League of Legends: Top 5 Best Champions for Arena in 14.17

Ranking the strongest champ picks in League of Legends Arena Game mode after its latest balance patch.

Patch 14.17 is here!

Aptly named “Arena”, the game mode was announced alongside the popular title's Soul Fighter crossover, and pits 4 pairs against each other in a number of new maps whilst also providing dynamic perks. This time, new and returning players will play Arena with new champ items, hexgates, revival mechanics and augments, making the 2v2v2v2v2v2v2v2 game mode feel fresher than ever.

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Arena comes as a breath of fresh air for long-time League of Legends players, who mostly have been stuck playing its classic 5v5 format. The beloved Riot MOBA has hit a bit of a dry spell with its game variety, with its most popular ones including Teamfight Tactics and the Ultra Rapid Fire (a.k.a. “URF”), a game mode that first came out in 2014.

With that said, here are the top 5 strongest champs to play in the Arena in 14.17!

Best Champions for Arena

Shaco

As far as AP assassins go, Shaco mains have had the time of their lives in Arena's more claustrophobic maps.

The Demon Jester possesses powerful abilities that can either win trades or outright remove a vulnerable player from the game. Shaco's Q is an excellent engage tool, and his ultimate ability provides good peel and can be used to split the enemy's focus during important fights. At the same time, Augments like Contract Killer gives him a sharper edge when he isolates an opponent, making him one of the best champs for Arena.

Shaco stays on top due to the Demon Jester's recently beefed-up AD ratio, Q damage, Jack in The Box duration and cooldown reductions on both skills.

Naafiri

Shred the competition with Naafiri, the hound of a hundred bites. With the meta drifting away from brusier champs, high-reward assassin picks like Naafiri are coming into the spotlight. Although she doesn't sport as much survivability, her pack of Darkin hounds can easily cut down any opponent with powerful armor pen builds.

For now, we're putting Naafiri high on our list for her excellent lethality builds with Serylda and other Legendary assassin items. If you increase your true damage, you'll basically be able to one-shot anyone before the late-game!

Ziggs

Another new pick on our list is Ziggs, who possesses a ton of scaling, fun utility and range to excel in Arena's brawls.

Ziggs can easily poke enemy tanks from afar while wrecking the enemy's positioning. He also gets a steady increase to his HP and AP ratio in each level up, giving him a bit of survivability. But even when he falls short, a quick build can easily compensate for his weaknessess.

Grab a Guardian Shroud and Archangel Staff for a stronger punch, and prio Liandry's/Zhonya's if you're up against assassins like Zedd or Pike. Lastly, buy Deathcap to get even higher AP values in the late stages.

Together with the right augments, Ziggs can take your duo to the top four teams at least. But besides strong assassins and great AP control mages, you can also go for full-utility as an enchanter.

Nami

Nami provides a ton of crowd-control, mobility and sustain to make her among the best supports in Arena. The Vastaya has enough healing output to ride out the early game, making her a cool pocket champ in any duo. Her annoying bubble can force the entire lobby to build MR boots. But she can be a squishy target in the first few fights.

Arena's seen a ton of brawler duos that can have game-winning synergy. Take things to the next level with a versatile champ like AP Nami.

For Nami's best Augments, look out for “All For You”, “First-Aid Kit” and “Sonic Boom”.

Akali 

Akali's big buffs to HP growth per level and total damage on Q makes her a prime pick if you want to make big IQ plays in the Arena minimaps. Her kit has everything you'd ever need to become a lethal assassin; a smoke to make you untargetable, high mobility and a long-distance dash that can delete your foes faster than they can react.

Run with “The Brutalizer” and “Contract Killer” augments whenever you get the chance to maximize Akali's killer personality in Arena.

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