Legends of Runeterra: Top 5 champions from Beyond the Bandlewood expansion

Legends of Runeterra's Beyond the Bandlewood expansion dropped on patch 2.14.0 and introduced many new elements in the game.

"Beyond the Bandlewood" was released by Riot Games in Legends of Runeterra on 25th August 2021 worldwide. It introduced Bandle city, which is the tenth and final region of the game as of writing.

There are a total of 126 cards that are a part of the expansion. 63 out of these are exclusive to Bandle City and include champions, followers and spells. Other regions have received new cards of similar nature and types as well.

Champions are the backbone of any deck in Legends of Runeterra. The viability of a deck in a particular season always depends on how viable its champions are. Legends of Runeterra's latest expansion has added 9 champions from all regions. The Bandle City champions, as expected, are really strong, but champions from other regions are also as good, if not better.

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Legends of Runeterra: Top 5 "Beyond the Bandlewood" champions

5) Senna

Senna already had her champion card in Legends of Runeterra, and the expansion introduced a shadow isle card of hers. While the card is close to Veigar, she has a greater chance of success outside mainstream play. Her ability makes her phenomenal in any deck which has several spells that cause damage.

Senna has got a great addition from the expansion. (Image via Riot Games)

When Senna attacks or gets summoned, she creates Darkness, which is a slow 2-damage spell card, but her ability turns any slow spell into a fast one whenever she is summoned or attacks. This ability works very well with other Bandle City units and provides a great tactical advantage to the player.

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4) Caitlyn

In Legends of Runeterra, Caitlyn is all about her keyword and ability. Her keyword allows her to strike before her opponent. Every time Caitlyn strikes, two flash bombs are automatically planted randomly on the opponent's deck. Each flash bomb does one damage to a random opponent unit. So five flash bombs triggers will level up Caitlyn after which she plants twice as many flash bombs and damages the nexus at each trigger.

Caitlyn is like Teemo on steroids. (Image via Riot Games)

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3) Ziggs

Ziggs has a great stat line and ability that makes him extremely effective. He works well with Bandle City decks and with landmark decks that have countdown-based landmarks. Apart from that, Ziggs does a lot of incidental damage to both his blocker and the opponent's nexus.

Ziggs have great interplay and synergy with landmarks. (Image via Riot Games)

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2) Nami

Nami is an extremely versatile champion in Legends of Runeterra who works on any deck that is focused on spells. She can play on Aggro decks or midrange decks just as well. Her ability helps in powering up smaller units whenever a spell is played. She also has Attune, which adds one spell mana.

Nami is simple, effective and good. (Image via Riot Games)

Nami becomes even more effective when she levels up. Her level-up condition is one of the easiest in the game as she levels up when at least seven spell mana have accrued. Spell mana accrual is fairly routine in a game of Legends of Runeterra.

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1) Poppy

Poppy works great on any deck that has a lot of low-powered and low cost units. Once the board is flooded, Poppy is brought in, and every time she attacks, she gives a permanent 1/1 buff to any unit with less power than her. Poppy becomes a daunting challenge if the opponent doesn't remove her early.

Poppy is great at boosting weaker cards. (Image via Riot Games)

Leveling up Poppy is a rarety in matches in Legends of Runeterra, but it makes her a bigger headache. Her buffs turn 2/2, and she adds impact keywords to all the allies, resulting in nexus damage even if the unit gets blocked.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinions of its writer.