3 LoL top laners just keep getting picked despite failing to win in Patch 13.16

It turns out popularity doesn’t always equal success. Despite becoming three of the most-picked champions in League of Legends Patch 13.16, Darius, Aatrox, and Renekton have appalling win rates and there’s no sign of change.

Since Patch 13.14, the top lane trio have become three of the most popular champions in the solo position, according to League stats site U.GG and it’s easy to see why. Of all the top laners, these three are tanky, easy to play, their combos aren’t too challenging, and for the most part, their core items have been relatively unchanged for the past four updates. As such, they can be great picks to fall back on.

But if their builds haven’t been changed and they’re tanky, why are they performing so poorly on the Rift? Well, in Patch 13.14, Aatrox received both nerfs and buffs, especially to his Q. Then, the Riot devs didn’t feel this was enough to bring the Darkin Blade in line with the rest of the field and he was nerfed once again in Patch 13.15.

Now down on power, Riot made adjustments to common items Aatrox leaned into during matches, with items like Duskblade of Draktharr (for damage) nerfed while Sterak’s Gage (for health) was buffed. The move wasn’t really enough to fix the imbalance or pull him from his now-poor win rate of 48.93 percent.

It doesn’t get any better for Renekton or Darius either. Even without a direct nerf in the past few patches and the Sterak’s Gage buff in Patch 13.14, Renekton is sitting at a win rate of 49.33 percent, which is still below average. So, it seems his kit needs to be adjusted, or his core items, because he’s still being classed as a D-tier champion.

The same can be said for Darius, who also hasn’t received any direct nerfs in the last few patches, and he still has a win rate of 49 percent, even with the buff to Sterak’s Gage.

While there haven’t been many nerfs or adjustments, these champions can’t compare to the more meta champs like Garen, Malphite, or Mordeksaiser, who are easy to play, durable, and offer quite a lot when it comes to team fights and CC, making them valuable and viable in this meta.

If you enjoy playing  Aatrox, Darius, and Renekton, will they be buffed enough to improve in Patch 13.17? It’s pretty unlikely, as they’re not getting direct buffs. However, there’s still a chance for redemption.

Aatrox’s abilities are changing as his Passive and W will now deal magic damage instead of physical damage. This may change how Aatrox is built, especially items, and it could be a great thing or a very bad one, but we’ll need to test him on the Rift to be sure.

Related: League Patch 13.17 changing how players approach lethality builds

And seeing as Stridebreaker, Goredrinker, and Duskblade of Draktharr are being buffed in the upcoming League patch this month, we might see the win rates of these top laners shift upwards a touch in response. Until the patch launches on Aug. 30, we can only hope they’ll see some wins given how popular they are.