WR.WIKI
PATCH 7.1 · LIVE
CHAMPIONSMel
Mel
CHAMPION · MID

Mel

Verified across 3 sourcesLast updated · 2026-05-26
midS5 src
01

Overview

last updated 2026-05-26
Editor's pick · most-quoted
“You just use your ultimate just to keep your passive stacks on as much as possible and then you try and execute someone with your passive as well. So, very, very important champion to uh to master in my opinion. also a very important champion to know how to play against because knowing how to play against her reflect and knowing what abilities to use on the champion that you're playing against Mel is very important. You know, likes of like Synra, you know, I don't want to um I don't want Mel to um deflect the stun from Synra, for example. I don't want it to um I don't want Mel to deflect the AI charm. So, I'd rather start off the fight with the first ability, try and bait the spell shield from Mel or the blocking shield, whatever you want to call it, and then use the charm afterwards. You know, it's it's that difficulty which I think makes me Mel very strong that people haven't really understood yet how to play against Mel and how is the best way to play against Mel. Ari still pretty easy champion to play.”
— itzstu4rt · patch 7.1b · (44:45)
Open questions (4)
  1. 01Post-nerf build path
  2. 02~~Rune setup~~ — answered alongside builds above (2026-05-26)
  3. 03How to manage the longer Rebuttal CD in trades
  4. 04Whether Mel is still pickable into Ahri/Ryze
02

Tier history

5 entries · 3 sources · 3 patches
PatchSourceRoleTierΔDateNotes
7.1ehellsdevilmidS−22026-05-19—
7.1eroyalmidS=2026-05-17—
7.1ditzstu4rtmidA·2026-05-08—
7.1droyalmidS·2026-05-08—
7.1hellsdevilmidGOD·2026-05-08—
03

Builds

1 source
WR Metaaggregator statspatch 7.1e
WR48.24%PR10.13%BR76.42%
Items (in order)
Infinity Orb
Infinity OrbAbilities deal bonus damage
  • +80 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration

Destiny: +5% Move Speed.

Balanced: +15 Magic Penetration.

Inevitable Demise: Abilities and empowered attacks Critically Strike for 20% bonus damage against enemies below 35% Health.

Thunderfall: When an enemy champion dies within 3 second(s) of you applying Inevitable Demise to them, a lightning bolt strikes at the spot where they died, dealing magic damage equal to 50-75 () plus 10% to nearby enemies.

2900 gold
›
Boots of Mana
Boots of ManaAbility Power, Magic Penetration, Mana Regeneration
  • +15 Ability Power
  • +100% Mana Regeneration
  • +45 Move Speed.

Magic Break: +8% Magic Penetration.

Equilibrium: Champions without Mana gain 50% bonus health Regen.

Big Bully: Attacks and active abilities deal 18 bonus physical damage to minions.

900 gold
›
Soulstealer
Mejai's SoulstealerTakedowns increase AP
  • +70 Max Health
  • +25 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration

Glory: Gain up to 30 stacks of Glory after a champion takedown. Melee champions gain 3 stack(s) for each kill and 2 stack(s) for each assist; ranged champions gain 4 stack(s) for each kill and 2 stack(s) for each assist. You lose 10 stack(s) on death.

Fear: Gain 5 AP for every stack of Glory you have. At 10 stack(s) of Glory and above, gain 10% bonus Movement Speed.

1800 gold
›
Rabadon's Deathcap
Rabadon's DeathcapBoosts Ability Power
  • +100 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration

Overkill: Increases Ability Power by 20-45%.

3400 gold
›
Malignance
MalignanceAn item made for Ultimate-centric playstyles
  • +80 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration
  • +400 Max Mana
  • +20 Ability Haste

Scorn: Your Ultimate abilities gain 20 Ability Haste.

Hatefog: Damaging a champion with your Ultimate burns the ground beneath them for 3 second(s), dealing magic damage equal to 60 plus 5% AP per second and reducing their Magic Resist by 10. Burn radius increases with damage, reaching maximum radius at 800 damage.

3000 gold
›
Crown of the Shattered Queen
Crown of the Shattered QueenBlocks an enemy ability
  • +60 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration
  • +200 Max Mana
  • +20 Ability Haste

Safeguard: Grant a spell shield that blocks the next hostile ability, reduce incoming damage by 40% for 1s (40s Cooldown).

Poise: AP increases by 20 while Safeguarded. Dealing magic damage to enemy champions using an active ability reduces Safeguard's cooldown by 4s.

3000 gold
Runes
Arcane Comet
KeystoneArcane Comet
Arcane CometKeystone

Damaging a champion with an ability hurls a comet at their location. When a comet hits an enemy champion, the next comet's damage increases. Damage: 18 - 95 + (3 x total hits on enemy champions) + 35% bonus Attack Damage + 20% Ability Power. Cooldown: 16-8 seconds.

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Botanist
BotanistMinor · Sorcery

When you destroy a plant, gain 25 gold and empowered plant effects. Soulflowers near the turrets also grant additional bonuses. Soulflowers: Grant 100% bonus gold. Honeyfruit: Heal is increased by 20% when consumed. Scryer's Bloom: Vision granted lasts 20% longer when destroyed. Blast Cone: Gain 40% Movement Speed for 2.5 seconds after the knockback.

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Transcendence
TranscendenceMinor · Sorcery

Gain a bonus when reaching the following levels: -Level 1: Gain 6 Ability Haste. - Level 5: Gain an additional 6 Ability Haste. - Level 9: After a basic ability hits the target, reduce 10% of the ability's cooldown. (8s cooldown)

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Scorch
ScorchMinor · Sorcery

Dealing ability damage to a champion deals an additional 21-49 magic damage after 1 second. Cooldown: 8s

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Bone Plating
Bone PlatingMinor · Resolve

Blocks damage from the next triggering champion attack and 2 more attacks.

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Skill priority
Q›E›W
Spells
FlashFlashIgniteIgnite

Source: [[Sources/web-pages/2026-05-26-wrmeta-mel-build-7.1e|WR Meta]] · sampling: Diamond / Master / Challenger (Legendary tier).

Situational item swaps (explicit):

  • Morellonomicon — when enemy team relies on healing (Soraka, Dr. Mundo, Vladimir)
  • Liandry's Torment — vs tanks / high-HP champions
  • Horizon Focus — vs mobile champions (Akali, Yasuo, Zed)
  • Oceanid's Trident — vs shield-heavy enemy teams
04

Commentary

verbatim creator quotes
royalhand-written· Patch 7.1d analysis (Royal)
patch 7.1d

Scope: This section reflects state as-of patch 7.1d per Royal. May be outdated for later patches — see top-level Tier history. "Mel is definitely S tier. She's going to join Aurora ['Noras'], the two new mages. They're both really, really OP. However, I don't think they're as strong as the GOD tier mages, which are Ahri and Ryze." — [[Sources/videos/2026-05-04-royal-tier-list-7.1d|Royal, 7.1d tier list]] (03:53) Why S not GOD in 7.1d: Patch 7.1d directly nerfed Mel: Radiant Volley damage and AP ratio nerfed across all ranks; minion modifier reduced from 75% to 90% (waveclear hurt); Rebuttal cooldown lengthened from 32/29/26/23s → 38/36/34/32s. Royal still rates her S because she's "really really OP" overall, but the nerfs prevent her reaching Ahri/Ryze GOD-tier dominance this patch. Patch citation: [[Patches/7.1d#Mel]]

itzstu4rtauto· Auto-extracted commentary (iTzSTU4RT, 7.1b)
patch 7.1b

Generated by /wr-extract from iTzSTU4RT's patch 7.1b video transcript. Re-running this skill OVERWRITES this section. Promote keepers into your hand-written ## Patch 7.1b analysis (iTzSTU4RT) sections above. Mid "Luden buff is also pretty big for Victor as well. And overall Luden is a pretty nice buff to most these mages because you can go Ludens and you can um you don't have to kind of suffer from the reduced mana regen now that you get from uh boots of Uh Mel sometimes I feel like is a bit of a miss, but I think her range is just way too strong. Of course, her second ability allows her to basically become invulnerable to any damage and you can knock that damage back towards the enemy team, which I think is very good." (44:01) "You just use your ultimate just to keep your passive stacks on as much as possible and then you try and execute someone with your passive as well. So, very, very important champion to uh to master in my opinion. also a very important champion to know how to play against because knowing how to play against her reflect and knowing what abilities to use on the champion that you're playing against Mel is very important. You know, likes of like Synra, you know, I don't want to um I don't want Mel to um deflect the stun from Synra, for example. I don't want it to um I don't want Mel to deflect the AI charm. So, I'd rather start off the fight with the first ability, try and bait the spell shield from Mel or the blocking shield, whatever you want to call it, and then use the charm afterwards. You know, it's it's that difficulty which I think makes me Mel very strong that people haven't really understood yet how to play against Mel and how is the best way to play against Mel. Ari still pretty easy champion to play." (44:45)

itzstu4rtauto· Mid
patch 7.1b·mid

“Luden buff is also pretty big for Victor as well. And overall Luden is a pretty nice buff to most these mages because you can go Ludens and you can um you don't have to kind of suffer from the reduced mana regen now that you get from uh boots of Uh Mel sometimes I feel like is a bit of a miss, but I think her range is just way too strong. Of course, her second ability allows her to basically become invulnerable to any damage and you can knock that damage back towards the enemy team, which I think is very good.”(44:01)

“You just use your ultimate just to keep your passive stacks on as much as possible and then you try and execute someone with your passive as well. So, very, very important champion to uh to master in my opinion. also a very important champion to know how to play against because knowing how to play against her reflect and knowing what abilities to use on the champion that you're playing against Mel is very important. You know, likes of like Synra, you know, I don't want to um I don't want Mel to um deflect the stun from Synra, for example. I don't want it to um I don't want Mel to deflect the AI charm. So, I'd rather start off the fight with the first ability, try and bait the spell shield from Mel or the blocking shield, whatever you want to call it, and then use the charm afterwards. You know, it's it's that difficulty which I think makes me Mel very strong that people haven't really understood yet how to play against Mel and how is the best way to play against Mel. Ari still pretty easy champion to play.”(44:45)

hellsdevilauto· Auto-extracted commentary (hellsdevil, 7.1e)
patch 7.1e

Generated by /wr-extract from hellsdevil's patch 7.1e video transcript. Re-running this skill OVERWRITES this section. Promote keepers into your hand-written ## Patch 7.1e analysis (hellsdevil) sections above. Mid "FYI, there's no Talia here. Or maybe I'm bl Wait, why did I forget to put Mel in the mid lane list? That is wild." (14:10) "She's going to frustrate most players. All right, so moving on to Mel. She got nerfed multiple times, but she's still very, very strong." (15:39)

hellsdevilauto· Mid
patch 7.1e·mid

“FYI, there's no Talia here. Or maybe I'm bl Wait, why did I forget to put Mel in the mid lane list? That is wild.”(14:10)

“She's going to frustrate most players. All right, so moving on to Mel. She got nerfed multiple times, but she's still very, very strong.”(15:39)

05

Recommended runes

creator-cited rune picks
Bone PlatingBone PlatingResolve · 1 mention
  • *"A lot of the times you want to go scorch so you can have a better laning phase so you can get to your late game, right? The you have to think about it like that as well. like you're not taking uh you're not taking for example let's say that you're playing I don't know
06

Patch notes

mentions of Mel
Patch 7.1d
  • listedMel · included in this patch's champion changes