Mid lane is one of the easiest roles to carry in League of Legends, mostly because you have easy access to any other part of the map and can dish out a lot of damage. Great mid laners can effectively roam into other lanes while keeping good pressure on their own mid lane opponent, and champions that excel at it are indispensable.
This list of top-tier champions can change depending on a number of things. Sometimes the meta shifts for no reason other than players’ tastes, but usually, it’s because of balance adjustments. It can be difficult to keep up with the flavor-of-the-month champs, so let us do it for you.
Here are our top mid laners for League’s Patch 13.21.
Best mid lane champions in League of Legends Patch 13.21
Orianna
Pros
- Buffed in past patches
- Great teamfight carry potential with ultimate
- Fares well in the most matchups
Cons
- Relatively immobile
- Not the easiest champion to pick up
Orianna has been a sleeper OP champion for the past few patches, having received a streak of buffs from the devs. Now that people have finally caught up on her potential, her play rate is steadily above the average five percent, increasing at the higher ends of the ranked ladder, according to U.GG. If you’re looking for a solid champion to play consistently, Orianna is definitely a pick you should consider.
Orianna item build
Orianna is one of the few mid laners who bases her damage on a chain of small trades to gain advantages. With that in mind, run Summon Aery to increase the amount of damage the enemies are dealt each trade. It can also be useful defensively since Aery can also amplify the shield she receives whenever she casts her E, Command: Protect.
Considering she chooses Sorcery as her primary tree, go for Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Scorch for the minor runes. It’s the best combination that gives all the stats Orianna needs during the laning phase.
For the secondary rune tree, Orianna players opt for Inspiration with Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery. They are standard rune choices for mid laners but if you don’t think you need the extra mana from the biscuits, you can get Cosmic Insight instead for lower cooldowns on the summoner spells.
When it comes to her build, Luden’s Echo is her main Mythic item, followed by Archangel’s Staff and Shadowflame. The goal is to stack as much ability power and mana as possible, considering Orianna is a mana-intensive champion. Get two items between Zhonya’s Hourglass, Rabadon’s Deathcap, and Void staff to further increase her damage output.
Ability priority
Orianna’s ability priority is always R>Q>W>E. Her Q, Command: Attack, is the main ability that allows her to quickly move the ball for trades and wave clearing. Since Command: Protect is a situational spell, max it last after her W, Command: Dissonance. Her ultimate, Command: Shockwave, should always be leveled up when possible.
Game plan
When playing Orianna, your goal is to scale up while neutralizing the enemy’s aggression early on. Thanks to the strong wave clear, Orianna can guarantee lane priority in favorable matchups and avoid being pressured in tricky situations. The champion gains increasing power in the late-game teamfights and once she gets at least two items.
Stay in the backline and watch for your allies’ moments: be ready to follow up with your combos on engages and burst down the targets. A great trick is to always have the ball in the middle of the fight and move it constantly so that it becomes harder for the enemies to position around it. If you’re able to land consistent ultimates, you shouldn’t be far away from victory.
Sylas
Pros
- Works well against most meta champions
- Steals ultimates
- One of the best mid lane carries
Cons
- Tough to master
- Struggles against particular matchups
With short-range mages like Orianna making it back to the meta, Sylas is also rising in popularity. Not only does the champion fare well during the laning phase thanks to his gap closers, but it can also hijack the powerful ultimates and use them to his own advantage.
The champion is performing well above expectations, having over 52 percent at the highest Elos with a nearly 10 percent pick rate, according to U.GG.
Sylas item build
While Sylas has quite a few different rune setups, high Elo players have started using First Strike as his main keystone rune. This is because it allows him to generate more gold in the mid-game, create bigger gold leads and widen the item gap. As long as you can consistently proc the rune in games, you should run First Strike on Sylas.
When it comes to the minor runes, he chooses the ones you see on most mid lane champions: Magical Footwear, Biscuit Delivery, and Cosmic Insight. Never change any of these, as it’s the most efficient combination from this rune tree.
For the secondary tree, go for Resolve with Second Wind and Unflinching. The former is incredibly valuable during the laning phase to survive incoming poke and harass, while Unflinching is strong in the teamfights when crowd controls will be applied. If enemies have little to no crowd controls, run Revitalize to maximize the healing instead.
Build-wise, Sylas always runs Everfrost as his Mythic item, but before that, he builds Ionian Boots of Lucidity for the increased ability haste. Everfrost works fantastically with his combos, as the root or slow from the item’s active makes it easier for him to chain up the other abilities.
On the other hand, though, the item gives less ability power compared to other Mythics so you want to make up the loss by doing Dark Seal and then upgrading it to Mejai’s Soulstealer. As long as you don’t die, you will guarantee yourself a big increase in ability power. Get Zhonya’s Hourglass after, as well as Rabadon’s Deathcap and Shadowflame. If the enemies are stacking a lot of magic resistance, swap one out for Void Staff to get extra magic penetration.
Ability priority
Sylas’ maxing order is always R>W>E>Q. That said, you want to start with E, Abscond/Abduct, because it can be great for potential level one invades and deals more damage than the other spells in early trades. After that, however, max in the correct order.
Game plan
Sylas’ goal mainly depends on the matchup and what kind of role he needs to fulfill in the game. Generally speaking, Sylas should be able to win matchups where he can easily close the gap and fight the enemy. If that is not possible, stick to farming and find opportunities to roam and help your jungler invade or set up dives onto the side lanes.
Thanks to the healing from his W, Sylas shines the most during the mid-game skirmishes, where he can also start stealing ultimates and using them to his own advantage. Ideally, you want to look for flanks and burst down the squishiest targets: play with the fog of war and find ways to get onto the backline.
Leblanc
Pros
- One of the few strong AP assassin champions
- Great all-in potential at level six
- Slippery to play against
Cons
- Requires good mechanics
- Falls off more than other champions late game
If you enjoy one-shotting people and making them suffer, then Leblanc is probably the perfect champion for you. The mid lane queen is back after being out of the meta for more than a year thanks to Statikk Shiv, which partially fixed one of the biggest weaknesses that gated her from becoming meta: wave clearing. Now that she can make a decent push in the mid-game, she can roam and rotate more often, allowing her to pick up kills with her mobility.
Leblanc item build
Considering LeBlanc’s newest build, her rune setup has changed heavily compared to the past. Her new keystone rune is Fleet Footwork, which grants sustain during the early game and synergizes with the Statikk Shiv’s Energized attack. The additional movement speed is also a nice bonus for chasing and dodging incoming abilities.
The minor runes to consider in the Precision tree are Presence of Mind, Legend: Alacrity, and Coup de Grace. These are the only viable runes, so make sure to always run these every game. Presence of Mind is particularly strong as it grants more mana for LeBlanc and refunds mana when she gets kills.
For the secondary tree, choose Sorcery with Manaflow Band and Scorch. The former increases Leblanc’s mana pool while the latter adds extra damage during her combos, which is great for setting up kills, especially during the laning phase.
When it comes to Leblanc’s build and items, we mentioned previously that she wants to pick up Statikk Shiv first. This item will allow her to get a better push on minion waves, while potentially applying damage with the chain lightning effect. After that, she wants Night Harvester for a high mid-game damage output, followed by Lich Bane, and a Mejai’s Soulstealer if you’re ahead. Otherwise, go for Rabadon’s Deathcap and a Void Staff.
Ability priority
Leblanc’s ability order is fairly straightforward: R>W>Q>E. Considering that her Q, Sigil of Malice, has a fixed cooldown, it’s always better to max W, Distortion, first so you can have more mobility and better combos. Ethereal Chains is a small skill shot that doesn’t deal as much damage as the other two abilities, so max it last.
Game plan
The game plan for Leblanc is simple and straightforward: try to snowball as much as possible early on with kills. You can pick them up against your enemy laner, or by roaming around the map. Since Leblanc struggles to farm minions compared to other champions, always prioritize getting good trades in exchange for losing a few CS.
Once you get the first two items, make sure to take advantage of that time window to get a bigger lead. You want to get at least a half-item advantage while building stacks for your Dark Seal (or Mejai’s Soulstealer if completed). Later in the game, your goal will be to one-shot any target that is out of position and get a numerical advantage for your team. Play smart with vision and find good flank engages to one-shot the enemy carries.
Kassadin
Pros
- Impressive scaling, super strong after level 16
- Many building options
- Great both in split-pushing and teamfights
Cons
- Weak early game and can be shut down easily
- Tough to play against some champions
Kassadin is one of the better-scaling mages in League. With his kit, players can shred through enemies’ health bars in the late game in seconds while being almost untouchable, thanks to his ultimate. Having said that, his scaling is balanced by his weak early game, so understanding how to get through that phase safely is key to having success on the champion.
Kassadin item build
Kassadin’s gameplay relies on going in with his ultimate, unleashing the rest of his abilities, taking a step back for a while, and repeating all this over and over. Therefore, the best major rune for Kassadin is Electrocute, which allows him to deal additional adaptive damage once he hits a champion with three separate attacks or abilities. With that under your belt, you will be able to maximize your all-in potential.
Other runes that are worth picking from the Domination tree for Kassadin are Sudden Impact, Eyeball Collection, and Ultimate Hunter. The former increases Kassadin’s damage after he uses his ultimate, which is the basic mechanic of his kit. The other two runes are helpful in terms of maximizing Kassadin’s scaling potential.
As far as the filler runes go, your best options would be Presence of Mind and Coup de Grace. With those two under your belt, you will have some additional, much-needed early mana and additional damage when finishing off the low-health targets.
In terms of items, Kassadin should build Rod of Ages as his Mythic item, followed by Tear of the Goddess first so that he can stack it before purchasing Archangel’s Staff. Once you get these items under your belt, pick Zhonya’s Hourglass, Rabadon’s Deathcap, and Void Staff to get the highest damage output. If you need extra magic resistance, Lich Bane can be a great alternative.
Ability priority
When it comes to abilities, Kassadin’s path is very simple: R>E>W>Q. Your goal is to maximize his damage. Force Pulse (E) is an AoE ability that deals admirable damage and slows down enemies, making it a perfect choice for early-game skirmishes and wave clearing. Down the line, it’s sensible to choose Nether Blade (W) since it restores mana and is helpful in solo encounters.
Game plan
As Kassadin, your main and most important goal is to get to level 16. At the same time, you don’t want to fall immensely behind: if you reach that milestone minutes after your enemies do, you will still be too far behind.
In the early game, Kassadin players should just take the safe route. Simply clearing waves and gearing up is the most reasonable way of playing Kassadin in the first 20 minutes. Your damage isn’t high enough to go for many solo fights, and long cooldowns will make it hard for you to engage in neutral objective skirmishes. Furthermore, you don’t want to fall behind early, and due to your late-game potential, enemies will aim to take you down a bunch of times.
As you reach the late game, your gameplay should be simple. Go in, put your abilities to good use, get out, and repeat. Sometimes, though, there will be enemy team compositions that will make it hard for you to go in, especially those with many targeted CCs. In that case, try going around for some flanks and target enemy squishy targets.
