My Deep Dive into Gooba's SS11 Vorax League Start Tier List

Four days. I spent yesterday evening poring over the official preview again, scrubbing through Gooba's fresh tier list video—he dropped it just hours ago—and cross-checking with the patch notes that hit Reddit. Gooba's takes have been my go-to for seasons now; the guy's methodical, backs everything with ladder data from past leagues, and doesn't chase hype. His SS11 list feels grounded in the realities of the new grafting system, the mind control nerfs, and whatever chaos Vendetta Erika is about to unleash.

I've league-started with his recommendations before—hit decent timings, avoided the usual bricks—and this time around, I'm leaning hard into his S-tier picks for my own run. But I'll break it down here with my own experiences layered in, why certain builds rise or fall in Vorax, and some prep thoughts before we all dive in.

The Big Shifts Shaping Starters This Season

Vorax isn't just a theme; the plague mechanic ties directly into grafting, which lets you target affixes in ways that feel almost too controlled after years of pure RNG pain. Defeat infected reds, farm Vorax Substance, graft advancements, ultimates, legendaries onto one slot of gear—it's powerful, but early season, substance will be scarce. That favors builds that explode onto the scene without needing perfect rolls right away.

Then there's the nerfs. Mind control radius gutted to 6m, no more area scaling—rips the heart out of some lazy clears. Wilt capped at 30 stacks. Frostbite reworked for more consistent cold damage. Whirlwind getting mobility grafts that reset on hits. All this from the notes, and Gooba's factoring it in heavily.

The wildcard: Vendetta's Sting Erika. New trait for Cateye, all about aggressive teleport strikes with Incisive buffs. Trailers make her look blisteringly fast, but high-risk—punishes passive play hard. Gooba's cautious on new heroes day one; gear costs skyrocket, unknowns everywhere. She's not cracking his top tiers yet, but I wouldn't be shocked if she climbs fast once theorycrafters tame her.

One exclusive nugget I caught that isn't circulating much: in the official grafting demo footage (around the 8-minute mark of the preview stream), they show a legacy corrupted item accepting a grafted ultimate without overwriting the corruption. Pause it yourself—tooltip confirms. If this ships live, it breathes new life into old corrupted bases for early mapping. Reproducible: load the VOD, scrub to the bench section, zoom on the item preview. Huge for budget starters chasing specific doubles.

Gooba's Tier List: The Breakdown

Gooba's framing this as league start viability—campaign speed, early atlas/Timemark progression, budget bossing, all on fresh economy gear. No endgame delusions here. Here's his list pulled straight from the video, with my reasoning chains on why each placement makes sense based on past seasons I've run similar archetypes.

Lower tiers drop off—B has some viable but downgraded options like older Youga/Selena variants, C/D for the truly rough starts like most Carino traits or unpopular Theas. Gooba's harsh on new/unknowns, which I respect; day one is about survival, not gambling on Vendetta Erika until prices settle.

Why these choices over raw power lists? Gooba prioritizes reproducible progression: can you hit Timemarks 6-8 without bricking currency? Does it scale on greens/blues? I've bricked seasons chasing off-meta—his logic mirrors that pain.

Pre-Launch Prep: Staying Ahead of the Plague

With grafting demanding substance from infected packs, density farmers will thrive early. I'm stockpiling Flame Elementium now for those first chaotic crafts—nothing worse than a perfect base dropping without fuel. If you're short, U4GM.com has been reliable for me grabbing Flame Elementium without the pre-season farm slog.

Loadout philosophy: focus mobility and clear over single-target day one. Campaign's a joke anyway; it's those first T7-8 maps that separate the stalled from the snowballing.

Tested this approach last launch: followed a similar Gooba S-tier, hit profitable mapping by hour 12, no resets. Same plan here—probably Thea 3 for the safety net, alt ready for Bing 2 if it pops off.

Vorax looks poised to reward smart, aggressive play without the old cheese. Gooba's list gives us a map through the early fog. Whatever you pick, see you in Leptis when the servers light up.