99% of the champions get better if they have the right gear. 

Even damagedealers that have attacks scaling with the enemy hp (like Coldheart) will benefit from crit-rate, crit-damage.

Champs that work without gear are a small niche (maybe Paragon) and not top tier in overall ranking.

When a person says [Insert champion] is only good because of the gear the guy has on the champion.

What this means is the champion has reached perfection or is close to perfection.

We call it Min/Maxing a Champion.

It is a very difficult process.

It requires thousands upon thousands of dungeon runs.

It can be very time consuming & expensive.

Its not a bad thing.

Human's in general do this naturally.

We improve things we do over time.

A person who has been laying Tile for 1 day isn't going to have the same quality as a person who has been laying Tile for 20 years.

The same thing is true for a person who is building a hero day 1 vs. a person who is building a hero day 400.

They have had more time to develop the hero.

You can't Fake Quality.

This is why things get skewered at times.

It usually involves a person trying to replicate something someone esle has done with out spending the same level of effort, time, & dedication.

I am still trying to figure out how to max a champion and I can say that artifacts and accesories are a big part of getting it right. there are champions that have 300+ speed, 200+ accuracy and resistance and 250+ crit damage / 100 crit rate. those champs obviously have maxed out great hall bonus, sitting in gold tier in Arena among other things , have used potions and books completely, if you look at the stat page of any champion, you can use it as a guide, does your champion have all stats maxed out. if not keep working. in my case I am trying to max out bad el khazar but my stats are not even half way there. in fact I am yet to figure the clan column .

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Accuracy !!!!!!!!!!!!! not CD....

I totally agree with that. The best thing about Bad-el-Kazar is his passive that enhances damage for your  team against opponents under poison debuff. This passive doesn't do anything if your poison is resisted. Your Bad-el-Kazar needs more accuracy.

I'm not asking for a champion that's as good as one with crazy gear. As I said in the original post, I know gear can make a massive difference. And I'm not asking for a champion that's crazy good without gear.

I was just wondering if there's been an assessment of champions without gear. To figure out if certain champions are really good on their merits alone. And then get significantly better when you throw the good gear on them.

Or in other words, to help find champions that will still do really well even if you don't have the best gear in game.

I like the OP suggestion. I would really like Hell Hades or Ash to do a you tube video like this

The champions tier lists don't change with equip. 

Any damagedealer needs atk (or whatever his damage is based on), critchance and critdamage. 

Abbess (just for example) is a better damagedealer than Kael. Abbess has a base-atk of 1564, Kael of 1200. Abess Damagemultiplier for her A3 (AoE) is 4,5 x atk (or targets atk or def, whatever is the highest). Kaels Damagemultiplier for his A2 (AoE) is 4,65 x atk.

1564 x 4,5 is much more than 1200 x 4,65. Abess will deal more damage than Kael.

What equip you have doesn't matter. Abbess in bad gear is a better nuker than Kael in bad gear, Abess in godlike gear is a better nuker than Kael in godlike gear.

Their are some really special combo-attacks of some champions like Maosleum Mage (gives a lot of buffs) and Seer (removes all buffs, even from allies and damage stacks with the number of buffs removed). The damage of this attack hits quite good hard without gear, but, as far as I know, scales with critdamage. So if you want to oneshot a dungeonboss you still need high-end artifacts.

Unlike the threadopener suggests, there is no difference in top champions with or without gear. Damagedealers need damage on their gear, supporters need survivability and everybody needs speed. The top tier champs are better than their mediocre counterparts if you only have access to low gear - and they are still better if you have access to good gear.

Renegade, most of the time players just gear her with the right amount of speed to work in their dungeon runs. 

Paragon, with his low cooldown in his unkillable buff, he can be a good tank. 

Anyone with skills that says "can not be resisted" is usually a good champion since you don't need accuracy for this skills. Champions that I think of right now are Ignatius and Ghostborn. There are a lot more I just don't remember them all 😅

Passive skills. Some champions have op passive skills that synergize with their other skills. Like Skullcrown, she has a passive skill that prevents her from getting one shotted. And if you have retribution mastery on her, then she can counter attack with aoe. 

Rotos, his passive also prevents him from getting one hit. Then he will instantly gets a turn if it triggers. 

I believe there are a lot more champions that can be good even without op gears. 

You  are  not  yet  at  the  level  of  that  gear,  that  is  gear  for  end  game  players  most  likely.  When  youve  maxed  out  dungeon,  are  in  high  arena,  and  high  clan  boss,  stats  are  much  more  achievable,  even  for  a  free-to-play  player.  Anything  is  achievable in  this  game,  it  basically just  takes  time.

I think I don't understand what the OP is asking for.

I feel so confused by this.

I thought the OP was talking about Min/Maxing Heroes.

It seems like that isn't what he is talking about.

Best Champions - Regardless - Without Gear.

What does this mean to me?

A Champion With Out Gear is dead. 

HA HA Am I right?

You know I don't think the OP is being literal.

You know the OP seems very nice.

The OP is writing a lot of text in English.

The text the OP wrote is proper English Etiquette.

I am reading what the OP is saying.

And it is just going Wooooooo Right over my head.

I want to help the OP, but I don't understand what the OP is asking for.

I am confused. 

But even though I am confused - I might know the answer.

If I get past the confusion, The answer he is searching for could be inside my mind.

Or 

If I get past the confused, The answer he is searching for may never be found!

I might not have a clue.

For the record, I will have you people know.

I have had total strangers tell me when I die I should donate my mind to science.

The things they will find up there - Wow

Its a jungle up there.

You never know what you will find inside my mind.

I surpise even myself.