakening, and Domination events. Sometimes, new Champions were added on a whim are weren't even part of some "event".
Additionally, a few Champions were fine-tuned in their Starting Decks and Star Powers. So, with that in mind, let's take another look through the overall best Champions to play in the PoC and rank them once again, taking all these new cards, regions, and "metas" in consideration.
15 Bard
Bard is one of the few playable characters in many player's Path of Champions tier lists that has an unavoidably high Mana Curve alongside characters like Ornn, Darius, and Tahm Kench. His playstyle revolves around his living "Chimes" (Targon Celestial lore can get really confusing) that buff cards in hand when drawn (or on the field if Bard is in-play and at Level 2).
So, it's less about throwing cards out there to get the enemy to 0 HP as fast as possible, and more about keeping the enemy in check while drawing Chimes to build up 2 and 3-Cost Units with crazy high stats. The only problem with this strategy is that most opponents in PoC scale out of control pretty quickly, so it's very difficult to actually "hold them back" while setting this Chime strategy up. But, with the right Passive Power starters such as Sharing is Caring or Trifarian Might, Bard can get things done much easier.
14 Tahm Kench
Tahm Kench is another deceptively good mid-cost Champion and is one of the characters added to the Path of Champions (and all associated tier lists) with the Domination expansion. He's been in the main game for a long time now but the way they implemented him in PoC is making players go back and re-evaluate if they've been sleeping on him. The main reason why Tahm Kench is good is that once he's out there on the field and has the right Relics, such as Berserker's Buckle or Warmog's Armor, he is the almighty unit devourer, capturer, and copier thanks to his Star Power 2 called Long Term Contract. The fact that players can even devour (AKA Capture) enemy Champions, copy them, and then play the card themselves (sometimes in the same turn) is what makes Tahm Kench so fun to play.
Still, he's a mid-cost Champion and he can be hard countered if the enemy AI properly targets him with spells or units before he scales out of control. With that in mind, so players should really get him to at least 2 Stars before investing a lot of time toward leveling him.
13 Vi
Vi, on paper, should not be a Champion rated this high up. Her Champion Card is alright at best and the leveled version, while it can deal direct damage to the enemy Nexus, it needs the right combination of Relics and Passive Powers to become even somewhat "overpowered". The real reason Vi is on here is due to her Star Powers.
Her Star Power 1, Relentless Force, rewards players who keep their strongest ally alive for multiple rounds since Impact can stack. Then, Star Power 2, Piltover's Finest, gives Vi more starting options to start ramping up. And finally, Star Power 3, Relentless Force II, lets Vi deal twice as much damage with Impact. If Vi can just keep one ally alive for five rounds, they'll have +10 Impact and that's just absurd to even think about. Combine that with the fact that Piltover's Finest is one of the only Star Powers that gives the player reduced-cost cards right at the start of each game, and it should be pretty clear now as to why this half-shaved head badass is actually pretty great.
12 Illaoi
The Illaoi Deck has, by far, the strongest finishing move out of any PoC character due to Illaoi's Level 2 Card Skill. The only other Champions that even come close are two of the more recent additions, Ornn and Varus, and even they can't match Illaoi in a lot of situations. If players are able to get to the point in a match where Illaoi levels up, it's basically over. But, Illaoi is also probably the Champ in PoC that is the most dependent on having her Star Level ranked up using the Star Fragment system.
Without Prophet of the Elder God II (her Star Power 3) or at the very least Test of Spirit (Star Power 2), Illaoi has to sort of "hang in there" until she can pop off, similar to Bard's deck. Additionally, because many of her cards are based around the Spawn mechanic of stacking tentacles, her board presence is based heavily on quality over quantity. As such, she tends to suffer pretty heavily against opponents who swing with a lot of units at once.
11 Garen
Garen is one of the first "unit-buffing" Champs included on here, alongside other choices like Vi, Bard, and technically Darius. But unlike Bard, Garen is able to go on the offensive earlier thanks to low-Cost early-game Spells like Single Combat being provided to him constantly through his Justice Star Power. Additionally, as the rounds continue, Garen's Elite-type Units self-scale by attacking through his Star Power, Demacian Might.
But, when compared to all the other PoC characters, Garen is still a character that needs time to ramp up and is heavily dependent on his Relics and Passive Powers, whereas many other Champions can do a lot more a lot earlier with fewer buffs.
10 Lee Sin
Similar to Bard, Lee Sin is another playable Champ that massively benefits from combat lasting at least three or more turns. For one, Lee Sin is a 5-Cost Card, so it's difficult to get him on the field early. Two, his Star Power, Dragon's Spirit, requires a lot of Spell Cards and Spell Mana to really take off, and is pretty dependent on good Powers, Support Champs, and good Relics as well.
That said, if the player does manage to utilize Dragon's Spirit properly, especially Dragon's Spirit II, Lee Sin can kill most opponents in a single attack phase. When playing him, players should constantly be on the lookout for any Powers that reduce Spell mana cost like Spellslinger, duplicate Spells like Slow but Steady, or ones that give additional Spell Mana like Sorcery.
9 Jhin
Jhin is the perfect Champ for people who love feeling like they're a genius by having a hundred different spells and effects go off at once. When Lotus Trap, Curtain Call, Captive Audience, Magic Embers, and whatever other Spells and Skills are currently in effect are all in line to activate, it truly feels like the player is executing a perfect plan that the enemy could never even hope to escape.
That said, it's one of the more tedious decks to play because of how often players are watching the effects of things like Captive Audience or Curtain Call and a bad starting hand can basically ruin a perfect run with Jhin.
8 Yasuo
Yasuo is a character that's built around heavy board control and basically forces players to patiently defend against summoned enemy cards and hold on until they're able to level Yasuo up and take full advantage of his leveled card Skill. That said, it does feel incredibly good to play this Deck well, as it's centered on canceling and punishing the enemy for trying to do anything at all.
Still, Yasuo's first and third Star Powers Follow the Wind and Follow the Wind II are basically just an innate version of the Hold It Passive Power while his second Star Power, Never Dull, is almost entirely meant for buffing Yasuo when he attacked stunned enemies. So, without Yasuo in play, this Deck really struggles.
7 Miss Fortune
Right off the bat, let's just say that Miss Fortune is strong. And, since the start of Path of Champions 2.0 Miss Fortune has been different too. She used to have Star Powers based a bit more around dealing direct damage to the enemy Nexus and battling Units, but now when she attacks she gets a free Unit draw instead with Most Wanted.
Yes, a lot of the cards in her deck have some odd synergy and while the Powder Monkeys have some fun lore and world-building implications for MF, the Nothing But Powder Monkeys Star Power seems more fit for someone like Gangplank than her. Still, her Starting Deck and playstyle are completely designed around flooding the board with a lot of small Units early, and that does a lot in a game mode where low-cost high-offense decks reign supreme.
6 Vayne
Vayne is another character added in the Domination update as part of the Darkin Saga Expansion and she's assuredly the "always attacking" character of this expansion. In Awakening this role was filled by Jax (and partially Kayn) while this time around it's Vayne (with Teemo following a bit behind).
And, this is exactly why she's so good as low-cost decks that swing for a lot of damage in the first couple of turns tend to sweep most regions of the PoC. With Tumble, Vayne can always attack with at least one unit per turn, even without the Attack Token, and with her second Star Power, Night Hunter, the unit she uses and Equips using Tumble will also get Scout for the turn as well. And, if this combo of attacking and then using Tumble with a Scout ally is done correctly, Vayne can attack twice when it's not even her turn as the Scout-allied attack also gives her a standard attack token after. The only place where Vayne struggles is when she has too much Equipment to deal with due to her It Must Do Something Star Power and not enough units, but that's the luck of the draw. While Vayne may be one of the more difficult Champions to play in League of Legends, she's pretty simple in this one.