After the July patch, Arena of Valor (AOV) has become slightly more balanced but is still light years away from reaching balance. In our Arena of Valor tier list for July 2020, we are going to discuss how the new patch affected meta heroes in the game.
This patch generally favours marksmen, though many marksmen including Capheny and Laville have or will receive nerfs (depending on what server you are on), the nerfs were mostly on their movement speed, therefore that barely affects their impact on the game. Thus marksmen continue to dominate the field with ridiculous damage that melts anything they see during the early game. However, with the introduction of the Allain, the main character of the patch, marksmen have gained a new nightmare.
Supports also grow in strength as the support item update emerges and allows supports to get stats specific stats from the items they actually need rather than neutral stat buffs, thus allowing empowering more diverse and “off-meta” support choices such as Riktor and Diao Chan support.
In this AOV tier list, we have also provided a recommendation of characters to use in this meta and why you should use them below.
Arena of Valor July 2020 meta hero tier list
| TIER | DARK SLAYER LANE | JUNGLE | MIDLANE | SUPPORT | MARKSMAN |
| Overpowered | Yena, Florentino, Riktor, Allain, | Keera, Elandorr, Kriknak, Paine, Allain | Dirak, Raz, Marja, Krixi | Zip, Lumburr, Teemee, Krizix | Elandorr, Laville Capheny, Hayate |
| Strong | Volkath, Qi, Lubu, Omen, Maloch, Kil’Groth, Max, Veres | Lindis, Zill, Zephys, D’arcy, Enzo, Quillen,Rourke | Zata, Liliana, Tulen, Ignis,Aleister, Diao Chan, Maloch, Veres | Baldum, Chaugnar, Ata, Arum, Alice, Ormarr, Thane, Xeniel | Elsu, Joker, Fennik, Violet, Tel’ Annas |
| Good | Roxie, Wonder Woman, Superman, Arthur, Amily, Errol | Nakroth, Butterfly, Murad | Flash, Jinnar, Natalya, Preyta, Lauriel, Veera | Annette, Peura, Rouie | Moren, Slimz, Valhein, Brunhilda |
| Average | Skud, Ryoma, Airi, | Wukong, Batman, Zanis | Illumia, Kahili, Mganga | Omega, Cresht, Grakk | Yorn, Wisp |
| Below Average | Taara | Azzen’ Ka |
Summary of the latest patch in Arena of Valor
In our Arena of Valor July 2020 tier list, let’s take a quick look at the heroes who received a buff/nerf or were remodeled/reworked upon.
Heroes who received a buff
Ishar, Zata, Thane, Teemee, Brunhilda, Sephera
The buffs in this patch were relatively disappointing as only Zata’s buffs were visible. Zata’s increased damage allowed him to finally become viable amongst the Midlanders. The buffs for Ishar, Thane, Teemee, Brunhilda and Sephera were not very visible and generally consists of small buffs in damage, not enough to increase their play rate or increase their impact on the game.
Heroes who were nerfed
Maloch, Chaugnar, Alice, Paine, Laville, Capheny
Only Alice’s nerf was visible as she has been toppled from her ‘best support” throne due to the giant nerf on the silence duration of her ult. However all the other nerfs on Paine, Maloch, Laville and Capheny mainly consisted of damage reduction and but Laville and Capheny also had to face move speed reduction. Sadly this did not alter much of the meta for these characters as the nerfs were too minor.
Heroes who were reworked upon
Veera, Astrid
After the rework, Veera has become much more sustainable in lane as she has been reworked to be able to refresh her S1 if her S2 kills something, also she gains increased movement speed through her passive. Though she also faced damage reduction, it is certainly worth as her ability to gank has increased significantly. This rework is most certainly a buff for Veera.
Astrid’s rework was relatively small, her passive now only procs when she receives damage and not randomly, this allows her shields to appear more timely and it’s overall a small buff for her, but not enough to elevate her significantly.
Heroes who were remodeled
Skud
After the remodel, Skud comes off much smoother in gameplay and has a better character model. Gameplay-wise, he has been nerfed slightly as your stacks of S2 show underneath your health bar, allowing enemies to know when to approach you and when not to.
Arena of Valor July 2020 patch meta heroes
Dark Slayer Laners
DS laners continue to increase in power as more and more strong laners are introduced, specifically Allain. As the Dark Slayer ane is usually a source of steady income, Dark Slayer laners with strong kits and steady sources of income are certain to be strong carries within the game.
Allain
As the main character of the patch, he retains a surprisingly balanced kit- relative to that of other new heroes that are. His early game is terribly weak as he does little damage compared to nearly all solo laners, thus his early game pales in comparison to many solo laners. However, he makes up for all of that by being absolutely broken during the late game. Equipped with rooting abilities, diversified damage ( physical, magic & true dmg ), health regeneration from his passive and an unavoidable burst from his ultimate, he can defeat any character from Aleister to Zuka in the late game.
Allain is incredibly broken if the player manages to maintain their KDA and a steady economy to the late game, however, he is easily shut down in the early game and thus balancing his character in general. But in most cases, due to the fast pace of Arena of Valor games, he is usually able to get to the late game and pop off. We highly recommend that you ban him.
Florentino
Florentino, the flower boy of the toplane remains in his prestigious spot. However in the Taiwan server, a controversial adjustment has been made, his S1’s first cast’s slow has been increased significantly, but the knock up from his S1’s second cast has been completely removed. Thus arose the controversy of whether Florentino was generally buffed or nerfed. To answer that question, it is firmly believed that he has not changed much in strength as he weakens in certain areas and strengthens in others.
As long as Florentino doesn’t lose his original kit of being able to partially negate champions other than his targets damage and fully negate their crowd control, paired with his HP recovery he continues to stand strong, he is a common ban within the Taiwan server and even more so the first pick of professional sidelaners.
Riktor
Riktor hasn’t been buffed much, but due to the gradual decline of other dominant laners such as Yena and Florentino, he seems to shine more than before. Riktor’s insane early game damage and his ability to perform a double knock up allows him to shut down Marksmen early game if he decides to go roaming.
By not being overwhelmingly powerful but still maintaining a strong presence over the game, Riktor is a hot pick in ranked and pro play because he’s not that strong and isn’t always banned, however, isn’t weak at all as when played right can even beat Top tier laners.
Qi
Qi has become a firm pick within the toplaners due to her being one of the two champions who can topple the top-lane king- Florentino. Her ultimate can knock Florentino away from his flowers, thus messing up his rhythm, paired with her hp regen provided by her passive she is undoubtedly extremely sustainable in the lane- thus isn’t required to recall every time Florentino or any other laner pokes her down.
Moreover, due to her extremely high damage and ability to carry with it, she is often chosen over Florentino’s other counter- Roxie – as she has a much larger impact on the game. This is evident in the current competitive scene of Arena of Valor where pros pick Qi into Florentino and effectively limit his impact on the game.
Junglers
Junglers maintain a strong position in the current patch as always in Arena of Valor, commonly having kits that can snowball hard and high mobility they maintain in a strong carry position.
Elandorr
Elandorr is undoubtedly one of the best junglers in the current meta, with three dashes and large amounts of mixed burst damage from his passive, Elandorr seems to be untouchable if played correctly as he jukes the enemies without breaking sweat.
The game nicely puts a barrier on this broken hero by giving him difficult mechanics to master and increasing the difficulty to play the strongest laner in the game.
Keera
Keera is the strongest assassin jungle in the game right now. Her early game damage is underwhelmingly low and one of the lowest amongst assassin jungler. However, she scales extremely hard during the late game and one-shots nearly anything she sees. Combine that with the unpredictable pathings she can come up with by walking through walls with her ultimate, she can launch the most surprising surprise attacks on the backlines and one-shot them before they even have time to react. However, due to this, she is a common ban in ranked across all the servers.
If you are so unlucky to have forgotten to ban her and the enemy team picks her, your only hope is to tell your support to purchase the vision support item to restrict her from becoming visually hidden in walls.
Midlaners
The midlane in the current patch is rather weak as much power is diverted to Marksmen and Junglers. The generally favoured mages in pro plays tend to be able to reach the backline with their abilities, as Marksmen are too strong during this meta.
Dirak
Dirak is a strong pick for the midlane due to his powerful map presence and incredible teamfight potential. He can use his ult to shield backlines from ranged attacks, has AoE crowd control and has subtle yet extremely high damage from his S1 as its damage usually exceeds Dirak’s opponents’ expectations and they don’t even realise that they’ve been burned to half health.
So his S1 does high burn damage, but his ult’s laser beam on the other hand? High burst damage, blasting the health off everyone on the enemy’s team from the frontline to the backlines. His only weakness is his low mobility and vulnerability to ganks, however, this is made up by the change in distance between the midlane bushes, making him less susceptible to ganks.
Supports
The current/upcoming patch shifts in favour of supports as support items diversify to fit the needs of different types of supports (mages, offensive, tanks). Also, there has been an addition of an array of abilities to the support items, thus allowing supports to more accurately purchasing a support item to provide maximum aid to their team.
Lumburr
After the gigantic nerf on Alice from this patch, Lumburr has to the top of the support meta. Though he may not have any significant buffs this patch, his playstyle fits the meta perfectly. As mentioned before, the meta leans towards Marksmen, therefore supports who can reach the enemy marksmen whilst being able to protect their own are highly valued, and Lumburr brings exactly that. His ultimate can knock up enemies from the tanky frontlines to the squishy damage dealers in the backline, by landing a good ult and knocking multiple enemies up, he provides an opening for his team to engage.
His S2, on the other hand, provides shields to his desired allies when he charges to them, knocking up enemies on the way, this is very, very strong as a simple charge towards the team’s designated carry can allow him to provide them shields and possibly knock up their attacker. Paired with his S1’s damage reduction, he effectively and easily negates and denies the enemy’s attack on their backline- especially assassins. By being able to have a balance between offensive and defensive plays Lumburr is sure to be a high tier pick in the current/upcoming meta.
Teemee
As the many “glass cannon” style characters such as Paine, Laville and Keera emerge, they not only one-shot others but get one-shotted themselves too. Teemee solves this with his ult, by being able to revive people in a large radius, he gives oneshotters ( Marksmen, Junglers, Mages) another chance, a continuation for asserting their bizarre damage upon the teamfight. In high elo with Pick/Ban phases, if one team has Teemee and the other doesn’t, it means they have one more chance than the other team at winning the teamfight, making the efforts of enemies futile and allowing much more area for a marksman and carries on their team.
With the trend of squishy and easy to kill ADCs ruling the game, he provides shelter for these ADCs and ensures their safety. Also, the increase in Teemee’s gold gained from his passive increased, thus allowing him to nurture ADCs at a faster rate, and because the meta revolves around ADCs his buff slaps him right in the centre of the meta, thus becoming the perfect support for this meta.
Marksmen
Last but definitely not least, marksmen in the current meta are the core of every team. When fed enough, their damage is absolutely ridiculous while they deal with damage from a safe distance. Ever since the introduction of strong marksmen characters who can protect themselves such as Laville and Elandorr, the meta has gradually shifted into one revolving around them.
Laville
Laville, in general, is a very strong character, being able to dodge attacks with his S2 and safely initiate teamfights with his ultimate, he is widely considered to be one of the strongest- if not strongest- champions in the game. Though they may have nerfed his movespeed by a little, it barely affects his impact on the game as he continues to shred down multiple targets at the same time with his S1.
Other marksmen pale in comparison as they usually lose the ability to engage fights and the ability to multitask. Paired with Fafnir’s Talon, its passive is constantly proceeded by Laville’s rapid firing, giving him the ability to defeat bulky frontline tanks as well.
Capheny
Generally known as the most annoying Marksman to go up against, Capheny excels in kiting as she usually takes Sprint. Moreover, most Capheny’s have a Bow of Slaughter, paired with their ability to shoot and run, they can turn from being hunted to being the hunter as she lifesteals her health back while the enemy fails to catch her. This causes many problems for assassin junglers to pick her off.
However, she is not invincible, Zill and Allain both have abilities to deal damage while being somewhat invincible, thus able to deal damage onto her without letting her deal damage onto them. Allain can also root Capheny with his S2 and prevent her from kiting. When playing Capheny, you may be the queen of kiting but be sure to have banned your counters.
Hayate
Hayate is a very sophisticated pick due to his high-risk high reward playstyle as he is currently the hardest marksman to play in the game. He isn’t seen much in low ranked games due to his high difficulty and the general idea of him being a weak marksman due to his terrible early game.
However, in high tier matches, he is easily one of the best picks due to his ability to have crit true damage and mobility. With sustain auto attacks and accurate S1s he can melt tanks during the late game, however with a good S1 and ultimate during the late game, he can turn the tide and melt the entire enemy team within seconds. With good enough skill, merely two abilities can turn the tide of the game or provide an instant win, thus still making him a hot pick for master and conqueror players on the Taiwan server, even if he has a horrendous early game.
That is all for the July 2020 patch and the July tier list for Arena of Valor. See you after the next patch!
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Wow this is really detailed, thanks!
We are glad that you found it useful. Please feel free to check our other AOV articles, hopefully you’ll feel the same. 🙂