Rengar leaps into League of Legends meta following Season 12 changes

Rengar wasn’t really the pride of the pack in League of Legends. However, LoL patch 12.6 changed the Pridestalker’s fortunes. The hunter is slowly becoming a staple pick in both top lane and jungle following his rework, and Riot are even trying to tone him back.

Rengar was on Riot’s radar for more than a year before his rework finally shipped on LoL patch 12.6. After going through numerous iterations, every patch seemingly tinkering with a new ability before being scrapped, a host of “positive changes” finally went live towards the end of March.

For Rengar mains, it was music to their ears. After years on the sideline, the Pridestalker firmly leaped into the League of Legends meta.

Breaking down the stats, Rengar’s pick rate basically tripled from the previous update to LoL patch 12.6, according to LoLalytics. He was picked in 6.44% of games as a jungler and 2.24% as a top laner ⁠— up from 2.45% and 0.81% respectively in patch 12.5.

There’s also been a slight boost in his win rate at all ranks, up from around 47% to 48.5%. Given Riot’s initial intentions were to make Rengar easier to learn, the overall win rate buff is arguably a success.

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However, the big change is reflected in high elo. At Diamond+, Rengar boasts an insane 52.65% win rate in the jungle and is banned in more than a quarter of League games. For top lane, it’s even better ⁠— 52.86%.

He’s yet to be picked by pros on LoL patch 12.6 in competitive play, but it’s only a matter of time until a pocket pick by the likes of Gabriel ‘Bwipo’ Rau brings Rengar back to the stage.

While Rengar mains were divided over the changes, overall it put the Pridestalker back into the meta. Some rued the loss of the Q stacking mechanic on plants to build bonus Ferocity, but the bonus structure damage has made him a top lane beast that can siege effectively.

It’s that damage Riot is nerfing in LoL patch 12.7, however. Rengar top is getting a nerf with reduced damage to towers on Q, however jungle players can celebrate the fact he’s getting a buff there with bonus monster damage on his W.

With MSI 2022 approaching, there’s a chance Rengar could make his first international League of Legends appearance since Worlds 2020 (he’s only been played twice since 2017, with another singular game at Worlds 2019).

Regardless, it looks like the Pridestalker will remain in the League meta for some time.