Bot lane is the only lane where you don't play alone, and the pairing decides more than either champion does by itself.
Here are twelve ADC and support pairings that work because of how the two kits fit together, plus the checklist for picking the person on the other end of the queue.
Two champions, one lane, one plan.
BEST BOT LANE DUOS
12 PAIRINGS · UPDATED AUGUST 2026Bot lane is the only lane where you don't play alone, and the pairing decides more than either champion does by itself.
Here are twelve ADC and support pairings that work because of how the two kits fit together, plus the checklist for picking the person on the other end of the queue.
This page has two halves. The first is twelve duos grouped by how they win a lane rather than ranked one to twelve, with every interaction checked against the current game. The second is the original 2018 checklist this page started as, kept word for word, because picking the right partner is a separate problem from picking the right champions and it's the one most people get wrong first.
None of this is a ranking of who's strongest this patch. Champion balance moves every two weeks. The reasons these pairs work are written into their kits, so they were true last year and they'll still be true next year.
What actually makes a bot lane duo work
Two strong champions aren't a strong duo. Bot lane is a two versus two that lasts about fifteen minutes, and the pairs that win it share four things.
- One of you starts the fight and the other one has to be able to finish it. A hook with nobody following it up is a free kill for the enemy team, and a marksman who can't reach the target the support caught may as well not be in the lane. Engage supports need range or a dash next to them, and enchanters need someone who can actually kill the thing they're buffing.
- The best pairs have kits that trigger each other. This is the difference between two champions who happen to be good and a genuine duo. Leona's Sunlight [Passive] wants an ally who attacks twice in a row. Braum's Concussive Blows [Passive] wants an ally who attacks fast. Kai'Sa's Second Skin [Passive] literally stacks faster when an ally immobilizes the target. Those aren't opinions about synergy, they're written into the ability.
- Two champions with the same weakness lose to one champion who exploits it. A poke duo with no disengage gets run down by a single engage. Two immobile champions share one Flash between them. Check what the pair can't do before you fall in love with what it can.
- Range decides the first ten minutes and scaling decides the rest. A duo that wins level two doesn't automatically win at three items, and the pairs that scale hardest are usually the ones that suffer most early. Pick which half of the game you want to be favoured in, and play the other half accordingly.
Everything below assumes the basics are in place. If your lane keeps losing before any of this matters, the problem is usually the wave rather than the pairing, and our laning mechanics guide is the place to start.
The support starts the fight
These three win by making the first move. The support creates the opening and the ADC is built to cash it in, which is why they punish the enemy lane for one bad step rather than out-farming it over twenty minutes.
Leona and Lucian
Sunlight [Passive]Leona's whole kit hands damage to whoever's standing next to her. Sunlight [Passive] marks anyone her spells touch, and the mark detonates for bonus magic damage the moment an ally hits that target. Lucian is the ally it was built for. Lightslinger [Passive] turns his next attack into a double shot after every ability he casts, and it also empowers his next two attacks whenever a nearby enemy gets immobilized.
Leona immobilizes constantly. Zenith Blade [E] dashes her to the last champion it clips and holds them there, Shield of Daybreak [Q] stuns on the attack that follows, and Solar Flare [R] stuns anyone caught in the middle of it. Each one of those switches Lucian's passive on, and each of those shots eats a Sunlight [Passive] mark. Two passives paying each other, over and over, for the price of walking forward.
The honest catch: if Zenith Blade [E] misses, Lucian still has Relentless Pursuit [E] to leave with and Leona has nothing at all. She's the one who dies for a bad engage.
Blitzcrank and Miss Fortune
Rocket Grab [Q]Rocket Grab [Q] is the most binary button in bot lane. It either drags an enemy champion out of their own lane and into yours, or it hits a minion and you look silly for eight seconds. What makes Miss Fortune the right partner is that she converts a successful grab into a dead champion faster than almost anyone.
The sequence is short and it's the same every time: grab, Power Fist [E] to pop them into the air, Make It Rain [E] underneath so they can't walk out, then Bullet Time [R]. Her ultimate is a channel that needs the target to stay in the cone, which is exactly what a grab plus a knock-up plus a slow buys. Static Field [R] silences on top of it if they were planning to answer.
Love Tap [Passive] is the quiet bonus. It pays her extra damage every time she attacks a new target, so a messy two versus two where both enemies keep stepping into range is her best case, and a Blitzcrank lane is nothing but messy two versus twos.
Thresh and Kalista
Fate's Call [R]This is the only pairing on the list the game asks you to declare out loud. Kalista starts every match holding Black Spear, an item nobody else gets, and she gives it to one ally to make them her Oathsworn. She can buy another copy for free until the three minute mark if she picks wrong, and after that the choice is locked for the game.
What the bond buys is Fate's Call [R], an ultimate that belongs to both of you. Kalista yanks the Oathsworn to her, cleanses every crowd control effect on them, and makes them untargetable while they're held. They then pick where to launch, and the dash knocks up everyone it crashes into. As an escape it's a full cleanse; as an engage it's a five person knock-up delivered by someone who was safe a second earlier.
Thresh is the partner who gains most from holding it. He already threatens Death Sentence [Q] and Flay [E] from the front, and Dark Passage [W] gives Kalista a lantern to leave on if the fight turns. She's fragile and she has no dash beyond the hops from Martial Poise [Passive], so a partner who can both start fights and pull her out of them is worth more to her than raw damage. We wrote up the reverse experiment, Kalista as the support, a few years back, and there's a full Thresh support write-up too.
You win the lane before the fight starts
These pairs don't want a brawl. They want the enemy ADC to walk up for a minion at 60% health and lose 20% of it, twice a wave, until the lane is unplayable. Poke duos ask more of you mechanically and give you less margin for a mistake, because they usually can't survive the all-in they've been provoking.
Lux and Caitlyn
Light Binding [Q]The timing here is exact, which is what makes it worth learning. Light Binding [Q] roots the first two enemies it hits for two seconds. A Yordle Snap Trap [W] arms one second after Caitlyn places it. So a rooted target can have a trap built underneath them and still be standing on it when it goes live.
Springing that trap roots them again for another 1.5 seconds and grants Caitlyn an empowered Headshot [Passive] that fires from double her normal range. Add Piltover Peacemaker [Q] through the middle and 90 Caliber Net [E] to push herself away afterwards, and one Lux ability has turned into most of an enemy health bar without either of them walking into auto attack range.
Both of them also finish from absurd distance. Final Spark [R] crosses most of the lane and Ace in the Hole [R] crosses more than that, so the enemy ADC who backs off at 30% health frequently doesn't make it. Our Caitlyn counters guide covers what this lane is actually afraid of, and Lux has her own history down here in Aftershock Lux.
Morgana and Jhin
Deadly Flourish [W]Deadly Flourish [W] only roots a target who's been hit recently by Jhin himself, by one of his Captive Audience [E] traps, or by an ally. That last clause is the whole pairing. Dark Binding [Q] is one of the longest single target roots in the game, and the moment it lands, Jhin's cane is a second root waiting to happen from almost off screen.
Chain them and a champion spends an uncomfortable stretch of the fight unable to move while Whisper [Passive] works through its four shots, the fourth of which crits and executes. That's before Curtain Call [R] gets involved.
Black Shield [E] is the other half of it, and it's the reason this pairing holds up late rather than only in lane. Curtain Call [R] is a long channel that a single stun ends, and Black Shield [E] is the one support ability that flatly refuses to let the stun happen. Morgana is also the answer to a lot of what people find unbearable about laning, which our Morgana counters guide gets into from the other side.
Karma and Ezreal
Mantra [R]Karma is the only support who brings an ultimate to level one. Mantra [R] costs no skill point and it's available from the first minute, which means her lane starts with a tool the enemy support doesn't have for another ten levels. Empowered Inspire [E] shields Ezreal, speeds him up, and spreads to allies near him.
Ezreal is the ADC who does the most with a shield and a speed boost, because he never wants to stand still anyway. Mystic Shot [Q] shaves time off every one of his cooldowns each time it connects, so a lane where he lands his poke is a lane where Arcane Shift [E] is always nearly ready. Gathering Fire [Passive] does the same thing for Karma, cutting the cooldown on Mantra [R] when her abilities hit champions, so both of them get rewarded for the same behaviour: hit the skill shot, stay out of range, do it again.
It's a lane with almost no kill pressure and almost no risk, which suits some players enormously and bores others to tears. Ezreal's flexibility is a running theme here, from AP Ezreal support to the old how to beat Ezreal write-up.
Keep the carry alive
The oldest bot lane deal in the game: one player agrees to become the entire team's win condition, and the other one agrees to make sure they get there. These pairs are usually miserable for ten minutes and unbeatable after twenty five, so the support's job is buying time rather than making plays. Our protect the carry comp takes the same idea up to five champions.
Lulu and Kog'Maw
Wild Growth [R]Kog'Maw is the most extreme version of the trade. Bio-Arcane Barrage [W] gives him more attack range than anything else in the lane and adds a percentage of the target's maximum health to every hit, which is why a fed Kog'Maw melts tanks that nothing else can. In exchange he has no dash, no blink and no self peel whatsoever. He dies to a stiff breeze.
Lulu answers each hole one at a time. Whimsy [W] hands him attack speed and move speed, or turns the assassin who jumped on him into a critter who can't attack. Help, Pix! [E] shields him and then follows him around adding damage to his attacks. Wild Growth [R] knocks up everyone standing next to him, dumps a pile of bonus health on him and leaves a slowing aura behind, which is often the single button that decides a teamfight.
We built a whole five person version of this around him in Protect the Kog'Maw. The principle scales: give the immobile champion enough bodies and he wins by standing still.
Milio and Jinx
Cozy Campfire [W]Cozy Campfire [W] does something no other support ability does: it heals allies inside it and increases their attack range while they're there. Put that under a Jinx who has already swapped to Fishbones with Switcheroo! [Q], and the pair of them are shooting from a distance the enemy lane cannot answer without walking through the zone to get there.
The rest of Milio's kit is built for a champion who needs breathing room. Warm Hugs [E] carries two charges of shield and move speed, Ultra Mega Fire Kick [Q] knocks an incoming diver back out again, and Breath of Life [R] heals the team and removes crowd control from all of it, which answers the one thing Jinx genuinely cannot play through.
Jinx only needs the first kill to arrive. Get Excited! [Passive] gives her a huge burst of move speed and attack speed on any takedown or structure kill, so a lane that survives to its first fight tends to keep winning the ones after it. Flame Chompers! [E] covers the flank while she does.
Janna and Sivir
Monsoon [R]This is the duo that wins by refusing to have the fight anyone else wants. Spell Shield [E] eats the one ability aimed at Sivir, which is frequently the hook, the root or the ultimate the enemy team spent their whole plan on. Everything after that is Janna making the follow-up impossible.
Eye of the Storm [E] shields Sivir and adds attack damage while it holds. Howling Gale [Q] and Zephyr [W] slow and scatter whoever's approaching. Monsoon [R] throws every enemy in range away and then heals everyone who's left, which turns a lost fight into a reset more reliably than any other ability in the game.
Then Sivir does the part nobody expects from a disengage duo, which is take a tower. Ricochet [W] bounces through a wave in seconds and On The Hunt [R] speeds the whole team to the next objective before the enemy has walked back. This pair is boring to lane against and exhausting to chase, and that's the entire pitch.
Two kits wired into each other
These last three aren't a strategy so much as a mechanical fact. In each case one champion's ability text names the behaviour the other one already has, so the pairing does something no substitute quite reproduces.
Braum and Ashe
Concussive Blows [Passive]Braum's basic attacks and Winter's Bite [Q] each apply a stack of Concussive Blows [Passive], and once the first stack is on a target, allied basic attacks stack it too. Four stacks stuns. The stacks last four seconds, so the whole thing turns on having an ally who can land three more attacks quickly.
Ashe is that ally by design. Ranger's Focus [Q] converts her stored focus into a flurry of rapid attacks, and Frost Shot [Passive] slows every target she hits, so the enemy who wants to walk out of the four second window physically can't. Braum opens with Winter's Bite [Q] from range, Ashe attacks twice, and a stun lands on a champion who never came close enough to expect one.
Unbreakable [E] is the other half. It intercepts projectiles coming from the direction he's facing, which is the correct answer to most enemy ADCs and to a long list of engage tools, and Ashe is standing directly behind it. Then Enchanted Crystal Arrow [R] and Glacial Fissure [R] give the lane two more stuns to spend. She's had an unusual career as the support herself, which we covered in Imperial Mandate Ashe.
Nami and Kai'Sa
Second Skin [Passive]Second Skin [Passive] says it out loud: allies' immobilizing effects help stack Plasma. And Killer Instinct [R] can only be cast toward an enemy champion who's been affected by Plasma in the last four seconds. So the support Kai'Sa wants isn't the one with the biggest shield, it's the one who can immobilize somebody on demand.
Nami immobilizes on tap. Aqua Prison [Q] bubbles a target from range and Tidal Wave [R] knocks up everyone it rolls through, and either one is an invitation for Kai'Sa to dash straight into the middle of a fight she couldn't otherwise reach. That's the difference between an ultimate she uses to escape and an ultimate she uses to win.
The rest fits too. Tidecaller's Blessing [E] adds bonus magic damage and a slow to Kai'Sa's next few attacks, which she fires off faster than almost anyone. Ebb and Flow [W] bounces between them for a heal, and Surging Tides [Passive] hands out move speed every time an ability touches an ally, so the lane is constantly slightly faster than the one across from it.
Rakan and Xayah
Fey Feathers [Passive]The only duo the game itself acknowledges. Battle Dance [E] normally reaches 700 units, and it reaches 1000 when the target is Xayah, so Rakan can join a fight from a distance that looks safe to everyone watching. Lover's Leap, the shared clause sitting inside Fey Feathers [Passive] and Clean Cuts [Passive], lets either of them join the other's recall and arrive together, which quietly wins the reset war all game.
The combination people actually fear is Grand Entrance [W] into The Quickness [R], a knock-up followed by a charm on everyone he runs past, with Xayah already positioned behind it. Her Bladecaller [E] then recalls every feather she's dropped, and anything hit by three of them is rooted for 1.25 seconds. Clean Cuts [Passive] means those feathers pile up simply from her attacking normally after any ability.
Featherstorm [R] is the insurance. She leaps up untargetable, drops another fan of feathers, and lands with the root still available. It's the rare pairing where both champions have an answer to being dived, which is not something most ADC and support pairs can say.
How to pick one, in about thirty seconds
If you're duoing with someone and you want a default rather than a debate, work down this list.
- Neither of you wants to think about it? Take an engage pair. Leona and Lucian or Blitzcrank and Miss Fortune win games by being decisive, and decisiveness is the thing most low-coordination duos lack.
- Your ADC is better than your support? Take an enchanter. Lulu, Milio and Janna all convert somebody else's mechanical skill into a win, and none of them need you to make a call.
- Your support is the better player? Take a pick support and a simple ADC. Blitzcrank or Thresh with Miss Fortune or Ashe puts the decisions in the hands of the person who should be making them.
- You're on voice and you practise? This is when Rakan and Xayah, or Thresh and Kalista, pull ahead of everything else. Both need timing that random matchmaking will never give you.
- You keep getting run down by dives? Take Janna and Sivir, lose the first ten minutes on purpose, and win the map afterwards.
Related reading
If you'd rather lose the lane and enjoy it, our troll bot lane duos list is the one people keep sending each other, and the troll picks for every lane page covers the rest of the map. For the champions nobody enjoys facing anywhere, there's the most annoying champions in LoL, and for the mode where the pairing is chosen for you, the most fun ARAM champions. On the serious side, mages in the bot lane looks at what happens when the ADC half of the duo isn't an ADC at all, and pairing your roles asks the same question about which two roles a duo should take.
Bot lane duo questions people actually ask
What's the best bot lane duo in LoL?
There isn't one, and any page that names a single answer is telling you about this patch rather than about the game. The most reliable pairs across every skill level are the engage duos, because they win lanes on decisions rather than on execution. If you want one name to start with, Leona and Lucian, and if you want the pair that scales furthest, Lulu and Kog'Maw.
What makes two champions a good duo?
Kits that trigger each other, and weaknesses that don't overlap. The strongest version is when one champion's ability text literally describes what the other one does, like Braum's passive stacking off ally attacks or Kai'Sa's passive stacking off ally crowd control. The weakest version is two champions who are both individually strong and both die to the same thing.
Which bot lane duo is best for climbing solo queue?
The one you don't have to coordinate. Solo queue hands you a stranger who won't follow your engage and won't wait for your ultimate, so the pairs that hold up are the ones where each half functions alone. Ashe and Braum, Caitlyn and any poke support, or an enchanter behind whichever ADC you're actually good at. Save the timing-heavy duos for when you know who you're playing with.
What's the best duo for beginners?
Braum and Ashe. Both kits are honest, both do something useful when you press the button late, and the stun that comes out of Concussive Blows [Passive] teaches you what stacking crowd control feels like without needing a single frame perfect input. Avoid Blitzcrank early: a missed Rocket Grab [Q] punishes you far harder than a missed anything else.
Do you have to play the same duo every game?
No, and trying to is how duos fall apart. What matters more is that you both keep two or three pairings you can reach for, so a ban or a counterpick doesn't leave you improvising. Agree on one engage pair, one scaling pair and one safe pair, and you'll almost never be stuck.
Which support is best for a hypercarry ADC?
Lulu, and it isn't close, because Wild Growth [R] is the only support ultimate that answers being dived, being burst and being out-ranged at the same time. Milio is the newer option and gets the nod when the enemy team's plan involves crowd control rather than raw damage, since Breath of Life [R] removes it outright.
What if we'd rather pick something ridiculous?
Plenty of pairs qualify, and they're a genuinely good time. We keep those on their own page: troll bot lane duos covers the combinations that shouldn't work and sometimes do, including a few that made it into professional play.
Picking the person, not just the champion
Every pairing above assumes something the champion select screen can't give you, which is a partner who shows up, stays calm and plays the same game you're playing. That problem hasn't changed since we first wrote about it in 2018, so the original checklist is kept below word for word.
Everything from here down is the post as it was published in January 2018, unchanged.
Introduction
Finding the perfect duo partner can be a daunting task. The Rift is full of ragers, tilters and trolls. Some players do it less than others, but there are a number of traits that will lead you in the right direction and avoid red flags.
Check out our top 10 traits below to help you find a brother to carry you to the chosen Division!
Similar Skill or Slightly Higher
Duo queuing with a player that's Bronze level while you're Gold will only weigh you down, even if you're both currently in silver. Unless you're only in it for fun, you're not going to find him to be a long-term duo queue partner. Meanwhile, similarly you don't want to pick up someone much higher ranked than you since they'll quickly get frustrated and leave you behind.
Minimal Raging
Just because your duo partner isn't raging at you doesn't mean he's not a rager. If he's constantly typing in game it reduces the overall performance of all the players. Avoid these people. If you duo with them, you'll just have one in every game. Even if they're good it's not worth the mental trauma.
Complimentary role, secondary role, and third role
If you're a support/jungle main duoing with a jungle/support main, this simply isn't going to work out the way you plan. Make sure you share a variety of roles and can easily swap between them in case one of you gets auto-filled.
Consistent Champion Pool
People who are one-trick ponies are no good, but everyone should have a go-to pick if they're first pick and in a role. Avoid people who say "I played that champion last game" or people who are milking mastery points. You want to have someone that's trying to win as his main goal.
Similar Time Zone (or play time)
Make sure you're playing with someone with a schedule that matches your own. If you don't, then they quickly fall off in value as a duo partners.
Willingness to Chain Games
If you want to climb and climb fast, make sure you're playing with someone who automatically hits the Play Again button every time the game ends. When you ask each other a question it should be "do you mind if we take a quick break" and not "want to play another game?" Packing as many games in as possible is the key to rising up the ranks quickly.
Handles Losses Well
Some people choose to blame everyone except for themselves after a tough loss. This is not good. Some people only blame themselves and fall into a melancholy. This is also not good. Make sure to duo with a someone that can shrug off losses and learn from mistakes. This type of duo partner will keep morale high and help push you forward.
Calls plays or follows appropriately
If you want to find success, make sure you have at least one person who shotcalls for you and your team. It might be you, and if it is then make sure your duo partner follows up on your calls quickly and appropriately. Building a bond of trust may take time, but make sure you're on the same wavelength when it comes to making plays. If you're not, duo queue won't grant you any advantages unless one of you is just getting carried.
Willing to give and take healthy criticism
This is the cornerstone of a healthy duo. Make sure not to belittle each other constantly, but also make sure to provide criticism to help each other improve. Be careful not to play the blame game when you lose, and remember that you're both trying to win.
Minimal tendency to DC or AFK
When it boils down to it, some people are great teammates and awesome players...when they're there. But life calls to some people more often than it does to others, and if your duo queue partner has a strange tendency to AFK or DC every other game, it might be time to move on. Even if you dominate every game where he's actually playing, it's simply not worth the stress during a promo.
Conclusions
Finding the perfect duo queue partner isn't a perfect science. However, using the criteria above you'll be on a solid path. It's possible you may never find someone that fulfills all of the criteria above. However, if you do, keep them around. That's a League of Legends unicorn.
One last thing
The pairings on this page are a starting point rather than a rule. Two players who know each other's habits will beat a theoretically better duo who've never spoken, every single time, and the strongest thing you can do for your bot lane isn't picking differently. It's picking the same thing twice and finding out what you got wrong the first time. We even argued the opposite case back in why duo queue isn't a great idea, and it's worth reading before you commit your ranked season to somebody.
Got a pairing that keeps winning for you and isn't on the list? Comment below.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to comment or leave a message :)