5 Fresh Aggro Decks to Play in Runeterra's Empires of the Ascended

While Runeterra holds its breath for the next proposed balance patch; it can be difficult to find new decks to play when you are facing the same Twisted Fate Fizz or Fiora Shen. Fear not! Here is a collection of 5 aggro decks to rush down your opponent.

Nightfall Aggro

Nightfall Aggro has long been an underrated deck, and it received more support in the Empires of the Ascended with Unto Dusk. This card usually deals an extra 2 damage when played on cards like Stygian Onlooker, Crescent Guardian or Doombeast. Even in the worst-case scenario, it replaces itself and can activate Nightfall for that turn. One of the main difficulties with Nightfall decks is having a bricked hand full of Nightfall cards and no activators. In this situation, you can play your cards without activating Nightfall, only for you to trigger them later with Unto Dusk.

You will want to mulligan for Solari Soldier and Lunari Duskbringer to enable you to play your nightfall triggers early. Diana and Nocturne are both powerful champions that level up very fast in this list. Just keep an eye out for cards like Avalanche and The Ruination, as it is unlikely you will be open attacking very often. When you do open attack, however, Moonlight Affliction is a great way to surprise your opponent, particularly if they have few creatures on the board. Atrocity is also a must for some over the top reach that this deck can sometimes struggle with.

Lucian Azir

From Hecarim ephemerals to mono Shurima, Azir has had partnerships with a variety of different champions during the Empires of the Ascended. Here is a unique spin with Lucian Scouts.

This deck uses Scouts to attack more often, with the payoff being Emperor's Dais and Azir summoning a Sand Soldier every time you attack. Blinding Assault, Greenfang Warden and Grizzled Ranger are the top picks for Scouts. Relentless Pursuit and a levelled Lucian also give opportunities to attack multiple times in one round. Genevieve Elmheart is a more flexible 6 drop than Cithria the Bold, although the two can interchange. There is even a Sandstone Chimera that can have its cost reduced to 0 as early as turns 5-7.

Spider Aggro

Spider Aggro has been an unassuming deck since the game's launch. Spider decks had typically little to play on turn 4, but now they do with the release of Shrieking Spinner! Shrieking Spinner rewards your aggressive swarm early game by granting attack to all spider allies as well as becoming a 3/5 on attack. This can be followed up with a turn 5 Arachnoid Host for huge damage. Soulspinner was also introduced with Shrieking Spinner. However, the possibility of essentially having the same stats as Kalista but without the potential level up simply proved not worth the bonus of having extra spider synergy. Nevertheless, this is still a fun deck to pilot.

Renekton Jarvan IV

One weakness all of the aggro decks so far have is their matchup against Fiora Shen. Fiora preys on those aggro decks that have little interaction. However, this somewhat more midrange Renekton Jarvan IV list has lots of ways of challenging enemy units and creating favourable trades.

Typically, mono-elites have struggled against aggro and elusive decks in the past. Despite the additions of Penitent Squire and Honored Lord, mono-elites still struggle in that department. Instead, it may be best to sacrifice some of the Elite synergy for more ways of interacting with enemy units. Here, we've added units such as Rock Hopper, Renekton and spells in the form of Exhaust and Ruthless Predator for more interaction. This deck still keeps some of the Elite synergy but only for Penitent Squire. However, Vanguard Bannerman is an option if you wish to cut down on the Shurima cards.

Encroaching Elusives

If you want to try playing Runeterra on hard mode, this Encroaching Elusives deck is for you! Encroaching Shadows was released during Call of the Mountain and hasn't seen lots of play. However, this idea - popularised by Swimstrim - is to play Encroaching Shadows before playing lots of cheap elusive creatures for a one-turn kill. This essentially ignores the Ephemeral downside of Encroaching Shadows and instead focuses on giving all units +2/2, as you swing in for huge and, hopefully, unblocked damage.

The new Shadow Apprentice adds to other elusives such as Greenglade Duo and Navori Bladescout. Essentially, you will want to full mulligan for Encroaching Shadows, but there is enough draw to find it during the game with Shadow Assassin and Deep Meditation. After casting Encroaching Shadows, swarm the board with your large Elusives for a one-turn kill.

Hopefully, these decks provide a fresh way to play in this meta! Share some decks that you've been trying out below!