Legends of Runeterra: Aggro Decks: Rush to Win

A New Game of an Old Game

Legends of Runeterra is Riot Games‘ new mobile card game based off of League of Legends. It came out on April 29, 2020 and already has a huge following. Those who are familiar with card games such as Hearthstone will be familiar with the style of gameplay that Legends of Runeterra has to offer. It is League of Legends’ and Riot Games’ answer to Hearthstone (also an excellent card game). I must say it is an excellent competitor!

Even if you’re a complete beginner to the game who is looking to get into the competitive card game scene, Legends of Runeterra is the one for you. For beginners, this is inviting. we love getting to use champions we are already familiar with. Dragon, Jinx, Vladimir are all here ready to duke it out!

Who’s Who?

Before you can begin building some of the best aggro decks so you can smash your opponents, you will need some background on how the game is played. The cards are split up among regions. There are six regions that cards can be played from. These regions are Demacia, Freljord, Ionia, Noxus, Piltover & Zaun, Shadow Isles and Bilgewater. Each region has Champions. These are the champions by region:

Demacia:

• Flora
• Garen
• Lux
• Lucian

Freljord:

• Anivia
• Ashe 
• Braum
• Tryndamere

Ionia:

• Karma
• Shen
• Yasuo 
• Zed

Noxus

• Darius
• Draven 
• Katarina 
• Vladimir

Piltover and Zaun:

• Ezreal
• Heimerdinger
• Jinx 
• Teemo

Shadow Isle:

• Elise
• Hecarim
• Kalista
• Thresh
• Maokai

Bilgewater

• Fizz
• Miss Fortune
• Twisted Fate
• Gangplank
• Nautilus

Champion or No Champion?

Each deck contains 40 cards. When creating a deck, cards from up to 2 regions can be combined. There is a maximum of 6 champions allowed per deck. This total number also includes the champions’ duplicates. For example, you can have 2 champions and have 3 copies of each champion card. Along with the 6 champion cards, you will also need follower cards and spell cards to round out your deck. You can also have up to 3 copies of these cards as well.

Each deck you build will have its own code. This code can be used to share your decks with friends and fellow players. Missing cards can be crafted or you can buy them with shards.

Shards are earned through daily rewards and gameplay. Depending on a card’s rarity, it will cost a different amount of shards. The different types of cards are:

• Common: average cost of 100 shards
• Rare: average cost of 350 shards
• Epic: average cost of 1200 shards
• Champion: average cost of 3000-4000 shards

In addition to shards, wildcards can be purchased with real-life cash. Now that we have the basics down to building a deck, we can discuss different tactics for decks, specifically aggro decks.

So, You Think You Can Aggro?

Considering Legends of Runeterra came out not that long ago, everyone is a beginner here. Different tactics are being discovered and different meta decks being made as the game goes on.

If you are the type of player that likes quick games rather than longer ones, an aggro deck will probably be more of the play style you are looking for. There are other types of decks as well:

• Aggro: This is the one we will be discussing. Playing aggro is like playing fast and dirty. You play this if you like quick battles.
• Midrange: These decks are for a more balanced play style. These decks are made for board control and using mana-efficient units each turn.
• Control: Control decks are for those who like a slower paced game. These decks will consist of a lot of spells and effects that usually can counter or even interrupt the other player’s game.
• Combo: With these decks you play cards that can combine to create effects in order to win the game.

Legends of Runeterra 0.9.0 Balance Patch

The newest LoR patch has brought about a new meta that sees control decks dominating other decks in ranked matches. Fortunately, players have been able to adjust and one of the adjustments was for players to tweak existing aggro decks or create new ones entirely.

The Theory Behind Aggro Decks

The basics behind running an aggro deck are relatively simple. Those wanting to run a Legends of Runeterra aggro deck will need to focus on speed and efficiency in the early game. It may be difficult to find cards that have a relatively low early game cost that are strong enough to have an aggressive playstyle. However, do keep in mind that using some of your strongest cards at the beginning of the game to get aggressive may leave you vulnerable as the game goes on. Once the game progresses and you’ve already used your strongest low-cost cards to run an aggressive early game, then your gameplay might fall off a bit.

General Aggro Deck Info

In general, Noxus cards tend to be played a lot when playing aggro, as one of their main goals is to damage your opponent’s nexus early in the game. Draven is also a champion that is heavily used in this type of play style in Legends of Runeterra.

Now, we can get more into depth on some of the best decks and cards you will need for aggro decks, along with their deck codes!

Best Burn Aggro Deck

If you’re just looking to play a game that is vicious and you want to kill your opponent as quick as possible, this is the deck for you. Precious Pet is always a great card to use in the beginning of a game. One of the great cards that we usually put in our decks is the Used Cask Salesmen card. It blocks incoming damage, as well damaging each nexus of your opponent. This deck comes from Metabomb.

Deck Code: CEBQEAQDAMCAIAIECETTINQGAEBQEDAUDYSSQAIBAEBQ6AQBAECACAIBAMXQ

Best Budget Aggro Deck

For this deck, you want to forget what you know about champions because there will be no champions here. That is correct — no champions! Yes, they do a lot of damage, but they are also expensive.

You will be using cards from the Noxus, Piltover and Zaun regions. Cards like Precious Pet, Legion Rearguard and Get Excited! are always great cards that should be in your deck regardless whether you have champions or not, when you play aggro. The folks over at AllOutRioters came up with this build, and it is one of our favorites to use when on a budget or when helping someone just starting out. Noxus cards tend to be played a lot when playing aggro as one of their main goals is to damage your opponents nexus early on in the game.

Deck Code: CEBQEAQDAMCAIAIECETTINQHAEBEDAPDYSSQLYAAEAQCBA7

Here is another budget deck that we like to use as well.

Deck Code: CEBQEAQDAMCAIAIECETTINQHAEBQEDAPDYSSQLYAAEAQCBA7

Other Great Aggro Decks

This deck uses Draven and Jinx as the heroes as well as the Get Excited! card.

Deck Code: CEBAGAIDCQRSOCQBAQAQYDISDQTCOKBNGQAACAIBAMFQ

This deck is great because it uses Zed and we know there are plenty of Zed fans out there! Lucian is also another powerhouse champion that is included in this deck.

Deck Code: CEBAGAIACYOSMBYBAIBAMCIMDANDSAQCAEABKKYDAEBAWFRHAA

These were both from Rankedboost.

What’s in Your Deck?

What cards do you think would make an incredible aggro deck? Show off your card list! You might see others copying it! If you’d like to see a more budgeted variation, considering checking out LoR’s cheap decks.