Mid Lane(arguably the most impactful role but moving on)
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Celeste (The Definition of Burst Lies here)
The Absolute Queen of the Mid Lane, Celeste has been provoked for many updates now and has finally reached her peak. With Burst Damage only contested by CP Kestrel and Varya, Celeste has an easy time of harrasing the enemy laner with her extremely hard hitting stars and supernovas. After her Lv 8 overdrive, Celeste stays safe from all the bloodthirsty heroes who want nothing but stop the star queen from her glorious reign over the mid lane. After the speed buff of her ultimate, she can now snipe heroes across the map with ease. The absolute go-to mid laner right now. I will be surprised if she isn’t nerfed next update.
Edit: Changed CP Gwen to Varya to avoid confusion and misunderstandings. -
CP Kestrel (The Sniper)
Although she has a very high skill cap, CP Kestrel works wonders in the Mid Lane. After the buff to Spellfire, it has become the go-to item for Kestrel against heroes that she struggles with(Krul, Rona, and Reim). It also procs her Mist trap, which makes it even more easy to land and enables her to stay safe in case she gets jumped on by the enemy. Burst damage from her mist traps and hard-hitting Glimmershots make quick work of the enemy, and her snipe from her ultimate one if the easiest ways to delete an enemy from the face of Sovereign’s Rise due to her huge crystal ratio of 260%. She has a fairly easy laning phase as she can easily poke the enemy without fear of body blocking via Splash Damage from her Glimmershots. One of the things that have changed to make CP Kestrel more viable is also the fact that she isn’t as squishy as she once was due to her base health being increased by a fair amount and also her reload time has lessened from 2.7 seconds to 2.4 seconds, making it more forgiving if you missed a couple of Glimmershots. CP Kestrel is a monster this update, you should definitely try her out. -
Skaarf(The Turret Eater)
The Best thing about Skaarf is how easily he devours turrets in 5v5, literally in a matter of seconds. Burst Damage from his spitfire and good make quick work of the enemy and his ultimate with full dragon’s eye’s stacks really brings the pain. The main niche that Skaarf has over Celeste is that he is much more easily able to draft into an assasin(such as Blackfeather in particular) due to his ability to work around goop. He has more mobilty compared to Celeste which makes him a good second pick if Celeste or CP Kestrel is taken or Banned. The importance of objective taking in 5v5 has made Skaarf a much more viable pick in 5v5 compared to 3v3. Give the little dragon a Try and watch the World Burn. -
Varya
Varya’s nerfs have brought her down to earth but she is still a monster in the right hands. Her Poke Damage via her Stormforged Spear has burst damage only contested by Celeste and CP Kestrel, her Dashes make her a much more mobile mage then any other(except for samuel) and her Ultimate makes the impact it needs in teamfights. However the main reason why she is lower is because she is much more vulnerable to being caught out due to her low movement speed(3.1) and her long cooldown in her dashes after the nerfs. Also her overall potential damage output has greatly been lowered after the crystal ratio nerf in chain lightning and the Mid Lane would rather have some one like Celeste or CP Kestrel who can out put Mostrous amounts of AOE burst damage then an AC based CP Mage who takes time to really bring the pain. (CP Kestrel and Celeste can do up to 70 000-80 000 damage in a game I’ve checked. A Good Varya can do up to 60 000, probably 70-000 if a pro in a good 30 minutes match)
HM
Samuel
(too lazy to write about him atm but he is still a very viable Mid Laner that you can still give a go at)
Jungler
I won’t say anything about positions as I don’t really have the qualifications to say it( I main the Mid Lane that’s why)
Alpha
Alpha, despite her nerfs is still a monster in the right hands. Having one of the highest sustained damage in the game via her core charge and prime directive, Alpha is a pain to deal with. With no Aftershock nerf this update, aftershock junglers such as alpha and koshka still dominate and snowball for easy wins in 5v5 ranked. Skye, one of the better counter picks into an Alpha is not in a very good position this update with all the CC that came with 5v5, so Alpha has very few counter picks beside Reim and Krul. Even they could be countered if Alpha buys the fairly popular item Spellfire, and her burst Damage is able to beat them both with the right positioning. She also counnters most of the God Tier Carries in the game, able to 1v1 Celeste, Kestrel, Idris, Blackfeather, Gwen, even Vox who already has more mobility than most carries, making the first gank an almost guaranteed first blood. Most definitely a ban worthy hero this update, and she is the second most banned hero after Taka, for good reason.
Koshka
The Jungle won’t be the same without this crazy kitty running amok and stealing your jungler camps. Undoubtably the best snowball jungler in the whole game, a Koshka in your team almost always results into an easy win. Having one of the highest base damage in the whole game, Koshka just simply snowballs with a simply 2 crystal bits, one of the most effective junglers for gaining a gold lead in the early game. Although she does fall off late game, by then, she usually has already done her job. However, she can be shut down with good CC, so you’ll have to watch out for that, especially with the Catherine+Baptiste Combo. Also previous nerfs have made her less crazy, so you’ll have to play her in a more careful manner.
Baptiste(Taka is top lane)
With Koshka and Alpha’s slight nerfs, Baptiste dominates the jungle is extremely high burst damage when empowered, one of the highest CC of all Junglers in the game, and Sustain to top it all off, Baptiste currently has one of the highest winrates among junglers in the high tiers. Especially when paired with Catherine, Baptiste becomes a monster to deal with, and with 18 dragon’s eye stacks, the enemy is most likely doomed to get aced with this fearsome scarecrow holding a synth. The Problem with Baptiste however is his Low Mobility makes him very easy to get caught out by the enemy, though he can usually survive with his in built sustain in his kit. Also, He is vulnerable to poke damage from the likes of Skaarf, Celeste and Kestrel making it more difficult to do his job. All in All though, Baptiste is one of the best Junglers Vainglory has to offer and you should definitely try him out.
Krul
There very few who can rival the Utility Krul can offer as a jungler in 5v5. The ability to move around the 5v5 map quickly paired with decent damage and tons of utility makes Krul and easy top tier jungler in 5v5. He can easily gank the mid in the early game and when paired with a good roam, it will be difficult for the enemy mid laner to escape their fate of dying to the hands of a dead zombie(lmao). The Stun on his Ultimate is particularly helpful in ganks and it is a guaranteed Kill if it lands on a squishy like CP Kestrel, proving an invaulable asset to any team. The only problem with Krul is that he is shut down by when faced against Spellfire from the enemy jungler or mid laner, making him suddenly much squishier than he was. Also he struggles agains 1v3 situations and getting caught out by a pair of heroes in the jungle alone. He also hates CC and makes him quite useless for a long period in time. However, there is no doubt that he is very valuable asset to any 5v5 team and a ban worthy hero.
Grumpjaw
A new build for Grumpjaw has suddenly make him one of the most fearsome Junglers that 5v5 has to offer. Tension Bow+ Aftershock make a fearsome combo for Grumjaw, synergising perfectly with his kit. Packing huge burst damage, A Slow, and the power to remove 1/5th of the whole enemy team for 3 whole seconds in a fight, Grumpjaw is a monster to deal with. An Easy Shutdown to squishy heroes, Grumpjaw easily gains a big gold lead for his team in the early game, in where he is one of early game-snowball junglers that can actually rival Koshka, which is something to be taken seriously. All in all Grumpjaw is definitely one of the best Junglers in 5v5 currently.
Top Lane
Glaive
The ability to reposition an Enemy hero in a fight is always in valuable, and no one is better than doing that then Glaive(although Tony can do that too, he is mostly unexplored). Offering High Burst damage with in Build Crit and Lifesteal, Glaive makes a fearsome bruiser in 5v5. A good counter to many late game squishy heroes such as celeste, ringo, Idris(in the early game), etc, Glaive gets many free kills in the early game through this. Also, unlike heroes that rely on critical strike to do most of their damage(critical strike was nerfed this patch), Glaive does fine with only a Spellsword and an Attackspeed Item and Tension Bow for the burst. The main thing that holds Glaive back is heroes who can kite him and retaliate(like Vox). Also, he suffers from Reim, the ultimate counter to all melee heroes. However, All in all Glaive is an effective top laner and one of the best heroes in 5v5.
Blackfeather
One of the best split pushers in the game, Blackfeather finds himself a spot in the 5v5 meta where split pushing is a very effective tactic to win the game. Being one of the most mobile WP/CP carries in the game, Blackfeather offers a good option to counter the slightly immobile bot laners in the enemy(Ringo, Gwen, Kestrel). His turret damage is very high for a wp carry, and he is up there with Rona in terms of damage to objectives. However he is vulnerable to poke damage and burst damage, stopping him from being able to anything when the fight just started. However, all in all, he is a very good top laner this patch.
Rona-The Master of Tanking Damage while dealing it back, Rona finds herself in a good position this update, having the ability to tank damage and dealing it back, making her very good in 1v1 situations and secures kills with relative ease. She is up there with blackfeather in split pushing, shredding turrets with high attack speed in her kit. Extremely good in all situations, except when facing against Heroes with Kiting powers and Spellfire/ Poisoned Shivers.
Reim- Fortified Health makes him practically unkillable, counters WP Heroes with ease, forcing them to buy poisoned shiv. Even so, Reim is very effective in countering almost every bot laner in the meta at the moment. There is nothing much you can say about him, he counter almost every her in the game. The Master in 1v1 situations, able to 1v1 Krul with spellfire, Alpha(almost no one can do that), Rona, and even some range heroes who are vulnerable to his ultimate. He also requires little gold to be effective, 2 damage items make him effective eneough. Mortal WOunds hinder his potential, coming from the likes of CP Kestrel, and his mobility also holds him back. However, he is still a very effective Top laner, and you should definitely give him a go.
Taka
Gabizzle(sorry for wrong spelling) made Taka in the Top Lane a Thing. With a regular build of StormCrown and AS, he is a master of shredding turrets and split pushing in general. Directly counters most of the Bot Laners who are in the meta right now, Taka top lane is fearsome to face against. However, Good vision holds him back, and mortal wounds make his healing nearly useless. However, a very effective top Laner at the moment, one of the best probably.
HM
Joule (sorry I missed this ;(, CP is more prevalent then WP)
CP Joule offers one of the Best Options of Blast Away squishies with her fearsome Ultimate. Offering a Stun, the Highest CP ratios in the Game, and a mid-range AOE poke that has a higher CP Ratio than CP Kestrel’s Glimmershot, CP Joule makes a very worthy foe. A very effective counter to squishy mid laners and bot laners in the enemy, definitely worthy of honourable mention. The thing holds her back is that she can lack DPS in Teamfights after her Ultimate has been used. Also, a stun can stop her ultimate, putting in on cooldown and losing most of her niche value. However, all in all, a very viable Top Laner. It is worth noting that her split pushing skills are likely the best in the whole game.
Bot Lane
Vox
Gwen
Idris
Ringo
Captain
Churnwalker
Lyra
Foretress
Grace/Ardan